A Chat with Ramon Covalo

[tarrantnam]

Admin Edit: Mr. Covalo (ray) was kind enough to join our community and answer questions in this thread. The thread title has been updated accordingly.

When UK introduced the 20th anniversary version, I was a little confused when the music score was Classic, not Rave. I like rave, because it's more modern, fresher, more exciting.
But recently, what Poland is doing is making me rethink. They've been attached to Ramon's music score for 15 years, but then they gave it up.
And with this situation, I think the tendency to give up Rave score to return to Classic is spreading. Is Rave too monotonous? Too bad? Or is that just the prejudice of Classic lovers?

[TheLuckySeven]

IMO, the UK's 20th anniversary was meant to be a throwback, hence the classic music was implemented and soon enough other countries started to bring it back aswell. Covalo's music was fine, but it missed that suspence and heartbeat of the classic. Despite this, Poland kept some of Covalo's sounds (the intro and the second safety net win), so it's not entirely dead.

[omran.dk]

I think that for some you know my opinion, others probably not but you will be after my words.

From a general point of view, Covalo's compositions will fall by the wayside in a few years, I say that quite simply because this kind of soundtrack doesn't hold up, only the intro holds up but for the rest , it's nothing.

I will cite two countries which used Covalo music in their versions and which had to stop their broadcasts (the question music and the jingles): France, Norway

• The French version made an attempt at a comeback in the rave format in 2019, but it barely lasted 1 month and audiences dropped miserably.
  
  
• Norway, a year after its return in the rave format in September 2008, decided to stop and replace it with the hot seat format in 2010 with a small mix of Strachan's compositions. But despite the Norwegian version stopping in 2011

I will cite the countries which used Covalo's music and which decided to change the entire musical score by putting those of Strachan (except for one or two jingles): Slovenia, Poland, Portugal and Ecuador (special case), the Great Britain, Sri Lanka

• I am very surprised by Poland for my part, I heard the news just now. But to correct a little on the fact that it lasted "15 years" the music of Covalo in the version, we must remember that there was a big break between 2010 and 2017, i.e. 7 years (besides in 2016 I would never have imagined that the Polish version was going to return and that it was going to stand out from other versions from an aesthetic point of view.
  
  
• The Slovenian version also I would not have thought that it was going to make its return (after 11 years of absence) but I certainly would not have thought that it was going to screw up with a musically rave format and with a host who does not doesn't have much quality (that's not the subject) but the production was able to manage to readjust by putting back the old music and replacing the old host with another host who 3 years later looks good
  
  
• As for Portugal and Ecuador, it is in fact in the Hot Seat version, after having used the music of Covalo, the productions decided to put back the old music because for Portugal, it did not work. not been perceived as good (this was starting to become known in 2008) and for that of Ecuador, nostalgia wins.

• For Sri Lanka, this is surely the only current version to have started the broadcast in rave sound and then change to Strachan sound.

• Concerning Great Britain, they understood that their trump card and it was the original.
  

All that to say that it's perhaps "exciting" (in reality not so much), perhaps "modern" or even very modern, but it doesn't feel fresh at all.

What would be even more exciting is as was mentioned in this thread: "suspense" and "heartbeat" and I will even add a little real synthesizers because it sounded like Covalo's compositions were made on a computer.

In any case, Ramon Covalo's music will not last forever or in a while.

[RegisFan]

I’ve always found the Rave soundtrack to be inferior to any of the soundtracks by the Strachans. The question beds are really generic, and that negatively impacts the dramatic tension. The Shuffle soundtrack has a similar issue.

The original soundtrack and its variations (Super & Clock) are far more memorable. There’s a reason they have stood the test of time.

[FinalAnswer19]

I just want to be clear, Covalo's cues were *only* the question beds. The opening, closing, q5 and q10 correct cues, etc. were all the work of the Strachans. But, yes, as others have said, there is no suspense, drama, or tension with Covalo's question beds. The q1-5 bed wasn't awful but it's belongs in a disco club's trivia night rather than a worldwide game show.

[milionerista]

Sept 11, 2023 19:16:26 GMT -5 RegisFan said:

I’ve always found the Rave soundtrack to be inferior to any of the soundtracks by the Strachans. The question beds are really generic, and that negatively impacts the dramatic tension. The Shuffle soundtrack has a similar issue.

The original soundtrack and its variations (Super & Clock) are far more memorable. There’s a reason they have stood the test of time.

The OG will always be the OG IMHO. Rave's certainly not terrible but I feel that a remix inspired by the Club Mix should've definitely been... punchier, to say the least. Clock's really good, probably the best non-OG version.
Though you've got to give one thing to the Rave version: at least it sounds like Millionaire even if the quality isn't up to par. It's at least not a complete misfire like whatever the American version did for 9 (!) years.

[greekmillionairefan]

As mentioned on previous posts, classic Strahan's soundtrack is the best, and it is a key factor that contributed to the worldwide success of the show. Rave music sounds "cheaper" and lacks the tension and the drama of the original soundtrack. Shuffle soundtrack is just a shame and it Sony should never have approoved this atrocity

[omran.dk]

Look at the show The Weakest Link or the Brainiest, since their creations, they have never changed their musical model (only the US has changed a large part of the original compositions).

Some countries like Germany, Austria and Vietnam have never changed their musical model since their launches and yet it is in full swing (apart from the Vietnamese version which is starting to get rusty).

I have seen on certain sites, comments dating from around 2009 or 2010 (at least on the French side) saying things like "need to be renewed", "the credits are the same, it's rubbish", "the music is the same", "when will we put it like the current English version".

Now the people who had written this kind of thing and saw the results on TV in the summer of 2010. It proves that you don't change a winning team.

[theidentfan]

Sept 11, 2023 16:34:48 GMT -5 TheLuckySeven said:

IMO, the UK's 20th anniversary was meant to be a throwback, hence the classic music was implemented and soon enough other countries started to bring it back aswell. Covalo's music was fine, but it missed that suspence and heartbeat of the classic. Despite this, Poland kept some of Covalo's sounds (the intro and the second safety net win), so it's not entirely dead.

Azerbaijan did something similar with the music as well.

[kplewisvox]

I felt like the Rave music was dated when it came out in 2007 even. I associate that style of music with the late 90s/early 2000s. I know techno has had more of a following in Europe, so perhaps it was still en Vogue in 2007, but it's not my idea of "modern" or "fresh".

[jaydenreidtv]

I'm surprised that no one has called out the spelling error of Ramon's name in the title of this thread. So I'll correct it. It's Ramon Covalo, not Ramon Colvado.

As for the music score of the show, as much as I love the 2007 version of the Millionaire cues, you can't beat the classic score. Also, here's something you may not have known... As per having a conversation with Nick Magnus via email, he has always referred to them as the 'pumped up' version.
 

A few international versions of the show in the current era, is slowly creeping back to adapting the OG classic music score. Which is something I love to see. I personally will always associate Millionaire with the OG classic music score by Keith & Matthew Strachan.

[omran.dk]

To comment to kplewisvox regarding his impression: for my part I would rather say that Covalo's music sounds from the 2000s (I would say precisely 2005 especially if it went with the tunnel intro).

For Strachan's music, it sounds more like the beginning of the mid-90s (like 1994) already because their instruments are not new (at that time).

Ps: I had read at one point that they had used Roland as synthesizers if someone could confirm this information that would be great

Hey jaydenreidtv like you talked about Nick Magnus, I was going to talk about it today haha

Just who is Nick Magnus?

Because in some versions Magnus is mentioned as being the co-composer of the rave version. However, there is only Covalo which is considered the only composition in this format.

Correction : I just saw Nick Magnus' contribution to WWTBAM and in fact it was he who did the famous Radio edit (including the Club-mix version) of the show. I better understand the continuity of this Radio edit with the audio intro of the rave version. But it seems almost far from the Radio edit I think

[kplewisvox]

Sept 23, 2023 18:53:46 GMT -5 jaydenreidtv said:

I'm surprised that no one has called out the spelling error of Ramon's name in the title of this thread. So I'll correct it. It's Ramon Covalo, not Ramon Colvado.

The OP admitted they weren't sure of the spelling, and we all knew what they meant. No need to call anything out.

[jaydenreidtv]

Ah okay. It was just that the name of the thread was bothering me a bit that’s all xD

[ray]

Hello WWTBAM enthusiasts, my name is Ramon Covalo and I was commissioned by 2waytraffic to make music for WWTBAM in 2007 and later for HotSeat. It is great to read that you are so committed to all facets of WWTBAM. I'll first tell you that I also really like the music the Strachan's made for WWTBAM. And the fact that they made it in a week is almost inhuman! I don't compare myself with them. But you can probably imagine that I am still very happy that 2waytraffic asked me at the time (even though you may not appreciate my music). I cannot say anything further about this because of the confidentiality statement that I signed.

I would like to respond to a few things you say.

What strikes me is that some of you apparently don't know much about producing music and that's why I thought I would clarify something about this. What I read in your comments is that I would have made all my music with the computer. And that is absolutely correct. Long live the computer! I have listened to the Strachan's music long and repeatedly and I can tell you that they also used the computer. That is no secret and can also be read somewhere on the internet. Maybe a single instrument was recorded live, but the rest...all virtual instruments and composed/processed in a DAW (digital audio workstation). There are many virtual instruments on the market that can perfectly imitate a symphony orchestra. A layman, and sometimes also a professional, cannot hear the difference.

I do wonder whether it is not a bit of an exaggeration to think that WWTBAM is not or less successful because of the use of my music. I think that's quite a strong assumption. That also makes my music way too important. Too overrated. Music is very important for TV and film, but the tension music I have made in particular is played so softly in the show (also applies to the Strachans' version) that most television viewers do not even realize that music is being played. Except for my tension music, the rest of the music is from the Strachan's and that makes WWTBAM clearly recognisable. And they should never change that. I really don't understand why some of you are so bothered by my tension music. It's really not completely different from the original. Then I could understand that it bothers you very much. The presenter often talks over it so much that I have to listen very carefully to hear whether it is my music or that of the Strachan's.

Obviously I don't hope that my music will no longer be used, but I have also noticed that it is being used less. I am very curious why this is so. And of course I hope that some of you are not right and that 'The Failure of Ramon Colvado(?)' will soon be a fact. Maybe we should bet on it? For 1 million? Who is in?

ps. Thank you Jayden for your comment about my name. I always find it annoying when names are spelled incorrectly. Not just mine. After all, it is a small effort to look it up in most cases.