Bruce Faulconer

Bruce Faulconer is an American composer of music for feature film, television, orchestra and chamber music works. Faulconer composed the music featured in the Funimation dub of Dragon Ball Z. Faulconer's Dragon Ball Z music aired on the  version of the series from 1999 to 2003. He is the owner and founder of Faulconer Productions and the CakeMix Recording studios, and his music (including his music for Dragon Ball Z) is licensed with Broadcast Music, Inc.
==Career==
===Training===
Bruce Faulconer received advanced musical training in composition at the University of Texas with composers Hunter Johnson, Karl Korte, Joseph Schwantner, and Eugene Kurtz. While studying at the University of Texas at Austin, he was awarded a Bachelor of Music Degree with High Honors in Theory and Composition, a Master of Music Degree in Composition, and a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Composition. He has also received two Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowships from the Ohio State University as a composer in residence.
===Work with Dragon Ball Z===
Faulconer began writing music for the English language version of Dragon Ball Z in 1998, and his score premiered on Cartoon Network in Dragon Ball Z season 3 in September 1999. It replaced the previous score from the first 2 seasons by Shuki Levy (Levy stopped composing for the show due to his company Saban leaving Dragon Ball Z) and continued the synth/rock style started by Levy. His music is on episode 68 through the last episode of the series (episode 291), broadcasted in 2003. He also created music for the movie Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug. In all, this version of Dragon Ball Z aired on Cartoon Network from 1999 to 2008, with five years of reruns for the show. The nine album soundtracks that Bruce Faulconer created featuring his Dragon Ball Z television musical work were all recorded and mastered at his CakeMix Recording studios. Faulconer's Dragon Ball Z Title Theme was used by Atari in their Dragon Ball Z-based video games.
Faulconer's music is attributed to have had a favorable impact on the television ratings for Dragon Ball Z while the version aired on Cartoon Network. The third season of Dragon Ball Z, with the debut of Faulconer's music, ratings for the show soared, and Dragon Ball Z soon received ratings as the Nielsen Number One Rated Show in Children's Programming for Cable TV (awarded 3 times, from 2001-2003) for Cartoon Network programming. In 2003, the Nielsen ratings continued to soar for Dragon Ball Z as it became the Number One Rated Show for all of Cable TV for Children's Programming in six market demographics.
Bruce Faulconer did not return for Dragon Ball GT, and was replaced by Mark Menza. When FUNimation redubbed seasons 1 and 2 for their cancelled "Ultimate Uncut Special Edition" DVDs and later their Remastered Box Sets, Faulconer's music score was unavailable, so a new one was composed by Nathan Johnson. For season 3 onwards, Faulconer's score was retained from the original dub.
===Awards and acknowledgements===
Bruce Faulconer's music has been acknowledged by numerous national and international performances and first prizes from competitions sponsored by organizations including the Elkhart Symphony Orchestra, the Fort Worth Symphony, the World Saxophone Congress (second prize), as well as recognition from the International Gaudeamus Music Week, the Concorso Internazionale Luigi Russolo, and the Texas Manuscript Archives. Faulconer has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ohio Arts Council, Midwestern Composers Alliance, McLean-Paris Foundation, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, violist David Lowe, Bethany College, Texas Composers Forum, Texas Sesquicentennial Commission, North Texas City Faire Arts Project, the MacDowell Colony, and BMI. Faulconer has also received commissions from the Voices of Change, Bethany College, Marygrove College, and the University of Texas Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.
===Other works===
Other commissioned works composed by Faulconer include film scores (Scenes in the Dark, Lebensborn, The Bystander Theory), television shows (Your New House, Reality of Speed, Your House and Home, To Life with Kenneth Cooper), many PBS National Television documentaries (Tornado Alert, Fiesta in the Sky, Fire! What You Need to Know, Locked Out of the American Dream, The Writing Coach), and commercial music production for television and radio. One of his many commissions, "Washington-on-the-Brazos, a Symphonic Poem", received a premiere by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. The San Antonio Symphony Orchestra also performed "Washington-on-the-Brazos" on tour in Texas and performed it for the National League of Cities Mayoral National Conference. Faulconer also has guest conducted the Mesquite Symphony in performances of "Washington-on-the-Brazos". The music for the feature film Scenes in the Dark, a musical play within a movie, was scored and music-produced by Faulconer and won a prestigious Gold Award in the Houston International Film Festival.
==Dragon Ball Z soundtracks==
These are the music albums released by Bruce Faulconer for Dragon Ball Z:
*Best of Dragon Ball Z: Volume 1
*Best of Dragon Ball Z: Volume 2
*Best of Dragon Ball Z: Volume 3
*Best of Dragon Ball Z: Volume 4
*Best of Dragon Ball Z: Volume 5
*Best of Dragon Ball Z: Volume 6 - The Lost Tracks of DBZ
*Buu: The Majin Sagas
*Trunks Compendium I
*Android 18: The Androids Saga''
==See also==
*List of Bruce Faulconer Track Usages
*List of unreleased Bruce Faulconer tracks
==External links==
*
*Faulconer Productions
*CakeMix Recording
==Site Navigation==
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