Okay. I have made a decision that I am going to finish the edit on my [i]Lord of the Rings[/i] mix soon and be done with it. My enthusiasm for the project took a serious blow last year when the two Semajic files with the Livejournal entries I was preparing for the discs completely disappeared, negating all of my work on the program notes.
As was apparent from the fact that my character count far exceeded the Livejournal limit for a single entry, the notes were the exceptionally painstaking, with the source tracks listed, relevant quotes from the films and book, comprehensive listings of which choral texts were used in which tracks with links to the lyrics, and very elaborate descriptions of the music and how it was used in the film or on the album, and how each part fit into the compilation as a whole. I will never be able to re-create all of that work.
On the other hand, the mix itself is pretty much finished, it just needs a few tweaks here and there. It is time for me to put this one to bed so I can move on to other projects.
It has been a strange week for my portable audio.
My iPod died. It was getting a little twitchy here and there, and I had to restore it at least once, but it played on for the most part like a trooper. This was it, though, when I ran the diagnostics, it showed me that the hard drive had died. I've had that iPod since 2008, so upon reflection, it was actually the longest lasting portable audio player I've ever had.
Then there was the car stereo. It began when I cleared out my trunk to make a Costco run with friends. I knocked something loose, and it caused the fuse that controls my stereo to blow. I replaced the fuse, and the stereo worked for two more days. Then the fuse blew again. And again. And again after that; it was shorting out as soon as I turned the car on. Eventually the offending trouble was found — as I said, there was a loose wire that got grounded. The problem has been resolved, and the car stereo sounds awesome, as new rear speakers were my birthday present last year. I was as ecstatic once I got the car stereo working again as was the Dude when he got his car back and was driving home singing along to “Looking Out My Back Door,” except I needed something louder and meaner, so I blasted “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” in celebration.
It has not escaped my own self-reflection that I was willing to drive my old car for months after the transmission had gotten so bad that I couldn't go in reverse anymore, but a problem with the car stereo gets fixed within a week.
I have finally seen The Hobbit; a friend of mine had the 3D Blu-ray (which is in standard 24p, wonder why they couldn't at least have taken advantage of 30p, but perhaps that was because of the negative reactions that 48 fps projection got from audiences). If you have the 3D Blu-ray, it's on two platters and the second disc is the stronger of the two.
I… I liked the parts that were good. And there were a couple of them. But… why… did… it… take… so… long…
Bloated, overbaked and interminably long. Everything this review isn't.
As was apparent from the fact that my character count far exceeded the Livejournal limit for a single entry, the notes were the exceptionally painstaking, with the source tracks listed, relevant quotes from the films and book, comprehensive listings of which choral texts were used in which tracks with links to the lyrics, and very elaborate descriptions of the music and how it was used in the film or on the album, and how each part fit into the compilation as a whole. I will never be able to re-create all of that work.
On the other hand, the mix itself is pretty much finished, it just needs a few tweaks here and there. It is time for me to put this one to bed so I can move on to other projects.
It has been a strange week for my portable audio.
My iPod died. It was getting a little twitchy here and there, and I had to restore it at least once, but it played on for the most part like a trooper. This was it, though, when I ran the diagnostics, it showed me that the hard drive had died. I've had that iPod since 2008, so upon reflection, it was actually the longest lasting portable audio player I've ever had.
Then there was the car stereo. It began when I cleared out my trunk to make a Costco run with friends. I knocked something loose, and it caused the fuse that controls my stereo to blow. I replaced the fuse, and the stereo worked for two more days. Then the fuse blew again. And again. And again after that; it was shorting out as soon as I turned the car on. Eventually the offending trouble was found — as I said, there was a loose wire that got grounded. The problem has been resolved, and the car stereo sounds awesome, as new rear speakers were my birthday present last year. I was as ecstatic once I got the car stereo working again as was the Dude when he got his car back and was driving home singing along to “Looking Out My Back Door,” except I needed something louder and meaner, so I blasted “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” in celebration.
It has not escaped my own self-reflection that I was willing to drive my old car for months after the transmission had gotten so bad that I couldn't go in reverse anymore, but a problem with the car stereo gets fixed within a week.
I have finally seen The Hobbit; a friend of mine had the 3D Blu-ray (which is in standard 24p, wonder why they couldn't at least have taken advantage of 30p, but perhaps that was because of the negative reactions that 48 fps projection got from audiences). If you have the 3D Blu-ray, it's on two platters and the second disc is the stronger of the two.
I… I liked the parts that were good. And there were a couple of them. But… why… did… it… take… so… long…
Bloated, overbaked and interminably long. Everything this review isn't.
- Current Location:Home
- Current Mood:
grumpy - Current Music:Duke Ellington: Anatomy of a Murder
This week Varinia had her annual check-up over at the vet's office, and it's official: I have a fat cat.
This wasn't entirely unexpected, as it was pretty obvious from recent photos that she was getting pretty huge, although it was a little odd because I did cut down significantly on her food intake. It turns out, however, that the food I'd been giving her was just way too rich and she had become a lot less active as she settled into apartment living, and she needs to go on a diet. The vet drew up a plan, and I have started implementing it.
“I'm not fat. I'm storing for the winter.”
Ironically, the amount of food I am to give her is actually more than she would have been eating otherwise, but the caloric content is much lower. She's okay with the wet food but is not too fond of her new kibble, although she will pick at it.
The good news is that she is young and doesn't have any other health issues, so once her weight is gotten under control — I have a follow-up appointment with the vet next month to check on her progress — she should be perfectly fine.
In other news, I have a confession to make. After I had posted my entry blog for my revised Star Wars Trilogy compilation, I noticed some sonic issues that I felt I could correct — not just artifacts in the recordings (although I did minimize those as best I could, with some damn fine results if I may say so myself), but dynamic and presence. What this means is that the edits and flow of the album have not changed at all since I posted the original entry, but I was tinkering with the master for the past few weeks to get it as close to perfect as I could possibly make it. It's finally complete, for real this time.
And yes, I did edit the entry and the CD-Text on the album master to change all references from “A New Hope” to “Star Wars.” I feel better now.
I gave a cursory listen to my prequel trilogy mix and may be revisiting that disc at some point in the near future as well. I can certainly make a cleaner presentation than that nowadays, although I have to say that I was impressed with how much I managed to accomplish with what I had at the time. The prequel trilogy in some ways was a more ambitious mix than that for the original trilogy because I was combining music from the three films to make completely new sequences that played out across multiple tracks. This is something that was very hard to do back when I last worked on the prequel trilogy mix, but is par for the course nowadays.
Like the original trilogy mix, I like the general structure of the prequel trilogy compilation, and so will be preserving a lot of it, but I will be making a few structural changes, such as the location of “Enter Darth Vader” and “Battle of the Heroes,” which are horribly misplaced on the current version (even if the former has a great transition from the previous track).
Another point of somewhat related interest is that Harmy has released an AVCHD of the rough draft of his upcoming Star Wars: The Despecialized Edition Blu-ray. I was so satisfied with the previous version that I was wondering what sort of improvements he could offer. It turns out that he re-color-timed quite a lot of the footage to bring it in line with its original values. This has its most obvious advantages during the scenes on Tatooine, which looked a slightly washed-out in the older version but are vivid now, but the entire film has a much more natural, film-like appearance — much more so, in fact, than the official Blu-ray of the film.
The “Despecializations” have been recomposited with higher quality sources as well, with Mos Eisley (formerly the “messiest” of the footage because of all of the shots that needed to be worked on to remove additions made to the Special Edition) looking almost completely seamless. Footage of the Death Star battle is much more solid now, any issues now look more like the limitations of the optical printing process required to generate the effects footage.
Harmy's Blu-ray should be out soon, and I am eagerly looking forward to it. He is including all of the English language options in DTS-HD MA lossless, and I am excited about hearing both Hairy Hen's reconstruction of the 70 millimeter track and the 1985 home video mix* in lossless. He is also including several of the Blu-ray's commentary tracks edited to conform to the GOUT, which are very nice to have. Whenever they refer to a Special Edition change, I just have to smile.
* — I had originally stated that the 1993 laserdisc mix was my preferred way to watch Star Wars, but that was mostly familiarity. I have since changed my mind, especially after viewing the film with the various audio options available. The 1993 mix, which is what I'd been listening to for Star Wars for nearly twenty years, has some elements I now find distracting (one of the most prominent being the sound of glass breaking added to the cameras exploding during the cell bay shootout). The 1985 mix is essentially a slightly embellished version of the 1977 Dolby Stereo track with a few extra effects and lines here and there. Most importantly (at least to me) is that the music is at the forefront in this mix, spacious and clear. The surround field is very nice as well, especially in Pro Logic II.
This wasn't entirely unexpected, as it was pretty obvious from recent photos that she was getting pretty huge, although it was a little odd because I did cut down significantly on her food intake. It turns out, however, that the food I'd been giving her was just way too rich and she had become a lot less active as she settled into apartment living, and she needs to go on a diet. The vet drew up a plan, and I have started implementing it.
“I'm not fat. I'm storing for the winter.”
Ironically, the amount of food I am to give her is actually more than she would have been eating otherwise, but the caloric content is much lower. She's okay with the wet food but is not too fond of her new kibble, although she will pick at it.
The good news is that she is young and doesn't have any other health issues, so once her weight is gotten under control — I have a follow-up appointment with the vet next month to check on her progress — she should be perfectly fine.
In other news, I have a confession to make. After I had posted my entry blog for my revised Star Wars Trilogy compilation, I noticed some sonic issues that I felt I could correct — not just artifacts in the recordings (although I did minimize those as best I could, with some damn fine results if I may say so myself), but dynamic and presence. What this means is that the edits and flow of the album have not changed at all since I posted the original entry, but I was tinkering with the master for the past few weeks to get it as close to perfect as I could possibly make it. It's finally complete, for real this time.
And yes, I did edit the entry and the CD-Text on the album master to change all references from “A New Hope” to “Star Wars.” I feel better now.
I gave a cursory listen to my prequel trilogy mix and may be revisiting that disc at some point in the near future as well. I can certainly make a cleaner presentation than that nowadays, although I have to say that I was impressed with how much I managed to accomplish with what I had at the time. The prequel trilogy in some ways was a more ambitious mix than that for the original trilogy because I was combining music from the three films to make completely new sequences that played out across multiple tracks. This is something that was very hard to do back when I last worked on the prequel trilogy mix, but is par for the course nowadays.
Like the original trilogy mix, I like the general structure of the prequel trilogy compilation, and so will be preserving a lot of it, but I will be making a few structural changes, such as the location of “Enter Darth Vader” and “Battle of the Heroes,” which are horribly misplaced on the current version (even if the former has a great transition from the previous track).
Another point of somewhat related interest is that Harmy has released an AVCHD of the rough draft of his upcoming Star Wars: The Despecialized Edition Blu-ray. I was so satisfied with the previous version that I was wondering what sort of improvements he could offer. It turns out that he re-color-timed quite a lot of the footage to bring it in line with its original values. This has its most obvious advantages during the scenes on Tatooine, which looked a slightly washed-out in the older version but are vivid now, but the entire film has a much more natural, film-like appearance — much more so, in fact, than the official Blu-ray of the film.
The “Despecializations” have been recomposited with higher quality sources as well, with Mos Eisley (formerly the “messiest” of the footage because of all of the shots that needed to be worked on to remove additions made to the Special Edition) looking almost completely seamless. Footage of the Death Star battle is much more solid now, any issues now look more like the limitations of the optical printing process required to generate the effects footage.
Harmy's Blu-ray should be out soon, and I am eagerly looking forward to it. He is including all of the English language options in DTS-HD MA lossless, and I am excited about hearing both Hairy Hen's reconstruction of the 70 millimeter track and the 1985 home video mix* in lossless. He is also including several of the Blu-ray's commentary tracks edited to conform to the GOUT, which are very nice to have. Whenever they refer to a Special Edition change, I just have to smile.
* — I had originally stated that the 1993 laserdisc mix was my preferred way to watch Star Wars, but that was mostly familiarity. I have since changed my mind, especially after viewing the film with the various audio options available. The 1993 mix, which is what I'd been listening to for Star Wars for nearly twenty years, has some elements I now find distracting (one of the most prominent being the sound of glass breaking added to the cameras exploding during the cell bay shootout). The 1985 mix is essentially a slightly embellished version of the 1977 Dolby Stereo track with a few extra effects and lines here and there. Most importantly (at least to me) is that the music is at the forefront in this mix, spacious and clear. The surround field is very nice as well, especially in Pro Logic II.
- Current Location:Home
- Current Mood:
contemplative - Current Music:John Williams: Star Wars — Music from the Original Trilogy
John Willliams' music for the Star Wars trilogy contains some of the most popular and recognizable film music in history. Much of this is because of the monumental social impact that the film series had, becoming the reigning mythology for an entire generation (and swelling both George Lucas' bank account and ego to Death Star-like proportions). The thematic material is well known not just to film music fans, but to the casual man on the street. Luke's theme, the Force theme and the Imperial March are cultural icons unto themselves now.
It was perhaps inevitable after seeing Harmy's Star Wars Despecialized Editions that I would have Star Wars on the brain. I realized that my Star Wars compilation was nearly six years old, and while it had remained amongst my personal favorites of of my own mixes, I felt that there was some room for improvement. Between the new software I employ, better techniques I have developed, and better sound quality sources I could use, that it was perhaps time to revisit one of my first compilations and correct some of the problems I have noticed over the years.
What those familiar with the earlier versions can expect from this revision:
The first and most prevalent change is that of sound quality, which, despite a variety of sources, is much more consistent on this album. Star Wars in particular had a overly aggressive sound which I was able to temper with good results. Several tracks in Empire suffered from clipping or balance issues, and dynamic was a constant issue. I was able to correct issues that I couldn't before, such as the skips in “Brother and Sister” and “The Throne Room and End Title” (the latter track appears whole on the RCA/Sony version, but I wanted to use the take and mix that appeared on the Arista). The transitions and edits have all been completely redone from scratch, and they are much smoother than was possible before.
Another change is in the overall structure of this version of the disc. On the whole, I wanted to use an “if it ain't broke, don't fix it” approach to this assembly, and I wanted to keep it as close to what I knew worked as I could. However, there were a few changes I wanted to make, the most significant perhaps being the elimination of the cue “The Return of the Jedi” which has appeared on all previous incarnations of this album. This track came in the middle of an extended action suite which I felt went on too long, and it consisted almost entirely of variations on Luke's theme and the Rebel Fanfare, both of which are well-represented elsewhere on the album. By dropping this track, I was able to both smooth out the listening experience and flesh out the rest of the album.
Between the expanded palette size I have and the space made available by removing “The Return of the Jedi,” I was able to expand the scope of the album a bit. Several new tracks have been added. “Luke's Nocturnal Visitor” establishes Yoda's theme early on, allowing the variations on his theme that appear later to be more effective. “The Scavengers” presents the memorable music for the Jawas. “The Ewok Battle” provides symmetry for “Heroic Ewok.”
Ultimately, however, my mission statement has been the same for all but the initial revision of this disc — I based this album on two overarching concepts, and I think that is part of what makes it work; the first was the film's representation of good versus evil, in this case represented by the Force theme in conflict with the Imperial March, while the second is the music's representation of the mythic elements that made the films so successful. The Imperial March is heard often and quite stridently at the beginning of the album, but becomes less aggressive as the album goes on, eventually giving way to the diabolical choral theme for Emperor Palpatine; whilst the Force theme begins in a more meditative place and becomes more noble by the end of the disc, reflecting the defeat of tyranny and the restoration of Ben's values to the galaxy.
I received two of the best complements I ever could receive for my original Star Wars trilogy mix... the first was from Nate. I had given him a copy because he was somewhat interested. He called me a few days later from his car with it blasting and asked if he could borrow the DVDs of the trilogy — the music had re-ignited his interest in the originals after having been brutalized by the prequels. The other one was from Art, who, upon receiving my initial revision, viewed it with some skepticism, saying, "I don't know, man, you're fuckin' with the Mona Lisa here." That was big acclaim coming from somebody whose interest in these scores mirrors my own. I was therefore very careful when replacing or moving material not to deviate to much from the structure that I know works.
Index markers appear at several points on this disc (the same places they have appeared in previous versions). If anybody actually has a CD player that still recognizes index markers (let me know, I'm curious if there are any left), they're still there.
I felt that it was time to revisit the cover art, which I had changed only slightly after the initial revision. In creating cover art for the discs I burned for myself of the Despecialized Editions, I found myself gravitating toward the original poster art for each of the three films. These images were not only vintage representations of the films in question, befitting the restoration aspect, but they were also the artwork used on the 1992 Widescreen Edition VHS box set, which contained an abbreviated version of ‘The Creative Impulse’ and From Star Wars To Jedi: The Making of a Saga (Star Wars featured the 1985 sound mix), that I have a personal attachment to because it was the first time I'd seen Star Wars in widescreen since seeing it in the theater. I felt that this collage of all three one-sheets featured in the 1993 THX CAV Definitive Collection laserdisc box set — until
ehowton's gift of the 1995 CLV “Faces” editions, and now the Despecialized Editions, that was my go-to presentation for Star Wars — was the best presentation for this version of the album.
While I did want to create smoother transitions, make more seamless edits, and present the scores in cleaner sound, the primary impetus for taking up this project again was to better balance out the overall listening experience. This edition better communicates the scope of Williams' music for this historic trilogy: the swashbuckling adventure, the white-knuckle tension, the romantic passion, the exotic creatures and locations, and most importantly, the fun!
1. TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FANFARE WITH CINEMASCOPE® EXTENSION (0:21)
Composed by ALFRED NEWMAN
2. MAIN TITLE AND IMPERIAL ATTACK (Star Wars) (4:07)
3. THE EMPEROR ARRIVES (Return of the Jedi) (0:43)
4. THE EXECUTOR (The Empire Strikes Back) (2:12)
5. TALES OF A JEDI KNIGHT (Star Wars) (2:09)
6. HAN SOLO AND THE PRINCESS (The Empire Strikes Back) (2:21)
7. HEROIC EWOK (Return of the Jedi) (1:01)
8. LUKE’S NOCTURNAL VISITOR (The Empire Strikes Back) (1:22)
9. INTO THE TRAP (Return of the Jedi) (2:30)
10. THE PRINCESS APPEARS (Star Wars) (4:03)
11. THE ASTEROID FIELD (The Empire Strikes Back) (4:06)
12. THE RETURN HOME AND A HIVE OF VILLAINY (Star Wars) (4:35)
13. CITY IN THE CLOUDS (The Empire Strikes Back) (1:39)
14. BROTHER AND SISTER (Return of the Jedi) (3:04)
15. BEN’S DEATH AND THE TIE FIGHTER ATTACK (Star Wars) (3:41)
16. YODA AND THE FORCE (The Empire Strikes Back) (3:48)
17. REVELATION AND SULLUST (Return of the Jedi) (0:34)
18. BLASTING OFF (Star Wars) (2:09)
19. THE DUEL (The Empire Strikes Back) (3:26)
20. THE SCAVENGERS (Star Wars) (2:00)
21. THE EWOK BATTLE (Return of the Jedi) (2:19)
22. ATTACK POSITION (The Empire Strikes Back) (1:02)
23. THE RESCUE OF THE PRINCESS (Star Wars) (2:55)
24. THE CONFRONTATION (Return of the Jedi) (2:39)
25. HYPERSPACE (The Empire Strikes Back) (3:57)
26. FINAL DUEL (Return of the Jedi) (2:50)
27. THE LAST BATTLE (Star Wars) (8:49)
28. THE LIGHT OF THE FORCE (Return of the Jedi) (3:18)
29. THE THRONE ROOM AND END TITLE (Star Wars) (5:29)
Music Composed and Conducted by JOHN WILLIAMS
Performed by THE LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Orchestrators: HERBERT W. SPENCER • ALEXANDER COURAGE • ANGELA MORLEY
Recording Engineer: ERIC TOMLINSON
Music Editor: KENNETH WANNBERG
Recording Supervisor: LIONEL NEWMAN
Star Wars
Produced by GEORGE LUCAS
Recorded at ANVIL RECORDING STUDIOS, Denham, England
The Empire Strikes Back • Return of the Jedi
Produced by JOHN WILLIAMS
Recorded at EMI/ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS, London, England
John Williams conducting the London Symphony Orchestra at the
Star Wars sessions at Anvil Recording Studios in March of 1977
( 29 Tracks • (83:27)Collapse )
May the Force be with you.
It was perhaps inevitable after seeing Harmy's Star Wars Despecialized Editions that I would have Star Wars on the brain. I realized that my Star Wars compilation was nearly six years old, and while it had remained amongst my personal favorites of of my own mixes, I felt that there was some room for improvement. Between the new software I employ, better techniques I have developed, and better sound quality sources I could use, that it was perhaps time to revisit one of my first compilations and correct some of the problems I have noticed over the years.
What those familiar with the earlier versions can expect from this revision:
- A more flowing and balanced listening experience that better explores the themes of the trilogy while retaining the swift pace and excitement of the previous editions.
- A return to the wider, warmer, more analog sound for Star Wars.
- The dynamics of The Empire Strikes Back are now more consistent with that of Return of the Jedi (both are different from Star Wars, but that was more the result of the acoustics of the different venue).
- Smoother edits and transitions.
The first and most prevalent change is that of sound quality, which, despite a variety of sources, is much more consistent on this album. Star Wars in particular had a overly aggressive sound which I was able to temper with good results. Several tracks in Empire suffered from clipping or balance issues, and dynamic was a constant issue. I was able to correct issues that I couldn't before, such as the skips in “Brother and Sister” and “The Throne Room and End Title” (the latter track appears whole on the RCA/Sony version, but I wanted to use the take and mix that appeared on the Arista). The transitions and edits have all been completely redone from scratch, and they are much smoother than was possible before.
Another change is in the overall structure of this version of the disc. On the whole, I wanted to use an “if it ain't broke, don't fix it” approach to this assembly, and I wanted to keep it as close to what I knew worked as I could. However, there were a few changes I wanted to make, the most significant perhaps being the elimination of the cue “The Return of the Jedi” which has appeared on all previous incarnations of this album. This track came in the middle of an extended action suite which I felt went on too long, and it consisted almost entirely of variations on Luke's theme and the Rebel Fanfare, both of which are well-represented elsewhere on the album. By dropping this track, I was able to both smooth out the listening experience and flesh out the rest of the album.
Between the expanded palette size I have and the space made available by removing “The Return of the Jedi,” I was able to expand the scope of the album a bit. Several new tracks have been added. “Luke's Nocturnal Visitor” establishes Yoda's theme early on, allowing the variations on his theme that appear later to be more effective. “The Scavengers” presents the memorable music for the Jawas. “The Ewok Battle” provides symmetry for “Heroic Ewok.”
Ultimately, however, my mission statement has been the same for all but the initial revision of this disc — I based this album on two overarching concepts, and I think that is part of what makes it work; the first was the film's representation of good versus evil, in this case represented by the Force theme in conflict with the Imperial March, while the second is the music's representation of the mythic elements that made the films so successful. The Imperial March is heard often and quite stridently at the beginning of the album, but becomes less aggressive as the album goes on, eventually giving way to the diabolical choral theme for Emperor Palpatine; whilst the Force theme begins in a more meditative place and becomes more noble by the end of the disc, reflecting the defeat of tyranny and the restoration of Ben's values to the galaxy.
I received two of the best complements I ever could receive for my original Star Wars trilogy mix... the first was from Nate. I had given him a copy because he was somewhat interested. He called me a few days later from his car with it blasting and asked if he could borrow the DVDs of the trilogy — the music had re-ignited his interest in the originals after having been brutalized by the prequels. The other one was from Art, who, upon receiving my initial revision, viewed it with some skepticism, saying, "I don't know, man, you're fuckin' with the Mona Lisa here." That was big acclaim coming from somebody whose interest in these scores mirrors my own. I was therefore very careful when replacing or moving material not to deviate to much from the structure that I know works.
Index markers appear at several points on this disc (the same places they have appeared in previous versions). If anybody actually has a CD player that still recognizes index markers (let me know, I'm curious if there are any left), they're still there.
I felt that it was time to revisit the cover art, which I had changed only slightly after the initial revision. In creating cover art for the discs I burned for myself of the Despecialized Editions, I found myself gravitating toward the original poster art for each of the three films. These images were not only vintage representations of the films in question, befitting the restoration aspect, but they were also the artwork used on the 1992 Widescreen Edition VHS box set, which contained an abbreviated version of ‘The Creative Impulse’ and From Star Wars To Jedi: The Making of a Saga (Star Wars featured the 1985 sound mix), that I have a personal attachment to because it was the first time I'd seen Star Wars in widescreen since seeing it in the theater. I felt that this collage of all three one-sheets featured in the 1993 THX CAV Definitive Collection laserdisc box set — until
While I did want to create smoother transitions, make more seamless edits, and present the scores in cleaner sound, the primary impetus for taking up this project again was to better balance out the overall listening experience. This edition better communicates the scope of Williams' music for this historic trilogy: the swashbuckling adventure, the white-knuckle tension, the romantic passion, the exotic creatures and locations, and most importantly, the fun!
1. TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FANFARE WITH CINEMASCOPE® EXTENSION (0:21)
Composed by ALFRED NEWMAN
2. MAIN TITLE AND IMPERIAL ATTACK (Star Wars) (4:07)
3. THE EMPEROR ARRIVES (Return of the Jedi) (0:43)
4. THE EXECUTOR (The Empire Strikes Back) (2:12)
5. TALES OF A JEDI KNIGHT (Star Wars) (2:09)
6. HAN SOLO AND THE PRINCESS (The Empire Strikes Back) (2:21)
7. HEROIC EWOK (Return of the Jedi) (1:01)
8. LUKE’S NOCTURNAL VISITOR (The Empire Strikes Back) (1:22)
9. INTO THE TRAP (Return of the Jedi) (2:30)
10. THE PRINCESS APPEARS (Star Wars) (4:03)
11. THE ASTEROID FIELD (The Empire Strikes Back) (4:06)
12. THE RETURN HOME AND A HIVE OF VILLAINY (Star Wars) (4:35)
13. CITY IN THE CLOUDS (The Empire Strikes Back) (1:39)
14. BROTHER AND SISTER (Return of the Jedi) (3:04)
15. BEN’S DEATH AND THE TIE FIGHTER ATTACK (Star Wars) (3:41)
16. YODA AND THE FORCE (The Empire Strikes Back) (3:48)
17. REVELATION AND SULLUST (Return of the Jedi) (0:34)
18. BLASTING OFF (Star Wars) (2:09)
19. THE DUEL (The Empire Strikes Back) (3:26)
20. THE SCAVENGERS (Star Wars) (2:00)
21. THE EWOK BATTLE (Return of the Jedi) (2:19)
22. ATTACK POSITION (The Empire Strikes Back) (1:02)
23. THE RESCUE OF THE PRINCESS (Star Wars) (2:55)
24. THE CONFRONTATION (Return of the Jedi) (2:39)
25. HYPERSPACE (The Empire Strikes Back) (3:57)
26. FINAL DUEL (Return of the Jedi) (2:50)
27. THE LAST BATTLE (Star Wars) (8:49)
28. THE LIGHT OF THE FORCE (Return of the Jedi) (3:18)
29. THE THRONE ROOM AND END TITLE (Star Wars) (5:29)
Music Composed and Conducted by JOHN WILLIAMS
Performed by THE LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Orchestrators: HERBERT W. SPENCER • ALEXANDER COURAGE • ANGELA MORLEY
Recording Engineer: ERIC TOMLINSON
Music Editor: KENNETH WANNBERG
Recording Supervisor: LIONEL NEWMAN
Star Wars
Produced by GEORGE LUCAS
Recorded at ANVIL RECORDING STUDIOS, Denham, England
The Empire Strikes Back • Return of the Jedi
Produced by JOHN WILLIAMS
Recorded at EMI/ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS, London, England
John Williams conducting the London Symphony Orchestra at the
Star Wars sessions at Anvil Recording Studios in March of 1977
( 29 Tracks • (83:27)Collapse )
May the Force be with you.
- Current Location:Home
- Current Mood:
relieved - Current Music:Composed and Conducted by John Williams
It has been two years since I have brought Varinia home. A lot of things have happened over the course of that two years, both accomplishments and disappointments, but she has been a positive presence throughout.
Our relationship has evolved over time, and while it was always been warm, there is a level of intimacy (not in the prurient sense) that has developed over the course of our time together that I find it difficult to explain. I guess the best way to describe it is that we understand each other on a much deeper level over time.
These days, it's really hard for me to stay angry for any length of time with Varinia around. She's so friendly and affectionate that most residual frustration from the day evaporates as soon as I get home and she's there to enthusiastically greet me. Every day starts off on a much more positive note because the first thing I do in the morning when I wake up is pet my cat. I was never a dangerous person — no matter how furious I might get, I have never and would never resort to violence — but I have been known to let those feelings get the better of me and I could get unnecessarily vicious, but now, negativity doesn't really have a chance to take hold.
An important element of this is that there really is rarely any friction between us. There are times when she does something that I'll need to stop her from doing, but since she usually listens to me, that sort of thing rarely ever goes very far. She is very communicative, which makes things easier for me. For example, when she wants me to clean the litter box, she stands in the bathroom doorway and stares at me until I do it (this sounds like it could be annoying, but I much prefer it to how other cats I've known would transmit this request).
While I don't like to speak for others, I'm willing to say that I think she's happy too. It's the only way that our existence could possibly be as harmonious as it is.
Our relationship has evolved over time, and while it was always been warm, there is a level of intimacy (not in the prurient sense) that has developed over the course of our time together that I find it difficult to explain. I guess the best way to describe it is that we understand each other on a much deeper level over time.
These days, it's really hard for me to stay angry for any length of time with Varinia around. She's so friendly and affectionate that most residual frustration from the day evaporates as soon as I get home and she's there to enthusiastically greet me. Every day starts off on a much more positive note because the first thing I do in the morning when I wake up is pet my cat. I was never a dangerous person — no matter how furious I might get, I have never and would never resort to violence — but I have been known to let those feelings get the better of me and I could get unnecessarily vicious, but now, negativity doesn't really have a chance to take hold.
An important element of this is that there really is rarely any friction between us. There are times when she does something that I'll need to stop her from doing, but since she usually listens to me, that sort of thing rarely ever goes very far. She is very communicative, which makes things easier for me. For example, when she wants me to clean the litter box, she stands in the bathroom doorway and stares at me until I do it (this sounds like it could be annoying, but I much prefer it to how other cats I've known would transmit this request).
While I don't like to speak for others, I'm willing to say that I think she's happy too. It's the only way that our existence could possibly be as harmonious as it is.
- Current Location:Home
- Current Mood:
happy - Current Music:Urban Danger
I just watched Star Wars.
Not Star Wars: A New Hope. Not Star Wars: Episode anything.
Just plain old Star Wars.
I stumbled by accident across a project by a fan who has created 720p HD editions of the original Star Wars trilogy from various sources. The project is in 720p for several reasons, including both the processing power it would have required to make the edits in 1080p, but also because the because some of the footage was sourced from the '93 and '97 laserdisc transfers, and 720p was the highest resolution where the difference in picture quality from the source to source wouldn't be so obvious. However, I've seen the 1080i broadcasts, and this is equivalent to them, and the HD picture is quite solid throughout.
The first film contains a reconstruction of the original 1977 70 millimeter six-track Dolby Stereo magnetic mix in Dolby Digital 5.1, the THX Dolby Surround mix for the 1993 CAV Definitive Collection laserdiscs in Dolby Digital 2.0 (this is my preferred mix), the original 1977 mono mix (which features the original actress voicing Aunt Beru), and the original 1977 Dolby Stereo optical mix in Dolby Digital 2.0 (there is also a dubbed track and a descriptive track for the hearing impaired, which I did not sample). The bit rates for all of these tracks is much higher than DVD standards for Dolby Digital, which means that the sound has space for the oomph that the official DVDs of the theatrical versions don't, and with some minor manipulation, sounded quite fantastic.
This was the movie that I saw when I was three, and was the first movie I ever asked to see again. This was the movie that demonstrated that space opera could be popular entertainment. This was the movie that revolutionized what the industry thought could or could not be depicted visually on film. It's the film that brought back the symphonic score to Hollywood in a big way.
This was the movie that had me transfixed as a child.
And you know what? It still transfixes. Strip away the sequels and the hoopla and you get a sprawling adventure yarn depicting distant worlds told in a swashbuckling but economical manner. And I loved every minute of it.
Watching Star Wars up until now had been a tedious process; I could watch my laserdiscs which sound great but they don't look so great and there are side-flips (although I now have the CLV editions, thanks so much toehowton, which helped a lot). I could watch the 2004 DVDs, but I really can't stand all of the additional effects, which I always found quite distracting, and I loathe the changes in content Lucas has been introducing since the 1997 Special Editions. I haven't bought the Blu-rays, because they're essentially spruced-up Special Editions with even more changes of varying shades of repugnance, and I've just gotten sick and tired of all of that.
Yes, I know there were alterations and alternate sound mixes before, but c'mon, those were really, really minor — in addition to the whole “Han Shot First” controversy (actually a misnomer, Han shoots; Greedo doesn't shoot at all), one of the funniest scenes is severely blunted in the new version. Han chases cadre of stormtroopers, shouting and creating the illusion that he is more people than he actually is. However, he runs the stormtroopers into a dead end and they are forced to turn around and realize that THERE'S ONLY ONE SCHMUCK CHASING THEM, and the tables are turned. Isn't that a much better “oops” than running into a room with more stormtroopers?.
It felt… relieving. This was exactly what I wanted to see; a good HD transfer of the movie I had seen many times in the theater and too many times to count on home video. It's a film that I had memorized, and while some of the effects have dated, I have to say, they're still quite effective. During the last battle above the Death Star, I just found myself thinking, “There's nothing wrong with these special effects!” And that's a sequence I think looks good in the Special Editions.
To make my position clear on this: I don't mind that Lucas is constantly revising these films. I think that's actually kind of cool that he can do that. What I don't like is that he is attempting to erase the existence of the previous versions, which, let's face it, are the versions of the films that had the cultural impact and made him into what he is today.
Worse, the self-indulgent George Lucas of today is not the same person as the maverick filmmaker determined to make this science-fantasy film that everybody knew was going to flop. The changes he's making to the films at this point seem to be just to fuck with people.
So for Star Wars, I have turned to other sources, and all I can say is that everybody who was involved in that restoration has my gratitude. It has been a long time since I could watch that film in a manner even approaching state-of-the-art. This was just immensely satisfying.
If you're interested in finding these for yourself, search for them under the term “Despecialized Edition.”
Not Star Wars: A New Hope. Not Star Wars: Episode anything.
Just plain old Star Wars.
I stumbled by accident across a project by a fan who has created 720p HD editions of the original Star Wars trilogy from various sources. The project is in 720p for several reasons, including both the processing power it would have required to make the edits in 1080p, but also because the because some of the footage was sourced from the '93 and '97 laserdisc transfers, and 720p was the highest resolution where the difference in picture quality from the source to source wouldn't be so obvious. However, I've seen the 1080i broadcasts, and this is equivalent to them, and the HD picture is quite solid throughout.
The first film contains a reconstruction of the original 1977 70 millimeter six-track Dolby Stereo magnetic mix in Dolby Digital 5.1, the THX Dolby Surround mix for the 1993 CAV Definitive Collection laserdiscs in Dolby Digital 2.0 (this is my preferred mix), the original 1977 mono mix (which features the original actress voicing Aunt Beru), and the original 1977 Dolby Stereo optical mix in Dolby Digital 2.0 (there is also a dubbed track and a descriptive track for the hearing impaired, which I did not sample). The bit rates for all of these tracks is much higher than DVD standards for Dolby Digital, which means that the sound has space for the oomph that the official DVDs of the theatrical versions don't, and with some minor manipulation, sounded quite fantastic.
This was the movie that I saw when I was three, and was the first movie I ever asked to see again. This was the movie that demonstrated that space opera could be popular entertainment. This was the movie that revolutionized what the industry thought could or could not be depicted visually on film. It's the film that brought back the symphonic score to Hollywood in a big way.
This was the movie that had me transfixed as a child.
And you know what? It still transfixes. Strip away the sequels and the hoopla and you get a sprawling adventure yarn depicting distant worlds told in a swashbuckling but economical manner. And I loved every minute of it.
Watching Star Wars up until now had been a tedious process; I could watch my laserdiscs which sound great but they don't look so great and there are side-flips (although I now have the CLV editions, thanks so much to
Yes, I know there were alterations and alternate sound mixes before, but c'mon, those were really, really minor — in addition to the whole “Han Shot First” controversy (actually a misnomer, Han shoots; Greedo doesn't shoot at all), one of the funniest scenes is severely blunted in the new version. Han chases cadre of stormtroopers, shouting and creating the illusion that he is more people than he actually is. However, he runs the stormtroopers into a dead end and they are forced to turn around and realize that THERE'S ONLY ONE SCHMUCK CHASING THEM, and the tables are turned. Isn't that a much better “oops” than running into a room with more stormtroopers?.
It felt… relieving. This was exactly what I wanted to see; a good HD transfer of the movie I had seen many times in the theater and too many times to count on home video. It's a film that I had memorized, and while some of the effects have dated, I have to say, they're still quite effective. During the last battle above the Death Star, I just found myself thinking, “There's nothing wrong with these special effects!” And that's a sequence I think looks good in the Special Editions.
To make my position clear on this: I don't mind that Lucas is constantly revising these films. I think that's actually kind of cool that he can do that. What I don't like is that he is attempting to erase the existence of the previous versions, which, let's face it, are the versions of the films that had the cultural impact and made him into what he is today.
Worse, the self-indulgent George Lucas of today is not the same person as the maverick filmmaker determined to make this science-fantasy film that everybody knew was going to flop. The changes he's making to the films at this point seem to be just to fuck with people.
So for Star Wars, I have turned to other sources, and all I can say is that everybody who was involved in that restoration has my gratitude. It has been a long time since I could watch that film in a manner even approaching state-of-the-art. This was just immensely satisfying.
If you're interested in finding these for yourself, search for them under the term “Despecialized Edition.”
- Current Location:Home
- Current Mood:
satisfied - Current Music:Composed and Conducted by John Williams
Intrada's new 3 CD set of Basil Poledouris' epic score for Conan the Barbarian represents for me the end of a journey that was begun in earnest on January 1 of 1991 with the purchase of the MCA Records cassette of the original soundtrack album. The original LP configuration concentrated on the more introspective aspects of the score and that is what colored my initial impressions of it. One does sort of expect a certain level of brutality from the score to a film about a barbarian, and so to be presented with so much incredibly varied but beautiful and flowing music was something that took me by surprise upon my initial exposure to the music.
That tape lacked Dolby noise reduction, and its already muddy sound was dulled even further by the sheer amount of plays it got throughout my remaining high school years. Shortly afterward, I rented the film and was shocked by how much more music was in the movie than on the (relatively generous for the era) album. When I was a freshman in college, Varèse Sarabande came out with their expanded edition, which I devoured greedily.
The Varèse disc was rather satisfying for its time: the sound was much better than my tape cassette, and most of what I really wanted was on there. The thing about time is that it moves inexorably forward, and eventually I wanted more. I satisfied that yen throughout the years through a series of alternate sources, all of which were mono and all of which had severe audio issues, most primarily that they were buried under a thick layer of hiss. It was therefore with great relish that I anticipated Intrada's edition.
However, a few years ago, James Fitzpatrick produced a brand new Tadlow recording of this score for Prometheus Records with Nic Raine conducting the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus. The new recording wasn't supposed to reproduce the original, but rather the score that Poledouris had written but was forced to alter to accommodate the abilities of the two Italian orchestras involved in the recording. As a result, there were many differences between what one hears on the original soundtrack recording and on the Tadlow.
When I first got the Tadlow recording, I primarily noted the different orchestrations, and then praised the performance itself, while acknowledging some issues with the sound that I considered pretty minor. And while I never stopped listening to the original soundtrack recording, as well as my Conan compilation Let Me Tell You of the Days of High Adventure, over time I found that when I listened to Conan the Barbarian, it was the Tadlow edition I reached for most often.
Thus, rediscovering the original score through Intrada's new edition was in many ways re-acquainting myself with an old friend. The music has been completely remixed from the original masters, and it sounds great; there are those who would have liked a little more low end, but I agree with Doug Fake's contention that what's here is the more natural sound of the orchestra. It is an undeniable fact that there is much more detail to be heard now; instruments that were buried before are crystal clear, strings have a fine sheen, and the brass is more cutting. It's like a veil was taken off of the music. Everything here is in pristine stereo except for the prerecorded source music; "The Hall of King Osric" (which wouldn't have much of a stereo presence anyway) and the adaptation of 'Las Cantigas De Santa Maria' that incorporates the Clemenic Consort performance, both of which appear in somewhat hissy mono. Given the story behind those cues, especially the latter, I'm just glad they were able to be included.
Ironically, the clarity of the sound does reveal some of the shakier elements of the two Italian orchestras' performances. There is much power there, to be sure, but there are moments when the music gets a little ahead of the orchestra (more so on the expanded edition, as Poledouris selected the cues with the best performances for the previous editions). In fact, this remaster puts to bed any doubt in Fitzpatrick's statements that Poledouris, who was by all accounts a perfectionist, wasn't satisfied with the performance of Conan the Barbarian. While this obviously wasn't the sort of disaster he experienced whilst working on Conan the Destroyer, there certainly are moments that are rougher than they ought to be.
So, while it should be no surprise that I've been listening to Conan nonstop since I received Intrada's set, what I've ended up doing – not by design, it's just how it ended up working out – is alternating between the Intrada and the Tadlow versions. Each one has elements that I like, and frankly having two complete versions of this particular score makes me gibberingly happy.
While there are some who have said that the Tadlow performance is more mechanical, I disagree and I've found that I've gotten rather attached many of Raine's readings of the music. Despite its sonic limitations, his "Anvil of Crom" has more energy and fuller orchestrations, more resembling Poledouris' own performance of "Conan the Symphony" at Ùbeda than that in the film. The City of Prague Philharmonic's take on "Pit Fights" is much tighter than the film version, which comes apart a bit as it gets faster; the better performance allows the cue to be more brutal. Raine's rendition of "The Tree of Woe" incorporates a female choir that turns what I had previously considered a primarily ambient portion of the cue into something more mysterious and eerily beautiful.
Most importantly, the Tadlow's version of "Recovery" is in every way an improvement over the original – and I'm talking about one of my favorite cues from one of my favorite scores. In my notes for Let Me Tell You of the Days of High Adventure, I said of this piece, "This is one of the most arresting pieces of music from either film, a beautiful reworking of familiar material to illustrate not only how a character feels but how he has been changed by his experiences." The performances are so introspective and the direction, particularly the transition from the first statement of the main theme with cor anglais and trumpet, to the second with the choir, is absolutely sublime.
Conan the Barbarian • Composed by Basil Poledouris
The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus Conducted by Nic Raine • Prometheus XPCD 169
On the other hand, the film versions of "Riddle of Steel · Riders of Doom," "Wifeing," "The Battle of the Mounds (Part I)" and "Orphans of Doom · The Awakening" just can't really be beat. There are also some cases where the versions are so different that they aren't really comparable, such as "Column of Sadness · Wheel of Pain," "The Leaving" and others. The Intrada edition also adds a few alternate versions of "Orphans of Doom" that are just beautiful. I also have to say that I really like the reprise of the "Pit Fights" material in the unused cue "The Snake," which does not appear on the Tadlow album (although the Tadlow version of the following cue "Infidels" is a much better performance than the messy one that appears in the film).
There were also a few surprises, most notably that there the film versions sometimes differ from what appeared on the LP and the Varèse edition – "Atlantean Sword" is noticeably different in presence and has a longer finale. I had tended to ignore the retracked section "The Defilers" despite it being included on all of the unmentionables because of their horrid sound (although I have to admit that I quite enjoyed its appearance as "Orgy Fight" on the Tadlow album, which ironically more accurately reproduces the edits made to "Anvil of Crom" in the film than the Intrada edition), but I found the alternate takes of "Battle of the Mounds" and "Riders of Doom," which feature additional lines for the brass section instead of choir, were actually quite exciting.
There was also something else that initially shocked me: "The Kitchen" – which was a cue not included on the LP but I was familiar with from the film and thus had been pining for when the Varèse disc came out – was not the same as what appeared in the film and on the Varèse CD! At first, I thought that Doug had messed something up, but when I listened closely to both, I realized that the track on the Intrada edition was actually what was recorded, while what's in the film, and subsequently reproduced on the Varèse disc, was achieved by switching two sections of the music! It's funny to me because when I first got the Varèse CD and could hear "The Kitchen" in stereo and without sound effects, I thought that section sounded like it had been edited, but I never thought much of it (the Taldow recording is of the film version).
I've seen too many Twilight Zone episodes ever to make desert island lists, but if I ever were to list my top ten favorite scores, for nearly twenty-three years, this score would have been on it. Having this score in complete form, with extras (including a remaster of the original LP configuration) in good sound is a dream come true. It's not perfect, but my issues are so minor that they are pretty much worth a footnote.*
When Intrada releases their edition of Conan the Destroyer, I will revisit Let Me Tell You of the Days of High Adventure. I will be simply recreating the original edit with the new masters, however. I don't want to mess with that one.
So this is it. This is all of Conan the Barbarian in all of its operatic glory, and the best it has ever sounded. I've searched far and wide for this music in the past, and it is all here, along with material I hadn't heard yet. There is no more. And while when Alexander saw the breadth of his kingdom, he wept because there were no more worlds to conquer, I look forward to the years of pleasure this score has yet to give me. I've been listening to it for twenty-three years, and it hasn't gotten old yet.
Clockwise from the Top:
The original MCA LP
The aforementioned MCA tape cassette
The Varèse expanded edition
The Milan edition (LP configuration but with the opening prologue with Mako's narration)
The Intrada complete edition
* — The initial entry of "Anvil of Crom" after the Prologue on the first track should have had much more power, I could really have done without the crossfade from "War Paint" to "The Kitchen," and the tracked music in "The Defilers" doesn't reproduce the internal edits on "Anvil of Crom."
Today marks my thirty-seventh straight day of work. We are no longer working twelve hour days, but rather have gone down to ten. I don't know how much longer this is going to be, but I could really use a weekend.
On the other hand, working this much does have certain benefits. I am currently typing this LiveJournal entry on my brand new, fully loaded MacBook Pro. It's verrah nice-ah, and it is all set and ready for me to do what I need to do with it (and I may need it for that sooner than I thought…
…but that is another story).
I bought it the week before last, and this is the first time I have had a chance to really sit down in front of it for any length of time outside of transferring all of my music to the Mac. This actually wasn't really all that time consuming, at least, it wasn't time consuming for me. I set it to read the drive with all the music, went to bed, and it was done when I woke up. The music drive is currently connected wirelessly through my Airport Extreme, which also hosts the printer, my stalwart Epson RX-580 (it's what prints on the CDs, see?).
Well, I am off to bed. I must awake at the ass-crack of dawn to get to work. I exaggerate, especially seeing as the days are getting shorter, but that's what it feels like, damn it.
That tape lacked Dolby noise reduction, and its already muddy sound was dulled even further by the sheer amount of plays it got throughout my remaining high school years. Shortly afterward, I rented the film and was shocked by how much more music was in the movie than on the (relatively generous for the era) album. When I was a freshman in college, Varèse Sarabande came out with their expanded edition, which I devoured greedily.
The Varèse disc was rather satisfying for its time: the sound was much better than my tape cassette, and most of what I really wanted was on there. The thing about time is that it moves inexorably forward, and eventually I wanted more. I satisfied that yen throughout the years through a series of alternate sources, all of which were mono and all of which had severe audio issues, most primarily that they were buried under a thick layer of hiss. It was therefore with great relish that I anticipated Intrada's edition.
However, a few years ago, James Fitzpatrick produced a brand new Tadlow recording of this score for Prometheus Records with Nic Raine conducting the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus. The new recording wasn't supposed to reproduce the original, but rather the score that Poledouris had written but was forced to alter to accommodate the abilities of the two Italian orchestras involved in the recording. As a result, there were many differences between what one hears on the original soundtrack recording and on the Tadlow.
When I first got the Tadlow recording, I primarily noted the different orchestrations, and then praised the performance itself, while acknowledging some issues with the sound that I considered pretty minor. And while I never stopped listening to the original soundtrack recording, as well as my Conan compilation Let Me Tell You of the Days of High Adventure, over time I found that when I listened to Conan the Barbarian, it was the Tadlow edition I reached for most often.
Thus, rediscovering the original score through Intrada's new edition was in many ways re-acquainting myself with an old friend. The music has been completely remixed from the original masters, and it sounds great; there are those who would have liked a little more low end, but I agree with Doug Fake's contention that what's here is the more natural sound of the orchestra. It is an undeniable fact that there is much more detail to be heard now; instruments that were buried before are crystal clear, strings have a fine sheen, and the brass is more cutting. It's like a veil was taken off of the music. Everything here is in pristine stereo except for the prerecorded source music; "The Hall of King Osric" (which wouldn't have much of a stereo presence anyway) and the adaptation of 'Las Cantigas De Santa Maria' that incorporates the Clemenic Consort performance, both of which appear in somewhat hissy mono. Given the story behind those cues, especially the latter, I'm just glad they were able to be included.
Ironically, the clarity of the sound does reveal some of the shakier elements of the two Italian orchestras' performances. There is much power there, to be sure, but there are moments when the music gets a little ahead of the orchestra (more so on the expanded edition, as Poledouris selected the cues with the best performances for the previous editions). In fact, this remaster puts to bed any doubt in Fitzpatrick's statements that Poledouris, who was by all accounts a perfectionist, wasn't satisfied with the performance of Conan the Barbarian. While this obviously wasn't the sort of disaster he experienced whilst working on Conan the Destroyer, there certainly are moments that are rougher than they ought to be.
So, while it should be no surprise that I've been listening to Conan nonstop since I received Intrada's set, what I've ended up doing – not by design, it's just how it ended up working out – is alternating between the Intrada and the Tadlow versions. Each one has elements that I like, and frankly having two complete versions of this particular score makes me gibberingly happy.
While there are some who have said that the Tadlow performance is more mechanical, I disagree and I've found that I've gotten rather attached many of Raine's readings of the music. Despite its sonic limitations, his "Anvil of Crom" has more energy and fuller orchestrations, more resembling Poledouris' own performance of "Conan the Symphony" at Ùbeda than that in the film. The City of Prague Philharmonic's take on "Pit Fights" is much tighter than the film version, which comes apart a bit as it gets faster; the better performance allows the cue to be more brutal. Raine's rendition of "The Tree of Woe" incorporates a female choir that turns what I had previously considered a primarily ambient portion of the cue into something more mysterious and eerily beautiful.
Most importantly, the Tadlow's version of "Recovery" is in every way an improvement over the original – and I'm talking about one of my favorite cues from one of my favorite scores. In my notes for Let Me Tell You of the Days of High Adventure, I said of this piece, "This is one of the most arresting pieces of music from either film, a beautiful reworking of familiar material to illustrate not only how a character feels but how he has been changed by his experiences." The performances are so introspective and the direction, particularly the transition from the first statement of the main theme with cor anglais and trumpet, to the second with the choir, is absolutely sublime.
Conan the Barbarian • Composed by Basil Poledouris
The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus Conducted by Nic Raine • Prometheus XPCD 169
On the other hand, the film versions of "Riddle of Steel · Riders of Doom," "Wifeing," "The Battle of the Mounds (Part I)" and "Orphans of Doom · The Awakening" just can't really be beat. There are also some cases where the versions are so different that they aren't really comparable, such as "Column of Sadness · Wheel of Pain," "The Leaving" and others. The Intrada edition also adds a few alternate versions of "Orphans of Doom" that are just beautiful. I also have to say that I really like the reprise of the "Pit Fights" material in the unused cue "The Snake," which does not appear on the Tadlow album (although the Tadlow version of the following cue "Infidels" is a much better performance than the messy one that appears in the film).
There were also a few surprises, most notably that there the film versions sometimes differ from what appeared on the LP and the Varèse edition – "Atlantean Sword" is noticeably different in presence and has a longer finale. I had tended to ignore the retracked section "The Defilers" despite it being included on all of the unmentionables because of their horrid sound (although I have to admit that I quite enjoyed its appearance as "Orgy Fight" on the Tadlow album, which ironically more accurately reproduces the edits made to "Anvil of Crom" in the film than the Intrada edition), but I found the alternate takes of "Battle of the Mounds" and "Riders of Doom," which feature additional lines for the brass section instead of choir, were actually quite exciting.
There was also something else that initially shocked me: "The Kitchen" – which was a cue not included on the LP but I was familiar with from the film and thus had been pining for when the Varèse disc came out – was not the same as what appeared in the film and on the Varèse CD! At first, I thought that Doug had messed something up, but when I listened closely to both, I realized that the track on the Intrada edition was actually what was recorded, while what's in the film, and subsequently reproduced on the Varèse disc, was achieved by switching two sections of the music! It's funny to me because when I first got the Varèse CD and could hear "The Kitchen" in stereo and without sound effects, I thought that section sounded like it had been edited, but I never thought much of it (the Taldow recording is of the film version).
I've seen too many Twilight Zone episodes ever to make desert island lists, but if I ever were to list my top ten favorite scores, for nearly twenty-three years, this score would have been on it. Having this score in complete form, with extras (including a remaster of the original LP configuration) in good sound is a dream come true. It's not perfect, but my issues are so minor that they are pretty much worth a footnote.*
When Intrada releases their edition of Conan the Destroyer, I will revisit Let Me Tell You of the Days of High Adventure. I will be simply recreating the original edit with the new masters, however. I don't want to mess with that one.
So this is it. This is all of Conan the Barbarian in all of its operatic glory, and the best it has ever sounded. I've searched far and wide for this music in the past, and it is all here, along with material I hadn't heard yet. There is no more. And while when Alexander saw the breadth of his kingdom, he wept because there were no more worlds to conquer, I look forward to the years of pleasure this score has yet to give me. I've been listening to it for twenty-three years, and it hasn't gotten old yet.
Clockwise from the Top:
The original MCA LP
The aforementioned MCA tape cassette
The Varèse expanded edition
The Milan edition (LP configuration but with the opening prologue with Mako's narration)
The Intrada complete edition
* — The initial entry of "Anvil of Crom" after the Prologue on the first track should have had much more power, I could really have done without the crossfade from "War Paint" to "The Kitchen," and the tracked music in "The Defilers" doesn't reproduce the internal edits on "Anvil of Crom."
Today marks my thirty-seventh straight day of work. We are no longer working twelve hour days, but rather have gone down to ten. I don't know how much longer this is going to be, but I could really use a weekend.
On the other hand, working this much does have certain benefits. I am currently typing this LiveJournal entry on my brand new, fully loaded MacBook Pro. It's verrah nice-ah, and it is all set and ready for me to do what I need to do with it (and I may need it for that sooner than I thought…
…but that is another story).
I bought it the week before last, and this is the first time I have had a chance to really sit down in front of it for any length of time outside of transferring all of my music to the Mac. This actually wasn't really all that time consuming, at least, it wasn't time consuming for me. I set it to read the drive with all the music, went to bed, and it was done when I woke up. The music drive is currently connected wirelessly through my Airport Extreme, which also hosts the printer, my stalwart Epson RX-580 (it's what prints on the CDs, see?).
Well, I am off to bed. I must awake at the ass-crack of dawn to get to work. I exaggerate, especially seeing as the days are getting shorter, but that's what it feels like, damn it.
- Current Location:Home
- Current Mood:
enthralled - Current Music:Composed and Conducted by Basil Poledouris
- “In whose name do you ride?”
- This week I had the pleasure of attending the Fathom theatrical presentation of Lawrence of Arabia. They were screening the recent 8k to 4k restoration of the film, which presents the extended 1989 director's cut of the film assembled by Katz and Harris under the direction of Sir David Lean and editor Anne V. Coates. I had seen the film projected previously in 70 millimeter at the Paris and Ziegfeld theaters, and I have always tried whenever the film was in theaters to go see it. This time was no different, except that I had attended Fathom's presentation of The Birds and was less than blown away by the image, and was less than impressed by the clips shown before that film of what Lawrence might look like. However, the film was being shown theatrically and my date had never seen it, so I felt justified in wanting to catch it again.
I needn't have worried; the presentation was first-rate. I can say that the restoration looks fantastic, colors are more solid than they appeared on film prints. The depth and detail captured by the original 65 millimeter camera negative is all there, solid and vivid.
The thing about Lawrence is that, if you've seen it at home, you haven't really seen it. This was a film that was photographed to be seen on a huge screen, and it doesn't translate so well to smaller dimensions. To put it bluntly: if your television fits in your apartment or house, it's TOO DAMN SMALL. Sequences in Lawrence are built around such striking images as a speck on the horizon resolving into a character (Omar Sharif's dramatic entrance and Lawrence's rescue of Gassim are unforgettable examples), or the John Ford-inspired use of the landscape to isolate characters. Freddie Young's cinematography is striking from the opening shot to the final fade-out, and several of the images are some of the most iconic in cinema history.
Something else struck me as interesting whilst watching the film. While one can definitely point at institutional racism of its casting and production (the only star of the film that came from even close to the region he was supposed to be from was Sharif as Ali, and only because Horst Buchholz and Alain Delon weren't available), it is interesting that the finished film tends to be too sophisticated and intelligent to fall into the standard movie “white man helps the primitives” narrative that this film could easily have descended into. Indeed, Lawrence's own motivations as well as those who use him for their own ends (including Prince Faisal) are sharply called into question by the nature of the story itself. Colonialism and warfare are the subjects of the film, and many of the more disturbing elements of the film are addressing these issues head-on.
To get myself pumped to see the film, I spent much of the day before I saw it (and the day afterward as well) listening to the superb Tadlow recording of Maurice Jarre's striking score. As I have mentioned before, I consider this to be one of the finest examples of a film music re-recording thus made. The performance captures the spirit of the original, and the sound is consistent with that of the original recording whilst not having any of its limitations. Indeed, perhaps the best complement I can offer is that there are several moments over the course of the album that I would have sworn before that only Maurice Jarre himself could possibly have conducted.
However, the Blu-ray set is said to have a remastered edition of the original soundtrack album with two previously unreleased tracks. While I am quite satisfied with Tadlow's recording, I am nevertheless curious about this disc for two reasons:- The sound of the score iin the new master of the film seemed a bit cleaner than it did in previous screenings I'd seen and the advances in mastering technology since the Varèse issue of the Colpix album was originally released in 1990 have been a thousandfold.
- I am hoping that among the two additional tracks will be the “Entry To the Desert” cue: that's the famous cut from Lawrence blowing out the match to the sunrise in the desert, with the rhapsodic presentation of the main theme as Lawrence and Tafas traverse the desert. This is one of the most striking cues in the film, but it was omitted from the original album (and subject to an awful rendition on the Silva recording), but has been part of many concert suites throughout the years; I'd love to have the original of this.
- A wonderful surprise was the Quartet Records release of The Long Goodbye. While a few tracks had already been released by Varèse paired with an album for another Johnny Williams score Fitzwilly, Quartet presents several more variations on the main theme as well as an edit of Robert Altman's ingenious main title montage. The latter conforms to the film cut, but because the song always cuts to a different version of the same song but at the same melodic point, it still works as a piece of music. Weird.
Quartet's edition nearly doubles the running time of the Varèse version, which could conceivably have made for a pretty dull listen for a score that consists entirely of different version of one song, but between Quartet's intelligent sequencing and the sheer inventiveness of the variations John Williams came up with (among the new tracks, he accompanies the Dave Grusin trio on piano), it pretty much breezes by.
I recently revisited the film as well. I refer people to my earlier comments on the film and how well it captures the feel of Los Angeles. I did pay special attention to the music this time around, now that I was a bit more aware of the different elements that went into it, and I have to say that I have an even greater appreciation of the Altman/Williams collaboration that yielded this and Images. The song is like another character in the film; rather than reflecting anything interior, it seems to become a sort of Greek Chorus, but with jazz. - I haven't really said much here about La-La Land's release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, mostly because I was just so overwhelmed by the sheer wealth of material represented on the set (although I did make the adjustments to my entry for A Busy Man to reflect the replacement of the old masters with the new material from this and GNP Crescendo's release of Star Trek: First Contact into that mix).
It is difficult to explain what I find so satisfying about this release. The fact is, anybody who has been collecting for as long as I have has come across multiple different variations for this score; in addition to the original album and the expanded 1999 edition, bootleg tapes of various elements of the score abounded since the film's release. I have heard most of the music on this set in one form or another. It isn't discovery that is making owning this set so conclusive.
Mostly, it's the fact that, for the first time, everything that I've ever heard has finally been placed in its proper context. All alternates and multiple versions have been accounted for, from the Lionel Newman-conducted version of the main title (the version on the record and in the “Director's Edition” cut were Goldsmith's own album take) to the different blaster beam hits for “The Force Field” to the variations on “Inner Workings;” album takes that are different from film takes, which were different from what was heard on the 1999 edition, at last can be made sense of here once and for all. And it is more complete than anything else previously heard, even including the film version of “No Goodbyes,” which I've never heard outside of the film before except as part of the sign-off for the expanded “Inside Star Trek” program included with the 1999 edition, where it was under Nichelle Nichols' exit speech.
It's also the sound.
The intial album master for Star Trek: The Motion Picture was prepared digitally in 1979; the 1999 edition was taken from an analogue source. The expansions on the latter had a characteristically flat sound, and while the original album master (faithfully reproduced as part of La-La Land's set) sounds decent on its own, there was some room for improvement. Newly mixed from the original 24-track analogue master tapes, the new set sounds completely different. Each section of the orchestra is much more clearly delineated, and the much more detailed sonics means that one hears more than one ever did, even when listening to one of the more familiar cues.
This is one of the scores that truly cemented my love for this genre, and it has finally gotten the release that I'd always hoped for. As I've often commented, if this film were better-paced, I might not have had to notice how good the music was. As the film's tag-line stated, “There is no comparison.” - Varèse has been taking some hits from some people in the film music community for their “Encore Series,” which is essentially them repressing certain titles from their back catalog, then making them available on iTunes. I actually like much of what they've re-released, and while some titles might have benefited from an expansion, if you look at it from the point of view that they're just making available stuff that people might have missed, it becomes a very fruitful line. I for one was very pleased to be able to pick up Elmer Bernstein's Amazing Grace and Chuck, Georges Delerue's Crimes of the Heart and Maurice Jarre's Tai Pan (among others) for a reasonable price.
I have to say, however, I was not very pleased with their re-issue of Chinatown. I was okay with getting a better sounding master of the original LP (I would prefer the complete score plus alternates, but I understand that may not be as easy as some may think it is) there was no sonic improvement I could hear (the sound is slightly different, but I wouldn't say one disc had any real advantage over the other), the notes weren't much more illuminating than they originally were, and I actually liked the disc artwork a bit better than what graced the original CD release. There was no point in my upgrading whatsoever, and in a few weeks I plan to sell a lot of my doubles and whatnot to Screen Archives; it will be the new edition, not the old, that I am offering them.
Speaking of Jerry, I found the BuySoundtrax album Jerry Goldsmith Volume One: The Rarities to have been full of pleasant surprises, not least of which is how well it sounds when played straight through. It is very well programmed so that the listener goes through various “suites” that concentrate on a certain genre or sound, such as a 'noir' suite with Chinatown, L.A. Confidential, 2 Days In the Valley and the like.
Some of the tracks are remarkably faithful, such as the main title for Shamus (I'd love a release of that score some day), others are very, very different stylistically from the originals. Warlock and Psycho II get some very contemporary and different arrangements. I really liked this compilation as it filled in some blanks, while at the same time offering a fresh spin on some familiar favorites.
Meanwhile, Intrada released the full original unused score for 2 Days In the Valley. The aforementioned BSX compilation was the first time I had heard any music from the film, but I loved the plaintive trumpet theme, and so I was quite interested to hear more. I was surprised to find how colorful and varied the score was when played in full. Some passages have what sounds like a slinkier take on Basic Instinct, others a jaunty Italian tune. I've not seen the film, so I don't know how any of this would fit together, but it makes for an interesting listen. - Among his swan songs, Lukas Kendall has righted a serious wrong.
In 1981, when John Barry was recording his soon-to-be classic score for Lawrence Kasdan's soon-to-be classic film Body Heat (again, I refer to my previous comments on the film), which was to be released by on John Lasher's Southern Cross label. An album master was prepared by Dan Wallin, but apparently Lasher didn't want to pay the price for that composer-approved mix and went off and made his own. That horrid sound mix was what graced the original LP and Southern Cross CDs, and for years was the only was to hear the original soundtrack recording.
Film Score Monthly's new edition of the score repairs the damage done to the score with a fresh new stereo mix that is so much of an improvement over the Southern Cross master that it's amazing that they're even the same recording. The sound still has a slightly flat aspect to it, but it shares that with many other Dan Wallin recordings of the era; otherwise the new edition is clean and clear instead of muddy and distant.
The film score is a much sleazier performance than the Varèse Sarabande recording. While I like both, it is the film performances with Michael Lang and Ronnie Lang (no relation) that really gave this score its characteristic sound, which would in turn redefine the sound of a genre.
“It's okay by me…”
“Jim, I want this. As much as you wanted the Enterprise, I want this.”
“Forget it, Jerry. It's Varèse Sarabande.”
“My defense was evolving. You guys got scared. ”
I leave you with a picture of Varinia lying on a T-shirt that I got when I went to see Roger Waters at Yankee Stadium:
- Current Location:Home
- Current Mood: contemplative
- Current Music:Craig Safan: Wolfen (unused score)
Okay, this is seriously frustrating.
I have been working on finishing up my Lord of the Rings compilation. I want to have it completed once and for all by the time that the first Hobbit movie will come out. I am almost finished, there are only a few minor bits here and there to finalize on the sound side of things, and I wanted to complete the relevant LJ entries that would accompany the completion.
The notes were very complicated; they were in that way a counterpart to the mixes themselves. In addition to listing what the source material was for each track, I also had noted which choral texts went where and had links to where one could read those texts. Each track's entry also had a relevant quote either from the film or the book. The main body of each track's entry then had a description of the music, its construction, and how it fits into the overall arcs of this particular album.
I found, however, that the Semagic drafts I had saved had disappeared. I can't find them on that hard drive at all. I am a little confused, as I can imagine losing one of those files, but both of them sounds a little strange. I searched the entire drive looking for anything with the SLJ extension, but I can't find the notes for these. Actually, I couldn't find the notes for anything older than a few months ago.
Yes, I know: "First World problem." Nevertheless, I am very disappointed in this. I worked really hard on these, and to see these notes just evaporate into the ether really takes the wind out of my sails. I have no idea why this has happened, nothing else on the drive is missing. I don't see how I could have accidentally erased them, but I do wonder if there is another file extension I should perform my search for.
I have been working on finishing up my Lord of the Rings compilation. I want to have it completed once and for all by the time that the first Hobbit movie will come out. I am almost finished, there are only a few minor bits here and there to finalize on the sound side of things, and I wanted to complete the relevant LJ entries that would accompany the completion.
The notes were very complicated; they were in that way a counterpart to the mixes themselves. In addition to listing what the source material was for each track, I also had noted which choral texts went where and had links to where one could read those texts. Each track's entry also had a relevant quote either from the film or the book. The main body of each track's entry then had a description of the music, its construction, and how it fits into the overall arcs of this particular album.
I found, however, that the Semagic drafts I had saved had disappeared. I can't find them on that hard drive at all. I am a little confused, as I can imagine losing one of those files, but both of them sounds a little strange. I searched the entire drive looking for anything with the SLJ extension, but I can't find the notes for these. Actually, I couldn't find the notes for anything older than a few months ago.
Yes, I know: "First World problem." Nevertheless, I am very disappointed in this. I worked really hard on these, and to see these notes just evaporate into the ether really takes the wind out of my sails. I have no idea why this has happened, nothing else on the drive is missing. I don't see how I could have accidentally erased them, but I do wonder if there is another file extension I should perform my search for.
- Current Location:Home
- Current Mood:
disappointed - Current Music:Howard Shore: Original Music from the Lord of the Rings films
I have on occasion talked about "getting bitten by the mix bug." This is because there are some ideas I have that appear in the back of my mind and then start to bother me until I try them out. Sometimes this is for a track or two, sometimes it's for an entire mix. In cases like that, I don't always know where that process will take me, but that's part of what makes this hobby interesting. Sometimes I try things that just don't work (I never managed to get a Harry Palmer mix together, for example; the scores are just too different). Sometimes I get an idea that ends up taking me in directions I am a bit surprised by.
My reaction to the music for the Christopher Nolan Batman films — which seem to be referred to now as "The Dark Knight Trilogy" — was indifference at worst, lukewarm at best. There were a few moments I felt were especially inspired, but for the most part I was not too jazzed by the music by its appearance in the films or on the albums, feeling it was mostly pretty routine stuff, reasonably effective in the films but little more.
Those moments, though… they gave me an idea for the basic structure for an album. And trilogy mixes, where I have the opportunity to explore the development of themes over the course of a film series, are probably my favorite to make. And I knew that there was an enormous amount of music from all three films available. And… and… and I saw it as a challenge, to go through, get into and work with this music that I had such ambiguous feelings about, because I had to sort of "buy in" to the style, as well as the mythology of the film series in order to organize a decent representation. Who knows, I figured, maybe I would come away from the project with an elevated opinion of the music.
And that's how this project began, unlikely as it may seem.
( 83:27Collapse )
So… now that I've completed this mix, do I feel more positive about the music for the trilogy? Actually, I have to admit that I do, somewhat. I like how Zimmer developed his Batman theme into the Dark Knight theme and finally into the Orphan theme over the course of the series, the full dimensions of which I didn't really appreciate until I started assembling this album. I have a newer appreciation for some of Zimmer's production techniques, especially those employed to wreak havoc whenever the Joker would appear. I like the sound of the extended bass and 'cello section. I still have my reservations, however. I do have to say that, even though I did have to take an extended break for a bit of time because it does consist of such (intentionally) oppressive music, I did enjoy putting together this album a lot more than I thought I would.
My reaction to the music for the Christopher Nolan Batman films — which seem to be referred to now as "The Dark Knight Trilogy" — was indifference at worst, lukewarm at best. There were a few moments I felt were especially inspired, but for the most part I was not too jazzed by the music by its appearance in the films or on the albums, feeling it was mostly pretty routine stuff, reasonably effective in the films but little more.
Those moments, though… they gave me an idea for the basic structure for an album. And trilogy mixes, where I have the opportunity to explore the development of themes over the course of a film series, are probably my favorite to make. And I knew that there was an enormous amount of music from all three films available. And… and… and I saw it as a challenge, to go through, get into and work with this music that I had such ambiguous feelings about, because I had to sort of "buy in" to the style, as well as the mythology of the film series in order to organize a decent representation. Who knows, I figured, maybe I would come away from the project with an elevated opinion of the music.
And that's how this project began, unlikely as it may seem.
- BATS
BATMAN BEGINS — Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard 2:34 - THE BANK ROBBERY
THE DARK KNIGHT — Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard 3:44 - GOTHAM'S RECKONING
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES — Hans Zimmer 4:08 - WILL IS EVERYTHING
BATMAN BEGINS — Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard 4:27 - BLOOD ON MY HANDS
THE DARK KNIGHT — Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard 1:28 - FLYING ON ROOFTOPS
BATMAN BEGINS — Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard 6:29 - WHITE KNIGHT
THE DARK KNIGHT — Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard 2:52 - MIND IF I CUT IN?
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES — Hans Zimmer 2:44 - APPLIED SCIENCES
BATMAN BEGINS — Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard 1:51 - JURISDICTION
THE DARK KNIGHT — Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard 2:51 - CHILD OF SHADOWS
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES — Hans Zimmer 2:53 - A DARK KNIGHT
THE DARK KNIGHT — Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard 7:38 - WHY DO WE FALL?
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES — Hans Zimmer 2:05 - LEGACY
BATMAN BEGINS — Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard 5:53 - SELINA KYLE
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES — Hans Zimmer 3:28 - THE CORRUPTED
THE DARK KNIGHT — Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard 6:59 - SALVATION
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES — Hans Zimmer 12:36 - THE LEGEND
BATMAN BEGINS — Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard
THE DARK KNIGHT — Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES — Hans Zimmer
8:36
So… now that I've completed this mix, do I feel more positive about the music for the trilogy? Actually, I have to admit that I do, somewhat. I like how Zimmer developed his Batman theme into the Dark Knight theme and finally into the Orphan theme over the course of the series, the full dimensions of which I didn't really appreciate until I started assembling this album. I have a newer appreciation for some of Zimmer's production techniques, especially those employed to wreak havoc whenever the Joker would appear. I like the sound of the extended bass and 'cello section. I still have my reservations, however. I do have to say that, even though I did have to take an extended break for a bit of time because it does consist of such (intentionally) oppressive music, I did enjoy putting together this album a lot more than I thought I would.
- Current Location:Home
- Current Mood: contemplative
- Current Music:Miklós Rózsa: The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
This has been a seriously fucked up month.
I've been okay, for the most part, but there are a lot of things going on within my family and at work that have been seriously trying. A lot of things have been changing around me, and they're taking some adjustment.
On a lighter note, my burner and printer are back on line, so at long last I can start producing discs of the mixes I've been working on, which included a new variation on A Busy Man, my Jerry Goldsmith Star Trek compilation and, of course, my oft-mentioned, rarely heard Lord of the Rings two-disc set (it's almost done, for real this time; that's partly the reason for me getting my ass in gear with all of my gear). There is also another mix coming down the pike, one that is pretty much almost completely finished (it just needs a few sound tweaks here and there)and which surprised me with how much fun it was to put together because it's not really the sort of thing I usually like (it should be pretty easy to figure out the subject). However, the first album to be produced in full again is my July revision of Flight
Unfortunately, while I have all of the mixes intact and component files, there is just no way I can recover the work that I had done in Pagemaker. I am going to have to recreate almost all of my album artwork (not the CDs themselves, just the jackets). I do, however, have all of the original artwork that went into them, so it's basically a matter of reconstructing what I'd done before (and the fact that all of the mixes are documented on this journal will make it much easier).
One more thing before I shuffle off to bed.
La-La Land Records proved to me this Friday that some dreams aren't as impossible as I once thought.
WORK SAFE
I've been okay, for the most part, but there are a lot of things going on within my family and at work that have been seriously trying. A lot of things have been changing around me, and they're taking some adjustment.
On a lighter note, my burner and printer are back on line, so at long last I can start producing discs of the mixes I've been working on, which included a new variation on A Busy Man, my Jerry Goldsmith Star Trek compilation and, of course, my oft-mentioned, rarely heard Lord of the Rings two-disc set (it's almost done, for real this time; that's partly the reason for me getting my ass in gear with all of my gear). There is also another mix coming down the pike, one that is pretty much almost completely finished (it just needs a few sound tweaks here and there)and which surprised me with how much fun it was to put together because it's not really the sort of thing I usually like (it should be pretty easy to figure out the subject). However, the first album to be produced in full again is my July revision of Flight
Unfortunately, while I have all of the mixes intact and component files, there is just no way I can recover the work that I had done in Pagemaker. I am going to have to recreate almost all of my album artwork (not the CDs themselves, just the jackets). I do, however, have all of the original artwork that went into them, so it's basically a matter of reconstructing what I'd done before (and the fact that all of the mixes are documented on this journal will make it much easier).
One more thing before I shuffle off to bed.
La-La Land Records proved to me this Friday that some dreams aren't as impossible as I once thought.
WORK SAFE
- Current Location:Home
- Current Mood:
drained - Current Music:Why Do We Fall (Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard)
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