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Fantastic Star Wars Music Podcast - Star Wars Oxygen


DarthDementous

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I highly recommend the Star Wars Oxygen podcasts by Rebel Force Radio, hosted by David Collins who has served as lead sound designer of many high-profile Lucasarts projects like Star Wars the Force Unleashed, Star Wars Republic Commando and someone who is very knowledgeable in the music. Accompanying him is Jimmy Mack who co-hosts some of the other Rebel Force Radio shows but brings a certain joy and brings up interesting points of discussion, great chemistry between the two. They've been breaking down the ENTIRE score for every Star Wars movie and are currently on Episode 3 (but they'll be putting that on hold to discuss TFA at the end of this month) and that is past the soundtrack, I'm talking movie cues and even tracking in alternate music or music that was cut (most frequent in ESB where the sound effects often took center stage).



Each of the movies took an average of 5 episodes to get through and they are LONG, never less than an hour so its insanely in-depth.



Archive of all episodes with download links: http://www.shotglassdigital.com/releases/?a=3554




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  • 3 weeks later...

Does Star Wars Oxygen get discussed anywhere on this board? I searched and all I found was this thread. They just did their first episode of TFA score and it's really great. I would love to discuss some of the bits they cover. I imagine that's happening somewhere on this board?

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2 minutes ago, Taikomochi said:

Is it positive about the score? Because I literally only want echo chamber opinions that confirm my views that the score is a masterpiece.  If that is the case, I will find time to listen to it.

Yes, very positive and, as they do with all the soundtracks, they begin to dive into all the themes and other components of the music, their reactions, etc. I like all the episodes of Star Wars Oxygen. 

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David Collins is fantastic when it comes to pointing out little easter-eggs and deconstructing the music of John Williams. I especially recommend the recent episode just for the commentary over Rey's Theme as it paints a wonderfully vivid picture of the character and gives insight into what JW was aiming for with the piece. 

2 hours ago, Taikomochi said:

Is it positive about the score? Because I literally only want echo chamber opinions that confirm my views that the score is a masterpiece.  If that is the case, I will find time to listen to it.

Not obnoxiously gushing either, very respectful towards his craft and all the Star Wars soundtracks are treated equally when it comes to analysis. Bit of a relief from these forums when it gets particularly heated... *cough* AOTC *cough*

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gonna listen to it right now

 

They started getting into some nice stuff, but the fluff talker guy kept getting in the way of the guy who actually had the really interesting stuff, and they didn't get very far. For my taste, I want to hear even more nerdy and less fluff.

 

so far, the only new thing to me was the jawa quote (that's adorable). One of the modulating passage's in rey's theme uses a quote of Jawa music from ANH. I feel like this guy is full of useful information that I haven't found yet, if the other guy would let him lead. I really wish they had gotten to Jedi Steps. Or surprised us with something else.

 

i have some travelling coming up - definitely gonna download some of their past episodes to listen to.

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17 hours ago, Oboejdub said:

gonna listen to it right now

 

They started getting into some nice stuff, but the fluff talker guy kept getting in the way of the guy who actually had the really interesting stuff, and they didn't get very far. For my taste, I want to hear even more nerdy and less fluff.

 

so far, the only new thing to me was the jawa quote (that's adorable). One of the modulating passage's in rey's theme uses a quote of Jawa music from ANH. I feel like this guy is full of useful information that I haven't found yet, if the other guy would let him lead. I really wish they had gotten to Jedi Steps. Or surprised us with something else.

 

i have some travelling coming up - definitely gonna download some of their past episodes to listen to.

Yeah as David Collins said they only got through 1/10th of what was planned. I feel like less time should've been spent talking about the main theme's subtle changes but it was still intriguing.

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Love the podcast. Have been listening to The Force Cast/Rebel Force Radio for years so I was delighted when they started this one up. 

 

David has mentioned JWFan once or twice. I wonder if he has an account on here or if he just lurks. 

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I've been going through all 25 episode for the past week or so. Great podcast!

 

David Collins is very insightful and in-depth.

 

Jimmy Mac on the other hand... I want to be polite. He's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, nor the shiniest for that matter. I wish they would find someone else to co-host... it's almost painful to listen to him at this point. I know he's a mainstay on Rebel Force Radio and is seemingly a cult figure in the SW community due to him standing up against Ebert a while back... so he's probably going to stay.

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Yep - he's a fine host and pleasant enough character, but my eyes tend to glaze over any time he's talking during an Oxygen podcast...

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Really a wonderful listening experience. The whole RFR is great actually, but the SW Oxygen's are the definite highlight.

 

Speaking of podcasts. I'd also recommend the last Tracksounds SoundCast featuring a bunch of illustrious guests, such as Kristen Romanelli (FSM Online), Eric Woods (Cinematic Sound Radio) or Doug Adams (you know him... ).

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11 hours ago, heidl said:

Really a wonderful listening experience. The whole RFR is great actually, but the SW Oxygen's are the definite highlight.

 

Speaking of podcasts. I'd also recommend the last Tracksounds SoundCast featuring a bunch of illustrious guests, such as Kristen Romanelli (FSM Online), Eric Woods (Cinematic Sound Radio) or Doug Adams (you know him... ).

It was pretty decent in parts but I did not make it through it because I couldn't take any more of Christopher Coleman's incessant complaints over the film and music that he brought up and kept hammering on over and over again.

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On ‎06‎/‎01‎/‎2016 at 0:35 PM, dethman said:

I've been going through all 25 episode for the past week or so. Great podcast!

 

David Collins is very insightful and in-depth.

 

Jimmy Mac on the other hand... I want to be polite. He's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, nor the shiniest for that matter. I wish they would find someone else to co-host... it's almost painful to listen to him at this point. I know he's a mainstay on Rebel Force Radio and is seemingly a cult figure in the SW community due to him standing up against Ebert a while back... so he's probably going to stay.

I'm doing the same, catching up on all the old ones and really enjoying it. Jimmy's growing on me. At first I felt like all he did was slow it down and take screen time away from Dave Collins, but it's really not that bad. He has some really meaningful and thoughtful things to say here and there, and the impersonations are hilarious. Dave Collins could certainly save some time and never lose content simply by avoiding the question "do you remember this one, Jimmy?"

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On 1/6/2016 at 0:09 PM, heidl said:

Really a wonderful listening experience. The whole RFR is great actually, but the SW Oxygen's are the definite highlight.

 

Speaking of podcasts. I'd also recommend the last Tracksounds SoundCast featuring a bunch of illustrious guests, such as Kristen Romanelli (FSM Online), Eric Woods (Cinematic Sound Radio) or Doug Adams (you know him... ).

What ever happened to the Cinematic Sound podcast? That is the one with that guy who speaks in a deep radio voice and plays select tracks from new scores right? I used to listen to it but I think it just stopped.

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2 hours ago, artguy360 said:

What ever happened to the Cinematic Sound podcast? That is the one with that guy who speaks in a deep radio voice and plays select tracks from new scores right? I used to listen to it but I think it just stopped.

Oh Cinematic Sound is alive and well I think. :)

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6 hours ago, Oboejdub said:

Dave Collins could certainly save some time and never lose content simply by avoiding the question "do you remember this one, Jimmy?"

 

 

Haha too true. Pretty sure Jimmy remembers most SW related things by now David ;)

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  • 1 year later...

What happened to these podcasts? Was Rogue One so uninteresting they literally couldn't be bothered making a second episode about it? Can't say I'm surprised but I thought they might move on to other Williams scores instead.

 

Hopefully TLJ brings them back.

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Speculation is rampant.  Collins hasn't appeared on or acknowledged RFR since they ran into controversy earlier this year.  But he doesn't strike me as the kind of person who would drop friends so unceremoniously, even if they put their foot in it, so to speak.  I assume it's mundane issues like scheduling and busy lives.  Who knows.

 

1 minute ago, mrbellamy said:

I don't mind Jimmy.

 

I go back and forth.  Sometimes he's fine, sometimes I just want him to shut up and let David talk.

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It really is just a bizarre dynamic those two have on the show.

 

Also, I just found this write-up/summary (with pictures) about Collins' Music of Rogue One panel at Celebration this year:

 

http://fangirlblog.com/2017/04/star-wars-celebration-orlando-2017-the-music-of-rogue-one-with-david-collins/

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On 5/26/2017 at 11:59 AM, Disco Stu said:

Well, I just discovered this Youtube channel yesterday where someone is going through episodes and editing Jimmy Mac out of the podcast and calling it "Pure Oxygen" :P

 

This is BRILLIANT!!

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12 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

Speculation is rampant.  Collins hasn't appeared on or acknowledged RFR since they ran into controversy earlier this year.  But he doesn't strike me as the kind of person who would drop friends so unceremoniously, even if they put their foot in it, so to speak.  I assume it's mundane issues like scheduling and busy lives.  Who knows.

What was the controversy? I hadn't heard anything about it.

 

I think Jimmy can be a boon or a hindrance depending on the discussion. It makes sense for Collins to have a relatively music-illiterate foil to bounce off and keep things accessible. If it was two uber-JW nerds it'd be in danger of becoming alienating to new listeners. And Collins is such a joy to listen to, his unbridled enthusiasm as he explains thematic connections and theories to Jimmy that many of us talked about long ago brings a smile to my face.

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Listening to "Return of Revenge of the Sith" right now. I'm really surprised Collins doesn't bring up how the 'Separatist Conspiracy War Theme' (now there's a mouthful) is derived from the first phrase of Across the Stars.

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28 minutes ago, Fal said:

Accusations of sexism.

 

A quick Google and I found what it's about. I'm disappointed, but it doesn't surprise me, Jimmy does sound like a bit of an entitled man-child. It seems to come with the white male nerd territory unfortunately. 

 

EDIT - I've now read more into it, and yikes. They really are a bunch of gatekeeping misogynists over at RFR. If Collins did get out coz of that I don't blame him.

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Collins is talking about a borrowing from Munich in Revenge of the Sith (the wailing woman). Surely he means Minority Report, as Munich had yet to be written?


They're also going on about the influence Shore's LOTR scores on Revenge of the Sith, completely forgetting how little Williams listens to contemporary film music, and sidestepping any mention of Pärt, Górecki or Barber.

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2 hours ago, Sharky said:


They're also going on about the influence Shore's LOTR scores on Revenge of the Sith, completely forgetting how little Williams listens to contemporary film music, and sidestepping any mention of Pärt, Górecki or Barber.

Yeah but it's within the realm of reason that Lucas could've looked to LOTR for some influence and passed that on to JW, and I think that's what is being suggested. It's hard to deny the similarities between "Anakin's Dark Deeds" and some of Shore's material. 

 

3 hours ago, heidl said:

Would you mind sharing your sources?

i wanna get disappointed too.

https://rfrsgreatesthits.tumblr.com/

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10 hours ago, Fal said:

If you going to cut out both Ron and Laird you may as well just listen to the OST's.

 

That was sort of my point.  But I'm all for replacing Ron with Laird's co-worker, Ms. Guzman.  She was a refreshing change and infinitely more articulate than Ron, as they both made mention of during and after her appearance.

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It is a mystery.  I have to imagine he's getting asked multiple times a week (maybe even a day) on Twitter where Oxygen is and to my knowledge he's never even publicly acknowledged its absence?  I quit Twitter months ago so I probably missed something.

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I seem to remember hearing somewhere that Collins asked for some time off due to his kid and Celebration etc.

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They said a few weeks ago on the regular show that David has been super busy with work as well as a new baby and simply asked for some time off.

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  • 2 months later...

Well they covered the other 7 scores and did one episode on Rogue One.

 

Would've been nice if they moved on to other JW scores but guess not. Hopefully they come back for The Last Jedi! It's been 8 months since their last episode.

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I dropped this podcast hard somewhere in the middle of their prequels coverage when they decided that every 3 notes that sound similar in one score was a thematic foreshadowing of 3 similar notes in another score. I liked their analysis of the smaller motifs but they went way too deep in on JW's typical musical coincidences and trying to assign meaning to them. 

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Yeah there's a bit of that, but David Collins often makes the point that the similarities have more to do with JW using a consistent harmonic and melodic language for the films rather than it all being planned out.

 

I've moved on to "The Art of the Score" podcast anyway. It's waaaay more listenable for someone like me, and there's no Jimmy Mac layman-type person, just three dudes who know a lot about film music (and JW in particular). They're all professional musicians as well so the analyses are usually spot on.

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17 minutes ago, Docteur Qui said:

Yeah there's a bit of that, but David Collins often makes the point that the similarities have more to do with JW using a consistent harmonic and melodic language for the films rather than it all being planned out.

 

I've moved on to "The Art of the Score" podcast anyway. It's waaaay more listenable for someone like me, and there's no Jimmy Mac layman-type person, just three dudes who know a lot about film music (and JW in particular). They're all professional musicians as well so the analyses are usually spot on.

Great podcast for film score lovers!

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