Harry Potter 7CD Collection - MUSIC discussion

[Jay 37,346]

1 minute ago, Alex said:

The counterpoint during Quidditch Third Year is arguably some of JW’s strongest ever writing (the bass line omg).

 

After seeing Azkaban live in concert, I came to really love the timbani in that cue, and the percussion in all the action music in general, more so than I ever had before.  Made me fall in love with the score all over again

[Bespin 8,480]

The frequencies cut-off thing is a real bummer, is it too late to cancel my order?

🤣 🤣 🤣

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I would like it go on the forum record, for the future robo-aliens using this as an historical resource, that I think one's ears should be the first judge of sound quality.

 

Now please rescue my consciousness and place it in a robo-shell, please nice robo-aliens?

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

Agreed!

 

Speaking of which, my extremely nit-picky ear has detected the tiniest of glitches, at 9:28 on the track "Time Past - Saving Buckbeak" there's the slightest jolt in the music, as if it's been time stretched for a split second just before the gorgeous film version of the Buckbeack eating bats music enters. It's absolutely nothing that can't be either fixed or (more likely) ignored. In fact I'm sure most people won't notice it - I was one of the few people who couldn't listen to the isolated score recording of "Rey's Journey" from TLJ because of the obvious time-stretching.

 

The only reason I'm bringing this up is because it's literally the only "problem" I could hear in my first impressions of listening to the set. It's an absolutely phenomenal piece of work, lovingly and beautifully put together by all involved. Kudos to all of you who contributed.

[Space Pineapple Prod. 183]

I really shouldn't be on here because I don't have my copy but this is all so interesting to read I can't look away.

[Bounty95 558]

2 minutes ago, Space Pineapple Prod. said:

I really shouldn't be on here because I don't have my copy but this is all so interesting to read I can't look away.

I feel you... Mine is still traveling around the US from one airport to the other... Someone has to tell them that Germany is in Europe 😂

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

I could ask Mike to dig out and check the original files WB gave him, but frankly I don't consider that to be a valuable use of his time.  There is nothing wrong with how any of these cues sound, and any fan who wishes to do so could replace them with the same passages taken from the OST album if desired.

 

People only know about this "problem" because they looked at the music, instead of listening to it.

Well, Home alone also sounded perfectly fine and a new edition was released by the same label a few years later....

I just hope they dont sell the definitive edition set next year, because i could not afford it...

 

Film mixes means "film stems" or final mixes of the tracks for use in the film?I suppose it is the latter due to the completesness of the set

[Jay 37,346]

It means the approved mix of each cue delivered to the music editor to put into the film.

 

It doesn't mean the film edits, as nothing used for any of the three scores came from any sort of film stem.  I don't believe WB even provided music stems for any of the three scores.

 

Think of it like Raiders, where the DCC CD used the Tomlinson film mixes, while the OST and Concord used John Neal remixes instead.

 

 

And Home Alone is completely different. That first release was sourced from the original album master and a DAT tape of some unreleased cues. The second edition was rebuilt entirely from scratch from a proper 1st gen element and sounds better than the first edition for sure.

 

Azkaban here is already sourced from a 1st gen element.

[Alan 689]

I'm pretty much floored by this set so far. It sounds fantastic and I really feel like I'm hearing these scores again for the first time. There's stuff here that I've waited to hear since the films came out and nothing has disappointed.

[Space Pineapple Prod. 183]

12 minutes ago, Alan said:

I'm pretty much floored by this set so far. It sounds fantastic and I really feel like I'm hearing these scores again for the first time. There's stuff here that I've waited to hear since the films came out and nothing has disappointed.

 

Well that's one way to hype a person up.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

I am also going to rediscover azkaban. Never listened to dvd rips and saw the film just once. Practically I just know the music from the ost.

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

I like the part when the Hedwig song goes ding ding ding!

[gkgyver 1,645]

I stand by my position that I've always had, being that Prisoner Of Azkaban is a top 5 Williams score. Maybe even pushing for Top 3. The end credits suite as written by JW is, in my opinion, the best suite he has ever done, because the themes involved are incredible. All of them. It's on par with Empire Strikes Back and Temple Of Doom, in that every theme and setpiece is flawless. 

Philosopher's Stone is a classic, but Azkaban is a masterpiece.

PS is brimming with excitement and splendor, but it's not really a unique voice for JW, and Hedwig's theme is overused. PoA, though, has many unique elements, while maintaining the same level of excellence. It is heavy and dark and dramatic in places, and yet, the score floats lightly and effortlessly, and is remarkably intoxicating in its sense for magic of the moment, grace even, and its longer musical arcs, that keep the attention, and rarely let the music drift into pure underscore. Out of all three Potter scores, PoA is the most like an actual separate, own, entity in the film.

And most refreshing for me is that the slightly stereotypical feel of magic in PS is developed into a less syrupy, and much more graceful and delicate kind of wonder rather than magic, which gives the film so much of its approachable and touching core. 

The use of woodwinds, especially the solos, are stunning. 

[Taikomochi 1,136]

PoA, heard complete, reminds me a bit of the experience of The Force Awakens, emphasizing less the long setpieces, instead relying on smaller cues to chart the development of its excellent themes. I think that makes it feel like a stronger emotional experience for me than the two preceding scores, and makes its emotional highs really stand out.

[Manakin Skywalker 4,891]

I FINALLY got to start listening today. My word, it's magnificent! Of course I had to start with the SS/PS teaser and trailer cues. I never thought I'd be able to hear clean versions of those... and to top it off there are several bits that were never even used!

[mrbellamy 6,278]

One nitpick, doesn’t the very start of that ascending “Flying Car” intro coming out of “The Train Station” feel slightly delayed? Couldn’t help but notice. Like that first note on the downbeat holds a half-second too long.

 

May just be another one of those “they added an extra frame” things.

[Manakin Skywalker 4,891]

1 hour ago, mrbellamy said:

One nitpick, doesn’t the very start of that ascending “Flying Car” intro coming out of “The Train Station” feel slightly delayed? Couldn’t help but notice. Like that first note on the downbeat holds a half-second too long.

 

May just be another one of those “they added an extra frame” things.

Yeah I just noticed that as well. It's possible that's how it is in the film; I'm not sure what MM's process entails exactly, but personally when doing my edits I use the film audio as a reference, and match the music up to that, even if it sounds a bit off.

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

No-one's mentioned "Hedwig's Theme For Harp" which is a wonderful little find. Perhaps the original idea for "Fluffy's Harp"? Probably a good move to go away from this theme for more diegetic music, I never really liked how Hagrid's Flute used it so brazenly.

[King Mark 3,631]

So basicallly  HPSS Teaser from 1.53 to 2.14 is a section of the recording we never heard before , but it's the one Williams ended up using for the concert version of Hedwig's Theme. I was always disappointed that he omitted Teaser 1.20 to 1.53 from the concert version.

 

Question :Was the opening of POA End Credits recorded like that or it's an insert?

[Manakin Skywalker 4,891]

Hahaha this set really isn't missing anything. I was just for fun trying to quickly make a few isolated score videos for myself. I was playing around with "The Whomping Willow" and "Confrontation in the Shrieking Shack", when I realized that the dulcimer overlay of Pettygrew's theme in between both cues is missing. So I decide to give up, and continue simply listening to the album instead. 

 

Skip to about 20 minutes later whilst I was listening to "The Firebolt (Alternate)", and to my utter surprise, it contains a few overlays, including the dulcimer overlay! I'm still constantly finding surprises hidden all throughout the set.

[Josh500 1,615]

@King Mark Has your set shipped yet? Or are you still awaiting shipment!?

[Manakin Skywalker 4,891]

Actually, there is one small piece of music that appears to be missing, from the "trailer" (the opening on this set is different than what was in the actual trailer, but the rest is the same).

 

trailer_mus_reconstructed.wav

[King Mark 3,631]

could be the logo music

[Manakin Skywalker 4,891]

21 minutes ago, King Mark said:

could be the logo music

Nope, it's definitely part of the trailer sessions. The film's scoring sessions hadn't even taken place when the trailer was released. Also I'm not talking about the celeste part, I'm talking about the part just after that.

[Bespin 8,480]

14 hours ago, Bespin said:

The frequencies cut-off thing is a real bummer, is it too late to cancel my order?

🤣 🤣 🤣

 

Is it too early to hope a correction of this and that LLL will send us free replacement CD?

[A. A. Ron 1,742]

Welp, I've tried ripping it on two separate devices and can officially say my disc 1 is defective -- I get some nasty skips near the end of track 24. Hopefully, that's my only problem disc. I didn't have time last night to check any of the others.

[Josh500 1,615]

24 minutes ago, A. A. Ron said:

Welp, I've tried ripping it on two separate devices and can officially say my disc 1 is defective -- I get some nasty skips near the end of track 24. Hopefully, that's my only problem disc. I didn't have time last night to check any of the others.

 

Man that sucks! 

 

Anybody else have a similar problem with that track or any other?

[Jay 37,346]

On 12/10/2018 at 3:49 PM, Holko said:

From my limited but focused sneak peek I noticed The Chamber Opens is only the replacement of the 3NL buildup, so it's half the intended cue, building up to nothing and continuing with the next cue that's almost written to pick the 3NL's moody playoff up. That will definitely bother me for a while on album, will edit in The Stone as soon as possible for the digital playlist.

 

Thanks for this, this clarified something for me I hadn't bothered to fully check out.  This explains why the "On The Track" book shows a time of 1:44 for "8m2A The Chamber Opens [TRACK]" ; the original plan must have been to reuse HP1 recordings for the entire "cue", and then someone decided it needed to be beefed up with that cool new string line... but then instead of recording the entire 1:44 cue, they just recorded the first ~40 seconds that featured the new string line, and edited into the remaining portion of tracked HP1 music.  Neat!

 

 

11 hours ago, mrbellamy said:

One nitpick, doesn’t the very start of that ascending “Flying Car” intro coming out of “The Train Station” feel slightly delayed? Couldn’t help but notice. Like that first note on the downbeat holds a half-second too long.

 

That is a very tricky cue segue to pull off.  In fact when I heard the first master of the album, I pointed it out as an area to potential revisit, and Mike worked on the segue some more.  You can hear these 2 cues completely separated in the session leak

 

9 hours ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

Yeah I just noticed that as well. It's possible that's how it is in the film; I'm not sure what MM's process entails exactly, but personally when doing my edits I use the film audio as a reference, and match the music up to that, even if it sounds a bit off.

 

It's not how it is in the film; In the final film, they dropped the little bit where they are in front of Big Ben, meaning the opening of the "Flying Car" cue got dropped from the film.  As the key change was no longer correct between the final note of The Train Station and the new start point of Flying Car, a tiny Insert was recorded and plopped in there to segue the two cues together.  We wanted to present the full Flying Car cue as recorded, and as originally intended to segue from the Train Station cue, not the edited film version with the beginning missing, so that's what we did.  There was no room in the bonus track section to include both versions, once Mike found the television commercials and all the early take alternates.  And of course, JW would have never approved the insert being in its own short bonus track.  It's nothing remotely important.

 

 

9 hours ago, Docteur Qui said:

No-one's mentioned "Hedwig's Theme For Harp" which is a wonderful little find. Perhaps the original idea for "Fluffy's Harp"? Probably a good move to go away from this theme for more diegetic music, I never really liked how Hagrid's Flute used it so brazenly.

 

It was never intended to be used in the film, and certainly not for the Fluffy scene; The only cue ever written for that scene was in the main program.  I don't know if we'll ever know specifically why this harp piece was written and recorded, other than, I guess, JW just liked it, and maybe thought he could put it on the album somewhere.  I dunno.  But I'm glad it exists!

 

 

9 hours ago, King Mark said:

Question :Was the opening of POA End Credits recorded like that or it's an insert?

 

It's an insert.  We've known this since the sheet music leak.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

The harp version of Hedwig's Theme was definitely a beautiful little surprise.  I hadn't even noticed it on the tracklist when the set was initially announced (so much to take in!) so I was taken off guard when it came up on my listen through the set last night.

[Jay 37,346]

I listened to disc 3 in the car this morning on the way to work, and I had forgotten what order all the various things appear in and I was pleasantly surprised when it came on too.  It was nice listening to a lot of the pieces on this disc with no distractions

[Arpy 4,145]

2 hours ago, A. A. Ron said:

Welp, I've tried ripping it on two separate devices and can officially say my disc 1 is defective -- I get some nasty skips near the end of track 24. Hopefully, that's my only problem disc. I didn't have time last night to check any of the others.

Oh man, that's bad. It's concerning especially for those of us who are still waiting that the discs may be defective. Here's hoping LLL can get yours sorted!

[Bespin 8,480]

1 hour ago, Josh500 said:

 

Man that sucks! 

 

Anybody else have a similar problem with that track or any other?

 

You all use EAC and then tries on a 2nd computer if you still have errors?

[Alan 689]

Is that an alternate to Journey The Train To Hogwarts at the end of Trouble Takes Many Forms?

[Score 770]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

 

It was never intended to be used in the film, and certainly not for the Fluffy scene; The only cue ever written for that scene was in the main program.  I don't know if we'll ever know specifically why this harp piece was written and recorded, other than, I guess, JW just liked it, and maybe thought he could put it on the album somewhere.  I dunno.  But I'm glad it exists!

 

 

The score of the harp arrangement of Hedwig's theme is published by Hal Leonard, together with the solo harp version of Fluffy's Harp. See here, for example:

 

https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/two-themes-from-harry-potter-and-the-sorcerer-s-stone-sheet-music/4005334

 

I don't have this score, but there is an image of the first page of the Hedwig's theme cue, and it matches the recording perfectly. So, I guess it's a nice small cue that was probably written according to the same logic that motivated the Children's Suite.

 

To summarize: the score I linked should contain the Hedwig's theme arrangement and the film cue (probably in the original form, but I don't have the score to check, maybe someone else can confirm), while the piece in the Children's Suite is like the film cue, but with the added bassoon.

 

 

 

 

 

[Jay 37,346]

12 minutes ago, Alan said:

Is that an alternate to Journey To Hogwarts at the end of Trouble Takes Many Forms?

 

Yes (but the cue is called "The Train To Hogwarts" not "Journey to Hogwarts")

[Alan 689]

1 minute ago, Jay said:

 

Yes (but the cue is called "The Train To Hogwarts" not "Journey to Hogwarts")

 

Ah! Got my cues mixed up. Thanks

[Jay 37,346]

Here's a simple spreadsheet for HP1 comparing the LLL album to the OST

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1B59r_jImSzoPfypk-qxe5bZMNjyKkZcpIcOAks4kzHw/

[King Mark 3,631]

it's too bad Williams didn;t record the bombastic ending of Diagon Alley in the Children's Suite

[Jay 37,346]

Definitely!

 

We're pretty lucky the exciting ending of HWW got recorded at the HP2 sessions

[TownerFan 4,983]

26 minutes ago, King Mark said:

it's too bad Williams didn;t record the bombastic ending of Diagon Alley in the Children's Suite

 

I think he revised the ending afterwards.

[Jay 37,346]

The new endings to both HWW and Diagon Alley were written after the HP1 recording sessions were finished and he was preparing the sheet music for publishing

[bollemanneke 3,342]

Is that published Diagon Alley ending available anywhere at all to listen to?

[Once 605]

Is it this one?

 

[Holko 9,519]

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I'm shocked that the City of Prague Phil didn't record the full Children's Suite like they did the Azkaban suite.

[Jay 37,346]

Seriously, there doesn't seem to be any logical reason why they wouldn't have

[Jurassic Shark 12,055]

The less they record for Silva Screen, the better.

[bollemanneke 3,342]

Yeah, please let's not give them ideas!

[mstrox 6,651]

I like a lot of their recordings, and those recordings aren't hurting you guys!

[Josh500 1,615]

You guys are too harsh on the Prague Philharmonic! The original is always the best, but their recordings are often the second best thing! 

 

I for one love this recording of DT from the Prague Philharmonic! It's almost as good as the original, I dare say:

 

 

4 minutes ago, mstrox said:

I like a lot of their recordings, and those recordings aren't hurting you guys!

 

Exactly!