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Anyone else think 90s film scores sound the best?


Dixon Hill

Anyone else think 90s film scores sound the best?  

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  1. 1. Anyone else think 90s film scores sound the best?



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6 hours ago, Erik Woods said:

IMO, nothing beats the Gerhardt's RCA Classic Film Score series, recorded by the late, great K. E. Wilkinson.

 

Those are excellent indeed.

 

1:13 onwards here is what it means to be a virtuoso recording engineer!

 

 

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1 hour ago, bollemanneke said:

I just voted yes, but then misunderstood your question. I chose yes because I think an awful lot of 90s scores are just great, not sound-wise, but music-wise.

 

Same. But then just click "show vote options" and vote again.

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9 hours ago, Knox Harrington said:

 

I was actually just talking about this with a relative who is younger and more knowledgable about samples.  He reckons dumb kids who don't know how orchestras actually work are churning out unbalanced demos and expecting that from reality.  Doesn't help that apparently samples aren't adjusted to have proper dynamic scaling so if you don't know how to do that everything is off.  Glad I don't tinker with that shit anymore.

 

Samples just sound more realistic and relatable that an orchestra.

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9 hours ago, Knox Harrington said:

I think there's plenty to like about 90s Jerry.

 

I would go much further. The 90s is my favourite Goldsmith decade by FAR. Perhaps not his most 'cutting edge', but the one I find most musical enjoyment in.

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2 hours ago, Richard said:

Jerry's 90s is nice, but his 80s was far more diverse, musically (SUPERGIRL>RUNAWAY>LEGEND>POLTERGEIST II>LINK>KING SOLOMON'S MINES). JW - may peace be upon his holy name - never did anything like that.

 

Nah. Those are fine, but can't compare to stuff like TOTAL RECALL, BASIC INSTINCT, MEDICINE MAN, RUDY, BAD GIRLS, FIRST KNIGHT, GHOST AND THE DARKNESS, AIR FORCE ONE, THE EDGE, MULAN, THE MUMMY, THE 13TH WARRIOR etc.

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3 hours ago, Richard said:

Jerry's 90s is nice, but his 80s was far more diverse, musically (SUPERGIRL>RUNAWAY>LEGEND>POLTERGEIST II>LINK>KING SOLOMON'S MINES). JW - may peace be upon his holy name - never did anything like that.

Goldsmith from 1975-1985 might be the most creative and diverse decade that any musician ever had.

13 hours ago, Kasey Kockroach said:

Shame it’s also the decade Goldsmith got boring while Horner, Williams and Scott reigned supreme. 

He had a really weird period from 1991-1995, where 90% of his worst scores can be found, but after that his output he became more interesting again and that is also the phase were his sonicly divine scores came from.

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9 minutes ago, Brundlefly said:

Goldsmith from 1975-1985 might be the most creative and diverse decade that any musician ever had.

 

I think his most creative and cutting-edge period was earlier than that. Probably from about 1966-1979. From SECONDS to ALIEN. But I still prefer the 90s more on a more personal enjoyment level.

 

I was never really that fond of his earliest period or his 80s period, and most things post-2000 are snooze-fests.

 

[I apologize that we've now veered off-topic from the sonic qualities of 90s vs. contemporary recordings]

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1 minute ago, Thor said:

I was never really that fond of his earliest period or his 80s period, and most things post-2000 are snooze-fests.

Unlike everyone else, I adore Hollow Man and Star Trek: Nemesis. I think, they're much more than the auto-pilot scores that people say they are. What do you think?

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1 minute ago, Brundlefly said:

Unlike everyone else, I adore Hollow Man and Star Trek: Nemesis. I think, they're much more than the auto-pilot scores that people say they are. What do you think?

 

I own both. They're OK (HOLLOW MAN is brilliant in context), but not something I keep returning to. THE 13th WARRIOR is probably the last score of his I consider good, and THE MUMMY his last masterpiece (and also my alltime favourite of his, I think).

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6 hours ago, Thor said:

and most things post-2000 are snooze-fests

 

Most things? He did not even a handful of scores in that period.

7 hours ago, Brundlefly said:

He had a really weird period from 1991-1995, where 90% of his worst scores can be found

 

1988 - 1994. There were some truly marvelous clunkers in that period but it probably takes a genius like Morricone or Goldsmith to sink THAT low.

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49 minutes ago, publicist said:

1988 - 1994. There were some truly marvelous clunkers in that period but it probably takes a genius like Morricone or Goldsmith to sink THAT low.

I would still say 1991-1994, because 1984 and 1988 were two island years with a very weird output. 1989 and 1990 were too great to be included as a part of the bad period.

 

Which film composers would you call a "genius"?

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All the legends, probably (in some capacity) but in that context it refers to the true innovaters and how they could err on a bad day (or, in Goldsmith's case, it's heavily assumed that he stopped drinking around that time and that probably played into it a lot).

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2 hours ago, publicist said:

In Goldsmith's case, it's heavily assumed that he stopped drinking around that time and that probably played into it a lot.

Wait a minute, really? Are you serious?

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59 minutes ago, Brundlefly said:

Wait a minute, really? Are you serious?

 

Fun fact, yes. It was no secret but was openly brought up at FSM in the early 2000's that JG had a drinking problem and went into some kind of rehab (or AA program) in the late 80's/early 90's. 

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12 minutes ago, Thor said:

Artists and their drinking habits....(yeah, I know, I'm one to tell, and I'm not even an artist).

 

Thor, your OST obsession can only be described as high level performance art.

 

:)

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23 hours ago, Thor said:

I own both. They're OK (HOLLOW MAN is brilliant in context), but not something I keep returning to. THE 13th WARRIOR is probably the last score of his I consider good, and THE MUMMY his last masterpiece (and also my alltime favourite of his, I think).

Hollow Man is indeed brilliant in context and has a very nice OST!

 

I don't think that The 13th Warrior and The Mummy are better than Hollow Man. The Mummy is fun, but it is nothing compared to The Wind and the Lion or The Ghost and the Darkness. The best thing about it is the sublime OST which is the best representation imaginable, hiding many of the score's flaws. Having got the Intrada expansion I don't appreciate the score that much any more.

 

It's completely different with Star Trek: Nemesis which has a very bad droning OST, whereas the complete score is much livelier and more diverse.

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12 minutes ago, Brundlefly said:

It's completely different with Star Trek: Nemesis which has a very bad droning OST, whereas the complete score is much livelier and more diverse.

 

The OST could have been great, but Ginny's selection of tracks concealed what it might have been. You can extract 50 strong minutes from the complete score.

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You're right, Jerry: compared with the C+C, the OST leaves a lot to be desired.

All the way through the film, I kept thinking "this is shit"... The other thing I kept thinking was "why isn't this brilliant cue not on the OST?"

It's frustrating.

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A lot of the expanded / complete scores we've gotten IE: Star Trek scores, and others do sound good and were balanced well.  However, there are a lot of them that are brick walled to the point of clipping IE: Superman Returns, ID-4, and others not sure what happened to those...

 

Edit: I found a lot of the 90's albums a little too low on the mixing....

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5 hours ago, dougie said:

 

The OST could have been great, but Ginny's selection of tracks concealed what it might have been. You can extract 50 strong minutes from the complete score.

 

I ended up with:

 

image.png

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14 hours ago, Trent B said:

A lot of the expanded / complete scores we've gotten IE: Star Trek scores, and others do sound good and were balanced well.  However, there are a lot of them that are brick walled to the point of clipping IE: Superman Returns, ID-4, and others not sure what happened to those...

 

Edit: I found a lot of the 90's albums a little too low on the mixing....

 

Ehhh wha? I know the LLL ID4 isn't quite as dynamic as the OST (that 24kt gold CD, awemuhfukingawd), but it still sounds exceptionally good.

 

I've never listened to Superman Returns so I have no idea what happened there.

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