Making custom cds of Williams music

[pacey988 0]

On a recent trip I brought a big entire case of my film soundtracks. However, I am considering bringing less the next time I go on a trip. I figure I could bring with me the Gerhardt Classic Film Scores series cds I have along with the Silva/Tadlow compilations of Jerry Goldsmith and Elmer Bernstein. As for John Williams, one thing I have considered is putting together custom made suites of his music from my film score soundtracks. Some of the music I would like to include is contained on his Greatest Hits album from 1999, but I would like to put together more music including some of his works for television such as Amazing Stories. The idea I have is to take selected music from a certain film and make a suite of it, maybe 3 or 4 cues or one long piece of music such as Close Encounters. I have most of his soundtracks except for a few notable films (Jurassic Park, Schindler's List), and his most recent film scores (Memoirs of a Geisha, etc.) Does anyone have some suggestions for what cues I should use? These will be in chronological order according to the release of the films for which these scores were composed. I appreciate your help.

[King Mark 3,975]

I used to do that kind of suites when I used Minidisks.It's hard to suggest anything because you should put the 5-6 cues you like the most of a score.

for example War of the worlds:

The Intersection Scene

Reaching the country

The Ferry Scene

Refugee Status

Return to Boston

Epilogue

k.M.

[pacey988 0]

I know this is going to sound glaringly obvious, but I am considering getting an Ipod or an mp3 player. I know my sister has one but I have never used an mp3 player or Ipod at all. How do they work and how much music can you put onto it?

[Trent B 354]

An Mp3 player is a good choice.

I have the Creative Zen Vision M the 30GB version. You can check out their players here at Creative's Site. The 30GB holds video too but if you want to hold strictly music you can just get the 20GB. Honestly this is better than the iPod but that's my opinion.

No offense to board members here who have an iPod.

I've had mine lock up only once but that was because I was stupid and skipping the tracks to fast and the player didn't like that. It was easy to reset the player and I didn't loose any of my information.

This is just one of the many players you can get but I recommend this one more than an iPod. You can also actually import Mp3's at any bit rate, you aren't restricted to just a certain file format like you are with the iPod/iTunes.

The sound for this sucker is awesome as well as the video and picture quality (if you get the 30GB version). I hope this info helps.

Edit: As far as learning how to use it as with most Mp3 players this comes with instructions ones that you can easily learn how to use the Creative Zen. You can also do a drag and drop for the mp3 files too.

I do not regret buying the Creative Zen player. This thing is awesome and I don't have to carry CD's or CD-R's around any more. I can just carry this guy around and not have any problems with it.

[King Mark 3,975]

I know this is going to sound glaringly obvious, but I am considering getting an Ipod or an mp3 player. I know my sister has one but I have never used an mp3 player or Ipod at all. How do they work and how much music can you put onto it?

It's probably easier than burning a cdr,as long as you ripped your albums to MP3's and keep them on your PC's hard drive.You usually plug in the MP3 player into a USB port and drag and drop files into the player,or use the included software that comes with the player(itunes...)

I've been using a 1 GB ipod shuffle for a year.I might upgrade to a 4 GB Nano with a color screen.4 GB should hold about 50 albums of music or so.I'll never go back to using a portable c.d. player or Minidisk

Whatever you buy look at the specs.Headphone output power should be at least 15 MW/Channel.I've returned 2 before keeping the ipod because of this,like Sony's don't play loud enough,especially orchestral music.

K.M.

[Mr. Breathmask 624]

This is just one of the many players you can get but I recommend this one more than an iPod.  You can also actually import Mp3's at any bit rate, you aren't restricted to just a certain file format like you are with the iPod/iTunes.

iTunes allows you to rip to AAC, AIFF, Apple Lossless, MP3 or WAV encoding. It also converts WMA files to the format of your choice.

I don't know if the Zen plays AAC, though, so if you've ripped or downloaded a lot of AAC files, you might get stuck with them when you trade your iPod for a Zen player (or any other MP3 player, for that matter).

I do believe the Zen supports a wider variety of video formats, though.

[Trent B 354]

For the 30GB Creative Zen (which as I said is what I have) here are the specifications for it.

Display & Graphics

Display Screen

2.5" Color LCD 76800 Pixels

Display Features

262,144 color

Still Image Formats

JPEG

GIF

TIFF

PNG

BMP

Audio

Playback Duration

15000 Song(s) @ 64Kbps WMA <--that's just the recommended setting, as we know anything under 192kbps sucks ass. I've got 29 scores on my Mp3 player all at 320kbps and they're all full and expanded scores.

Audio Formats

MP3 Playback

WMA Playback - Digital Rights Management

WAV Playback

Video

Video Storage

120 Hour(s) MPEG-4 @ 500Kbps

Video Formats

MPEG-1 Playback - (Simple Profile)

MPEG-2 Playback - (Simple Profile)

MPEG-4 Playback - (Simple Profile)

WMV Playback - (Version 9)

Motion JPEG Playback

DivX Playback - Version (4/5)

XviD Playback

Interfaces/Ports

1 x Mini-phone Stereo - Composite Video Output

1 x - Headphone(s)

1 x - USB

So no the Creative Zen doesn't support the AAC file however if you have your scores on CD or CD-R as back up you can re-rip them at any format you want and transfer it to the Creative Zen. I can't believe someone wouldn't have their scores still on regular CD or CD-R (for back up for other scores) and not be able to rip it as other file formats.

[King Mark 3,975]

This is just one of the many players you can get but I recommend this one more than an iPod.  You can also actually import Mp3's at any bit rate, you aren't restricted to just a certain file format like you are with the iPod/iTunes.

iTunes allows you to rip to AAC, AIFF, Apple Lossless, MP3 or WAV encoding. It also converts WMA files to the format of your choice.

I don't know if the Zen plays AAC, though, so if you've ripped or downloaded a lot of AAC files, you might get stuck with them when you trade your iPod for a Zen player (or any other MP3 player, for that matter).

I do believe the Zen supports a wider variety of video formats, though.

That's why I rip neither in AAC or WMA.I'll waste a bit of etra space with higher bitrate MP3's,which have no rights managements.

k.M.

[Dean1700 5]

I'll back Vosk's choice of players as well. I recently bought a 8gig Creative Zen Touch Microphoto and it's great. I aren't that hard to learn to use either. I think it's harder to get use to the sensitivity of the touch pads. I didn't need anything as large as 20-30gig and am happy with what I got. It still has over 100 cd's with room for more.

[Elmo Lewis 7]

On a recent trip I brought a big entire case of my film soundtracks.

Never. Do. That. Ever. Again.

-Ross, still mourning the Venice 2002 tragedy.

[Richard P 5,306]

I fix that problem by taking a CD wallet with around 10 DVDs which collectively contain my entire music collection, played with my dad's laptop. CDs have little use to me any more apart from rewarding the composer financially and having CD quality.

Sometime in the near future I may invest in a Creative 30 Gig which would hold roughly 3/4 of my scores.

PS - what happened in Venice?

[Ollie 1,375]

A very sad tragedy, it was worse than johnnyecks' 2004 disaster.

[Trent B 354]

I'll back Vosk's choice of players as well. I recently bought a 8gig Creative Zen Touch Microphoto and it's great. I aren't that hard to learn to use either. I think it's harder to get use to the sensitivity of the touch pads. I didn't need anything as large as 20-30gig and am happy with what I got. It still has over 100 cd's with room for more.

Ya the sensativity of the main control for the Creative Zen sort of bugged me at first, even with the sensativity set to low. However after time I've gotten used to it and when I am playing a score I always put the Mp3 player on lock mode so if I accidently hit that middle button (or any of the other buttons) nothing will happen.

Edit: Yes for the love of god pacey never take all of your original CD's with you on a trip, if anything buy as many CD-R's as you need and make copies of them and take the copies with you.

richuk I promise you won't regret getting the Creative Zen Mp3 player if you choose to get one. It's so much easier than having to take any CD's or DVD's around. The sound quality is awesome for this thing. As I suggested check out Creative's sites, they list all their mp3 players on there and see which one would be the best for you.

So Ender want to tell us what happened in Venice or not?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 12,392]

That's why I rip neither in AAC or WMA.I'll waste a bit of etra space with higher bitrate MP3's,which have no rights managements.

k.M.

That's silly KM.

AAC files that you made from your own CD's have no rights managements either, and they sound better then MP3's and WMA's.

Of course you only have an iPod Shuffle, so what do you know.

[Johnnyecks 54]

On a recent trip I brought a big entire case of my film soundtracks.

Never. Do. That. Ever. Again.

-Ross, still mourning the Venice 2002 tragedy.

EEk. I almost forgot about that. Yes, that is a terrible tragedy. Are you still replacing cds?

A very sad tragedy, it was worse than johnnyecks' 2004 disaster.

I had to be reminded of it huh?

On the issue of MP3 players, I have an iPod 10gig one. My wife has a 4 gig Nano. We both love them. They are simple to use, once the software is installed. The biggest drawback to these, is that after you rip a few cd's you wind up wanting to rip them all onto your HD so that it's easier to just drag and drop them onto the iPod. But that is true for any MP3 players. My only complaint about iPods is, the over-talked about, battery problem. I can't use mine unless it's plugged into a wall socket or car adapter.

Other than that, I love them. They are extremely convenient to have and use.

Another good way to store MP3's so you can play them on a DVD player, or Xbox, etx... is to burn a Data DVD out of them. I just figured that out the other day.

[King Mark 3,975]

I think they'll release a 10GB ipod Nano this summer.That would be cool.

K.M.

[JMan 0]

I used to do that kind of suites when I used Minidisks.It's hard to suggest anything because you should put the 5-6 cues you like the most of a score.

for example War of the worlds:

The Intersection Scene

Reaching the country

The Ferry Scene

Refugee Status

Return to Boston

Epilogue

k.M.

Thats a great idea, one I would add is the Attack on the Car. Its got so much propulsion to that piece, I could not leave it out! But I like your ideas too!

JMan

[King Mark 3,975]

Or i'd add The Reunion with a clean DVD rip of the narrated part

K.m.

[Ollie 1,375]

A very sad tragedy, it was worse than johnnyecks' 2004 disaster.

I had to be reminded of it huh?.

Sorry.

[Johnnyecks 54]

A very sad tragedy, it was worse than johnnyecks' 2004 disaster.

I had to be reminded of it huh?.

Sorry.

That's ok.

I actually stepped away with that with very little damage, VOSK, just crushed jewel cases and such. I wonder if Ross is still trying to replace his cd's, I'd much rather have them commit suicide off of wall shelves, then to be dropped in water.

[pacey988 0]

I am in the process of putting my JW collection on my Itunes, as for other composers I'm not sure if the Ipod can hold as much music, I've got about 9 hours of music by Williams alone on the Itunes and I'm not sure how many hours it can hold.

[King Mark 3,975]

A very sad tragedy, it was worse than johnnyecks' 2004 disaster.

I had to be reminded of it huh?.

Sorry.

That's ok.

I actually stepped away with that with very little damage, VOSK, just crushed jewel cases and such. I wonder if Ross is still trying to replace his cd's, I'd much rather have them commit suicide off of wall shelves, then to be dropped in water.

c.d.'s rarely break in half...actually it never it never happened to me even if I dropped them.I would expect some of them to be scratched though.

Now I have this wall shelf in a cubboard that's holding kinda heavy books.Everytime I look at it i see your signature waiting to happen

K.M.

[Johnnyecks 54]

Nah, actually there were only a few that got scratched. Amazingly enough. Yeah, there were some, but not as many as I would've thought of with..ya know... six shelves (each shelf holding approx 500 cds) worth of cd's collapsing onto one another. I think there were about 20 or so that needed definite replacement. Not all from scratching though. Some had the artwork ripped. That's a no-no with me!