Jump to content

Michael Giacchino's Star Trek Into Darkness


Jay

Recommended Posts

The interview itself was fun as well. Giacchino has to answer a lot of SW related questions now that Abrams is directing the next film. Poor man. He has to say again and again how he would love JW to score it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I must say this morning I had the most epic ride to work I've had in a long time. I listened to a playlist I made on my ipod that contained the 6 WQXR tracks with the 30 second samples from Colosseum mixed in, all in OST order with the Harrison's Theme track at the end.

I for some reason hadn't noticed before that there was actually SIX tracks played on WQXR, with the Star Trek Main Theme track being the one I didn't comment on before because I hadn't heard it before. Now that I've heard it I must say it does sound great, the new arrangement somewhat threw me for a loop at first since a lot of the material is similar to arrangements from the first film but it's all a little different... I think in time I'll get used to it more.

One annoying this was that now that I got to hear everything in great LOUD sound quality in my car, the 128kbps encoding was REALLY apparent. Ode To Harrison in particular sounded awfully compressed, probably because of how much of it in on the quiet side. I REALLY hope this track turns up on HD Tracks or something as a lossless download. I don't want to wait for the Deluxe Edition to hear this piece in good sound quality!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah the compression is terrible. There were sections I was going "hmmm that's an interesting place to use synths...weird" and then I realise that's just strings being obliterated by compression.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If anybody recorded this off the FM broadcast, please post here or contact me privately!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If anybody recorded this off the FM broadcast, please post here or contact me privately!

Are you talking about the actual analog FM broadcast? That quality is entirely dependent on signal strength.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yea, somebody living in NYC who recorded it off the radio. That would sound better than the 128kbps encode WQXR.org has put on their site.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Giacchino should do his descriptive spacey sound more often. I like how the opening cue of Star Trek and the eerie parts of John Carter sound. His treatment of the different ideas for the John Harrison theme have a bit of that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, you think Ode To Harrison sounds like Inception? :blink:

I didn't mean it in a bad way. But yeah, the inspiration is quite obvious here. The repeating guitar-like ostinato, quite a simple construct of the line itself. Especially this middle section starting at 2:33.

It's not completely dissimilar to this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bAFkRY20oY

or to Zack Hamsey's material from the Inception trailer (to a lesser extent)

I'm not saying Giacchino ripped-off anything. It's his piece through and through. It's just it seems obvious that either him or someone else thought it would be "this kind of thing".

Karol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Crocodile, or shall I say croc in this case,

Grasping at straws my man. It sounds closer to the darker conspiracy music of Star Trek Insurrection than to Inception.

*Hint* *Hint* *Nudge* Listen to the music as Picard, Data, and that lady are going through the hidden ship on Ba'ku. ;) Specifically that woodwindy bit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Judging from the cues we've heard, Giacchino seems to be relying heavily on the repetitive ostinato method. I don't think one should point to Inception, but the repetition of simple constructs for the sake of building momentum is there from what I've heard, and I think it might become tiring/uninteresting to the ears at one point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Crocodile, or shall I say croc in this case,

Grasping at straws my man. It sounds closer to the darker conspiracy music of Star Trek Insurrection than to Inception.

*Hint* *Hint* *Nudge* Listen to the music as Picard, Data, and that lady are going through the hidden ship on Ba'ku. ;) Specifically that woodwindy bit.

Is it on the album? I've never seen the film.

In any case, it was the first thing I thought when I heard it. And it's not unlikely that an editor used it as a temp track.

Karol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Judging from the cues we've heard, Giacchino seems to be relying heavily on the repetitive ostinato method. I don't know if one should point to Inception, but the repetition of simple constructs for the sake of building momentum is rather apparent from what I've heard, and I think it might become tiring/uninteresting to the ears at one point.

Pray tell, how does one build momentum without rhythmic use of simple constructs? ;)

Crocodile, or shall I say croc in this case,

Grasping at straws my man. It sounds closer to the darker conspiracy music of Star Trek Insurrection than to Inception.

*Hint* *Hint* *Nudge* Listen to the music as Picard, Data, and that lady are going through the hidden ship on Ba'ku. ;) Specifically that woodwindy bit.

Is it on the album? I've never seen the film.

In any case, it was the first thing I thought when I heard it. And it's not unlikely that an editor used it as a temp track.

Karol

No but it is on youtube:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have to say, in one minute Jerry's little conspiracy bit is way more interesting and grabbing. Giacchino's Harrison Ode sounds monotonous by comparison.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Speaking of which, Insurrection is a pretty cool score. My first Goldsmith album, by the way. It's been years since my last listen. I sure wish we'll get it complete this year.

Karol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love it.

And damn you for making find that Insurrection cue. Now I'm comparing the two, and Ode to Harrison just can't keep up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you compare any modern film score to the heydey of film scores from the 80s and 90s, you'll always get disappointed. it's best to just compare modern scores against other modern scores.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Judging from the cues we've heard, Giacchino seems to be relying heavily on the repetitive ostinato method. I don't know if one should point to Inception, but the repetition of simple constructs for the sake of building momentum is rather apparent from what I've heard, and I think it might become tiring/uninteresting to the ears at one point.

Pray tell, how does one build momentum without rhythmic use of simple constructs? ;)

Well, what Giacchino does is he takes one ostinato (like the one for Harrison), repeats it again and again as it gets louder with some ornamentation. It usually sounds kind of monotonous. Using simple constructs is not the problem. It's just the way he does it that isn't too interesting. His motif-based action writing from Medal of Honor is far more entertaining than his more modern stuff like Ode to Harrison.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Judging from the cues we've heard, Giacchino seems to be relying heavily on the repetitive ostinato method. I don't think one should point to Inception, but the repetition of simple constructs for the sake of building momentum is there from what I've heard, and I think it might become tiring/uninteresting to the ears at one point.

He already did this in the previous score so it's no surprise.

It doesn't really tire me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

does Michael G quote any

Horner music

in his score?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well none of us have heard the entire OST or seen the movie, but in the 30 second Colosseum samples and WQXR cues - all of which you can check out yourself BTW - , no.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Judging from the cues we've heard, Giacchino seems to be relying heavily on the repetitive ostinato method. I don't think one should point to Inception, but the repetition of simple constructs for the sake of building momentum is there from what I've heard, and I think it might become tiring/uninteresting to the ears at one point.

He already did this in the previous score so it's no surprise.

Indeed. I was simply commenting on it with regards to this new score. It was tiring in the first score, and I fear the problem may persist with this new one for me as well. We'll see...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Worked fine for me this morning



EDIT: Still working fine for me right now

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I haven't listened to any of it yet. I was dissapointed by the first score so I'll go into this have a full listen

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Having the same problems as well.

Does yours start out with 59 minutes in the broadcast and then tick down to 19 or 21? I could actually watch mine count down. It was strange, to say the least...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Screw the embed, just go to the WQXR website and play it there, or just download the mp3

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ah Varese...if it weren't for them releasing a short album a week and half after the movie...life would be so much simpler.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Listened to the first half of the WQXR show on my way home from work. Really enjoyed the conversation MG and DG are having. Some tidbits

-The sabbatical he took after John Carter (he finished work on that in Dec 2011) was made easier because all the directors he works with were in between movies at the time. He spent the time off with his family and didn't write any music during that time (hmmm, did he forget about Electric Holiday?)

-He began working on STID just before Thanksgiving '12, ending his sabbatical. He started by writing "Ode To Harrison", inspired by Benedict Cumberbatch's performance. He wrote it to cover all the aspects of his character.

-He then used that piece to shape the rest of the score around

-He scored the scenes for the IMAX preview one way, but when it came time to score the entire film the whole sequence had been recut and the score was rewritten and re-recorded. He confirmed the OST version of "Pranking The Natives" is the final version

-He described London Calling as being for a scene that introduces an important character (or characters). It seemed to be like it is for the scene where Harrison introduces himself to the couple in the hospital that was shown in the IMAX preview, replacing the original guitar-based cue

-He said he purposely made that cue sound un-Star Trek like because at that point in the film, JJ wanted the audience to feel like they weren't even in a Star Trek film any more

-He got the 15CD Star Trek TOS boxset but didn't listen to it until after he finished the STID score

-He purposely chose not to reference any Star Trek TOS music in the score. The day he finished, he got a tweet from a fan asking him if he did. He couldn't stop thinking about it so he went back into one of the cues, erased 15 bars or so, and put in an iconic fight theme from TOS. He wouldn't say which one or who composed it, so fans would have to find it and be surprised if they did.

Can't wait to listen to the second half of the interview!



~~~~

When it rains, it pours. Check out Dan Schweiger's extensive interview with Giacchino about the score!!

http://www.filmmusicmag.com/?p=11248

Some highlights:

-There is a theme for Harrison's ship

-There is some militaristic music in the score

-He talks about use of choir in ST09 and STID - for the latter of which he says "One piece called ”The Kronos Wartet” has choir in that’s the actual language these characters are singing from their home world.” - MUST be Klingons right?

-Confirms what I've realized since I first heard the samples of the OST - what I've been calling the "Cadet Theme" is really an "Enterprise Theme". It just wasn't used for the the glory shots of The Enteprise (when Kirk first sees it on Earth and in space) in ST09.

-And of course this:

Do you think they made a whole mountain has been made out of a mole hill over whether it would be you or John Williams who’d score J.J’s first “Star Wars” movie?

I was sitting with J. J. at Bad Robot when they announced this whole “Star Wars” thing. My first reaction was how awesome it was that we were going to get to hear more John Williams music. So It never was an issue for me. John’s doing great. He’s been a wonderful teacher and friend to me over the years, and getting him to do more “Star Wars” music from him is exactly what I want.

"Friend"? I didn't even know that they had met...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

-He talks about use of choir in ST09 and STID - for the latter of which he says "One piece called The Kronos Wartet has choir in thats the actual language these characters are singing from their home world." - MUST be Klingons right?

It's confirmed to be Klingon in the WQXR interview, and he even talks about the whole story behind. Originally, the piece wasn't supposed to have choir, but one of the music editors was a real trekkie who insisted on including Klingon.

Do you think they made a whole mountain has been made out of a mole hill over whether it would be you or John Williams whod score J.Js first Star Wars movie?

I was sitting with J. J. at Bad Robot when they announced this whole Star Wars thing. My first reaction was how awesome it was that we were going to get to hear more John Williams music. So It never was an issue for me. Johns doing great. Hes been a wonderful teacher and friend to me over the years, and getting him to do more Star Wars music from him is exactly what I want.

"Friend"? I didn't even know that they had met...

john_williams_lanier_giacchino.jpg

I don't think they're "friends" though. Giacchino may have exaggerated a bit there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Screw the embed, just go to the WQXR website and play it there, or just download the mp3

I was using the WQXR website...

Anyway, I was able to listen to the broadcast once or twice when it aired, and I definitely liked what I heard, especially "The Kronos Wartet." I think the Klingon choir was a great addition!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love Ode To Harrison. One of the better character themes to come out of Trek in quite some time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, although Goldsmith's rendition in the end credits is one of the most touching pieces of music I've heard.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good news everyone!

Varese Sarabande is releasing Steve Jablonsky's Pain And Gain CD on the same day as STID - May 28th. And Pain and Gain is now on iTunes!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/pain-gain-music-from-motion/id640378255

So, I'd expect to see STID on iTunes any time now!

​Stay vigilant!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Guidelines.