GoodMusician

so many things I want to say about that...

Has there been much discussion on the state of the elements from the Film Recordings (not the OST)? I ask because it seems the common practice of that studio at the time was to do downmixes of instrument groups for later mixing into a mono film mix (think JAWS, TOWERING INFERNO, FAMILY PLOT). Listening to the two samples (one being 'Main Title' on JWFan and the other being 'Anna on the Stairs from that podcast) it seems clear to me at least in some cases downmixes had to be used. The strings, for instance, in both of those are mixed LEFT and slightly Left of CENTER respectively. It's not a deal breaker for me but I am curious of the disposition of what was found for the FILM mixes.

I once did a film edit of this scene and If I recall you're exactly right, the music is tracked from later. The hard part was the stretched notes and extensions near the end when they're in the water. Those were tough.

There's a video where Jackson explains he'd intended it to be an old woman who says is... intended to be played by Faye Wray. But she passed away just before filming began. So it sounds like the decision to use Denham is... almost a "well, we had to use someone."

My understanding of the tech and why you're hearing the pitch shifting and cut outs is probably due to how the board was being handled. I always understood that since they changed from one take to the next, it might cause a slight dip in the playback speed as they transition from take to take. Normally you wouldn't roll through the takes so you wouldn't be privy to this sound but since he's rolling from take to take, you hear it. As for the orchestra being muted except celeste, i think it was a similar thing. They meant to end the take at that moment and perhaps to say "this is the end of the take" they muted the groupings of all instruments but I guess the celeste was on a separate grouping and didn't get muted?

This is why I don't just buy any release these days. I try to be mindful of whose doing it and their techniques / attention to detail. The Loudness wars continues taking its toll on so many great releases. For example, I LOVE the score to The Lion King but between disregarding an award winning mix and then overboosting the crap out of it, it's just not worth buying the Legacy release. The wav form looks like a pop song.

Well, I have been meaning to get ProTools afterall. Not because I don't know how to master my own compositions/CD's mind you, but because it is such an industry standard. There may be no discernable distortion, but I really don't like the idea of boosting something and limiting it. I get wanting to add volume of course--and the dynamics of the pieces vary greatly--but honestly some minor normalization could have protected the peaks.

hmm It doesn't look to me like anything was done past boosting it up cause it still registers as clipping in audacity. If it were limited wouldn't it not show? It just looks like they boosted it up. This caused the clipping but nothing was done to prevent that or to preserve those peaks. It just clips. Distortion wise I don't hear much but I don't get why you couldn't just normalize it a little. It seems lazy to me to boost it and clip it...

Comparing the OST and the New Release, here are the most obvious examples of over boosting / clipping: Track 02 Track 04 Track 07 Track 08

I'd like someone else to confirm what I'm seeing: (rough estimate of times) Track 1 - [1:17] Track 2 - [8:18 / 8:45 / 9:20 / 9:40 / 10:04] Track 4 - [2:54 / 7:10] Track 5 - [3:03] Track 6 - [3:02 / 3:12 / 4:55] Track 7 - [4:30-4:40 / 8:02 / 8:28-8:30 / 9:27 / 10:35] Track 8 - [4:53-4:55] Track 3 and Track 9 didn't show as clipping although they are pushed RIGHT to the limit.

hmm... is there a particular reason why nearly every track is over boosted until it clips?

I think its fair to say I'm enjoying a good amount of these! the past two have been quite nice! Good job!

thanks for sharing that one! i'm not sure what to say about the first part. It good but it didn't evoke Williams fully to me. Might take another listen. It almost sounds like something from a silent film, which is great! like the cue is technically more difficult and interesting! The 2nd one, I felt like although it made sense to come in at the conjuring of the dark mark, it might have needed a lead in? The rest was pretty spot on!

No worries! And I agree whole heartedly with your approach! I actually am curious, have you discussed how did you all go about spotting this / breaking down when/where/what you covered and when? Did you rely on how the film had been scored for timing/styles or just start fresh?

Just listened through! I have to say I enjoyed alot of the expansions. I can hear how you honed in on how Williams would do things. I think the hard part with the films is that ideas like the Portkey, for example, should almost be more... magical? glorified? take a moment to exist outside of the film (ala diagon alley or aunt marge's waltz) those moments of pure magic and excitement. But the film kinda powers through it so you aren't left with much except a twirl and hurl lol I feel like that could have been a fun moment to create something separate but I also understand the confines on the film really prevent too much of that.