Hellgi
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Posts posted by Hellgi
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William Ross admires JW.
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FWIW, the composer is the only one who can submit an application to get nominated for an Oscar.
The studio does help when it comes to marketing and advertising though (ads in Variety, Hollywood Reporter, etc.)
Hellgi
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Hey there,
we're working on a soundtrack album for a yet-to-be-released movie, and I'm wondering what "soundtrack geeks" prefer.
To me, there's basically two types of soundtracks:
1- The "Thomas Newman" soundtrack, with a lot of short, usually non-edited, tracks
2- The "John Williams" soundtrack, usually containing about 15 tracks, oftentimes with cues edited together (even sometimes *heavily* edited together)
And then there's of course soundtracks "in between", with some short (non-edited) and long (edited) cues.
I'd like to know what you guys prefer. Not that this will necessarily change what we do for the album in the end, but I'd like to know anyway, if not simply out of curiosity.
Hellgi
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It could almost be a modern horror score.
I agree... I haven't seen the film, but just as a score it is probably very effective for a thriller.
I also enjoyed the "synthy" parts, which I find original and not too much "in your face" or dated (which is always a big risk when using synths).
Those odd-meter cues are simply awesome. The theme from "Hells' Kitchen" (which is used later in the score) reminds me of what JW did on Minority Report. "The Football Game" is definitely something original for JW...
BTW I love how "Hell's Kitchen" develops into that fugue-type, almost bi-tonal, piece, and then builds tension to release it at 4:37... stylistically it's like a cross between JW's style of writing for his film scores and for his concert pieces. I'm sure he had a lot of fun writing that cue... As a matter of fact, as soon as I heard that track, I knew it was going to be an interesting score
H.
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i've dug up this post because I just bought and discovered that score... I love it! The main theme is great - pure Williams - and the overall atmosphere is very well represented I think.
I also think the odd-meter actiony/thriller cues are just awesome
It's pretty original for a Williams score... really a good buy.
Anyway... just wanted to share my 2 cents
H.
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Composers who do work with orchestrators, but provide complete detail in their sketches would include Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, Christopher Young, Bruce Broughton, Basil Poledouris and John Barry in his later work. (All of these composers, I should point out, have also composed scores which they completely orchestrated themselves.)
Christopher Young???
I'm not sure the guy knows what he's talking about...
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How was Jerry rated as a conductor? What about Jimmy?
My comments could also apply to Jerry Goldsmith (ie. an amazing session conductor).
Jimmy who?
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The Boston Pops is a well-known orchestra, but it's still a "Pops" orchestra. Definitely not as prestigious as its "classical repertoire" counter-part, the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Regarding JW's conducting technique, my personal opinion is that his technique, precision and musical abilities make him the best session conductor in the industry. Contrary to many conductors in that domain, he's not here to simply give the tempo and cue musicians in. Also, his free timing chops (combined with pretty decent writing
) are definitely the best in the world, bar none.AFAIK, he's also an extremely nice, gentle and humble person. Musicians *love* that, and they regard him in the highest esteem. This helps in getting a good performance (sometimes much more than your actual abilities). JW has such an aura and reputation that musicians are very focused and usually try to do their best when working for him.
Apart from that, I do not think he's a great *classical* conductor, not because of a lack of technique, but more so because it's simply not his specialty. In my opinion, he just doesn't bring anything to the table when conducting classical works, where the vision of a composer's life, overall body of work, place in music history (and History more generally) is of the utmost importance. That set of skills (ie. understanding Classical Music, the work being performed, the composer, and applying that knowledge to an actual interpretation with an orchestra) is what makes great conductors like Bernstein, Abaddo, Toscanini, Karajan, etc.
But again, that's never been JW's job.
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Great photos! Finally we have an inside man at Abbey Road
Well, it's not like I work there
But we might go there again later this year... providing the dollar gets strong again! Right now it's more expensive to record in London than in Los Angeles!Hellgi
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Yes, it was awesome... the room is really amazing... it has a natural ±3 sec. reverb, you don't need to "add" anything to the sound, it's already perfect.
And the players were absolutely fantastic. (Duh!)
I was so amazed for the first two or three cues, I couldn't do my job right... I was supposed to listen carefully for mistakes and suggest things to improve, but everything sounded fabulous!
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I thought this had been cleared up at the time?
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I'm William Ross' "assistant". On that particular movie, I was also orchestrator as well as score coordinator.
Other duties during the session included running Auricle, taking notes and giving specific musical notes to Bill (who, because of the nature of the project, didn't have the time to come in the booth to check the cues).
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Hey there,
I was in London two weeks ago for a recording with William Ross for the movie "Our Lady of Victory." We went to record at Abbey Road, in Studio One, where so many amazing film scores have been recorded (including some Harry Potter, Star wars V, VI, I, II and III, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Lord of the Rings, etc.).
My wife took a lot of pictures and I've posted them online. I thought maybe that could be of interest to some of you so I figured I'd let you know
Here's the link to the gallery.
Enjoy and please do not hesitate to ask if you have questions
Hellgi
ps. I just realized that, for some reason, the picture quality is not excellent while watching the slideshow on high resolution displays. You can download the picture to your hard drive and it will display fine that way.
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I hated the idea of doing sequels - this going back in time after the fact is ridiculous. I think the less you know about Darth Vader the first time you see it in "Episode 4", the better.
However, I for one wouldn't mind more SW movies, if they were good and GL wasn't too much involved (like, if he was only producing, not directing). Stuff about other characters, other stories, etc.
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No other composer literally writes music unless it actually says in the CD booklet "Track whatever composed by whoever"
Ahah, surely this must be some sort of a joke!
Since when is it mandatory to give credit when it's due? My friend, I suggest you find some work in the film music industry, you'll be amazed!
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Jurassic Park... the score that opened the world of John Williams and film music to me!
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POTC is Zimmer.
I wonder if there's anything like a Zimmer score out there that didn't require dozens of additional composers, assistants, ghostwriters and various other minions.
I have never heard anything amazing by HZ, and never will.I'm not a huge fan of Zimmer, but I really like The Lion King, Prince of Egypt and Spanglish.
You cannot listen to a JW score without knowing the film.OMG! This is so untrue...
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I think it was Stravinsky who said if you haven't found your voice within 2 years of serious study, then you won't ever have one. I believe I read this in one of Taruskin's works. I agree with this notion.
Stravinsky also said that film music is to music what wallpaper is to painting.
Stravinsky said a lot of stuff...
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Be it a "Masterpiece" or "very, very good", I still don't think you can support that kind of argument by saying how well the product sold.
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No, I wrote "in the end", not "at the end."
I understand the concept of having "atonal thus uncomfortable music" throughout the movie, but I still think the score is not well written at all.
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25 million CD's sold tells me a different story.
It's a known fact , if a product is successful, it necessarily means it's a masterpiece.
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Just the idea of JW using Internet is far-fetched to me, so the concept that he'd have a MySpace page is even more remote.
But let's play along
-JW actually reads a lot, poetry especially.
- He actually does occasionally smokes cigars if I remember correctly.
- He's too modest to write "I have written some of the most recognizable film scores of the last 40 years"
- His personal hero would certainly not be George Lucas, rofl.
Here's what I'm *really* wondering about... all those people who send him messages... are they serious? Do they really hope it reaches JW?
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Agreed, but it is another example of how destructive some directors can be
Believe me I'm fully aware of that, ahah
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Don't forget that he was taking the direction given to him by the producers and directors of the film.
Of course - but the fact that it's not Horner's fault doesn't make the score good.
John Williams wins third Emmy!
in General Discussion
Posted
My boss also won an Emmy