ricsim88

ARE YOU ABSOLUTELY KIDDING ME!?!?
 
I'm actually laughing whilst listening to this score because my brain can't comprehend its brilliance.
 
I made it 3 tracks in before having to go back and restart because it's already blowing my mind.
 
I watched the damn series and went crazy about the music then, but hearing it now is somehow frying my brain. It's sensational.
 
Oh, and also can we just scream to the heavens about how fu**ng incredible Kevin Kaska is?!
 
 
 
 

Interesting timing for this topic to resurface.
One of my conductor friends who happened to assist the maestro in San Francisco last week, also conducts our orchestra on occasion. He was here a month ago, and since he knows I’m a huge JW fan, he offered to bring something that I would like signed.
He brought back these today.
The score was an obvious choice. I added the part since I’ll be performing it with the orchestra next season.
 

Interesting timing for this topic to resurface.
One of my conductor friends who happened to assist the maestro in San Francisco last week, also conducts our orchestra on occasion. He was here a month ago, and since he knows I’m a huge JW fan, he offered to bring something that I would like signed.
He brought back these today.
The score was an obvious choice. I added the part since I’ll be performing it with the orchestra next season.
 

Interesting timing for this topic to resurface.
One of my conductor friends who happened to assist the maestro in San Francisco last week, also conducts our orchestra on occasion. He was here a month ago, and since he knows I’m a huge JW fan, he offered to bring something that I would like signed.
He brought back these today.
The score was an obvious choice. I added the part since I’ll be performing it with the orchestra next season.
 

Interesting timing for this topic to resurface.
One of my conductor friends who happened to assist the maestro in San Francisco last week, also conducts our orchestra on occasion. He was here a month ago, and since he knows I’m a huge JW fan, he offered to bring something that I would like signed.
He brought back these today.
The score was an obvious choice. I added the part since I’ll be performing it with the orchestra next season.
 

John Williams with Yo-Yo Ma
Tuesday Feb 20, 2024, 7:30 PM
Performance Details
John Williams Conductor
Yo-Yo Ma Cello
Williams Cello Concerto
Williams Selections from film scores
With an astonishing five Oscars and 25 GRAMMY Awards, John Williams is one of the most beloved composers of all time, having written unforgettable music for the screen as well as the concert hall. Join Williams and long-time friend Yo-Yo Ma for a performance of the composer’s sublime Cello Concerto, along with selections from some of his beloved film scores.
 
https://www.philorch.org/performances/our-season/events-and-tickets/2023-2024-season/verizon-hall/john-williams-and-yo-yo-ma/

I would definitely get Rocketeer. One of my top 5 Horner scores.

Khan is available!
 
https://omnimusicpublishing.com/product/horners-star-trek-ii-full-orchestral-score/
 
Not on front page, but is on Shop page.  I've ordered mine.
 

Brett Mitchell's cover of the title track:
 

Many of you have no doubt enjoyed The Goldsmith Odyssey's recent Soundtrack Spotlight on Hollow Man (2000) with special guests Bruce Botnick and synth programmer Nick Vidar who worked on the score...
https://goldsmithodyssey.buzzsprout.com/159614/11577733-odyssey-soundtrack-spotlight-hollow-man-2000
 
Connected to this, we also reached out to the office of director Paul Verhoeven, but he preferred to have a more general conversation about his collaboration. Here's the wonderful result!
https://goldsmithodyssey.buzzsprout.com/159614/11681407-odyssey-interviews-paul-verhoeven

 
Looking forward to hearing what people think!
 
Yavar
 
 

Wonderful evening!! Williams remarked that while he doesn’t do “Born on the Fourth of July” often, he wanted to hear the Cleveland Orchestra do it, especially Michael Sachs. He also ended the evening by coming out one more time after the iconic “sleepy hands” to say good night and that if the audience kept being so nice to him, he’d have to live to be 100!
 
Really strong performances. Helena’s Theme is even more beautiful live, and hearing Obi-Wan live again (this time prepared for it and not crying from a surprise appearance like at Celebration earlier this year) was fantastic. Sabrina’s Theme is also always so gorgeous and a strong inclusion.
 
Encores were Yoda’s Theme, Raiders March (not the abbreviated version - Marion’s Theme was intact!), and Imperial March.
 
This was my 23rd time seeing Williams conduct live, and my last one of the year. Until next time, Maestro!
 

 

Yes the flub people are back!!
Amazing concerts but their lives are ruined by a flub.

Omni just shared the (fantastic) cover for Horner’s Wrath of Khan on their Facebook page:
 

I know someone is bound to ask, so here's a breakdown of the cues in the book.  The OST track number column refers to disc 1 of the Intrada release.  "R7P2 (Original) Catnip" only appears as a reference in the liner notes of the OST, since the original takes were not saved. I have made a YouTube video using the Noteperformer playback from this cue, which I'll make available in due course (currently a Patreon exclusive).
 
Title OST R1P2 Main Title 1-1 R1P3 Hyper Sleep 1-2 R2P1 The Landing 1-3 R3P1 The Terrain 1-4 R3P2 The Craft 1-5 R4P1 The Passage 1-6 R4P2 The Skeleton 1-7 R4P3 A New Face 1-8 R5P1 Hanging On 1-9 R6P1 The Lab 1-10 R6P3 Drop Out 1-11 R7P1 Nothing to Say 1-12 R7P1A Nothing to Say (Insert) 1-12 R7P2 (New) Cat Nip 1-13 R8P1 Here Kitty 1-14 R9P1 The Shaft 1-15 R10P1 It's a Droid 1-16 R11P1 Parker's Death 1-17 R11P2 The Eggs 1-18 R12P1 Sleepy Alien 1-19 R12P2 To Sleep 1-20 R13P1 The Cupboard 1-21 R13P2 Out the Door 1-22 R13P3 End Title 1-23     Alternates:   R1P2 (New) Main Title 1-24 R1P3 (New) Hyper Sleep 1-25 R3P1 (New) The Terrain 1-26 R4P2 (New) The Skeleton 1-27 R5P1 (New) Hanging On 1-28 R7P2 (Original) Cat Nip *Noteperformer R13P1 (New) The Cupboard 1-29 R13P2 (New) Out the Door 1-30 R13P2 Out the Door (Alternate Ending) 1-30

If you can get into some of Williams' more gnarly action and underscore cues then you can get into his concertos.  I recognize a lot of similar gestures and just, like, how he moves music along between his scores and the concert works.  You could always try to imagine your own film accompaniment cutting along to the music!
 
I would also advise you to just listen to the slow movement from the Trumpet Concerto over and over and over and over and over...
  
 
 

Hehe you beat me to it!!
 

Alien is now ready for preorder at Chris Siddall’s website 
 
https://www.chrissiddallmusic.com/store/p89/Alien_In_Full_Score.html
 
Looking forward to that one

Alien is now ready for preorder at Chris Siddall’s website 
 
https://www.chrissiddallmusic.com/store/p89/Alien_In_Full_Score.html
 
Looking forward to that one

Alien is now ready for preorder at Chris Siddall’s website 
 
https://www.chrissiddallmusic.com/store/p89/Alien_In_Full_Score.html
 
Looking forward to that one

Alien is now ready for preorder at Chris Siddall’s website 
 
https://www.chrissiddallmusic.com/store/p89/Alien_In_Full_Score.html
 
Looking forward to that one

Dude could probably kick my ass if we got into a street fight.

Here are a few examples - mic placement will have a big impact on the sound.  For instance, Don Williams said he can tell if the engineer knows what they're doing by how close they have the timpani mic to the drum.  Sometimes it will be just a few feet from the drum but some of the overtones are around twelve feet, so the sound of the drum won't be what you hear in the room because if the mic is three feet above the drum, it's not getting all the low frequencies!  The resulting sound will be tight and emphasize higher overtones.  This introduces a different challenge, mic bleed.   You will get phasing issues if the timpani mic captures the bass drum (just as an example) so you want an assortment of mics with different recording patterns to minimize phasing issues.  In addition, JW likes the mix to be in the room - meaning that the orchestra is already balanced and as long as the room is accurately captured, it should sound good.  This means more reliance on the room mics like the decca tree and rear mics.  That is a more classical approach and is not the trend today.  Especially since lots of scores are striped - recorded in sections so only strings get recorded, then separately, only brass for example.  Sometimes there is an A part and a B part of the strings, and the producer (er composer) can mix and match in post what part they use and how much of it.  You can't do that in a room recording.  It's also not unusual to record in different halls.  I understand Pirates of the Caribbean did this so you might get the orchestra recorded in LA but the choir recorded in London and extra brass recorded their too then all mixed together.   It's just an example of very different approaches and trends and they surely impact the final sound.  I think the mic placement is an interesting one - I've mentioned this in other posts but sitting next to instruments is not the most interesting sound.  They don't have their "true" characteristic sound up close.  A powerful brass section might sound loud but tinny.  Mics up close get more of that "tinny" sound.  Generally, you mix the room with the spot mics to balance the issues each introduce.  A double bass is very quiet up close but projects into the room and also has lots of subharmonic frequencies making other instruments sound louder (or fuller), these are examples of the complex considerations a mixer and engineer have to contend with. 
 
One other point that is worth mentioning - this is a chart of normal hearing loss with age.  In short, the dark line at the top shows young people (in this sample 15-19 year olds) with normal hearing across all frequencies up to around 16,000 hz.  40 year olds will not hear above 14khz - the frequencies you hear drop as you age.  By 70 there is almost 100% hearing loss above 10khz.  So, though I have no insight to JW's hearing, the fact that he's 90, if we assume he has average hearing, he probably can't hear above about 6-8khz anymore.  Include to that a lifetime of music which isn't great for hearing, it might not even be that good.  It's worth pointing out that his hearing is probably better than anyone in that age, but the simple fact of his age generally impacts how good his hearing is and if he's the one approving final mixes, he's not hearing the nuances he once did.  I think his engineers are all pros and know his sound well but as already mentioned, technology, styles and approaches change over time and what he might like now, might not be what he would have picked earlier in his career.  Generally, instruments don't go near this high but there is a "sheen" or sparkle in those upper frequencies which he probably can no longer even hear though he knows is there.  Just an opinion.