Skelly

Here's a copy! Also, "Soundtrack!" magazine did an interview with him when The Phantom Menace came out. (But ignore his response to the Municipal Band/Emperor question -- I think he and Ford were talking past each other.)

Is that something you can see online or was it from one of the seminars Smalley sometimes does?

With the AFM it's a chicken-or-the-egg situation. For 25 years film score fans have been complaining about how prohibitive the AFM's new use fees are, but over that same period of time those royalties have been becoming more and more precious to the musicians. In 1999 Local 47 wages totaled almost $50 million and by 2013 that total had sunk to barely $15 million. For most musicians that's not livable, and so they get their most important paychecks through residuals. If even that isn't enough to make ends meet, you have little choice but to be a "scab" and hope the only people who hear about it are sympathetic. Obviously the musicians don't like this whole development. And they don't like the AFM's leaders who are doing little/nothing to stay competitive with London, where most of the work is moving. LA is the only place asking for these high backend payments. Their justification is that they're some of the best musicians in the world, but that's not a realistic appeal to a producer who only sees music as the thing which goes behind the dialogue/sfx. Why not save some cash and do it abroad? Local 47 has tried in the past to experiment with a London-type "buyout" plan -- having much higher upfront wages in place of new use royalties -- but once the AFM caught wind of that they shut it down. The musicians are very split about it and the leadership of the AFM (who have been winning elections unopposed for a decade now) only wants to keep the status quo. Since all work shut down overnight in March that annual residuals check became so critical that AFM members got theirs a full month early. I'm sure at least a few people who thought a buyout clause was the best way forward are now thinking twice about removing new use entirely, because otherwise a lot of them would have been totally financially stranded.

I did an "isolated score" for Azkaban a while ago (all three actually) to get a better look at how the movie was scored dramatically compared to the first two. Editorially I don't remember anything very interesting dropped out, mostly it just seemed like fat was trimmed from busy fx sequences. According to one anecdote Williams got an outdated cut of the movie to begin with.

The 180-degree turn at 2:02 was evidently added in later, since Wannberg or whoever looped music specifically for the duration of that shot. I guess Williams scored a cut where Voldemort didn't explain the unicorn blood.

I'm not sure about that since this movie doesn't use establishing shots very often just to pass time (there are two, maybe three instances; the sequel has plenty though). Usually it's the way it's cut now where even if the shot starts static, the action rolls in quickly. This was my approximation. But I'm a little doubtful that I got it right since the flutes obviously collide with Hermione.

I wonder if that cue was inspired by a different ending to the mirror scene where Harry asks what Dumbledore sees in the mirror, and he says a new pair of socks. It's a shame that so much music was dialed out in the last scene you posted, because it shows Williams's knack for scoring dialogue. But by that point there'd already been so much music and I think they wanted to avoid underscoring muggle scenes. Plus it makes the Dursleys more comically evil than was maybe intended.

Yeah, I got it working again just as those last few minutes were playing. :/ Keep an eye on his label's YouTube channel I guess, they post random performances there. Maybe October Light will show up one day.

I think expecting Williams to do a tell-all at his age and with his consistent outlook about the idea ("My life isn't interesting enough") is wishful thinking. But he's donated his old scores and has given his blessing for expanded CD releases so that's something. On the other hand he was happy to speak at length about Conrad Salinger a few months ago, so if someone really wants to get him to talk then asking him about his experiences with other people is the way to do it. I think any personal legacy he wants to leave behind can be found at the end: If they're playing Superman today, maybe they'll be interested in playing Berlioz tomorrow. Being able to open someone else's musical world like that seems like a great thrill to him, maybe most evident with the Children's Suite from Harry Potter (which I understand he recorded only by hoarding bits of spare session time, and which J.K. Rowling's people were wary of to some degree -- he didn't have to do that).

.... Well I hope someone else was recording it since my internet crapped out right in the middle of it. Seriously. If not, sorry guys. Edit: Here's as much as I was able to get, including a short introduction by Goldenthal. Even though descriptions say the piece is 8 minutes I think it really was more like 12. No clue why my internet died when it did, but maybe one day he'll release it through his label or something. Also, here's a long discussion with Goldenthal and St. Clair about music and life and things.

Tomorrow night, for anyone who needs a reminder. I'll record it if I can.

wanna know subtle motif switcheroo... Peter Pettigrew's theme (or, what I guess was the standard "danger" motif before all the music editing made it his theme) is just the Nimbus 2000 Theme with the last two notes switched around. who knows if that's intentional or not.

Re: the choir in the Quidditch cue -- I agree with crumbs that dropping the choir makes the Grim's looming image more eerie. That little section was chopped in half in the final cut (there's no giant "Double Trouble" statement anymore) so maybe there was something in the editing or length which Williams was responding to that we can't see anymore. And with that in mind it kind of "breaks" the music if choir suddenly comes and goes without that Double Trouble there to tie it back to the rest of the track. Another reason they nixed it might be because choir is the trademark sound of the patronus and narratively it's out of place here.

On paper it is, but you can put in any random postcode and it lets you through. Or at least, it lets me listen live. I still get error messages when I try to listen to old programs. Not sure if that's just me or related to the geo-blocking.

Even if no one records it live (I'll try to), there's an option for all their other programs to "Listen again", so I guess that'll be the case for the Williams show as well. https://planetradio.co.uk/scala-radio/schedule/