The Quick Question Thread

[Naïve Old Fart 9,556]

Sorry, dude; Robert Shaw was English.

He was born in Lancashire.

[Sweeping Strings 2,365]

Bit of trivia - he was living in the Republic Of Ireland when he died, and at the time (1978) the Catholic Church forbade cremations there as being 'too close to the flames of Hell' or some such shite. So he was brought to Northern Ireland for his cremation, and the ashes then returned to the ROI for scattering. 

[mrbellamy 6,298]

On 07/07/2023 at 10:52 AM, karelm said:

Does anyone know if Spielberg ever talked about his experience working with Sean Connery on TLC?  I heard that Connery was known to be difficult to work with and curious what if anything Spielberg has to say on this.

 

The only comment I could find, in this retrospective from Empire Magazine:

 

Quote

Sean was in a great mood most of the movie because he was able to be funny. He was able to use his comedic skills, and Harrison was in a fantastic mood because he was able to be the foil for the father. It was the most fun we had between actors in all of these movies.

 

You can also see them getting along here with a Three Stooges routine.

 

But Connery also seemed to be opinionated (he felt Elsa should also kiss him lol, Spielberg disagreed) and in that TLC featurette I linked to, Spielberg and Ford mention Connery making many character alterations that made him "less Yoda-like" in Ford's words, and Spielberg says that Connery insisted anything Indy did in the context of the story, Henry Sr had done better. That seemed to be the key to the father-son dynamic for him. 

 

***

 

Also this got buried last time, wanted to try again: 

 

On 22/02/2022 at 6:51 AM, mrbellamy said:

What's this piece from? Feel like it might be obvious but drawing a blank.

 

 

 

I imagine it must be from a Julia Roberts movie, but I did skim through Georges Delerue's Julia just because I know the Academy be like that sometimes. 

[29944 20]

I found this in the CD-Text of an FYC promo, does anyone know the meaning of the text after the cue titles?

Spoiler

1M02  Opening Race  CS-1M02_2005-11-08_ST_FilmFD
2M06  Lightning's Lost  CS-2M06_2005-11-08_ST_FilmFD
2M09  Into Town  CS-2M09_2005-11-08_ST_FilmFD
3M01  Bessie  CS-3M01_2005-11-08_ST_FilmFD
3M04  Customers  CS-3M04_2005-11-08_ST_FilmFD
3M07  Doc's Challenge  CS-3M07_2005-11-08_ST_FilmFD
3M08  The Race  CS-3M08_2005-11-08_ST_FilmFD
3M09  Spin Out  CS-3M09_2005-11-08_ST_FilmFD
3M11  New Road  CS-3M11_2005-11-08_ST_FilmFD
4M02  Tractor Tipping  CS-4M02_2005-11-08_ST_FilmFD
4M03  Frank  CS-4M03_2005-11-08_ST_FilmFD
4M11-12  McQueen and Sally  CS-4M1112_2005-11-08_ST_FilmFD
5M03  Doc Racing  CS-5M03_2005-11-08_ST_FilmFD
5M09  Goodbye  CS-5M09_2005-11-08_ST_FilmFD
5M10  Piston Cup Pageantry  CS-5M10_2005-11-08_ST_FilmFD
6M01  The Final Race  CS-6M01AXOL_2005-11-08_ST_FilmFD
6M02  Guido's Turn  CS-6M02a_2005-11-08_ST_FilmFD
6M03  An Empty Cup  CS-6M03_2005-11-08_ST_FilmFD

[Jay 37,378]

CS - Cars

 

xMxx - the reel and part number

 

2005-11-08 - Probably the date these mixes were saved or something 

 

ST - stereo

 

FilmFD - no idea

 

[29944 20]

Any idea about "AXOL"? (after "The Final Race")

[Jay 37,378]

No idea

[Andy 4,147]

I’m getting into Brian May scores. 
 

Which CD releases of Max Max and Mad Max 2 (The Road Warrior) are considered ‘best’?

[Thor 7,531]

8 minutes ago, Andy said:

I’m getting into Brian May scores. 
 

Which CD releases of Max Max and Mad Max 2 (The Road Warrior) are considered ‘best’?

 

Don't know about releases. I only have the original ones. But MAD MAX 2 is the superior score.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,556]

I only know the Varèse releases. Are there others?

As for the films: THE ROAD WARRIOR is better in every single way... except that me being me, I prefer the original. Go figure 

[Andy 4,147]

There seems to be a boot of Road Warrior taken from mono film stems. Anyone heard it?

[Naïve Old Fart 9,556]

3 hours ago, Andy said:

There seems to be a boot of Road Warrior taken from mono film stems. Anyone heard it?

 

No, and neither have you.

[bollemanneke 3,352]

Okay, serious Notepad issue.

 

No idea how it happened, but Notepad decided to have a little fun with my diary. Quotation marks, è, é, ë etc are gone and have been replaced by spaces. Is there any hope? I tried opening the thing with Word and showing all the characters, but it's just plain spaces. Trust my back-up file to have the same issue too. To hell with computers.

[Marian Schedenig 8,212]

Sounds like an encoding issue. Maybe the original characters are still there if you open it with the right encoding. If not (if it's been overwritten with actual spaces), you'll have to depend on the backup.

 

Notepad is a lousy text editor anyway. And Word isn't a text editor at all (and not very good for handling serious text documents, either, although possibly much better these days than it used to be). For text files, I recommend you use a serious editor, like (on Windows) Notepad++.

[bollemanneke 3,352]

Yeah, it has all been overwritten with actual spaces, and I think Notepad++ did it actually. Oh well, one month of proofreading ahead of me, swithced to Word. So be it.

[Marian Schedenig 8,212]

Notepad++ lets you select the encoding in the menu, but if the file was written & encoded correctly, it should automatically detect the right encoding when you open it.

[bollemanneke 3,352]

Yes, but whatever enconding I select, the spaces just keep showing up as spaces.

[bollemanneke 3,352]

NVM, sorry.

[karelm 2,915]

I want to record a streaming radio broadcast from my computer tomorrow using Audacity but the recorded volume ends up being incredibly quiet.  I can increase the volume of the input signal but then my computer is playing back that stream incredibly loud.  Any suggestions why Audacity is recording the audio signal so quiet and what I need to do to fix this?  Alternatively, any suggestions for a free program that is better at recording audio from a live stream?  

[Faleel 5,365]

Can't you just use normalization post recording? Or raise the recording level until it's loud enough, without being too loud?

[GerateWohl 4,384]

4 minutes ago, karelm said:

I want to record a streaming radio broadcast from my computer tomorrow using Audacity but the recorded volume ends up being incredibly quiet.  I can increase the volume of the input signal but then my computer is playing back that stream incredibly loud.  Any suggestions why Audacity is recording the audio signal so quiet and what I need to do to fix this?  Alternatively, any suggestions for a free program that is better at recording audio from a live stream?  

After recording mark all, go  to effects -> Volume and compression -> Loudness Normalization and run it.

Shold do the trick.

[karelm 2,915]

4 hours ago, Signals said:

Can't you just use normalization post recording? Or raise the recording level until it's loud enough, without being too loud?

 

4 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

After recording mark all, go  to effects -> Volume and compression -> Loudness Normalization and run it.

Shold do the trick.

Ok will try that, thanks!

[Marian Schedenig 8,212]

It's digital though. If you record it with a low peak and then amplify, you lose a lot of definition compared to recording it with a maximum peak.

[Faleel 5,365]

8 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

It's digital though. If you record it with a low peak and then amplify, you lose a lot of definition compared to recording it with a maximum peak.

I thought you always record low, so you don't lose dynamics or start clipping?

[Marian Schedenig 8,212]

Just now, Signals said:

I thought you always record low, so you don't lose dynamics?

 

I'm no audio engineer. But theoretically, the best thing would be to record at exactly the target volume, with no need for further tweaks. The next best thing is to set the maximum amplitude to high by as little as possible and then re-amplifying after recording. Thus you get as much details as possible (e.g. 23 bit fidelity instead of 24) without compromising much. Compensating in the other direction would be more problematic, because it would lead to overamplification and therefore to data loss at peak moments.

 

Setting the amplitude too high will result in resolution loss. If you record with 24 fidelity, but the peaks only max out 3 bits, you only actually record 8 different volume levels - i.e. you may record a 24 bit stream and end up with a 24 bit output stream after post processing, but you actually only captured 3 bits worth of data. Everything else is just upscaling - like recording video at 320x200 resolution and then upscaling to 1080p.

 

(The same goes for brightness/sensitivity setting on a digital camera, or any other kind of digital sampling)

 

(The analogue equivalent doesn't result in a specific loss of resolution (there is - as far as I know - no atomic bit of analogue information above the quantum level), but the lower the amplitude of the actual data you record, the higher your noise ratio will be - c.f. recording of not very loud audio, or visual recordings (film or photo) of too dark scenes)

[Jay 37,378]

On 16/09/2023 at 2:54 PM, karelm said:

I want to record a streaming radio broadcast from my computer tomorrow using Audacity but the recorded volume ends up being incredibly quiet.  I can increase the volume of the input signal but then my computer is playing back that stream incredibly loud.  Any suggestions why Audacity is recording the audio signal so quiet and what I need to do to fix this?  Alternatively, any suggestions for a free program that is better at recording audio from a live stream?  

 

I'm not sure if this will help you or not, but I recently had a very similar issue and was able to resolve it.

 

In my case I was testing how to record myself via a usb microphone for a podcast appearance, and I found that my recordings (in Audacity) were, indeed, at a very low volume.

 

I ended up fixing it this way:  I have Windows 11, so went to the System / Sound area of the Control panel, and adjust the "Volume" under "Input" up higher.  If I recall correctly, it was at something like 50% when I found the setting.  I upped it to 100% and voila, now my recordings in Audacity were at a normal volume.

 

 

[Jurassic Shark 12,096]

Question about shipping to Europe from the MovieMusic Store: do they declare the correct item price on the package, and do they declare the shipping cost?

[Marian Schedenig 8,212]

1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Question about shipping to Europe from the MovieMusic Store: do they declare the correct item price on the package, and do they declare the shipping cost?

 

I don't remember as it's been years since I ordered there (because shipping & tax - whether declared or just deduced by the custom's office) had become just too expensive, sadly. But I'm sure you can always ask PeterK.

[filmmusic 1,843]

Is there a comprehensive list somewhere with middle-eastern musical scales?

I find many pages in the internet, eg. this:

https://www.freejazzlessons.com/middle-eastern-scales/

But I'd like to find a list with 10 or more musical scales, if there is one..

 

[Jurassic Shark 12,096]

Anybody got a good piano sheet music arrangement of Queen's Don't Stop me Now?

[Naïve Old Fart 9,556]

There's a few songbook selections, on Amazon.

[Arpy 4,145]

Anyone know where to buy quality CD jewel cases? I have several CDs that have cracks that I haven't had the heart to replace because I have a silly irrational notion in my head that the original case should be kept. Yet now that I'm beginning to look after my collection and display it, I need new cases!

[Jurassic Shark 12,096]

I buy cheap Naxos CDs and cannibalise them.

 

 

[Tom Guernsey 2,287]

4 hours ago, Arpy said:

Anyone know where to buy quality CD jewel cases? I have several CDs that have cracks that I haven't had the heart to replace because I have a silly irrational notion in my head that the original case should be kept. Yet now that I'm beginning to look after my collection and display it, I need new cases!

Ugh I have hundreds of spare cases as I put most of my CDs into carry cases but I figure that postage would preclude said jewel cases finding their way to you!

[Naïve Old Fart 9,556]

4 hours ago, Arpy said:

Anyone know where to buy quality CD jewel cases? I have several CDs that have cracks that I haven't had the heart to replace because I have a silly irrational notion in my head that the original case should be kept. Yet now that I'm beginning to look after my collection and display it, I need new cases!

 

Thrift stores might be an option. Even if it's music that you don't like, the case could be in a good condition. There are packs of CD cases, available, online.

[GerateWohl 4,384]

Anybody else thought about switching from jewel cases for CDs to these foils sleves, that they use in libraries. They take up much less space. 

I did that for my DVD collection and am quite satisfied with it. But CDs take up much less space. That is why I didn't go there yet.

[Thor 7,531]

8 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

Anybody else thought about switching from jewel cases for CDs to these foils sleves, that they use in libraries. They take up much less space. 

 

God, no. My CDs are displayed proudly on my shelves, kind of an installation or piece of furniture that says a lot about who I am. Haven't played them in years, but intend to at some point.

[GerateWohl 4,384]

15 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

God, no. My CDs are displayed proudly on my shelves, kind of an installation or piece of furniture that says a lot about who I am. Haven't played them in years, but intend to at some point.

I also gave up on this and just bought a new cupboard for my CDs.

 

For jewel cases now I am going to try these:

 

https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B004TQ389G/

https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B004TQ1DRU/

 

[Thor 7,531]

51 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

I also gave up on this and just bought a new cupboard for my CDs.

 

For jewel cases now I am going to try these:

 

https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B004TQ389G/

https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B004TQ1DRU/

 

 

Aren't they pretty standard jewel cases?

 

I have a cupboard full of empty jewel cases; some I've bought while you could still buy them in stores, some are removed from my own CDs when I sent them in the mail (I used to do many jewel case-free CD trades back when shipping costs were sane).

[GerateWohl 4,384]

I am fine with standard jeweils cases. I mean, they are just called jewel cases. For me the don't have to be actually jewelry.

[Jurassic Shark 12,096]

I've tried out a lot of empty jewel cases from different manufacturers, but I've never found cases that are as good as the one used by the big labels. Common shortcomings are that the plastics is brittle and that the tolerances are bad so the parts don't fit well together.

[Thor 7,531]

20 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

I've tried out a lot of empty jewel cases from different manufacturers, but I've never found cases that are as good as the one used by the big labels. Common shortcomings are that the plastics is brittle and that the tolerances are bad so the parts don't fit well together.

 

I must admit I've never given it that much thought.

[Marian Schedenig 8,212]

3 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

I buy cheap Naxos CDs and cannibalise them.

 

Naxos CDs aren't cheap anymore.

[Jurassic Shark 12,096]

14 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

Naxos CDs aren't cheap anymore.

 

Right, but you can often find cheap, old 3-CD boxes with jewel cases.

[karelm 2,915]

What do you think of this?  Any good?

Q-series 7.1.2 ch. Wireless Dolby ATMOS Soundbar Q900C | Samsung US

 

There are so many variations of these sound bars and I don't know the difference, if they're worth getting, I just know I'm not thrilled with my TV sound.

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,556]

After having watched a lot of reviews of soundbars, on YouTube, the general consensus of opinion is: if you can afford it, buy a full and discreet 5.1, or 7.1 system, as they would offer better sound, and versatility.

Personally (and not having heard a single soundbar in my life, mind), it seems to me that full 5.1, 7.1, 9.1, whatever.whatever.whatever systems are becoming a bit of a niche, rather like high-end hi fi.

There's no doubt that a soundbar will offer convenience, and not look as cumbersome as a full system, but you'll probably end up paying the price, in terms of sound quality.

Best thing to do is to, @karelm, is to audition the soundbar, but do an A/B comparison with a similarly priced full system.

[filmmusic 1,843]

I know this is a very wide question, but does anyone have in mind any score for a dream sequence, possibly going nightmarish at the end?

style: classical orchestral from 80s and on...

if it's a religious themed film even better...

[Thor 7,531]

2 hours ago, filmmusic said:

I know this is a very wide question, but does anyone have in mind any score for a dream sequence, possibly going nightmarish at the end?

style: classical orchestral from 80s and on...

if it's a religious themed film even better...

 

Love these little challenges of yours, K, even if I don't always hit the mark.

 

For sheer nightmare music, there's obviously THE NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET scores, several Lynch/Badalamenti cues etc. But that's not really what you're asking for.

 

While not always 'dreams', specifically, I'm also thinking of other 'between states' things that start off smoothly, but end badly or at least unnervingly:

 

"Main Title" from Horner's BRAINSTORM.

"The Dream" from Horner's HOUSE OF CARDS

"While we Sleep" from Goldenthal's IN DREAMS

"Mary's Nightmare" from MARY SHELLEY

 

But the one I really had in mind was JNH's FLATLINERS. I think some cues here would fit your bill, like this one (starts off religioso, then turns kinda nightmarish at the end):

 

 

[Bespin 8,484]

1 hour ago, filmmusic said:

I know this is a very wide question, but does anyone have in mind any score for a dream sequence, possibly going nightmarish at the end?

style: classical orchestral from 80s and on...

if it's a religious themed film even better...

 

 

 

 

 

[filmmusic 1,843]

Thank you very much @Thor just listening to the cues.

I see a lot of voices. Great idea.

Thanks @Bespin but what have those cues got to do with dreams?