Shawn Murphy

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Not that long ago, a Shawn Murphy recorded JW score meant a rather distant sound, cold, smothered in excessive bass drowning out the detail. Especially in JW's dense action writing

Albums like A.I, Minority Report, AOTC, Call Of The Chamkpions etc really suffered because of this.

Even some later scores like ROTS should have sounded better.

Tintin sounds brilliant though. smooth, not too bright, not too murky. Very detailed, vibrant.

And what i've heard of War Horse sounds great too. Quite warm for a Murphy/Williams score (i have not heard a lossless source though).

[crocodile 8,017]

Prisoner of Azkaban and The Terminal sounded very good too.

Karol

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

POA sounds good, but a bit cold and uninviting.

[Incanus 5,715]

It is really hit and miss with Murphy. At times he seems to be producing quite muddy mixes and then like in those positive examples above he really excels and you almost wonder if it is the same man doing the work. I am glad his recent recordings for Williams have been truly vibrant and well balanced though.

[Quintus 5,399]

Jurassic Park still sounds absolutely incredible. I can't think of a crisper sounding score in the last twenty years.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Yes.

[Incanus 5,715]

Everything in JP score seems to click, also the recording.

[publicist 4,643]

His work for James Newton Howard certainly was a lot better than for Williams at the time (DINOSAUR, TREASURE PLANET, I AM LEGEND, WATER HORSE). Sony scoring stage may be at fault here. The POTTERS were recorded in London, though.

[Incanus 5,715]

And also Murphy mixed only POA of the three Williams Potter scores. Even Simon Rhodes' work for the two with the studio orchestra and LSO sounds vastly different from each other. COS made me wish LSO would have been available for the first movie as well since it seems they recorded at the same venues but the result sounds quite different.

[publicist 4,643]

Ahh, Rhodes is Horner's engineer dú jour after he fired Murphy. There seems to be a lot of in-breeding going on there.

[crocodile 8,017]

So what happened between Murphy and Horner?

Karol

[Incanus 5,715]

So what happened between Murphy and Horner?

Karol

My rough guess is Horner happened.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I guess something happened during titanic.

[publicist 4,643]

He wasn't available to record ZORRO and Horner, being the diva he is, never talked to him again.

[Quintus 5,399]

He probably just got sick of Horner's endless whining.

[Incanus 5,715]

He probably just got sick of Horner's endless whining.

And egotism if the quotes people attribute to Horner are anything to go by. The man acts like a diva who can't do wrong.

[publicist 4,643]

One of the best Horner stories i know is how he records something like CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER and stops mid-recording to reprimand a studio musician with the words 'your playing isn't up to par - we're recording music history here!'.

[Incanus 5,715]

The recent review of the scores for Troy at Filmtracks has some of Horner's harshest personal attacks against Gabriel Yared's music. The supreme irony was how similar material he wrote for the movie, first detracting Yared for doing "a horrible, old fashioned" score.

But it is a bit odd that Murphy's recent Williams recordings are so good when they were done in the exact same venues as the ones having less than stellar sound. Perhaps he was under the weather in the early noughties.

[Quintus 5,399]

Well, I can forgive him for being a bit of a prick since he's made some fucking amazing film music, which I haven't forgotten.

[publicist 4,643]

Sadly most of it is not very recent.

Back to Murphy, i wonder why so many A-listers use him constantly. While Bruce Botnick hardly works for film since JG's death. Not all of their recordings shine (especially in the mid-90's, digital shrillness was a major problem) but never ever he produced atrocities like A. I.

[A24 4,338]

Jurassic Park sounds a bit too sweet and polite, as if someone used an Aphex Aural Exciter, a revitalize machine which was used on a lot of pop recordings in the seventies (to boost diminished frequencies). It makes things sound 'silky'. He was, however, the recording engineer on Empire Of The Sun (but not the final mixing engineer), which is truly a beautiful recording.

[Quintus 5,399]

Really? I think it sounds like a beastly powerhouse of orchestral grandeur.

[A24 4,338]

Yes, I've noticed a lot of film fans like that type of silky and reverbish sound.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

LOL Alex!

[A24 4,338]

My problem with Murphy is that he usually meddles with the mix to get some sort of big Hollywood sound. You can hear the meddling. Often there's too much bass and treble, which makes the recordings artificial. Sometimes it's muffled (he forgot to use the Aphex Aural Exciter?). The Five Sacred Trees sounds good (more balanced and natural) but he did that together with Simon Rhodes.

[crocodile 8,017]

Simon Rhodes said once that there is barely any remixing or tinkering when it comes to John Williams. What they capture you hear in the film. You think Murphy interferes?

Karol

[A24 4,338]

From the recordings I've heard, Simon Rhodes sounds much more like classical recordings where apparent tinkering is concidered unholy. Yes, I do think Murphy sometimes tinkers big time but he can sound very different from album to album. But on many of his recordings, the sub bass is often overpowering and can be even dangerous on high volumes for some speakers. There's enough digital tools to enhance sound (in Pro Tools) so my guess is he's using them the way directors are using software to color grade their movies. It could also be the producers demanding more punch, more crispiness and so on. The dynamics (the difference between the quitest and loudest moment) are always meddled with.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

My problem with Murphy is that he usually meddles with the mix to get some sort of big Hollywood sound.

Of course he does. That's his job.

If you are mixing for a film then you should be in no way required to make it sound like it was recorded in a concert hall.

Film music is not concert music.

[crocodile 8,017]

From the recordings I've heard, Simon Rhodes sounds much more like classical recordings where apparent tinkering is concidered unholy. Yes, I do think Murphy sometimes tinkers big time but he can sound very different from album to album.

He worked before for Deutsche Grammophon, I think. And his sensibilities come from there.

Karol - who likes his Angela's Ashes recording quite a bit (and Cutthroat Island too)

[A24 4,338]

Well, that would certainly explain it, Deutsche Grammophon have some very good recordings.

[Brónach 1,302]

I'm no audiophile and I don't have proper headphones right now plus I can't hear in one ear for a while due to a strong cold. What's wrong with A.I?

[Quintus 5,399]

I don't think a Chinatown mix would have fitted Jurassic Park somehow.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,534]

Jurassic Park sounds a bit too sweet and polite, as if someone used an Aphex Aural Exciter, a revitalize machine which was used on a lot of pop recordings in the seventies (to boost diminished frequencies). It makes things sound 'silky'. He was, however, the recording engineer on Empire Of The Sun (but not the final mixing engineer), which is truly a beautiful recording.

That "EOTS" is a great-sounding score, is down to Armin Steiner.

I'm no audiophile and I don't have proper headphones right now plus I can't hear in one ear for a while due to a strong cold. What's wrong with A.I?

It is cold, murky, and sonically uninvolving. It sounds like it was mixed through a pillow. Even the 5.1 mix doesn't improve matters.

[MSM 126]

To be honest I have never been a fan of Shawn Murphy. His recordings sound too overproduced, too smooth, too indirect, too synthesized too my taste. Especially the brass sounds too synthetic, I like to hear some real brass sound every now and then. In my view nothing beats the crips, fresh sounding 80-ies recordings by Philips of the Boston Pops for the Boston Pops albums, no idea who the engineer was.

[A24 4,338]

My problem with Murphy is that he usually meddles with the mix to get some sort of big Hollywood sound.

Of course he does. That's his job.

Of course, it is his job, but it's like he failed to come up with the goods and then resorts to meddling with EQ and other software. My problem is the obvious meddling not the attempt of creating the big sound, Steef.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

My problem with Murphy is that he usually meddles with the mix to get some sort of big Hollywood sound. You can hear the meddling. Often there's too much bass and treble, which makes the recordings artificial. Sometimes it's muffled (he forgot to use the Aphex Aural Exciter?).

[Marian Schedenig 8,199]

From the recordings I've heard, Simon Rhodes sounds much more like classical recordings where apparent tinkering is concidered unholy.

Well, he IS a classical recording engineer. I have one or two EMI discs recorded by him.

The thing with Murphy is, he did some great stuff until '93. I love the woodwind sound in JP. Then he completely jumped the shark with Seven Years in Tibet, which I find nearly unlistenable due to its over-amped cello/bass frequencies. He reached an all-time low with A.I. and recovered with POA.

Interestingly, as has been said above, his stuff for other composers done in that time (JNH, and I thought he also still did Horner recordings then?) sounds fine. Curious indeed.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

His remix of E.T. didn't sound as good.

KOTCS recording is good.

[Trent B 337]

We all know that the OST for The Phantom Menace didn't sound that great. However, the "Ultimate Edition" for The Phantom Menace, despite the botched score has great sound quality for it. I really wished the OST's for The Phantom Menace, Attack Of The Clones and Revenge Of The Sith were as bright and vibrant compared to the "Ultimate Edition" of The Phantom Menace.

[A24 4,338]

I agree, Trent. The UE of TPM sounds very good with less added reverb than the normal release. Was Williams the producer of the latter?

[Bespin 8,483]

I read recently that dry recordings of film music with minimum reverb was for a long time required, to allow a better mix with all the sounding elements of a movie and to avoid cacophony.

 

It make sense.

 

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,534]

@Bespin

Bes, I think that's "required" 

[Marian Schedenig 8,199]

5 hours ago, Bespin said:

I read recently that dry recordings of film music with minimum reverb was for a long time required, to allow a better mix with all the sounding elements of a movie and to avoid cacophony.

 

It make sense.

 

There's still a difference between good, transparent dry recordings and mushy dry recordings.