Jilal 569 Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 I've been listening to War of the Worlds the last days, and i can hear 2 sets of timpani.Is this true? Or were the timpani recorded with two microphones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marian Schedenig 8,200 Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Definitely sounds like two sets, or at the very least written for two. And I doubt it was recorded with overdubs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muad'Dib 1,802 Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 I only catched one here, but maybe I'm wrong... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh500 1,615 Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 All I know for sure is that Jaws 2 utilized two harps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265 Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Irrelevant to this particular topic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh500 1,615 Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 No flies on you, Steef! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indy4 155 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 About that video: I thought Williams scored Hook without seeing most of the film? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incanus 5,715 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 About that video: I thought Williams scored Hook without seeing most of the film?According to Spielberg's liner notes. But I find it highly unlikely because of the nature of the film and how much mickey mousey underscoring was required. It is truly one of the most balletic Spielberg films in terms of musical accompaniment.And yes I think War of the Worlds had two sets of timpani. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt C 454 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 I've been listening to War of the Worlds the last days, and i can hear 2 sets of timpani.Is this true? Yes. Don Williams and Peter Limonick performed timpani on WotW.I do wish the liner notes would specify what kind of percussion. I ended up having to Google players' names just to be sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jilal 569 Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 All I know for sure is that Jaws 2 utilized two harps!Chamber of Secrets too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh500 1,615 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 All I know for sure is that Jaws 2 utilized two harps!Chamber of Secrets too.Really? Where did you get that info? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jilal 569 Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 The sheet music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh500 1,615 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Ah, a reliable source. You mean the Signature Edition of the concert pieces from CoS, right? Yeah, I have to get that too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkissimo 1,973 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 All I know for sure is that Jaws 2 utilized two harps!Four actually. Two playing each part.Two harps is a standard setup for most of JW's big orchestral scores, including the original JAWS.Two timpani's a lot bit more rare. I know Herrmann used a pair of players for TORN CURTAIN, as did North for SPARTACUS. Generally gives a really brutal sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
filmmusic 1,832 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 I've been listening to War of the Worlds the last days, and i can hear 2 sets of timpani.Is this true? Or were the timpani recorded with two microphones?Yes, there are 2. (source: sheet music) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry Sarton 0 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 I agree with Filmmusic! Williams uses 2 sets of timpani (like Stravinky did in the Rite of Spring). The relationship between this 2 pieces [War of the W and Rite...] is notorious.By the way, is also very typicall to use 2 harps in big orchestras (with 2 harps you can play easily chromatic passages, like in "Journey to the Island" in Jurassic Park). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoodMusician 56 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Also, Williams instinctively uses the two sets of instruments in a brilliantly stereophonic way. For instance, in Jurassic Park, the harps will Glissando at different times or will glissando half up on one side and then transition to the other side of the stereo field.I love how in War of the Worlds the Timpani will play together the do-do do do-do and will switch sides too so you're surrounded by the sound. Another point of interest is how the Brass are recorded. There was an article I read once about how the brass would double the usual amount and the mic's focused more on them than the strings. This gives the score a very deep, surrounding depth with the strings filling in.Also, the Double Bass are positioned not just to the right, but all the way to the center of the orchestra so all the low heavy instruments take a strong presence in the field Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jilal 569 Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 Ah, a reliable source. You mean the Signature Edition of the concert pieces from CoS, right? Yeah, I have to get that too!Uhm no, the real sheet music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indy4 155 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 I've been listening to War of the Worlds the last days, and i can hear 2 sets of timpani.Is this true?Yes. Don Williams and Peter Limonick performed timpani on WotW.I do wish the liner notes would specify what kind of percussion. I ended up having to Google players' names just to be sure. I'm sure most of them are covering multiple instruments. It would be tedious to write out "triangle, timpani, snare drum, xylophone, marimba..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 How many sets of timpani did Goldsmith use for L.A. Confidential? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrJosh 892 Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 It's also cool to have two sets of timpani so you can have more notes for the timpani to play. I mean if one set of timpani has 5 drums, then you have 5 notes to work with as a composer. Two timpani then gives the option for 10 pitches, allowing for some awesome sexy timpani writing possibilities!! (Yes I know that with one set of timpani, you can have more notes in a cue than five since the player can quickly retune the drums during rests, etc). Jupiter in Holst's "The Planets" has two timpani players and has some way cool moments Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh500 1,615 Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 All I know for sure is that Jaws 2 utilized two harps!Four actually. Two playing each part.Two harps is a standard setup for most of JW's big orchestral scores, including the original JAWS.But orchestras in general have only 1 harp, right? I don't think I have ever seen a professional orchestra (performing a classical piece) with 2 harps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry Sarton 0 Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 A few days ago I asist to one concert. The Hungarian Philarmonic Orchestra played Debussy's Raphsodie for Piano and there were 2 harps playing (each one with his different part). It's very common to see 2 harps (or 3 or 4) in the orchestral pieces at the end of 19th century or the first parts of 20th.You can listen and look to the score the news examples: Rite of Spring, The Planets, La Mer, The Firebird (here Stravinky uses 4 harps). Generally, look scores from Ravel and Debussy, both like to use multiple harps a lot of times Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maglorfin 196 Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Jupiter in Holst's "The Planets" has two timpani players and has some way cool moments So do Mars, Saturn and Uranus! Lots of timpani in a piece is always fun. For the Dies Irae sequence in his Grande Messe des Morts, Berlioz requests 8 pairs of timpani, 2 of which have two players (for double-stop rolls)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkissimo 1,973 Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 All I know for sure is that Jaws 2 utilized two harps!Four actually. Two playing each part.Two harps is a standard setup for most of JW's big orchestral scores, including the original JAWS.But orchestras in general have only 1 harp, right?Nope, many will have 2 harpists (or even more) if the piece calls for it. Many works in the romantic to modern repertoire call for two harps.Also I should stress this - film scores are not your average classical commissions. The money and time in the studio can allow such wild combinations as 9 harps for Herrmann's BENEATH THE MILE REEF, 15 horns, 8 trombones, and 8 flutes for his rejected TORN CURTAIN, 10 trombones (6 bass and 4 regular) for North's SPARTACUS, and so on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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