Some John Williams master tapes are on ebay right now....

[Balahkay 627]

Well, if Lucasfilm comes down on this seller in the next few hours you might be right.

What's Lucasfilm?

What company is the rightful owner of the music? Disney?

[The Dark Trilogy 39]

With ESB, it mixed incorrectly without care, but I'm not sure if the original masters were used.

I'm sure it was mixed with care, but Mike Mattesino was on an incredibly tight schedule.

Matessino didn't do those bad TESB mixes on the 1997 CD, that was Brian Risner (but yes, the tight schedule is to blame irregardless, not the mixer)

I have no problem with the mix, but if you want to find a scapegoat, Matessino was not completely innocent.

Quote from FSM Vol. 2, Nr. 1:

(...) I stood over his (Brian Risner) shoulder, relying on my memory to archive the correct result. (...).

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Considering they had an extremely limited time frame I dont really think either of them can be blamed.

[Jay 37,364]

I agree.

Hopefully some superior versions of the OT scores will be released someday.

[Balahkay 627]

I agree.

Hopefully some superior versions of the OT scores will be released someday.

And the PT scores, too.

[Jay 37,364]

Yea that too!

[Balahkay 627]

Considering they had an extremely limited time frame I dont really think either of them can be blamed.

Yes, I agree. It's just unfortunate they were rushed.

[Fozmo 13]

Those Empire reels look like someone spilt coffee over them...

[karelm 2,913]

Those Empire reels look like someone spilt coffee over them...

I read once the engineers needed toilet paper in a hurry and it was the only thing handy. Otherwise pristine.

[King Mark 3,631]

I have no problems with the SE sound for Star Wars and I even like TESB, it has a unique feel to it . I also prefer the SE sound of TESB than those "audiophile edition " fan edits

RotJ is awful

[Jay 37,364]

The sound of TESB is fantastic, it's the MIX that's off. Everything is pinched to the center for most of the cues (the ones that were on the 1994 anthology) instead of having a nice stereo separation. I think the orchestra is flipped too

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

There was a user on Youtube called Ozzalin who did an incredible job remastering the ESB Vinyl. It was the best I've ever heard the score sound. Sadly they got taken down in the end.

[Jay 37,364]

Bruce Kimmel says

None of these are master tapes. None. Not one. Does anyone actually read the listings before getting on their podiums? Seriously.

One is a QUAD master - who cares? Has nothing to do with the session masters.

One is a safety (Empire) NOT the originals - who cares?

And the other is four cues and I guarantee you a back-up of either the film mixes or the LP mix - again, who cares? None of these are worth squat to any label.

To which Lukas Kendall replies

Actually the 2" 16-track for Star Wars IS the first-generation master.

These came from the John Neal estate—Neal was the remix engineer on the Star Wars original 2LP set and evidently had the material when he died. The guy who acquired has had them for some time and tried to sell them. I believe Lucasfilm already borrowed them to digitize.

Lukas

http://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=101432&forumID=1&archive=0

[King Mark 3,631]

So is that a better Star Wars source than the 1997 SE's or not

[Jay 37,364]

Sounds like it would be, yes. But as LK says, Lucasfilm already got a hold of them, so if another round of 2CD sets ever come out, they will probably sound better.

Though honestly, I always thought SW sounds great on the 1997 sets, its TESB and especially ROTJ that had more sound issues.

[scoreman36 68]

What's with SW being marked "Star War"??

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

They didn't know there'd be more than one at the time.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

The 86 Polydor release of ROTJ sounds great.

[King Mark 3,631]

To bad it contains so little of the score

[Jay 37,364]

Lukas Kendall again

I was at a Star Wars-related convention in L.A. maybe 6-8 years ago where Dan Melson had a booth trying to sell these tapes he got from the John Neal estate—he's been trying to unload them for years. He has every right to own and sell the master tapes, even though he does not own the intellectual property recorded ONTO the tapes. He always asked a fortune and, not surprisingly, people were not interested, seeing as how the tapes are worthless except for the "cool factor." He had a lot of rock stuff too. Of the film music, the tapes are basically dub-downs of little importance except for the Star Wars 2" 16-track masters which contain the edited "selects" Williams and Ken Wannberg chose—I remember when they did the Star Wars Special Edition CDs, they had the 16-track masters, but all of these master takes from the original album had been snipped out! So that's where they went, making those 16-tracks are highly important. Now, the good news: at that Star Wars con was Matthew Wood, a sound editor for Lucasfilm (voice of General Grievous, I think?) and he and I were like, WTF?! I am quite sure he subsequently coordinated to have the 16-tracks digitized at Lucasfilm (in exchange for a tour or something for Melson)...whatever. I think it's all OK, so people should RELAX.

Lukas

[King Mark 3,631]

Looks like someone bought the Star Wars masters on ebay...for 7,500$

http://www.ebay.com/itm/331114835955

It's funny that John Williams name is not mentioned anywhere in the listings description

[Balahkay 627]

Glad to read that all is well. I wonder if this means a new release will happen in the future? 2015 maybe?

[dylan345 3]

Sony classical holds the distribution rights until like 2019 or something. And so far they've been doing a crappy job so I wouldn't count on it.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Glad to read that all is well. I wonder if this means a new release will happen in the future? 2015 maybe?

These tapes selling will not lead to any legit release. Whoever buys them does not have rights to do such a thing. I'm guessing only Sony Classical does at this point.

[crumbs 14,316]

I'm sure the superior masters for ROTJ were found in the years between the horrible SE release and ROTS, because that bonus DVD included with the ROTS soundtrack has stunningly good quality for all the ROTJ tracks. Definitely from a better source than the SE soundtracks were made from.

[TownerFan 4,983]

Lukas Kendall already told a few years ago in a FSM board post about that guy ransoming off the tapes from John Neal's estate and he said already back then that the Stat Wars 2" 16-track tapes were loaned to LFL for a digital back-up.

I'm pretty sure we'll get new releases of all Star Wars scores in the next few years, as the new film will land in theaters. Our best hope is that Intrada - given their exclusive relationship with Disney - will be able to work on these.

[Jay 37,364]

Intrada can't do that, Sony has exclusive rights through 2019

[Balahkay 627]

Intrada can't do that, Sony has exclusive rights through 2019

That's a long time to wait if Sony doesn't release anything before then.

[Jay 37,364]

Yea

[Koray Savas 2,251]

5 years? Not that long.

[Balahkay 627]

Been waiting 17 years for a proper release of the OT scores. Although, Star Wars is nearly perfect IMO, but Empire and Jedi... I guess 5 years isn't that bad. At least we'll will have some new Star Wars scores to tide us over until then.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,528]

So, these are the original 2-track masters, yes, and not the multi-track tapes?

Either way, there is something very "dirty" and just plain wrong about these appearing on something as quintessentially cheap as E-Bay. It's like a very rare Picasso going for $1.50 at a yard sale.

Have nothing to do with these.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

5 years? Not that long.

[Balahkay 627]

So, these are the original 2-track masters, yes, and not the multi-track tapes?

Either way, there is something very "dirty" and just plain wrong about these appearing on something as quintessentially cheap as E-Bay. It's like a very rare Picasso going for $1.50 at a yard sale.

Have nothing to do with these.

Lukas said this on the FSM Board:

I was at a Star Wars-related convention in L.A. maybe 6-8 years ago where Dan Melson had a booth trying to sell these tapes he got from the John Neal estate—he's been trying to unload them for years. He has every right to own and sell the master tapes, even though he does not own the intellectual property recorded ONTO the tapes. He always asked a fortune and, not surprisingly, people were not interested, seeing as how the tapes are worthless except for the "cool factor." He had a lot of rock stuff too. Of the film music, the tapes are basically dub-downs of little importance except for the Star Wars 2" 16-track masters which contain the edited "selects" Williams and Ken Wannberg chose—I remember when they did the Star Wars Special Edition CDs, they had the 16-track masters, but all of these master takes from the original album had been snipped out! So that's where they went, making those 16-tracks are highly important. Now, the good news: at that Star Wars con was Matthew Wood, a sound editor for Lucasfilm (voice of General Grievous, I think?) and he and I were like, WTF?! I am quite sure he subsequently coordinated to have the 16-tracks digitized at Lucasfilm (in exchange for a tour or something for Melson)...whatever. I think it's all OK, so people should RELAX.

[aj_vader 534]

What did they use for The Imperial March on that Revenge of the Sith DVD (An Empire is Forged)? Because that sounds far superior to the LP/Anthology/Special Edition.