Jump to content

Sony Classical to release Ultimate Star Wars Soundtrack Collection (January 8, 2016)


TownerFan

Recommended Posts

7 minutes ago, amh1219 said:

 

Shows when I last bought from them! :lol:

 

Original post updated.

 

Depends. If you have or want the CD, I'd just go with that. Otherwise, the best source out there is the 16/44.1 FLAC files on any of the high res sites.

Yeah I've got the CD, i'll save me money then. Thank you. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is it possible the prequels were naively recorded at 44.1khz?  That wouldn't be unprecedented for the era.

 

 

The OT are of course fresh 192khz/24bit transfers of the old album masters.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Zaralyth said:

The 7digital releases are 44.1 all the way through. 

 

How's the sound, particularly on the OT scores?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, amh1219 said:

How's the sound on the OT scores?

 

As I was hoping, they're more coherent to the original sessions than anything we've seen before. At least from what I can hear. They're mastered for dynamic range and NOT loudness like all of the other scores are. They sound very organic, almost as if no mastering was done at all. I am pleased, but still eager to obtain a 192kHz copy from somewhere.

 

I will be checking out the mastering of the CDs when I get them on Monday. I hear they are no different from any previous releases but we will see.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Zaralyth said:

 

As I was hoping, they're more coherent to the original sessions than anything we've seen before. At least from what I can hear. They're mastered for dynamic range and NOT loudness like all of the other scores are. They sound very organic, almost as if no mastering was done at all. I am pleased, but still eager to obtain a 192kHz copy from somewhere.

 

Exactly what I wanted to hear! I'll definitely be purchasing the OT reissues at some point.

 

6 minutes ago, Zaralyth said:

I will be checking out the mastering of the CDs when I get them on Monday. I hear they are no different from any previous releases but we will see.

 

That's what we've been told via the press releases. Looking forward to confirmation nonetheless.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, Zaralyth said:

 

As I was hoping, they're more coherent to the original sessions than anything we've seen before. At least from what I can hear. They're mastered for dynamic range and NOT loudness like all of the other scores are. They sound very organic, almost as if no mastering was done at all. I am pleased, but still eager to obtain a 192kHz copy from somewhere.

 

I will be checking out the mastering of the CDs when I get them on Monday. I hear they are no different from any previous releases but we will see.

Don't buy the CD's if you already have them, they will be no different. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, amh1219 said:

Exactly what I wanted to hear! I'll definitely be purchasing the OT reissues at some point.

 

The first thing I did was go in and check for where I knew all the audio distortions were on the previous releases, and, well, there's none. One of my biggest pet-peeves was the opening for Throne Room, when the trumpet blares and causes crackling in the recording, this is no longer present. The audio doesn't duck in the left channel in The Last Battle anymore, everything is much more clear, considering it's a late 70's recording. Little things like that that made me really apprecicate this release. 

Oh my god I just turned on ESB.........

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, Jay said:

Is it possible the prequels were naively recorded at 44.1khz?  That wouldn't be unprecedented for the era.

 

As I recall, the prequels were recorded onto analog tape, not digital.

 

Quoting Chris Malone from his "Recording the Star Wars Saga":
 

Quote

Murphy shares similarities with Tomlinson in that he also prefers to record orchestral scores in the analog domain. A Studer A80 machine was employed for the prequel scores, running at 15IPS and encoded with Dolby SR noise reduction. “There’s an argument which says that format really gives you more dynamic range than 16 bit digital, and it certainly gives you better sound quality in the recording if you’re executing it right,” explained Murphy to interviewer Michael Fremer. Eric Tomlinson concurs with Murphy’s choice having discussed it with him during scoring of Revenge of the Sith. “That is a comment which he made and I agree with him. I still prefer Dolby SR.” Murphy also avoids dynamics processing and tends to eschew equalisation of individual microphone feeds.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That ^ which explain why some of the tracks on the special edition are so deteriorated. That and poor recording equipment.

4 minutes ago, aj_vader said:

Don't buy the CD's if you already have them, they will be no different. 

I have actually never owned any Star Wars CDs before, so if they are no different, well I guess that saves me the trouble of wanting to collect the various versions. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, Zaralyth said:

That ^ which explain why some of the tracks on the special edition are so deteriorated. That and poor recording equipment.

I have actually never owned any Star Wars CDs before, so if they are no different, well I guess that saves me the trouble of wanting to collect the various versions. 

Oh in that case you have nothing to lose. 

 

The Empire Strikes Back 192kHz 24bit is fantastic!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, aj_vader said:

Oh in that case you have nothing to lose. 

 

The Empire Strikes Back 192kHz 24bit is fantastic!

 

Jelly. The 192 masters are not yet available in Canada.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

45 minutes ago, Zaralyth said:

 

The first thing I did was go in and check for where I knew all the audio distortions were on the previous releases, and, well, there's none. One of my biggest pet-peeves was the opening for Throne Room, when the trumpet blares and causes crackling in the recording, this is no longer present. The audio doesn't duck in the left channel in The Last Battle anymore, everything is much more clear, considering it's a late 70's recording. Little things like that that made me really apprecicate this release. 

Oh my god I just turned on ESB.........

My thoughts exactly on the throne room. Alhough I'm a trumpet player I always hated that distorted sound. Even with only one quick pass through New hope from my phone to my Bose system in my car I can easily say it's a really nice improvement from the previous release. And that's with the iTunes version. I can't wait to hear ESB. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Zaralyth said:

The digital version of the the prequel trilogy seems identical to its original CD counterparts, down to the waveform. 

I can't imagine there's a noticeable difference on the prequels.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Prequels sound the same to me

 

The OT remasters are stunning.  Jedi sounds like it was recorded yesterday.  Empire sounds better than the 1997 SEs.

 

Of course they are the LP programs, complete with the same old awful analog edits.  But still, the sound quality of the album masters is great here, Sony didn't screw that up one bit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Jay said:

Any other comments on the new remasters?

 

Some brass clams have actually been edited out. Mostly in the horns. Also, the horns tend to sound louder in some tracks, to me. And the sound in these remasters is crystal-clear compared to all the other releases. Pretty stunning.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh, I haven't listened to the SEs in the new CD collection; I assume those sound exactly the same as before.  Just like the prequels probably sound identical to before.

 

I've listened to the LP program remasters from the Digital Collection they are selling.  Those sound GREAT!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, serenifly said:

 

 

Based on what is said at around 0:50-1:20, it would seem that E1 was remastered, while E2 and E3 was not (they are referred to as being resurrected). Correct?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, E.T. and Elliot said:

I like this set. A lot.

I've been breaking it down, comparing it, organizing it, and listining to it since the early hours of this morning. The more I listen to the digital remasters for the original trilogy the more I fall in love with it. It's like rediscovering something I didn't know I really really missed. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Zaralyth said:

I've been breaking it down, comparing it, organizing it, and listining to it since the early hours of this morning. The more I listen to the digital remasters for the original trilogy the more I fall in love with it. It's like rediscovering something I didn't know I really really missed. 

 

Before the Anthology Box of 1993, these LP programs were the only source for the music of the OT.

 

I'm 41, I grow up playing with Star Wars toys, but never own a Star Wars LP.

 

I bought the original CDs after buying the Anthology Box, just to make sure I have "everything", as a true "Star Wars" fan.

 

But I never really listened these CD, as I always found the sound was not very good. And I never really listened the Anthology Boxset neither, as I don't like expanded sets very much...

 

So today, I'm very happy to rediscover these LP programs in all their original glory!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Even after watching that video, I'm a bit lost about what Murphy & co. actually remastered for this release. It's obvious nothing significant was done for the PT or OT SE's, but were the OT LPs remastered from the original score recordings or just the LP masters?

 

I doubt they'd go back to remaster the original scoring session masters then just re-assemble the LP presentation. Murphy also referred to the Lucasfilm salt mine archives with thousands of archival boxes and recording tapes that have never been found. Frightening stuff.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

crumbs they clearly simply remastered the album masters and did not go back to any source elements. No question.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Disappointing :(

 

But the amazing thing is, if secondary masters sound this amazing, just imagine how incredible the original recording sessions would sound with a complete modern remastering? 

 

... let's just forget the fact that neither Murphy nor Tomlinson were able to find said recordings in the archives. :unsure:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm so happy that horrible click has disappeared on the first note of The Imperial March and that horrible phase issue that happened at 28 seconds in has gone too! :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, crumbs said:

Disappointing :(

 

But the amazing thing is, if secondary masters sound this amazing, just imagine how incredible the original recording sessions would sound with a complete modern remastering? 

 

... let's just forget the fact that neither Murphy nor Tomlinson were able to find said recordings in the archives. :unsure:

 

It's great they were able to go back to the original album masters and properly remaster them with current technology, by the way. When RCA did the 1997 SE, Matessino told in his article for FSM they weren't able to find the Polydor album masters for ROTJ, from which they wanted to source several cues (it appears for example that the full "Jabba the Hutt" concert suite was only available in those masters), but were only able to use second-generation CD transfers in the end. Lukas Kendall also told a few years ago that Lucasfilm was able to secure the John Neal album masters from Episode IV during an auction from his estate, if I remember well.

 

I'm sure it's possible to reconstruct, restore and remaster the complete chronological presentations for all three original Star Wars films and do it better than it was done in 1997, but, as Murphy says, it's a venture that needs a lot of time, effort and above all a lot of money to be done properly. Let's hope Disney will put the wheels into motion as soon as possible. In the meantime, it's a very nice first step we finally have the OST album presentation properly restored.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep, full credit to the work done on these releases.

 

A little disconcerting that Lucasfilm had to buy their own property back off John Neal though. Must be an interesting story behind that!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another good question. At least they put them up for digital download though.

 

They probably had decreasing CD sales over the last 5 years and didn't consider it economically viable. Vinyl will bring in big money from collectors, but there's probably not much appeal in, what mainstream fans would probably consider, yet another CD reissue of  the scores.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

People are saying all the CDs are bit for bit identical to what Sony's put out before but I haven't verified myself

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, Zaralyth said:

I've been breaking it down, comparing it, organizing it, and listining to it since the early hours of this morning. The more I listen to the digital remasters for the original trilogy the more I fall in love with it. It's like rediscovering something I didn't know I really really missed. 

I feel the same way. I listened to ESB and heard tiny inner voice details I've never heard before, and I've been listening to this since 1980. Even if the PT stuff is the same, it was definitely worth $50 (Canadian) to me. Definitely the best release since the anthology in my opinion. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you're in Europe or you have a VPN, the entire collection is now up in 24/44.1 for 15,39 €, which as of today, comes to $17.22 in American money. :w00t:

This pricing may have been a mistake on their part, so grab it now! Probably the best deal I've ever seen in the world of film scores.

 

http://www.qobuz.com/fr-fr/album/star-wars-the-ultimate-digital-collection-episode-1-2-3-4-5-6-john-williams/0886445684056

 

Btw, listening to TPM now and Audacity shows that it's not quite as loud as my CD rip.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Guidelines.