#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265 Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Yes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curlytoot 97 Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 I made the foolish mistake of using Christmas iTunes money to buy the three prequel scores a week or two ago. Then, sure enough, they re-upload the scores to the iTunes Store yesterday, now with the "Mastered for iTunes" badge. There goes $30 down the toilet. I should have assumed they weren't only remastering the OT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wojo 2,453 Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Where's that Nelson kid from Springfield... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaralyyth 111 Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 I'll make a breakdown of differences and variations between the SE/PT CDs and the New CDs, if there is anything to note. My CDs arrive on Monday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bravotwozero 0 Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 1 hour ago, amh1219 said: 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. 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. Brilliant find - thank you ! These were €80 from launch last Friday so this must be a mistake. Qobuz Fr is a handy site, you only need a VPN to get to the site to sign up, then just log in the uk site without a vpn and get taken to the French version (much larger catalogue and cheaper prices). They accept PayPal too, super easy. just one question - most places are selling 24/44.1 versions except for HDtracks.com, which has eps 4-6 in 24/192. But the collection is $99 (or $85 with code hdjan08 until Monday). Is it worth it ? And where do they get the better versions from ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,489 Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Listen to that prominent synthesizer in the ESB album mix of "The Magic Tree"! Aw yeah! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 37,467 Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 ESB and ROTJ sound so awesome. SW sounds good but, there's something odd with the stereo separation? Like which instruments are on the left and which on the right? At least with headphones on anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TownerFan 4,991 Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 TESB is surely the one with the most different mix (in respect to the 1997 SE and the Anthology too). Star Wars sounds great, but I still prefer the more vibrant, "In your face" sound of the SE. The OST is surely smoother and more pleasant to the ear, though. ROTJ sounds magnificent. Too bad it's such a short selection! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unlucky Bastard 7,782 Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 ROTJ is a perfect album. curlytoot 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,489 Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 It's the most concise, although I'm not sure I love "Lapti Nek" on there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bespin 8,499 Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 In Jabba Court, we dance to disco. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,489 Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 I wish we had From Star Wars to Jedi English language version. My body heat is risin'! My soul is synthesizin'! So I'm shapin' up and workin' out! Start workin' out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 37,467 Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 Yes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bespin 8,499 Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 Did you know there is another way to listen ESB original LP program? Star Wars (Main Theme) Yoda's Theme The Training Of A Jedi Knight The Heroics Of Luke And Han The Asteroid Field The City In The Clouds Rebels At Bay Yoda And The Force The Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme) Departure Of Boba Fett Han Solo And The Princess Hyperspace The Battle In The Snow The Duel The Magic Tree Lando's Palace Finale. Like you see, it doesn't help the chronology of the music at all. But it will remember you something... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciarlese 252 Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 Does anybody know why on HDtrack.co.uk I can buy ANH and ROTJ hi-def files but I cannot do the same for ESB due to "region restrictions"? I just bought the vinyl records and paying £14 each scores would be nicer than paying £67 for the whole lot (and the PT samples are 24/44...). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,489 Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 The almost complete disregard for chronology in favor of a superior listening experience contributes to making the OSTs so great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bespin 8,499 Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 I never really realized the Main Title of ANH on the LP program is merged with a part of the end titles. I always tought that only ESB LP had strange edits... Well, I think I listened this material a long time ago... and maybe in a galaxy far far away! The edit of the Main Title of ESB with "Mynock Cave" is pretty effective, altough it's maybe strange. It opens the album very well. If I don't make a mistake, the "Mynock Cave" is not even on the Anthology boxset. A pretty interresting old thread: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaralyyth 111 Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 Finally was able to pick up the OT in 24/192. Today is Christmas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post TownerFan 4,991 Posted January 10, 2016 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 10, 2016 1 hour ago, E.T. and Elliot said: The almost complete disregard for chronology in favor of a superior listening experience contributes to making the OSTs so great. I do not agree. Star Wars is surely a great OST presentation, it flows very well even out of chronological order and I always loved some of the assemblies Williams chose to make, like "Rescue of the Princess", "Mouse Robot and Blasting Off" or "Inner City". This is how I learned to love this music for many years, when we only had the OST. Probably the overall style of the score lends itself better to this kind of presentation. That being said, I strongly believe the score truly shines in its complete and chronological format, as heard on the 1997 release. The music has already a very strong narrative in itself and really plays like a stirring symphonic poem when heard as it's written. TESB is another beast. The score is bigger, thicker and more varied than the first one. The OST assembly is a nice (and overall well done) try to replicate the same format used in Star Wars, but imho the assemblies are not as successful. The edits in tracks like "The Heroics of Luke and Han" or "Rebels at Bay" are much more arbitrary and jarring. I can understand the reasoning behind such choices and of course it's still great music, no matter the presentation preferred. But TESB again has such a wonderful inner narrative structure that comes out perfectly when you listen in its complete/chronological format. And you can appreciate it also as music in itself much stronger in this format. ROTJ is, well, pretty useless in its OST format. It's simply a short selection of highlights, but there's really too much great stuff missing to call it satisfactory, no matter which side you look at it. I partly agree that maybe ROTJ is even a tad too much when listened in its complete format, but how can you enjoy a severely truncated selection like the OST? So gimme the complete score any day this time as well. I'm not a sound expert and I know there are several camps which are all very vocal about how these scores have to sound on disc. I like the John Neal mixes for SW and TESB, but those aren't how the scores were recorded and how they're supposed to sound. It's true that the soundtrack album is not the film, so choices must be made one way or another. So there are perfectly valid reason from both camps when it comes to preference to the OST mixes or the film mixes. Personally, I just love the Tomlinson film mixes, especially for the first one, but overall for TESB too. crumbs, Taikomochi, Jay and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,489 Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 8 minutes ago, TownerFan said: how can you enjoy a severely truncated selection like the OST? If you have to ask, I guess you'll never know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jootec from Mars 2 Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 3 hours ago, ciarlese said: Does anybody know why on HDtrack.co.uk I can buy ANH and ROTJ hi-def files but I cannot do the same for ESB due to "region restrictions"? I just bought the vinyl records and paying £14 each scores would be nicer than paying £67 for the whole lot (and the PT samples are 24/44...). I bought ESB on there @ 24/192 on saturday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karelm 2,915 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 2 hours ago, Jootec from Mars said: I bought ESB on there @ 24/192 on saturday. Welcome to this forum. How is this high resolution remaster of ESB? Does it sound better noticeably better or just louder? It would be nice if someone would make a thorough review of this new set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aj_vader 535 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 12 hours ago, karelm said: Welcome to this forum. How is this high resolution remaster of ESB? Does it sound better noticeably better or just louder? It would be nice if someone would make a thorough review of this new set. It does sound better but I think you need a good system to notice. On my normal PC I'd say it sounded 10% better. But on my music system it sounds 25% better than the original CD. I still don't think it tops the Anthology Empire CD though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unlucky Bastard 7,782 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Maybe Alex will know, didn't Thaxton compress the Anthology like he usually does? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 37,467 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 I don't think many people were doing dynamic range compression back in 1993 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phbart 609 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 I have the distinct feeling that the pitch problem from Star Wars was not fixed for this release... it still seems a little faster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Pitch problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unlucky Bastard 7,782 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 You catch on pretty quick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phbart 609 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 I hate to call it "Episode IV - A New Hope", but that's the one I'm talking about... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unlucky Bastard 7,782 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 I sometimes call it "Star Wars '77" to distinguish it without resorting to all that "Episode IV - I Knew Dope" shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 I wasn't aware of a pitch problem with Star Wars (1977) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloodBoal 7,538 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unlucky Bastard 7,782 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Just now, BloodBoal said: I just call it Star Wars. I don't care if people understand which one I'm talking about or not. I do because I'm sick of having to explain it to people who don't know that 1977 was before 1999! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phbart 609 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 2 minutes ago, Stefancos said: I wasn't aware of a pitch problem with Star Wars (1977) But there is, unfortunately... the original LP and counterpart CD is a little faster than the Anthology and the SE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aj_vader 535 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 I think the pitch of the imperial march is wrong in empire it seems slightly out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaralyyth 111 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 So I heard that all the original analogue tapes disintegrated and that's why they couldn't retransfer them. Thoughts/evidence about this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 37,467 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 We don't know the status of the original recording session tapes. It seems likely that some are OK and some are not. Maybe something will publicly be stated about that once Sony's contract ends and Disney hires someones to work on new expanded editions. If you mean the album masters, those are clearly fine as evidenced by the new Sony release. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaralyyth 111 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 3 minutes ago, Jay said: We don't know the status of the original recording session tapes. It seems likely that some are OK and some are not. Maybe something will publicly be stated about that once Sony's contract ends and Disney hires someones to work on new expanded editions. If you mean the album masters, those are clearly fine as evidenced by the new Sony release. Yeah I meant the original session tapes. Here's what I read.. "The Anthology is the most comprehensive to date, it's the last time the original master mixes were used before they disintegrated." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 37,467 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 They clearly didn't, as evidenced by the 1997 sets, 2005 ROTS bonus DVD, and various video games all of which use material from the original session recordings aj_vader 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaralyyth 111 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 11 minutes ago, Jay said: They clearly didn't, as evidenced by the 1997 sets, 2005 ROTS bonus DVD, and various video games all of which use material from the original session recordings That's what I thought. Unless everything since the Anthology has just used the Anthology's transfers.. Unlikely though, but who knows really Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 37,467 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 It's unlikely we'll have any answers for another few years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaralyyth 111 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 1 hour ago, Jay said: It's unlikely we'll have any answers for another few years I found this.. "The Empire Strikes Back was largely mastered from four-track ¼” tape copies comprising the edited film mix as three channels of music with one track being a pilot tone for film synchronisation. These tapes were purportedly in poor condition – probably suffering from lubricant failure therefore making baking an inappropriate treatment – and were not located until near completion of the project. “At least one tape was beginning to fall apart as I transferred it,” recollected mastering engineer Bill Wolford. “I had to use alcohol on the capstan wheel to clean the disintegrating residue off as it played, being careful not to affect the pitch. If I hadn’t done this the tape would cause a squeal as it passed the heads rendering the dub useless.” Wolford recalled this being a stressful time as there were limited playbacks possible before the tape was rendered unusable." http://www.malonedigital.com/starwars.pdf Page 23 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 37,467 Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 God stuff like that makes me cringe. Hopefully all kinds of restoration efforts have happened that we simply don't know about Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phbart 609 Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 3 hours ago, Zaralyth said: I found this.. "The Empire Strikes Back was largely mastered from four-track ¼” tape copies comprising the edited film mix as three channels of music with one track being a pilot tone for film synchronisation. These tapes were purportedly in poor condition – probably suffering from lubricant failure therefore making baking an inappropriate treatment – and were not located until near completion of the project. “At least one tape was beginning to fall apart as I transferred it,” recollected mastering engineer Bill Wolford. “I had to use alcohol on the capstan wheel to clean the disintegrating residue off as it played, being careful not to affect the pitch. If I hadn’t done this the tape would cause a squeal as it passed the heads rendering the dub useless.” Wolford recalled this being a stressful time as there were limited playbacks possible before the tape was rendered unusable." http://www.malonedigital.com/starwars.pdf Page 23 That's on page 21, if you look at the page number footer. But the PDF indeed marks as page 23. I think it's worth to say that this situation happened with the 1993 Anthology CDs. For the 1997 SE CDs, they were able to locate the 2" 24-track tapes sessions from Empire Strickes Back, but only for the cues that were already released on the 1980 2LP edition. The remaining music was apparently sourced from the 1993 digital masters, as stated on pages 27 and 28 (of the PDF marker, or pages 25 and 26 of the page number footer). It's also worth to mention that the first version of this excellent document was written in 2005. I believe many good things happened since then... and Mike Matessino mentioned in the terrific interview that Jay conducted with him that he'd love to work on Star Wars again, but is not allowed to say anything about such projects (see here, the last two questions: http://www.jwfan.com/?p=8269). If he's not allowed to say anything, then neither Nick Redman, Ford Thaxton nor anybody in the business, I would say. I sure hope this means something good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaralyyth 111 Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 I have some news regarding the 10CD BOX SET that I just recevied in the mail. Some much needed clarification, if it hasn't been stated already. The Original Trilogy is exact duplicate/repackages of the Special Edition CDs. The Prequel Trilogy however, is remastered, They did NOT use the original soundtracks. In fact, they used the new digital masters for the prequels. So these are the digital versions in 16/44.1 instead of the 24/44.1 you can get on HDtracks or Qobuz or whatever, on The Ultimate Digital Collection. End of story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unlucky Bastard 7,782 Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Do the prequels sound any better or are they just brighter and louder? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aj_vader 535 Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 1 hour ago, Zaralyth said: I have some news regarding the 10CD BOX SET that I just recevied in the mail. Some much needed clarification, if it hasn't been stated already. The Original Trilogy is exact duplicate/repackages of the Special Edition CDs. The Prequel Trilogy however, is remastered, They did NOT use the original soundtracks. In fact, they used the new digital masters for the prequels. So these are the digital versions in 16/44.1 instead of the 24/44.1 you can get on HDtracks or Qobuz or whatever, on The Ultimate Digital Collection. End of story. If this is true, I'm definitely getting that boxset for the prequel material! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crumbs 14,364 Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 It would be beyond heartbreaking to learn that parts of the original trilogy's masters disintegrated after the 1993 scan, and the best quality copy of those recordings is now based on 1993 scanning technology. Has there ever been a clear explanation on why ROTJ sounds so bad? Were they secondary source masters? There is no chance the SE CDs came from the master tapes (at least, for ESB and ROTJ) because we've heard vastly superior versions from other sources. They're 3 of the most important film scores in history. Last year we were gifted the most perfect restoration of a Williams score pre-dating Star Wars, so it's hard to believe the master tapes for a score years later literally disintegrated. I pray to the old gods and the new.... Help us, Matessino. You're our only hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaralyyth 111 Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 38 minutes ago, Drax said: Do the prequels sound any better or are they just brighter and louder? The remastering is slight. So slight you can't notice a difference between the new and the old unless you play them side by side. The new material is, dare I say, unmastered sessions, or close to it. They give that vibration in the eardrum you only get from lossless unmastered session material. Especially noticeable in horns. They sound nearly identical to the original soundtracks, but they FEEL completely different. The resonance is cleaner, more precise, especially in Episode 3. Darker, smoother bass. Brighter, precise brass, strings and percussion alike across all three albums. There's just something about them, you can hear it when you listen to them. My recommendations, Zam the Assassin and Anakin Vs. Obi-Wan are good tracks to listen to at first. You will notice the clarity, the precision, the boost in dynamic range especially from these intense tracks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloodBoal 7,538 Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 aj_vader and crumbs 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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