The Force Awakens The Force Awakens - Complete Score Breakdown & Chronological Order (Film Spoilers Allowed)

[Jay 41,830]

Steef and Data were talking about that yesterday in the FYC thread

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,820]

Link!

[karelm 3,188]

24 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

The difference isn't that huge.

 

He's talking about the compression.  The ost has more compression applied to it as part of its mastering which reduces the dynamic range compared to the fyc.  

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,820]

I know. But like i said. The difference isn't that big.

[Incanus 5,852]

7 hours ago, aviazn said:

 

For ages, I was trying to figure out what the wandering and vaguely threatening motif when Han, Chewie, and Finn make their way across the Starkiller planet reminded me of (I think it's "51 - Group Enters Base"); I figured it was something from the prequels but couldn't place it. But then today I realized it was from Memoirs of a Geisha instead.

 

Anybody remember what this motif represents in Memoirs?

 

 

 

 

 

A lot of these minimalistic patterns in Memoirs are refering to water which is subtextually signifying fate and its inexorable pull of destiny.

[crumbs 15,420]

Isn't there a remarkably similar extract in Seven Years in Tibet? I remember thinking that back when Memoirs was released.

[Incanus 5,852]

46 minutes ago, crumbs said:

Isn't there a remarkably similar extract in Seven Years in Tibet? I remember thinking that back when Memoirs was released.

Yes, a similar idea makes first appearance in Seven Years in Tibet.

[Datameister 2,408]

4 hours ago, Yarko said:

This is great stuff! Thanks, Jay and everyone! Can't wait to get the movie on disc. How are you all dealing with the annoying fact that the FYC is so much quieter than the OST? I am going to mess with the FYC in Sound Forge's graphic equalizer and see if I can get it close to OST levels.

 

Just up the gain and run it through a compressor as needed. It's possible to get the FYC and OST sounding indistinguishable that way.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,820]

Why would one do that?

[Yarko 1]

29 minutes ago, Datameister said:

 

Just up the gain and run it through a compressor as needed. It's possible to get the FYC and OST sounding indistinguishable that way.

 

It seems like the OST has much more bass in it than the FYC. I'll mess around with it. I like to try to get disparate sounding mixes of the same recordings to match.

[karelm 3,188]

2 hours ago, Yarko said:

 

It seems like the OST has much more bass in it than the FYC. I'll mess around with it. I like to try to get disparate sounding mixes of the same recordings to match.

 

By any chance, are you listening to an MP3 of the OST and lossless FYC?  Remember the frequency extremes are part of what is eliminated in the compression which includes the overtones.  This impacts some of the missing punch and sheen that some of us are picky about.  Also, the OST can be all the way up to 192/24 bit which I think the FYC is at best a CD RIP so 44.1/16.

 

Some of the low frequencies might also just be part of the EQ job they give during the final mastering of the OST too.  Basically, the OST is a mass consumer product selling millions of copies and destined to be heard from a car stereo, laptop, mobile device, up to $100,000 home stereos.

[Datameister 2,408]

I don't hear any perceptible difference in bass levels, Yarko. My edit features some very fast crossfades between sources, but you'd never know it just from listening - and I haven't touched the EQ.

 

11 hours ago, Stefancos said:

Why would one do that?

 

If one wanted to, say, edit the two together without jarring changes in levels...

[Mr. Lovejoy 7,897]

I figured out what Snoke sounds like and it isn't Palpatine's Teachings, it's the film version (insert?) of To Pankot Palace.

[Jay 41,830]

Wow yea, very similar male vocals there

[Taikomochi 1,319]

36 minutes ago, Datameister said:

I don't hear any perceptible difference in bass levels, Yarko. My edit features some very fast crossfades between sources, but you'd never know it just from listening - and I haven't touched the EQ.

 

Same.  Only thing I have had to mess with was volume levels.

[Datameister 2,408]

Yep. Not hearing the alleged differences in reverb, either. If you get the levels close enough, you can literally jump back and forth between the two and not be able to detect the difference.

[Jay 41,830]

Wow, that's interesting.  I didn't realize that before (I haven't listened to the FYC with headphones yet).  Crazy.

[BloodBoal 7,542]

[Incanus 5,852]

14 minutes ago, BloodBoal said:

 

So Snoke isn't Plagueis, but Kali.

Cool! Kylo Ren shakti de!

[Scarpia 132]

You... don't believe me?

[Datameister 2,408]

Prepare to meet Kali...on Mustafar!

[Mr. Lovejoy 7,897]

I feel like Finn's Theme reminds me of something from Rambo: First Blood Part II.

[Incanus 5,852]

51 minutes ago, E.T. and Elliot said:

I feel like Finn's Theme reminds me of something from Rambo: First Blood Part II.

I too detected a Goldsmith-vibe in that action idea.

[Meredith McKay 7,696]

Reminded me of Ants!/General Greivous.

[Yarko 1]

I found that there was quite a bit of inconsistency in the leveling of both the FYC and  the OST. A lot of the FYC was quieter than the same parts on the OST, but much of it was pretty much the same. In some cases, the FYC has parts that were louder than the OST. Very odd. Anyway, I found that some of the FYC needed more bass boost than the rest, and once I applied such, they sounded almost exactly the same. Another interesting thing I found is that, between the two, there were sections of tracks that seemed to be alternate takes. Also, the editing was inconsistent. A longer section of an OST track would be clearly edited down (I assume for time), but that section on the FYC would be longer, and, I presume, whole. But then, another section of the same track would be whole on the OST but edited on the FYC. It's really interesting how all over the place they are.

 

So, it was a bit of a puzzle building my final ULTIMATE! edit that includes ALL (unedited) parts from each production edited in a way that makes them sound whole. I think there were only a couple of short parts for which I couldn't find acceptable locations. But they tended to be similar to parts that I had included and so I don't really miss them. What a great soundtrack! I have personal edits of all the Star Wars soundtracks (and lots of other films), and I can't wait for the BR to come out so I can begin a film version edit.

[Manakin Skywalker 5,612]

Ok.

[Mr. Lovejoy 7,897]

Every time I listen to the TFA end credits now, it makes me want to listen to Conti's Masters of the Universe! Finn's Theme and the March of the Resistance are dead ringers for that score!

[DominicCobb 195]

23 minutes ago, E.T. and Elliot said:

Every time I listen to the TFA end credits now, it makes me want to listen to Conti's Masters of the Universe! Finn's Theme and the March of the Resistance are dead ringers for that score!

Always thought that score's main theme was an obvious Superman rip-off. Still great though!

[Mr. Lovejoy 7,897]

Follow Me and the Falcon is like Williams doing his best impression of Conti doing his best impression of Goldsmith.

[Not Mr. Big 4,803]

And it's glorious!

[Mr. Lovejoy 7,897]

If it wasn't for the appearance of the Rebel Fanfare, I would program it in with the Masters of the Universe score.

[Taikomochi 1,319]

As someone not familiar with MOTU,can you post some pieces for comparison, since you bring this up so much?

[Mr. Lovejoy 7,897]

It doesn't sound like any specific piece from MOTU, but it feels like it's of that musical universe. You should definitely get familiar with it, by the way.

 

 

Around 2-3 1/2 minutes in? Maybe not the best example, but this score doesn't seem to be on YouTube!

[Datameister 2,408]

Definitely hearing the similarities - to the point where I wouldn't be surprised if some of this stuff was part of the temp track. Fascinating how Williams reinterprets those external influences through the lens of his own style.

[Incanus 5,852]

As always I am hesitant to jump on the temp tracking scenario bandwagon right away.

[Datameister 2,408]

Not saying that's necessarily what happened - just saying I wouldn't be surprised.

[Jay 41,830]

There's no chance Williams heard a temp track for this film, even if JJ had one put together

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,820]

Why do you reckon?

[Muad'Dib 1,913]

But maybe JJ talked about some Goldsmith influence.

[Jay 41,830]

You don't show John Williams a rough cut with a temp track in it.  I'm sure the cut he gets to work on at home has no music in it at all

[Scarpia 132]

We know from the other day speech that John Williams himself requested the score for The Force Awakens to be recorded in Los Angeles, and was in position of making important decisions. It feels very unlikely that he would've accepted to score the movie with temp tracks, being a long-established composer, and a legend as big as the Star Wars movies themselves.

 

Still, one can never be too sure about anything in film industry.

[Datameister 2,408]

Frankly, I don't know enough about the use of temp tracks in modern-day Williams-scored films to have an opinion either way. I just hear some potential influences (and not in a bad way).

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,820]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

You don't show John Williams a rough cut with a temp track in it.  I'm sure the cut he gets to work on at home has no music in it at all

 

How do you know?

[Jay 41,830]

I just don't think that's the way John Williams works.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,820]

Wasn't ROTS temp tracked? With LOTR music for instance?

[Mr. Lovejoy 7,897]

The beginning of Anakin's Dark Deeds sounds like something from LOTR. Padme's Ruminations sounds like Gladiator. Lament sounds like Immolation from Schindler's List. It's probably just a coincidence, but The Immolation Scene is Goodbyes from Amazing Stories: The Mission. A surprising number of cues in Spielberg scores seem to have been temp-tracked.

[Tom 5,489]

I recall when a friend of mine accused Williams of "trying to sound like Shore" during the creation of Vader scene from ROTS.  Good times. 

[Muad'Dib 1,913]

Jurassic Park was tracked with Doyle's Henry V and Backdraft, among others.

[Mr. Lovejoy 7,897]

Bill Conti looks a lot like Frank Langella, who played Skeletor.

[Datameister 2,408]

13 hours ago, Tom said:

I recall when a friend of mine accused Williams of "trying to sound like Shore" during the creation of Vader scene from ROTS.  Good times. 

 

If they're referring to the funeral material from TPM, that's obviously silly because the music was written two years before FOTR hit theaters. But I'm not gonna lie, that quiet bit at the beginning of "Anakin's Dark Deeds" is a dead ringer for LOTR.