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Customizing the Phantom Menace Soundtrack


MrScratch

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I'm editing and customizing each of the Star Wars soundtracks... combining or separating tracks into complete and chronological soundtracks. (I really dislike those long Battle of Endor tracks, for example, and am breaking them up into individual tracks.)

 

Phantom Menace, as you all know, is a nightmare what with all of the edited together cues between the OST and UE.

 

Has anyone made a custom (and listenable) expanded TPM soundtrack and if so, what tracks from the UE and what tracks from the OST did you use? How did you edit them?  What does your final track list look like?

 

Any advice or help would be appreciated.

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I think most of us has made a fan edit at some point. The best resource would actually be video game rips, as both the original album and the UE are missing a ton of music. I personally always made sure my edits were as close to the original recording sessions as possible. Here are the official cue names from the recording sessions, in case you haven't seen them before:

Star Wars TPM Recording Sessions Cue List.png

 

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I abandoned making edits a few months ago. I just listened to the UE, kept what I liked and added the two concert arrangements from the OST. I'll wait for Matessino to provide me with better material.

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At this point, I'm not trying to do "complete and chronological" for TPM just a nice expanded soundtrack that includes most of the score.  I rather like Williams' album edits on this soundtrack even though he combined cues from all over the movie. Unlike the OT, where almost every thing has been officially released, I just want a chronological-ish TPM that includes as much as possible, is listenable and doesn't include awkward/choppy edits.

2 hours ago, BloodBoal said:

At this point, it's better to simply download one of the edits available on the darkest corners of the world wide web (lots of great listenable ones out there, some with all the cues separated, leaving you the choice to combine them as you want)

 

I don't know where those "dark corners" are.  PM me?

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I have taken Panaka and the Queen's Protectors, edited out the break in the action (a real lull in tempo) at around three-quarters mark, then put onto the end Fighting the Guards and Escape from Naboo. It has taken the best of that material and formed a fairly seamless track (taking advantage of its flow in the film) of the best action music from TPM. I have it on a cycling playlist and like to listen to it when speeding around, dodging traffic, on sunny days!

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On 26.5.2017 at 1:09 PM, BloodBoal said:

No official confirmation, no, but there have been signs here and there that all seem to indicate it won't take much longer than that now.

The next 5 years will be like the 5 Goldsmith years from 2010 to 2015, regarding expansions.

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On 5/26/2017 at 3:12 AM, BloodBoal said:

At this point, it's better to simply download one of the edits available on the darkest corners of the world wide web (lots of great listenable ones out there, some with all the cues separated, leaving you the choice to combine them as you want), and wait patiently for an official complete release (which will happen in less than 5 years now) than bother trying to do an edit using various sources (because the OST and UE aren't enough to make a version of the score like you'd like to do. You'd be missing clean openings and endings for lots of cues).

 

Yes, but have any of the fan edits available been done in an attempt to match the manuscript score (notes on the page)?  The complete handwritten scores are also available in those dark corners.

 

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On ‎6‎/‎5‎/‎2017 at 6:11 PM, bruckhorn said:

 

Yes, but have any of the fan edits available been done in an attempt to match the manuscript score (notes on the page)?  The complete handwritten scores are also available in those dark corners.

 

The vast majority of the fan edits out there, including mine, use the leaked sheet music as a reference. It's extremely rare if not nonexistent that I see an isolated-style score anymore. I know a few people even use synth mockups for the pieces that can't be found anywhere but in the sheet music.

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I'm finished my edit of the score.

 

I made a track that I call "The Battle Begins and Anakin Takes Flight"

It's the Ultimate Edition tracks 15 and 16 but then cuts to "Take To Your Ships" and closes with "Anakin Takes Off"

My transition from the UE to Take To Your Ships is very smooth, it works so well.  There is a brief pause between 'Take To Your Ships' and 'Anakin Takes Off' but it works.

 

My "Passage Through The Planet Core" track is these three tracks edited together: Gone Fishin'-Tentacles-Darth Sidious.  It's technically out of film order but musically flows much better.

 

I made a track called "Rescue Of The Queen and Escape From Naboo" which is Theed Palace Arrival-You're Under Arrest-Escape From Naboo edited together.  Why this wasn't an OST track is beyond me, these cues were designed to go together and it's fantastic.

 

I made a track called "The Podrace" which is a combination of Start Your Engines-The Race Begins-The Service Ramp-Anakin's Great Victory.  I identify the cue "Anakin Defeats Sebulba" with the Gungan Battle because that's where it is heard in the movie - whether or not it was written for that.  It works better there in my opinion so it's not part of my "Podrace" track.

 

I also combined some minor cues together that are out of film order but work well together like 'The Queen and Palpatine' I transitioned into 'The Senate' and I call it "Palpatine's Treachery and The Senate". Another example is I took 'Moving Forward' 'War Plans' and 'Promoting Jar Jar' and cut them together in that order and called the track "War Plans".  It's pretty seamless and flows together, though they are out of film order. 

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What cue number is suposed to be "The Service Ramp"? I know what cue it is (is the one which rappears at the end of the podrace scene and replaces the original music for that scene --Anakin Defeats Sebulba from OST-- which was moved to the end of the movie as you say), but I would like to identify it in the cue list of above! Maybe is it within 3m11 (The Race Begins) or 4m2 (Anakin Deafeats Sebulba)?

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8 hours ago, Anka said:

What cue number is suposed to be "The Service Ramp"? I know what cue it is (is the one which rappears at the end of the podrace scene and replaces the original music for that scene --Anakin Defeats Sebulba from OST-- which was moved to the end of the movie as you say), but I would like to identify it in the cue list of above! Maybe is it within 3m11 (The Race Begins) or 4m2 (Anakin Deafeats Sebulba)?

As the cue list was just recently leaked, I don't think anyone was able to figure that out yet. I'm guessing either it's combined with one of the cues you listed (however unlikely), or it was left off this sheet for some reason, perhaps by accident, or maybe it was recorded later.

 

UPDATE: I can't read sheet music well, but judging by the sheets, I think that it may actually be part of 4m2. "Anakin Defeats Sebulba" appears to have been recorded in 2 parts, the first of which would be "The Service Ramp" and the second being "Anakin Defeats Sebulba". So although they are two separate cues, they share the same number and title.

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On 9/6/2017 at 4:09 AM, Manakin Skywalker said:

As the cue list was just recently leaked, I don't think anyone was able to figure that out yet. I'm guessing either it's combined with one of the cues you listed (however unlikely), or it was left off this sheet for some reason, perhaps by accident, or maybe it was recorded later.

 

UPDATE: I can't read sheet music well, but judging by the sheets, I think that it may actually be part of 4m2. "Anakin Defeats Sebulba" appears to have been recorded in 2 parts, the first of which would be "The Service Ramp" and the second being "Anakin Defeats Sebulba". So although they are two separate cues, they share the same number and title.

 

Interesting! Now I'm looking to the track lengths (if I'm not wrong, from the tracks I have: "The Service Ramp" ~40s; "The Race Begins" ~55s; "Anakin Defeats Sebulba" ~1:50min) and I would say that first two tracks (at least in originally intended) could have been part of 3m11 (which lasts 1:30 min as shown in the cue sheet) instead of 4m2??

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3 hours ago, Anka said:

 

Interesting! Now I'm looking to the track lengths (if I'm not wrong, from the tracks I have: "The Service Ramp" ~40s; "The Race Begins" ~55s; "Anakin Defeats Sebulba" ~1:50min) and I would say that first two tracks (at least in originally intended) could have been part of 3m11 (which lasts 1:30 min as shown in the cue sheet) instead of 4m2??

I forgot all about the cue timings on the sheet! So possibly "The Service Ramp" could be part of 3m11 instead of 4m2, as that would make more sense.

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  • 3 years later...

Is it valid to assume a "legit" score presentation of The Phantom Menace would follow this list?

THE PHANTOM MENACE
1m2 Star Wars Main Title
1m3 The Arrival
1m4 Gas Leak
1m4a Droid Fight
1m5 Queen Amidala
1m6 The Droid Invasion
1m7 Introducing Jar Jar
1m8 Bubble World
1m9 Gone Fishin'
2m1 Darth Sidious
2m1a Monster's Back!
2m2 Theed Palace Arrival
2m3 You're Under Arrest
2m3a Take-Off
2m4 Intro Darth Maul
2m5 Arrival At Tatooine
2m7 I'm A Pilot You Know
2m10 Stealing Food
2m11 Through The Slave Quarters
3m1 Running Out Of Time
3m2 Are You A Jedi?
3m4 Kids At Play
3m5 It's Working!
3m6 The Sith Spacecraft
3m8 Watto's Big Deal
3m9 The Flag Parade
3m10 Start Your Engines
3m11 THe Race Begins
4m2 Anakin Defeats Sebulba
4m3 Anakin's Great Victory
4m5 Anakin Is Free
4m6 Darth and Qui-Gon
4m7-4m8 Coruscant Arrival
4m9 The Queen and Palpatine
5m1 High Council Meeting
5m2 The Senate Speech
5m3 Anakin's Test
5m4-5m5 The Chosen One
5m6 More Nute and Rune
5m7 Back To Naboo
5m8 The Gungans
5m9 Promoting Jar Jar
6m1 The Armies Face Off
6m2 The Battle Begins / Laser Fight
6m3 Take To Your Ships
6m4 The Big Army
6m4a The Fight Begins
6m5 The Droid Battle
6m6 Up The Wire
6m7 The Great Duel (Part 1)
6m7a The Great Duel (Part 2) / Crash Landing
6m8-6m9 Qui-Gon's Noble End
6m10 Battlehsip Blows Up
6m11 The Death Of Darth Maul
7m1 After The Victory
7m1a Qui-Gon's Funeral
7m2 Augie's Great Municipal Band (also called The Parade)
7m3 End Credits
 

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3 hours ago, Bespin said:

Is it valid to assume a "legit" score presentation of The Phantom Menace would follow this list?

THE PHANTOM MENACE
1m2 Star Wars Main Title
1m3 The Arrival
1m4 Gas Leak
1m4a Droid Fight
1m5 Queen Amidala
1m6 The Droid Invasion
1m7 Introducing Jar Jar
1m8 Bubble World
1m9 Gone Fishin'
2m1 Darth Sidious
2m1a Monster's Back!
2m2 Theed Palace Arrival
2m3 You're Under Arrest
2m3a Take-Off
2m4 Intro Darth Maul
2m5 Arrival At Tatooine
2m7 I'm A Pilot You Know
2m10 Stealing Food
2m11 Through The Slave Quarters
3m1 Running Out Of Time
3m2 Are You A Jedi?
3m4 Kids At Play
3m5 It's Working!
3m6 The Sith Spacecraft
3m8 Watto's Big Deal
3m9 The Flag Parade
3m10 Start Your Engines
3m11 THe Race Begins
4m2 Anakin Defeats Sebulba
4m3 Anakin's Great Victory
4m5 Anakin Is Free
4m6 Darth and Qui-Gon
4m7-4m8 Coruscant Arrival
4m9 The Queen and Palpatine
5m1 High Council Meeting
5m2 The Senate Speech
5m3 Anakin's Test
5m4-5m5 The Chosen One
5m6 More Nute and Rune
5m7 Back To Naboo
5m8 The Gungans
5m9 Promoting Jar Jar
6m1 The Armies Face Off
6m2 The Battle Begins / Laser Fight
6m3 Take To Your Ships
6m4 The Big Army
6m4a The Fight Begins
6m5 The Droid Battle
6m6 Up The Wire
6m7 The Great Duel (Part 1)
6m7a The Great Duel (Part 2) / Crash Landing
6m8-6m9 Qui-Gon's Noble End
6m10 Battlehsip Blows Up
6m11 The Death Of Darth Maul
7m1 After The Victory
7m1a Qui-Gon's Funeral
7m2 Augie's Great Municipal Band (also called The Parade)
7m3 End Credits
 

 

There are a couple cues in this list that use slightly incorrect titles. For example, 6M2 is simply "Lazer Fight" (misspelled in the sheets), 6M10 is "Blowups and the End of Darth Maul", 6M7 PT2 is just "The Great Dual", which is the same title as 6M7 PT1.

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6 hours ago, SilverTrumpet said:

After all these years, between the OST, Ultimate, and video games, how much have we still not heard still?

 

Likely not much. We definitely haven't heard everything, though; there are moments missing.

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http://www.jwfan.com/?p=2887


I used the “complete cue list” that’s on the JWfan site here as my reference. And then I kinda winged it in some spots since I didn’t have the video game pieces. But I bought the UE version on Amazon and then the pieces that were different ripped from the OST. Used Audacity to piece them together to my best ability.

 

All the effort was worth it though. It became my second/third (depending on the day) favorite SW score afterwards:)

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I know there are Star Wars scores that demand expansion more than this one (Return of the Jedi, looking at you) but part of me hopes this is the first expansion released. The OST has a special place in my heart. It was re-gifted to me from my step-father who bought it for himself but caught me so many times sitting next to the speaker listening to Duel of the Fates and The Flag Parade on repeat that he figured he might as well give it to me

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So I'm finally listening to what seems to me, a right C&C presentation of the score, without the source music and alt cues.

 

image.png

 

image.png

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17 hours ago, Bespin said:

I just asked, I'm not an expert!

 

And in this exact order?

 

TPM's cue list seems relatively straightforward and work would perfectly fine in cue chronology. You really just need to place the standalone DOTF and Anakin's Theme concert suites (but they're in the end credits anyway, though possibly abridged). I guess you could place those at the story points where Anakin is first introduced and at the climax of the saber duel.

 

I'm not too familiar with the score but, judging by that cue list, TPM wasn't exactly swimming in alternates.

 

It's really only ROTJ & the sequels where cues are tricky to assemble in chronology, due to the volume of alternates and revisions. Can't wait to see where Mike places alternate #137 of Rey Meets BB8 some day.

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On 12/29/2020 at 5:37 PM, Bespin said:

Is it valid to assume a "legit" score presentation of The Phantom Menace would follow this list?

THE PHANTOM MENACE
1m2 Star Wars Main Title
1m3 The Arrival
1m4 Gas Leak
1m4a Droid Fight
1m5 Queen Amidala
1m6 The Droid Invasion
1m7 Introducing Jar Jar
1m8 Bubble World
1m9 Gone Fishin'
2m1 Darth Sidious
2m1a Monster's Back!
2m2 Theed Palace Arrival
2m3 You're Under Arrest
2m3a Take-Off
2m4 Intro Darth Maul
2m5 Arrival At Tatooine
2m7 I'm A Pilot You Know
2m10 Stealing Food
2m11 Through The Slave Quarters
3m1 Running Out Of Time
3m2 Are You A Jedi?
3m4 Kids At Play
3m5 It's Working!
3m6 The Sith Spacecraft
3m8 Watto's Big Deal
3m9 The Flag Parade
3m10 Start Your Engines
3m11 THe Race Begins
4m2 Anakin Defeats Sebulba
4m3 Anakin's Great Victory
4m5 Anakin Is Free
4m6 Darth and Qui-Gon
4m7-4m8 Coruscant Arrival
4m9 The Queen and Palpatine
5m1 High Council Meeting
5m2 The Senate Speech
5m3 Anakin's Test
5m4-5m5 The Chosen One
5m6 More Nute and Rune
5m7 Back To Naboo
5m8 The Gungans
5m9 Promoting Jar Jar
6m1 The Armies Face Off
6m2 The Battle Begins / Laser Fight
6m3 Take To Your Ships
6m4 The Big Army
6m4a The Fight Begins
6m5 The Droid Battle
6m6 Up The Wire
6m7 The Great Duel (Part 1)
6m7a The Great Duel (Part 2) / Crash Landing
6m8-6m9 Qui-Gon's Noble End
6m10 Battlehsip Blows Up
6m11 The Death Of Darth Maul
7m1 After The Victory
7m1a Qui-Gon's Funeral
7m2 Augie's Great Municipal Band (also called The Parade)
7m3 End Credits
 

It better.

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On 12/30/2020 at 6:41 AM, crumbs said:

I'm not too familiar with the score but, judging by that cue list, TPM wasn't exactly swimming in alternates.


It’s hardly going to give any of the sequel trilogy scores a run for their money, but there’s a decent number of known alternates:

 

2M3A Take Off

4M2 Anakin Defeats Sebulba

These were both original written and recorded with additional percussion that ultimately went unused.

 

5M3 Anakin’s Test

 

5M3 Insert replaced part of this, so the original version should also be presented as an alternate.
 

6M3 Take To Your Ships

 

It was recorded as originally written, but then JW re-recorded it with a slightly tweaked melody.
 

7M2 NEW Augie’s Great Municipal Band

 

The album and film versions differ slightly.

 

And there may be more they haven’t leaked. For instance, I really hope the original 7M1 was recorded!

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2 hours ago, BrotherSound said:

It’s hardly going to give any of the sequel trilogy scores a run for their money, but there’s a decent number of known alternates:

 

Guess there's also slightly alternate sections of Duel of the Fates. The Disney Demaster missed some brass overlays that were used on the OST at 2:55.

 

 

Mike said in the Superman podcast that things usually turn up in sessions that nobody knew about, while written alternates they hope to find often weren't recorded.

 

Ahh, it's fun to aimlessly speculate what might be released someday :P

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Yeah, the first time that moment plays, it's supposed to have those simpler, lower stabs of brass. The second time (just before the 4-minute mark) is when the trumpets have those big octaves. They just edited the OST to use the latter for both. But you can hear the first one tracked into the film during the duel, and it thus shows up on the UE that way too.

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42 minutes ago, Spider-Fal said:

@crumbs actually that is presented as recorded for the first time. The OST tracked in an earlier part of the cue to correct a perceived flawed performance.

 

I didn't realise! That's a cool little factoid :lovethis:

 

Wonder how Mike would deal with that? I guess he'd present the recorded version (as heard on the Demaster), if the OST version is an edit.

 

On the subject of DOTF, why isn't the concert suite represented in the earlier posted cue list, while Anakin's Theme and the various source pieces are? Was it recorded and intended under 7M3 End Credits or End Credits Insert, then JW decided it would make a great standalone track?

 

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7 minutes ago, crumbs said:

 

I didn't realise! That's a cool little factoid :lovethis:

 

Wonder how Mike would deal with that? I guess he'd present the recorded version (as heard on the Demaster), if the OST version is an edit.

 

On the subject of DOTF, why isn't the concert suite represented in the earlier posted cue list, while Anakin's Theme and the various source pieces are? Was it recorded and intended under 7M3 End Credits or End Credits Insert, then JW decided it would make a great standalone track?

 

 

7M3 End Credit is just Duel of the Fates. (The actual start of the end credits was recorded separately; Williams took a similar approach with AOTC, although there the beginning was just reused from the TPM recordings.) My guess is that it was intended all along for dual (hehe) use both in the credits and as a concert suite.

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4 minutes ago, Datameister said:

 

7M3 End Credit is just Duel of the Fates. (The actual start of the end credits was recorded separately; Williams took a similar approach with AOTC, although there the beginning was just reused from the TPM recordings.) My guess is that it was intended all along for dual (hehe) use both in the credits and as a concert suite.

 

Makes perfect sense now! Reusing old recordings across that trilogy was such an unfortunate choice. The LSO were at such a peak in those sessions!

 

Out of interest, I have one fan edit of TPM with a bunch of alternates at the end, some of which  @BrotherSound didn't list. Do these look legit?

 

image.png

 

The alternate Battleship Destroyed seems like an alternate take of the film version, not sure how that would have leaked (unless it was inexplicably used in a video game).

 

End Credits (Alternate) is a slightly tweaked version of the end titles from ANH, complete with Leia's Theme (unknown why this was recorded for TPM).

 

End Credits Part 2 is a very loose, almost rehearsal-sounding version of Duel of the Fates (barely sounds like the LSO) which transitions into Anakin's Theme.

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15 hours ago, crumbs said:

 

Makes perfect sense now! Reusing old recordings across that trilogy was such an unfortunate choice. The LSO were at such a peak in those sessions!

 

Out of interest, I have one fan edit of TPM with a bunch of alternates at the end, some of which  @BrotherSound didn't list. Do these look legit?

 

image.png

 

The alternate Battleship Destroyed seems like an alternate take of the film version, not sure how that would have leaked (unless it was inexplicably used in a video game).

 

End Credits (Alternate) is a slightly tweaked version of the end titles from ANH, complete with Leia's Theme (unknown why this was recorded for TPM).

 

End Credits Part 2 is a very loose, almost rehearsal-sounding version of Duel of the Fates (barely sounds like the LSO) which transitions into Anakin's Theme.

 

Yes, those are all from various video game rips.

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From a composition standpoint, there aren't a whole lot of true alternates that are brand new compositions replacing all or part of a previously recorded cue

 

From a take and/or mixing standpoint, it seems almost every cue in the score has 2 versions released with some slight different performances and/or different mixes that add/remove different instrument lines

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  • 3 months later...
On 5/26/2017 at 6:12 AM, BloodBoal said:

At this point, it's better to simply download one of the edits available on the darkest corners of the world wide web (lots of great listenable ones out there, some with all the cues separated, leaving you the choice to combine them as you want), and wait patiently for an official complete release (which will happen in less than 5 years now)

As we're nearly four years from when this was posted, I'm far less optimistic. Anybody care to PM me in the direction of one of those listenable edits?

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On 5/26/2017 at 12:12 PM, BloodBoal said:

An official complete release (which will happen in less than 5 years now)

One year remaining, hopefully BloodBoal was right!

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