First Thread! An alternate perspective on The Force Awakens music:

[BloodBoal 7,538]

32 minutes ago, natedog said:

Can someone explain to me in layman terms the difference between wet and dry recordings? Do you have examples of both recordings so I can compare and listen to the differences

 

Being a layman myself, simply put, this is how I understand it:

 

Wet recording: has more reverb, resulting in a more "echo-y sound", and one that sounds a bit bigger, too (and if not done properly, a wet recording/mix will make the music sound too "distant").

 

Dry recording: less reverb, thus making the instruments sound closer and the music sound "smaller", more intimate.

 

Generally, the dryness or wetness depends on the recording location, but that can also be altered after the recording, by adding reverb to it.

 

Again, note that this comes from a layman, so it may not be a perfect, accurate definition.

[toothless 963]

3 minutes ago, BloodBoal said:

 

Being a layman myself, simply put, this is how I understand it:

 

Wet recording: has more reverb, resulting in a more "echo-y sound", and one that sounds a bit bigger, too (and if not done properly, a wet recording/mix will make the music sound too "distant").

 

Dry recording: less reverb, thus making the instruments sound closer and the music sound "smaller", more intimate.

 

Generally, the dryness or wetness depends on the recording location, but that can also be altered after the recording, by adding reverb to it.

 

Again, note that this comes from a layman, so it may not be a perfect, accurate definition.

 

So in terms of recording, it's all down to how the mics are placed ?

 

Wet recording > Stage mic
Dry recording > Close mic

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[mstrox 6,651]

Wet recording = my copy of The Force Awakens that I dropped in a sewer

Dry recording = my replacement copy of The Force Awakens

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Loert 2,511]

2 hours ago, natedog said:

Can someone explain to me in layman terms the difference between wet and dry recordings? Do you have examples of both recordings so I can compare and listen to the differences

 

Wet recording:

 

(alternately, the JW recording with the LSO)

 

Dry recording:

 

(JW with Boston Pops, which I think is slightly drier than the TFA recording)

 

Dry recordings generally sound more detailed than wet recordings, but if you make the recording too dry then it can sound like the orchestra was recorded in the living room. So you want to retain some "wetness" in order to give some sense of space. Wet recordings can be very effective, sometimes giving a "transcendental" touch (see e.g. Karajan's 1973 Also Sprach Zarathustra recording), and work particularly well with some choral pieces. But if you make the recording too wet then it just ends up sounding like one giant mush, lacking in any musical detail.

[gkgyver 1,645]

On 5. November 2017 at 5:35 PM, SafeUnderHill said:

 

Not at all, the film relies heavily on the nostalgia of previous themes most notably The Force theme. Many audience members walked away thinking there were no new themes because the key moments tended to be scored by these original film callbacks.

 

I tend to agree with this. Between the two concert suites (Rey and March), and throwbacks, there isn't that much to remember. A good indicator for this is Scherzo For X-Wing, which is basically an arrangement of the Main Titles music. I find that short menacing horn call, for whatever that is, surprisingly dull for a JW motif, and the trumpet fanfare, again, for whatever that is, too close to Seven Years In Tibet.

As a whole, no offense of course, I find TFA to be not in the same league as the original trilogy scores, and also not as good as Episode III. 

 

Also, Unexpected Journey isn't an adequate comparison because its album version drops most of the blatant callbacks in favor of the original intentions, which TFA doesn't.