{NOW AVAILABLE} Tim Burden Interviews Mike Matessino on Cinematic Sound for E.T. & CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND and more!

[Amer 2,210]

Tim Burden, famous radio and film music host has interviewed Mike Matessino in London, England.The first excerpt of this interview laced with John Williams music.

 

 

Film Music Historian and Soundtrack Producer Mike Matessino speaks with me about the recent La La Land Records 35th Anniversary release of John Williams' E.T. The Extra Terrestrial. Discovering an exciting alternate take of a key scene and cue is one item discussed. 

 

The full-length interview is coming soon .

 

P.S.  A clip about the equally brilliant CE3K will be posted this weekend.-Tim Burden on Facebook.

 

[artguy360 1,889]

Good interview for a great CD release. Where's the extra clip?

[mstrox 6,849]

Wish these things came in text versions.

[Bespin 8,674]

Altough English is not my first language and that I never speak it, I understand pretty much everything.

 

The most difficult part for me, is the written English (and of course spoken English!). I will simply never get the right syntax and the right tonic accent.

[thx99 1,795]

Thanks for the heads-up, @azahid!!

[crumbs 14,696]

Matessino is such a great interviewee. Always a fun listen, educational and gives plenty of detail about the technical challenges for those who are into that stuff.

 

[artguy360 1,889]

Has MM done any other audio interviews about ET or Close Encounters?

[Amer 2,210]

13 hours ago, artguy360 said:

Has MM done any other audio interviews about ET or Close Encounters?

 

There will be another excerpt this weekend where we will hear discussion on CE3K. The WHOLE interview will come out around Mid Jan 2018.

[Amer 2,210]

Here is the 23 minutes preview of the CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND segment from the full interview on SoundCloud. 

 

Listen to Challenging Tonality: 40 Years of Close Encounters of the Third Kind with Mike Matessino by timburden #np on #SoundCloud

 

 

 

 

Again full interview will be up mid Jan. 2018.

[Ricard 2,254]

What a great interview... really looking forward to the full thing.
 

Here's a transcript of one of my favorite parts:
 

Quote

 

I would dare say that Close Encounters was actually more of an influence on the evolution of film scores than Star Wars was. I think Star Wars got everybody to want big orchestras again, but I think in terms of what you can actually do with film composition, which was sort of locked into this rhythmic, thematic -you had to have a love theme, you had to have a hero theme, you know, that kind of approach from the past, we were sort of locked into that. I think in a way Close Encounters sort of freed it up, where a big orchestra can now do this very kind of nebulous experimental-sounding music, and audiences would now accept it.

 

Even if you compare, say, the first Star Wars, which almost does not have an atonal bar in it -maybe some experimental percussion like for the sand people, but that's about it. But by the time you get to Empire you get dissonance right from the get go almost in some scenes. So just in the space of three years there was some change going on there. But I think that just opened it up. What it made you just feel in Close Encounters was that a conversation was going on, but you didn't have the ability to interpret it. We know it's music, but we don't know what it's saying, we haven't been given the ability to understand it. It's a musical representation of this vision that's implanted into the characters heads, you see these UFOs... They don't know... "This means something", that's what they keep saying, "this means something, this is important", but they can't articulate it. And that's what this music is. It's trying to say something, but even some of the low-end rumbling... it sounds just like rumbling, but it's actually the notes are all written out. But it's so low in the register, that it's almost below the human ear's ability to comprehend the modulations there... So, again, a conversation is going on, but we don't have the ability to hear it.

 

 

[Jay 39,156]

I can't wait to hear the whole interview in January!

[Dr. Rick 1,193]

  still waiting...  would love to hear the rest of these interviews!

[Ricard 2,254]

Tim has just informed me that a podcast of the full-length interview will be available on Erik Wood's Cinematic Sound next week

[Jay 39,156]

Sweet!

[mahler3 479]

Thanks, Amer for posting links to these. I'm definitely not famous, but thanks for the kind words.

 

The full length version took a while to be finished, but happy to say that Cinematic Sound will premiere it tomorrow and I hope you enjoy listening. Mike is a real pleasure to listen to and his commentary on E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Wars and Superman are very informative. His thoughts on Close Encounters are particularly insightful.

 

Here's a further clip, this time on Richard Donner's Superman:

 

[Amer 2,210]

Excellent Tim. Looking forward to it for tomorrow!

[Ricard 2,254]

The two-hour interview is a must-listen to any fan of E.T. & CE3K, and to all JW fans in general. There's a lot of great insight and behind-the-scenes on the two scores and movies, including some stories which I had never heard of, or didn't know in detail.

 

The full interview will be available tomorrow Wednesday, February 21, on Erik Wood's Cinematic Sound.

[Jay 39,156]

Woohoo, can't wait!

[KittBash 293]

Not that I don’t always enjoy cinematic sound but I’m stoked for this one!

[crumbs 14,696]

Any idea on a time this will be posted? Will make a great podcast listen if it's up before work.

[phbart 623]

While the complete interview is not up, we can appreciate this photo. Now this is a opening night! The one you really have respect!

[1977 1,745]

Wednesday has come and gone, where is the interview? Will I be posted elsewhere (meaning somewhere other than Cinematic Sound Radio)?

 

 

[Erik Woods 611]

Sorry guys. This is my bad. I've been sick. My family is sick. Really sick. I'm swamped with work (cutting a documentary) and IFMCA stuff.  I meant to have this up today... I just didn't get around to it.  I'm sorry. I apologize to Tim. To all of you here.  The interview goes live on Friday morning. I promise.

 

So please... be patient.

 

Thank you.

 

-Erik-

[Miguel Andrade 1,343]

Get well fast, Erik. I'm sure everyone here can wait a couple more days.

[rough cut 1,740]

Looking forward to it but get well first!

[crumbs 14,696]

Yes, focus on getting better. Your health is far more important than a podcast.

 

All the best!

[Amer 2,210]

Sweet of you to update us, Erik. We will wait.

[1977 1,745]

Thanks Eric, sorry to hear about the setbacks. Hope all goes well.

[Jay 39,156]

Damn I can't wait to listen to this tomorrow!

[Erik Woods 611]

Here you go!

http://www.cinematicsound.net/interview-with-mike-matessino-guest-host-tim-burden

 

Also available on Apple Podcasts.

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/cinematic-sound-radio/id1095893204?mt=2

 

Enjoy!  And thank you, Tim, for letting me host this incredible program!  Great to have you back as a guest host for CINEMATIC SOUND RADIO!

 

-Erik-

[phbart 623]

@Erik Woods, is there a way to download it?

[Erik Woods 611]

5 minutes ago, phbart said:

@Erik Woods, is there a way to download it?

 

Through iTunes.

 

-Erik-

[Jay 39,156]

On 2/23/2018 at 9:38 AM, phbart said:

@Erik Woods, is there a way to download it?

 

Of course!

 

LINK REMOVED, LOL

[Erik Woods 611]

Can we please not make that link publicly available, @Jay

 

-Erik-

[Jay 39,156]

LOL.  OK.

 

Listening now!

[Erik Woods 611]

Thanks, Jay!  Much appreciated!

 

-Erik-

[Jay 39,156]

HOLY COW!!!

 

This interview is amazing, one of the best!

 

Even though I knew many of the stories (I'm starting to realize a lot of Mike and I's private conversations about these releases are like a dry run for the stories he'll eventually tell on podcasts ), there were plenty I didn't know, and the whole thing was quite fascinating.

 

It wasn't entirely focused on CE3K and ET, many other things come up such as 2001, Superman, Raiders, The Accidental Tourist, and more!

 

Some tidbits that come to mind that are especially interesting:

• How the use of dissonance in the CE3K score makes the melody of the 5 notes stand out even more, be even more important and prominent
• That the french audio track of the Raiders Blu Ray has the original 1981 sound mix instead of the modern mix?
• That "Lava Flow" was named after Bill Lava, famous WB cartoon composer, much like "Stalling Around" from JP was named after Carl Stalling.  Wow!
• That nobody knows WHERE the ET Adventure ride music was recorded, but they suspect it might have been recorded in Boston. maybe during the sessions for the Spielberg/Williams Collaboration album in 1990
• That the Dialogue cue was edited note by note to create a Jaws reference in the final film (!)

Nice to finally have all the details of the early cut of CE3K (IE the original plane opening, how Bob Balaban's character changed, what TV Western was written for, what shots were pickup shots, etc).

 

This is a MUST LISTEN, JWFanners, I promise!

[Bryant Burnette 691]

I look forward to hearing it!

[phbart 623]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

 

• That the french audio track of the Raiders Blu Ray has an all-new sound mix of the score?!

 

Wat?

[Bespin 8,674]

At last, they care about the french audio tracks!

[Jay 39,156]

Sorry, what I meant was: The Blu Ray edition of Raiders has a new sound mix, but if you choose the French track instead, you can still hear the original 1981 mix

[The Great Gonzales 6,201]

Foreign language tracks of older films usually have surprises like that (sometimes even extra music not in the English track)

[Lacoq 0]

Can anyone identify the track played at the 2:01:12 mark in the interview? Thank you.....

[Amer 2,210]

Yes terrific interview. Nicely recorded too. Lovely stories. Some interesting feelers on the RCA STAR WARS Special Edition sets. Some interesting points on how remastering process has changed in the last 10 years. I can understand how Matessino feels about revisiting certain projects he did back then. It would be quite amazing if SUPERMAN gets another take. 

[Erik Woods 611]

36 minutes ago, Lacoq said:

Can anyone identify the track played at the 2:01:12 mark in the interview? Thank you.....

 

"The Dome Opens (Alternate)" from SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE.

 

-Erik-

[Lacoq 0]

Thank you Erik! Love your show......

[Erik Woods 611]

Thank for listening! 

 

-Erik-

[1977 1,745]

Terrific interview, MM is always very engaging. Love the shout out to Superman at the end, hope the 4K release is truly forthcoming this year.

 

At least now I know what Lava Flows and The Eleventh Commandment are...

[Chewy 2,495]

So we kind of have the proof he isn't doing an expanded Star Wars score at the moment, since he said "if we whatever do it, which I hope to someday get to redo".

[Holko 10,081]

A fantastic interview!