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SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE - 3CD Set from La-La Land Records


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11 hours ago, Luke Skywalker said:

Are we sure it was the final orchestral cue for the spoken version or just the orchestral backing of an unreleased sung version?

 

Yep!

 

Listen to the podcast if you don't believe me. 

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Im not doubting you, i was just pointing that the information could have been vague and people assuming things.but If you say its the film version and and alternates we have because thats what they say in the podcast, i believe you.

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There is nothing vague or presumptuous at all.

 

It's crystal clear if you listen to the podcast.

 

Margot recorded the vocals in NY and the orchestra was recorded in LA.  Mike confirmed it didn't exist anywhere on the 1st gen masters that contained the rest of the score, and Tim Burden confirms Jim Thatcher had previously indicated he played on the track when it was recorded in LA.

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  • 1 year later...
22 hours ago, Datameister said:

This is a must-buy for any fan of 70s/80s Williams. The Blue Box was a vast improvement in sound quality. This is an equally vast improvement over the Blue Box. Buy it if you haven't.


I am so deeply distrustful of my layman’s ears that, though I want to believe this, I can’t. Change my mind. (Please!)

 

That being said, I adore the Blue Box and its booklet so much that I wouldn’t get rid of it anyway…

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33 minutes ago, igger6 said:


I am so deeply distrustful of my layman’s ears that, though I want to believe this, I can’t. Change my mind. (Please!)

 

That being said, I adore the Blue Box and its booklet so much that I wouldn’t get rid of it anyway…

 

You know how terrible everyone says the 1997 Return of the Jedi sounds? I can't hear it.

 

And I can tell that the La-La Land Superman is a step up.

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3 hours ago, Tallguy said:

You know how terrible everyone says the 1997 Return of the Jedi sounds? I can't hear it.

 

Well there's this:

 

Versus modern transfers of (seemingly) first-generation elements:

 

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5 hours ago, Tallguy said:

You know how terrible everyone says the 1997 Return of the Jedi sounds? I can't hear it.

 

And I can tell that the La-La Land Superman is a step up.

 

You just made me realize how much I'd welcome such a "step up" in sound quality for the original SW trilogy.

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15 hours ago, igger6 said:


I am so deeply distrustful of my layman’s ears that, though I want to believe this, I can’t. Change my mind. (Please!)

 

That being said, I adore the Blue Box and its booklet so much that I wouldn’t get rid of it anyway…

 

Oh, I still have the Blue Box sitting proudly on my shelf. But for the first score, I listen exclusively to this LLL release.

 

If you're happy with the Blue Box's sound, I suppose you might as well stick with it. For me, I was simultaneously grateful for the big improvement and disappointed that it still sounded "off." Then the LLL release came along and made the first generation elements absolutely shine. I think it's the gold standard for how a late 70s JW/LSO score can sound. If Star Wars sounded like this, I'd weep with joy.

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11 hours ago, Edmilson said:

You could have bought more.

 

I think Star Wars is the only score I've bought twice in the same format. I bought the LP twice. Almost exactly 10 years apart.

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6 minutes ago, Jay said:

It really goes to show that the original recording was immaculate.  The actual tape running through the machines as the orchestra played that captured the raw audio off each microphone line and stored it on multitrack tape was fantastic.

 

It's just that the technology in the late 70s wasn't there to make mixes off that, and dub those mixes onto a different analog tape without losing something... a problem exacerbated by future albums came having to use analog dubs of those analog dubs, etc

 

The fact that the original multitrack tape was perfectly vaulted by WB in their salt mines and finally unearthed for the LLL album lead to such a leap in quality as well as cool tidbits that had never made it onto other surviving tape dubs like the original Fortress of Solitude cue.

 

Basiically Mike's remixes of this and Close Encounters from the original multitrack are such great, satisfying upgrades.  If he could do the same thing for Star Wars, Empire, Raiders, Jedi, and Doom, I'll be in heaven.

 

And Last Crusade, right? RIGHT?

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The best hope is that he actually made weird mixing decisions on top of the walls, and so a complete remix from the original multitrack actually would sound significantly different.  We just don't know.

 

Meanwhile, the actual technical archiving of his 1989 stereo mixes is fantastic, those mixes have no analog quality loss like 70s stuff

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The only scores Wallin recorded for Williams was The Cowboys, The River,  and Last Crusade.  And Last Crusade was the only one he put walls up between instrument sections.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just found this on Facebook from the Caped Wonder Superman Podcast: Writer, film historian, and preservationist Mike Matessino takes us back to the recording of the John Williams score in 1978 and gives us a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at restoring the soundtracks of all four Superman films in this special extended edition of the Caped Wonder Superman Podcast! https://bit.ly/CWEPISODE4

 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/special-edition-superman-soundtrack-anniversary-with/id1444758667?i=1000426217707

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Is the album art for all 3/4 releases in his resolution available anywhere? I don't see them on their individual products page on LLL's site.

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3 hours ago, Brando said:

Just found this on Facebook from the Caped Wonder Superman Podcast: Writer, film historian, and preservationist Mike Matessino takes us back to the recording of the John Williams score in 1978 and gives us a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at restoring the soundtracks of all four Superman films in this special extended edition of the Caped Wonder Superman Podcast! https://bit.ly/CWEPISODE4

 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/special-edition-superman-soundtrack-anniversary-with/id1444758667?i=1000426217707

Came out in 2018, around the same time as the LLL.

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1 hour ago, Brando said:

Is the album art for all 3/4 releases in his resolution available anywhere? I don't see them on their individual products page on LLL's site.

Jim Titus hosted the making of his artwork for the Superman sets in 3 parts at his portfolio website. Many alternates including the one you are asking for is here:
 

https://www.behance.net/gallery/77678197/40-YEARS-The-Music-of-Superman-Part-II

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  • 3 weeks later...

I am so glad to finally have this set, especially after all the nearly-universal high praise it has received. However, the first thing I noticed was that some tracks have somewhat obvious speed/pitch issues - I discovered this by accident when I skimmed through the "film version" of the Prelude and Main Title, and noticed that the music that plays from 1:42 onwards is pitched slightly lower (the same thing happens at 0:41 in track 1 disc 3), undercutting the power of the music at that moment.

 

I then went on to compare these with the Rhino release (available on Spotify) and these pitch alterations certainly appear more obvious on the LLL. Did anyone else encounter these speed/pitch issues and did it affect their listening experience? I assume it has to do with the transfer of the new tapes, as some of the tracks on LLL run for a longer time when compared to the Rhino release. I'm aware that similar speed/pitch issues have affected other score re-releases like Star Wars and Indiana Jones.

 

Still excited to dive deep into Superman though, as I'm very unfamiliar with all the music except the main title, and it's undeniable that the clarity alone of the LLL release is unmatched by previous versions.

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1 hour ago, Holko said:

The "film version" main title is actually the opening of the original recording combined with the end title.

 

Yes, I read that in the liner notes (haven't actually seen the film...). But my point was that it seems the transfer of the end title (every time it appears in "The Prison Yard and End Title", "Prelude and Main Title [Film Version]" and "Theme from Superman [Main Title]") is pitched slightly lower and plays back slightly slower than in previous soundtrack releases of Superman. The same goes for other tracks, like "March of the Villains".

 

Check it out for yourself. JW's original main title sounds incredible, whereas there's a slight drop in pitch for the "film version" main title, where the end title music is used. The pitch drop is less noticeable in the full "The Prison Yard and End Title" track, since the whole track is slightly pitched down - It's more noticeable in the build-up from the "film version" main title as it is an edit that sticks 2 different bits of music side by side, where the tuning doesn't completely line up (again, I assume due to differing tape transfer speeds or some other technicality). I hope that makes a bit more sense.

 

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5 hours ago, Trope said:

I noticed that the music that plays from 1:42 onwards is pitched slightly lower, undercutting the power of the music at that moment.

 

Pretty much why varispeed was a thing!

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10 hours ago, Jay said:

Isn't it more likely that the LLL edition is the correct speed, and older editions had the wrong speed?

Only if the LSO was performing select portions of the music flat!

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Those clips you provided are in tune with themselves, I don't know what to tell you. Perhaps you got used to hearing it a certain way, and now it is correct but sounds off? Like when we first get used to the colors on a properly calibrated TV. Also, Maurice Murphy, while he is my favorite trumpet player of all time, also had a tendency to not be spot on with leading tones.

 

Actually, intonation in the LSO in the 70's could be a little spotty in general. I think by the time Empire came around, they were like, I guess lots of people are going to be listening to this, maybe don't go to the pub between sessions. Although, now that I think about it, Raiders has a few off spots, too, so who knows.

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5 hours ago, Schilkeman said:

Those clips you provided are in tune with themselves, I don't know what to tell you.

It's really a minute difference between the pitches of the two clips I posted above, much less than a quarter tone, so I'm glad that you can't hear any difference.

 

However, just to prove that I'm not mad or hearing things that aren't really there, I've done a mixdown of both the LLL and Rhino main title (film version) tracks, with LLL on the left channel, Rhino on the right. You will hear that both tracks are synced at the beginning (even phasing a little bit), before the LLL track begins to lag ever so slightly behind.

 

Clearly, there is a difference in the playback speed of the recording (and logically, the pitch would be affected too, even if to a very small degree). The question is then, which version is playing back at the correct speed? Judging by my ears (as someone with perfect pitch), I say the LLL track is the one that is off, only because of the slightly flatter pitch.

 

On another note, the clarity of the sound is really on another level. I thought the Close Encounters remaster sounded incredible, but Superman takes it a step higher! It's so crisp and vibrant and also warm (not harsh or dry, like many archival releases).

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Considering the new one is more rhythmically stable, it seems correct to me. I'm sure you are aware, but absolute pitch can still be affected by the tuning characteristics of an orchestra. The trumpet harmonics are in tune with the piccolo, meaning it's in tune with itself, as I said (flutes never lie). Also, I find it hard to believe that on Mike's third time through this material, with the best sources he's ever had, he would goof it up in such a major way. That phasing is almost a quarter second different.

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  • 4 months later...

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