New Project: John Williams Potter Scoring

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

Thank you so much @WampaRat! It was a different direction than normal for us so we're glad you're liking it.

 

Today we have another short cue, in prep for another journey for our characters next week. We hope you enjoy Cue No. 19: I Open at the Close.

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

Today is special because we get to release a scene that I've been waiting to write for a long time. The entire 7-book plot is beginning to come together in Cue No. 20: Godric's Hollow!

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

Bonus cue today! We were planning to release this with Cue 20 but had to postpone it a couple days. Enjoy Cue No. 21: Bathilda's Secret!

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

This week we have two more quiet and emotional cues. We hope you enjoy Cue No. 22: Hermione's Tale and Cue No. 23: The Silver Doe!

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

Ron is back! We're continuing with the shorter, darker cues, with some more Ron and Hermione coming into the picture. 

 

Today we have Cue No. 24: Ron Destroys the Locket and Cue No. 25: The Trio Reunited!

[bored 306]

On 13/11/2022 at 12:07 PM, Potter Scoring Project said:

Ron is back! We're continuing with the shorter, darker cues, with some more Ron and Hermione coming into the picture. 

 

Today we have Cue No. 24: Ron Destroys the Locket and Cue No. 25: The Trio Reunited!

 

Amazing stuff! Really enjoyed hearing a dissonant version of Ron & Hermione's theme, and a new version of a melody I never thought of as being its own theme, but man I think it works wonders. It was also great to hear an extended version of Ron & Hermione's theme, and the lovely new version of the trio one.

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

On 14/11/2022 at 2:13 PM, bored said:

 

Amazing stuff! Really enjoyed hearing a dissonant version of Ron & Hermione's theme, and a new version of a melody I never thought of as being its own theme, but man I think it works wonders. It was also great to hear an extended version of Ron & Hermione's theme, and the lovely new version of the trio one.

 

Thanks so much! Yeah, we've had fun reworking those callbacks and less flashy moments for this film. Hoping it helps to tie everything together. I'm glad you like it

 

 

Our reunited trio gets to travel outside of the tent this week for Cue No. 26: Xenophilius Lovegood. We're almost to the film's finale, but we will be taking a break next week for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend over here. Stay tuned and thanks for listening!

[bollemanneke 3,337]

Of course you'll take a break, because we need that time to savour LLL's HP4 announcement! (I realise I'm setting myself up for disappointment.)

[Dave 217]

2 hours ago, bollemanneke said:

(I realise I'm setting myself up for disappointment.)

 

Not just yourself...

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

Hi everyone! Today is Cue 27: The Tale of the Three Brothers! So excited to be releasing this one as it kicks the final story into motion. Enjoy! 
 

Side note and apology: Next week will just be a short cue under the reveal of the Deathly Hallows because the week after we have about 13 minutes to release. Please bear with us as we tackle the end of the movie, and thanks as always for listening!

BP

[bored 306]

This might be my favorite track you guys have done for this movie! The orchestration fits so perfect for this ancient story, and the slow development of the Hallows theme throughout the story is perfectly done. Very disappointing the music in the actual movie was as ambient and bare as it was, this shows how great it could have been. 

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

Thank you so much @bored! That's great to hear and we had so much fun with this one!

 

For today, as stated last week, just a small cue because next week's is a big one. This week is a big reveal though - Enjoy Cue No. 28: The Deathly Hallows!

 

MS

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

As promised, we have two cues totalling 13 minutes of music today! They also create the climactic scene at the end of Deathly Hallows Part 1. We hope you enjoy the action music and some theme callbacks in Cue No. 29: Chase Through the Forest and Cue No. 30: Malfoy Manor!

 

We'll be back with the last 2 cues after Christmas!

 

MS & BP

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

Happy New Year everyone!!

 

We are starting off 2023 strong with an unfortunate house elf funeral, and by giving Voldemort the upper hand. Enjoy Cue No. 31: A Free Elf and Cue No. 32: The Elder Wand! 

 

We've had so much fun on this score and have really enjoyed hearing from you along the way. As usual, we will post the concert works/end credits/complete score and extras in the coming weeks!

 

MS & BP

[redishere 697]

Wow, hadn't checked Potter Scoring Project for a while, and now I have an entire new soundtrack to listen to? What a great gift, thank you!

[bored 306]

You really nailed the finale here, guys! Glad to see your music get even better over time!

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

On 02/01/2023 at 11:19 AM, redishere said:

Wow, hadn't checked Potter Scoring Project for a while, and now I have an entire new soundtrack to listen to? What a great gift, thank you!

@redishere Thanks for checking back! We've been having such a great time with DH1 and are happy you're excited about it too! 

 

On 02/01/2023 at 3:39 PM, bored said:

You really nailed the finale here, guys! Glad to see your music get even better over time!

@bored Thank you! As a super big Voldemort fan (musically), writing this ending was awesome cause I didn't need to find any sort of creative way to do Leaving Hogwarts. Just pure evil laughing as I wrote the finale. And I also got to use organ so that was a personal win.  

 

BP

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

The end credits are coming, we promise! For today we have this movie's first concert work, "The Deathly Hallows," which is also the first 3.5 minutes of the end credits. It features the theme used in the movie as well as motivic development and a B section. Enjoy!

 

MS & BP

[redishere 697]

It's really amazing what you accomplished so far: you basically gave life to something I wish existed. If there was a way to travel to alternate universe, I'll definitely go to the one in which JW composed all 7 (well, eight) scores for HP Can't wait for the complete score!

By the way, I love the fact that whenever a scene is near the Ministry you seem to go back to the Minority Report sound: cue 12 of Deathly Hallows instantly reminded me of Saving The Eye, then I read the description and discovered it was (of course) intentional. Great work!

[Light00 5]

14 hours ago, Potter Scoring Project said:

The end credits are coming, we promise! For today we have this movie's first concert work, "The Deathly Hallows," which is also the first 3.5 minutes of the end credits. It features the theme used in the movie as well as motivic development and a B section. Enjoy!

 

MS & BP

There seems to be a problem to the file as it doesn't play at all for me, either on phone or PC.

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

Ah thanks, @redishere! That is an awesome compliment and trust me, we're just as happy as you that it's happening. This whole time it's felt like we're just fans seeing the music fit how we would have wanted as well.

 

And glad you've been liking the Ministry/Minority report material! Ben is a huge 2002 fan so that does have a lot of influence. It works out since it's the right era to pull from for Potter scores. Great to hear from you

 

 

@Light00 thanks for letting me know - I tried to post lossless this time since Google Drive can play FLAC but I guess it doesn't work on other devices. I fixed it with an mp3 now!

MS

[Light00 5]

1 minute ago, Potter Scoring Project said:

@Light00 thanks for letting me know - I tried to post lossless this time since Google Drive can play FLAC but I guess it doesn't work on other devices. I fixed it with an mp3 now!

MS

Thank you! Can't wait to listen it 

[bored 306]

I'm having the same problem still strangely enough. All I get is "Couldn't preview file".

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

14 minutes ago, bored said:

I'm having the same problem still strangely enough. All I get is "Couldn't preview file".

 

 Okay, it should ACTUALLY be fixed now!!

 

Sorry about that.

MS

[bored 306]

Can confirm it worked this time! Glad I could finally hear it, because you guys really nailed the Williams sound for the concert arrangement this time. Might be my favorite suite so far!

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

It’s been three years since releasing our first cue and announcing the project, so we figured we’d pause to ring in our third birthday with a rather nostalgic announcement: we are finally restoring GOF!

 

Daily updates are already happening on our Patreon, and you can soon hear the new revised restored and remastered cues there! Exact release dates on our website are TBD because of the crazy start to the semester right now, but we want our patreon people to be able to see how things are going even when we're not posting.

 

 

 

Thank you all SO much for listening, it's truly meant the world to us over the years to have people actually enjoying this project. As always, stay tuned for more!

 

MS & BP

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

Just so you all know, we're planning on posting the end credits tomorrow!! Taking advantage of the long weekend here in the USA 

 

MS

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

It's intermission! This is the last cue for the first half of Deathly Hallows.

 

We hope you enjoy Cue No. 33: End Credits!

[redishere 697]

Love the end credits! You did a tremendous job.

Also, I can't wait to hear the restored GOF!

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

The complete score is finally here!!

 

Head over to the DH Score Presentations page to download all tracks as FLAC or MP3, as well as the digital booklet and full audio that syncs with the movie. If you haven't listened yet, we're excited to hear your thoughts!

 

Thanks so much for listening, and we'll be back with the deleted scenes and OST in the next two weeks.

 

MS

[bollemanneke 3,337]

Aha! This is the moment where I start listening again!

[bollemanneke 3,337]

Forget a long and elaborate post. Just started listening tonight. I felt a bit unsure at first, but then Sky Battle came. Pure Williams. Whatever mixed feelings I might have about this project, this is a masterful effort so far.

[bored 306]

I do really like this score, but I do have a few more issues with it than the previous two. 

 

While I do enjoy every track, I really thought your guys' Order of the Phoenix theme should have gotten a stronger showing, especially in "Escape from Privet Drive" and somewhere in "Fallen Warrior". A distressed/dissonant version in "'They are Coming"' would have been nice too.

 

I was also admittedly disappointed by some of the action music this time around, particularly "Bathilda's Secret". I enjoy the overall musical identity Nagini was given, but I would have enjoyed some more exciting, dissonant, and violent movements from the orchestra to emphasize her viciousness. It's also admittedly hard to top Desplat's "Sky Battle" for me because I think that's one of the best Harry Potter tracks, period.

 

However, there are undoubtedly many cues that you guys completely nailed! The entirety of the first 2 cues are perfect, "Sneaking into the Ministry" through the entire ministry segment is great, "Godric's Hollow" and "The Trio Reunited" are incredibly heartfelt, "Ron Destroys the Locket" is amazing, being pure horror mixed with cleverly utilized themes, "The Tale of the Three Brothers" is perfect musical storytelling, along with the Hallows theme being the best concert suite yet, and "A Free Elf" is absolutely heartbreaking. 

 

Needless to say I'm very much looking forward to Deathly Hallows Part 2!

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

@bollemanneke Thank you so much! Glad to hear from you again and glad you've been enjoying DH1. The Escape from Privet Drive was a ton of work for us so we're doubly happy to hear that.

@bored thanks for your comment! I hear you. This score took the longest to write and to figure out. Even when we both agreed on what we were going to use as final versions of cues, we knew that this score would have the most hot takes. 

 

The opening of the film felt particularly weighed down after throwing all applicable themes on top of it, which is why there’s less OOTP theme (among others). It felt less like emotional whiplash if there was a streamlined musical goal from the WB Logo until they leave Privet Drive. That being said, the OOTP theme (as I'm sure you can imagine) will play a very nice role in DH2. 

 

Sky Battle is a favorite of ours too! In the writing process I remember specifically moving away from any tendencies towards Desplat's timing or choice of key etc. because that was one of the times he got really into his own version of the JW sound. Of course his is the official musical statement of that scene and ours is fan fic, so having both as separate ideas is the goal (not to have one erase or be better than the other).  

 

Bathilda's Secret was a tricky one. I never in the past have given Nagini any musical identity, since we always see her with Voldemort. It was mainly scored as a middle-movie action scene that stood alone as a jumble of noise after the emotional Godric's Hollow scene. The action music was also an interesting challenge overall in Part 1 due to the film’s unique pacing. We had to deal with a “part 1” score, but also a film that, for the first time, did not follow the formula of the previous six.

 

Thank you for all of your praise for the rest of the score! Many moments of payoff that I've been looking forward to writing appear in this movie, especially bringing back the mirror scene music for when Harry stands at the grave of his parents. Also, it’s great to hear you've liked the DH concert theme so much. It sort of magically came together at the end of the score and we were super psyched about it too.

 

 

I'm in the trenches revamping GOF right now, but it will not take as long as a normal score, and we are on track to get DH2 in good shape in the coming months! 

 

BP

 

Today we finished the Soundtrack Arrangement for Deathly Hallows - Part 1, and we hope you'll like this alternate presentation of the score as well  This score has been a unique experience all around and the OST is no exception. Thanks all for listening!

 

MS

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

It's our last post for Deathly Hallows - Part 1!  As with the other films, we've got 5 Deleted Scenes temped with existing Potter music (not sure why these don't have subtitles). We also posted 2 scenes of temp score demo. We have enjoyed this film so much and we sincerely thank you all for listening! 

 

MS

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

Lots of exciting things have been happening for us over the last couple months - we've updated our workflow so things should keep getting even better. Long story short, we're happy to announce that Deathly Hallows: Part 2 will begin releasing on August 20th, 2023.

 

 

Thank you to @WampaRat for offering this amazing announcement poster!! We're so grateful for your fan art and enthusiasm for the project.

 

Our Patreon subscribers know this already, but the Goblet of Fire remaster is also well underway! We are loving how it sounds so far. Stay tuned for more in the coming months!

 

MS & BP

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

The end has begun!

 

We've come so far and are, as always, so appreciative of everyone who's listened to this project in part, or entirely. We are very happy to be releasing Cue 34: Opening and Snape's Resolve today!

 

This summer has been exciting for us, as we're now both working with Logic Pro. We have revamped our sound for this movie with the aim of sounding more like Sorcerer's Stone. We've even given the website a bit of a fresh look. We're both excited to hear your thoughts and are looking forward to the coming months of diving into Hallows 2!

 

[bored 306]

Excellent return! Though I will say there's just something about Lily's Theme that just immediately captivates the listener into a dark final chapter. This is a very good opening too, but it doesn't quite have the same emotional gut-punch that Lily's Theme does, especially in the shots with Snape to build the connection between the two musically. The a capella choir and reference to Dobby's Theme do come close though!

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

Thanks @bored! And yes there's absolutely no way to replace Lily's Theme. This was a decision to have Part 2 open like a curtain going up after intermission rather than a full on emotional gut punch opening of a film. That's what the opening of Part 1 was for. On a personal note, I actually disagree with linking Snape to Lily this early musically as Desplat did, even though that opening is my absolute favorite one post-Williams. I feel like it gave away Snape's true emotional state too early, and set up a redemption arc before it needed to be present. But that's just my take. Still a fantastic cue and theme. Thanks for listening! 

 

BP 

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

The beginning of this film has a lot of important dialogue, which invites some great opportunities for subtle scoring that doesn't draw too much attention to itself. Enjoy Cue No. 35: Griphook's Conditions!

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

Here’s the other half of underscored talking from the front of this film. It’s got a lot of throwbacks to the beginning of the series, which has been fun to put in as the ending approaches. Enjoy Cue No. 36: The Wandmaker!

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

Our last slow buildup before the first big action sequence of this film comes out today! Enjoy this short and fun cue before we dive into some frenetic action next week. Here's Cue No. 37: Gringotts.

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

Here we are! The first action sequence of the final film. We hope you enjoy Cue No. 38: Into the Vault!

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

We get a great 'movie moment' in this cue. Also more exposition, and a pivot towards act 2. We've been looking forward to this one for a long time! Enjoy Cue No. 39: Escape on the Dragon.

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

A lot happens in this week's cue. We have lots of exposition, and the return to Hogwarts for the last time. The end is near!

 

Hope you enjoy Cue No. 40: The Missing Mirror!

[bored 306]

Very well written and satisfying. I was so hoping for a "Wondrous World" statement in this scene the second this project started on this movie, and you really delivered! Can't wait to see how you guys handle the rest of the movie! 

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

Hi @bored, thank you! I've been waiting to use HWW for this moment, and am glad you liked it. It's been a great challenge to bring back some nostalgic moments while weaving them into the darker tone.

 

As for today, we have our final cue before the battle begins! Enjoy Cue No. 41: Confrontation in the Great Hall. 

 

Also an update on future cues: 42-48 have no pause between them and they form a continuous 35 minutes of music, so we will be working hard on them for the next month or so to get to you all by mid/late November. You'll have plenty to listen to when that happens! Thank you for your patience. In the meantime, we have cue titles for you all: 

Cue No. 42: Battle Preparations 
Cue No. 43: Helena Ravenclaw and Voldemort's Arrival
Cue No. 44: Return to the Chamber of Secrets 
Cue No. 45: Exploding Bridge and the Battle Continues
Cue No. 46: The Lost Diadem
Cue No. 47: "Only I Can Live Forever"
Cue No. 48: Death is but Crossing the World

 

Stay tuned  

 

BP

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

Hi all! We are so sorry to announce that our promised schedule has been bumped by a couple weeks. It’s a busy time of year, and Molly is especially swamped with her last year of DMA work in music school. Unfortunately, as much as we love working on this project, it’s had to take a backseat more than expected in the past month. 

 

That being said, we WILL be uploading cues 42-48 on December 10th for all of you. Thanks for hanging in there with us! We’re making sure that this can be the best final film possible, and would rather bump release dates and do a good job than rush through it and regret it later. (also, Patreon folks, look for a preview of the first two cues this weekend!) 

 

Thanks everyone. We’ll see you in December! 

BP & MS

[Potter Scoring Project 547]

It’s here! Thank you for your patience as we finished up this massive section of the movie. We will be back to weekly releases for the next month before another schedule tweak for the final 20 minutes of the film. Enjoy cues 42-48!!

 

Cue No. 42: Battle Preparations

[bollemanneke 3,337]

Really liked the end credits for 7.1.