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James Horner's STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN (1982) - 2021 2-CD La-La Land Records Remastered Edition


Jay

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4 hours ago, mahler3 said:

a longer edit of the Star Trek 2 segment will be in next month’s FSM Online

 

Great!

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On 8/19/2021 at 3:28 AM, NL197 said:

Funny...I just did it with my file: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Tty9HdxhLNBgyHYqD3f2IiOMDlKpPgCa/view?usp=sharing

I "potted" mine to work with the dialogue, though. 

 

Just wanted to chime in and say thank you for sharing.  It's quite lovely, and both the mock up and reinsertion into the film are beautifully done.  Too bad it was never recorded, but I can see why they didn't use it.  The scene it is setting up is one of mystery and foreboding, not swashbuckling adventure.   Although, you could argue that with it, it intensifies the "surprise" of Ceti Alpha V, if the audience is conditioned by the music to expect a happy Starfleet adventure.

 

Either way, magnificent.

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On 8/17/2021 at 5:11 PM, karelm said:

Damn it, I mocked Bespin in another thread for buying Krull over and over and here I am buying various remastered TWOK.  So I just bought this...again!  Such a wonderful score.  PS, @Bespin, I'm selling my old remastered TWOK for $500.

 

I'm with @Bespin, I'd still keep buying new releases of Krull... the best of Horner's Star Trek scores. ;)

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Huh.  For around a decade, whenever I ordered titles from LLL immediately when they went on sale on a Tuesday, they'll always be in my mailbox by that Friday.

 

This time my tracking # says I won't have it until next Tuesday.

 

Times (and the USPS) have changed...

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I thought I ordered mine early enough but it appears I missed the boat, so to speak. 
 

On a related note it looks like I snagged one of the last Extreme Prejudice of the first batch Intrada had.

 

*****edit****

 

I got my shipping notice today after I posted this. :D

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Shipped! Hopefully I'll have it by this time next week. Heavy couple of weeks for me with this, Schindler's List, Eiger, The River and Monsignor. Going to need bigger shelves soon!

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4 hours ago, Alan said:

Shipped! Hopefully I'll have it by this time next week. Heavy couple of weeks for me with this, Schindler's List, Eiger, The River and Monsignor. Going to need bigger shelves soon!

Get a boat, then when you get too many CD's, you're "gonna need a bigger boat"

 

;)

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7 hours ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

Has anyone who ordered the set the day *after* the announcement gotten a shipping notification? I ordered mine on the release date but closer to nighttime and still nothing.

I ordered mine only two hours after it went on sale and only received a notice that my order was awaiting shipment several days ago. No shipment notification.

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It's so funny, I really cannot hear the difference you guys are noticing. It's still light-years better than the OST but the strings sound similar to the FSM release to me.

 

Oh well, I'm happy for your ears...and my wallet! :P

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Got this yesterday too. I'd say the sonic upgrade is pretty comparable to the one we got with Superman going from the FSM to the LLL set. In both cases, the FSM was very good, definitely better than what we had before and yet the LLL versions are warmer. I think this may say just as much about Mike Matessino's current mastering preferences as it does about the improved source elements. Still, the finished result sounds great and the added compression let's me hear more detail while listening the car, etc. Very glad to finally and legitimately own the narration-free Epilogue. Now I just have to sell the FSM version.

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I know it wasn't addressed to me, but I did the same thing in terms of selling my FSM release. You know, because it's fun to share views. :)

 

I greatly enjoyed Jeff's liner notes, however I got $20 from a used CD store for my FSM release to offset the cost of the upgrade.

 

I have a personal policy to have 1 version of any score on my shelf, and for the most part, the best version available of a score.

 

I keep prior releases if they have something significant musically, or if it is signed.

 

For me it is always about he music. I don't always read the liner notes, and usually I read them only once when I get a release when I do.

 

I'd be curious if anyone else here has any kind of "policy" or practice like this regarding what is kept vs. what is sold. Might need a new thread for that one ...

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Oh, I'm usually in the same boat and try to just keep one version of a score unless there's a good reason not to. I guess when it comes to Star Trek expansions it's particularly important for me to have the full set of Jeff Bond liner notes for all of them (he did all of the original ten films' expansions, I believe), as sort of an updated supplement to his excellent (but in need of a second edition) book, The Music of Star Trek.

 

Yavar

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In this case I have scans of all the liner notes and it’s not like I ever play CDs after I rip them. The FSM sat proudly on my shelf for nearly 10 years and now, well I’m sure there’s probably someone else out there who’d love to have it.

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Got mine today, first thing I did in iTunes was take the two separated cues, “The Eels…” and “Kirk in Space Shuttle” and move them to the main program. 😁

 

The sound is improved, much more separation and clarity in the cues. 

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I listened to this last night/ this morning. Sounds great! My buddy who's a big Trek fan came over last night with his FSM CD so we could compare. 

 

On this new release, there is more separation of the instrument details, the sound has a more crisp edge to it, and more warmth. The soundstage feels wider and I feel like I can hear the room the musicians are sitting in better. 

 

As it was described earlier, sounds more like it was recorded in recent times, and the difference is comparable to the LLL Superman vs the Blue Box for sound quality. 

 

 

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Hmmm. Just compared every track of the FSM to the LLL main program. In general one can notice an increased dynamic range and wider stereo field, also less overbrightening. Most tracks sound pretty much the same. Some tracks like Genesis Countdown and the credits are a definite massive improvement over a messy old downmix, some like Enterprise Clears Moorings are a little mixed for me - the brass is a massive improvement again, but the strings later, while overbrightened on the FSM, sound really underbrightened on the LLL to me. And I think the most important piece, Mutara Nebula, is actually a downgrade (in comparison, let me emphasise - it still sounds great, just weaker in aspects IMO)- the sound in general isn't changed much but the less prominent percussion and similar small differences make all the mood changes like the first big outburst less fun, and many of the violent snarly Khan cuts lose their bite, the track feels less heavily rhythmically driven so it's less fun to hear the material for the two sites go at each other over this less definite base. Shame about that one. I have the FSM so so far overall unfortunately this set doesn't end up being near top priority. I might get it one day and just switch out BitMN though!

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I'm tempted to separate out Kirk Takes Command and He Tasks Me, and it's something to ponder.

 

Going with the discreet cues was an easy personal preference for me, and keeping separate cues separate is the most desirable approach for me.

 

I'm really loving this release, and to my ears, the score sounds as it should. It's a subtle upgrade from the FSM, but a good one, actually a little more than I expected.

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"Discreet" means keeping quiet, as in "I discreetly entered the house after coming home after curfew"

 

"Discrete" means separate, as in "the console has a discrete graphics chip"

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2 hours ago, Jay said:

 

 

 

1-16 Battle In The Mutara Nebula (Film Version) vs 2-07 Battle In The Mutara Nebula & 2-17 Wild Orchestra

 

So we all know that the OST version on disc 2 contains the base cue as-recorded from 7:14-7:31, basically just a held note fading down to total silence before the full orchestra comes back as the Reliant appears on the viewscreen... and the Film Version mixes in Wild Orchestra take 168 over that timestamp, adding a sense of mystery to this passage.  Some people prefer the track with this overlay, some prefer the silence.  I think my ultimate preference is that it works better without; The total silence really makes the return of the orchestra that much more impactful.

 

Well the "Wild Orchestra" track contains two different cues, the first from 0:00-0:46 I have no idea what it was intended for or where a good spot would be for it in a custom playlist.

 

BUT! The second cue in the track, from 0:46-end, is another idea that could have been mixed over that "Battle In The Mutara Nebula" 7:14-7:31 spot (Take 169).  I did just that, mixed it over that timestamp of the OST track, and it sounded awesome!!!  In fact, I'd say it's by far my preferred version of the track; the low thumping bass sounds perfectly enhance the dread and uncertainty of the scene, and lead into the return of the full orchestra better than the film take does, and in my opinion better than the full silence version does.  Very cool!


The only problem is that the OST track of course comes from the 3M output rather than the pure analog output, so to actually create this mix in the best quality, you have to take the main program track, then replace the portion where take 168 is heard and carefully replace it with the OST track to get the overlay-free version, the mix take 169 over that.  That might be beyond my skill level...

 

 

 

Look for a DM soon...

 

 

 

 

 

58 minutes ago, Jay said:

"Discreet" means keeping quiet, as in "I discreetly entered the house after coming home after curfew"

 

"Discrete" means separate, as in "the console has a discrete graphics chip"

 

Or discrete 5.1 mix, discrete 6.1 surround mix, etc. 

Keeping things discreet, I don't want anyone to know....

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One thing I'm curious about is why the new source was not used to recreate the OST programme.

 

Why go back to the FSM tapes?

 

Going back to the original tapes, then getting the Spock dialog from the same digital source as before I would have thought to be relatively trivial.

 

I can only guess that there is material in the OST programme that could not be found on the disc one tapes.

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@Jay whenever I've done lengthy write ups like you just did I often wonder if anyone cares. Dude, nice job. "I care!"

 

12 hours ago, Jay said:

1-18 Genesis Countdown (Film Version) vs 2-08 Genesis Countdown

 

I was curious what part of this album version used take 10 to cover up the noise heard on take 12, but even doing the trick of panning one version to the left and the other to the right and playing them in sync, I couldn't figure it out.  Since the OST version comes from the 3M output and the main program the analog, there are numerous mixing differences that make it harder to find the performance difference.  Maybe somebody else will figure it out, but I think it's clear the difference is negligible at best.

 

From another board from Mr. Bulk:

 

Quote

 

Tallguy: OK, Indysolo . I can't for the life of me tell the difference between the two Genesis Countdown tracks. Where is the alternate take again?

 

Indysolo: You mean you can't tell the the album version is two frames shorter because of the insert? ;)

Do you have the GNP album? You can really hear the insert there. It's around 5 minutes in. My edit's a little more graceful.

 

Tallguy: Wow. I was looking in the wrong place. Ok, if I'm REALLY looking for it I can hear where it is on the GNP. I can kind of see it in the waveform in a music editor but I can't hear it on your mix. I cannot hear the glitch in the film that caused the patch to begin with.

 

 

I can hear where the edit it, but I cannot hear the difference between the takes. I often don't have the ear.

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My copy arrived today (along with LLL's Schindler's List) while I was at work. Came home to a note from the postman to say the package was in the dustbin (trash can) so I had to go bin diving to retrieve it...nice...

 

Anyhoo, the sound is blowing my socks off! Listening to Surprise Attack as I type and it sounds incredible.

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