New Star Wars soundtracks

[flytrumpet 0]

Just got those today..as well as the DVD's.Haven't listened to the whole thing yet,but did a quick comparison with RCA episode 4...because i always thought the brass were so dry and edgy on that recording.Opinion from a pro trumpet player who listens to a lot of brass stuff...the Sony version seems to sound smoother and darker in color..which i like.

Listening the ROTJ now...seems to be the case here as well..to me it sounds like newer recordings.

As for the DVD,i watched the "infamous" opening to SW,with my "not so" sophisticated Sony digital DTS receiver...and the reversed channel thing didn't bother me at all..as a matter of fact,if it hadn't been mentioned here,i would have never noticed it.

Happy Star Wars day to all

Richard

[Erik Woods 384]

So, Return of the Jedi sounds much better then the RCA versions? Does it sound like the Anthology Box Set version?

-Erik-

[John Crichton 4]

Hmmmmmmm. Interesting.

John- awaiting further confirmation before making up his mind.

[MAG-SI 10]

John- awaiting further confirmation before making up his mind.

Heh. Me too. I'm waiting for you guys to buy it first.

[Henry B 49]

You know what would suck? If these soundtracks had improved sound quality, but not GREATLY improved.

I would be so conflicted. TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY?

[TIEfighter 0]

just to mention it:

the changes to the soundtrack on the dvd ( dialed out "first dive" music, reversed music) do not appear in the german language version.

[Marian Schedenig 5,520]

What about the English tracks on the Austrian DVDs?

Mairan - curious.

[King Mark 2,924]

Listening the ROTJ now...seems to be the case here as well..to me it sounds like newer recordings.

Well,we'll need more confirmation on that once you've listened throughly.Sometimes the mind can play tricks on you,especially when you WANT it to sound better,especially after shelling out a lot of money on shiny new c.d.'s

K.M.

[Kendal_Ozzel 32]

Sometimes the mind can play tricks on you,especially when you WANT it to sound better,especially after shelling out a lot of money on shiny new c.d.'s

Too true.

Hopefully within a few hours I'll be able to listen to my friend's set. Don't know if I'll have time to post a comparison tonight, though. There's a trilogy marathon going on at my house tonight.

[DarthLarry 0]

has anyone else been able to access the web content, i.e.: screensavers? i only bought Empire and when i type in the URL, it brings up an Attack of the Clones page.

what gives?

i think Empire sounds great! i was listening to it on my car stereo and even then---on the highway---i could hear subtle differences. nice!

Darth Larry

[Lurker 5]

Lucasfilm doesn't deserve to have us pay for any of their junk ever again, including these new CDs. They are a bunch of incompetent liars.

Neil - who would rather win these CDs and do the comparison himself

[Hlao-roo 388]

Well, I have to say that they're getting my money in Spring 2005 twice: a movie ticket and a soundtrack album.

[Lurker 5]

I'll get the album. My love for Williams is deeper than my hatred for Lucasfilm. As for the movie ticket, I won't be buying one.

Neil

[Chris ChrusherComix 27]

Dear God, Neil and co... you people take these things TOO far, don't you?

I mean, I previewed the ESB DVD to see the new Emperor changes, the new colors and sound effects, and also gave a quick listen to the audio commentary. I am FLABBERGASTED! It's AWESOME! I LOVE the Ian McDiarmid scene... it's much more fitting, IMO. And Empire IS my favorite movie of all time. I'll be happy with "older" versions on DVD-R. These new versions are the ones that I'll be watching for years. I don't care about the 4-5 seconds, the reversed music channels have next to zero effect on me (if it was not mentioned on the main page I would NOT have noticed in a million years), and the voice difference isn't worthy of throwing a conniption fit about either.

Lucas's commentary at the start of Empire was rather telling, IMO. He said something along the lines that Empire was the first one he was ALLOWED to place the titles "Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back", until the re-release of Star Wars. He always wanted "Episode IV: A New Hope" there, but the studio refused to let him do it because they felt it would be confusing to the audience.

Now if you don't like Lucas' "Director's Cut", then don't buy it. But bad-mouthing it to the whole world, calling them liars and all is going WAY overboard. It is his version that he didn't have the technology, money, and time to do, now he does, and he did it. You have long bragged about your laserdisc copies, you got the subtitle-less version too... why so crazy about it? Calm down, my friend!

As for the soundtracks, I'm very interested in reports of their sound quality. I am leaning towards getting them, but since they are essentially the same, I'm waiting to get them used or on sale somewhere. Or, the usual run-down... if anybody wants to buy them, copy them for themselves, and trade me their pressed versions for a large stack of rare/OOP CDRs from my collection, I am always open to these deals. But for now... TTYL guys, I'm going to watch the DVDs after Seinfeld!

-Chris, very happy with tthis set... LOVED the theatrical trailers (most of the older ones I have NEVER seen because I too young at the time), and the two Episode III previews have me PUMPED! This is gonna' be awesome!!!! May 2005 cannot come soon enough for me! WAHOO!!!!

PS- Chris, Who is seriously disturbed by the amount of typos he's been doing lately... what I type is never how I intend to type it... what the...?!

[King Mark 2,924]

Can't wait to see these DVD's after all.

K.M.Who doesn't care about Potter any more

[Falstaft 1,708]

I find myself in total agreement with Chris. This board seems to have gone a bit off the deep-end lately.

I love Star Wars far too much to let a minor glitch/glaring error/dubious "creative change" ruin my whole experience of the DVD. Or various other alterations for that matter, from an eyelid on the dianoga to Hayden as Anakin's ghost.

I can understand how pissed off some people are here. But, to quote Jimmy: "I mean...come on." Audiophiles and rear-channel purists certainly have a right to be royally pissed -- this is a dissapointing issue if not the end of the world. But at the same time, they should realize that they represent a tiny slice of the market of people interested in SW. Everyone else's experience shouldn't be blackened by the sometimes outrageously incitatory remarks of a few.

That's my take. Accuse me of heresy if you want.

But if anyone is wondering, one of my favorite characters in the trilogy is Greedo (to the point where I all but memorized his lines in Rodian back in middle school). And yes, a little part of me does still die everytime I watch Greedo shoot first. But, honestly, who cares?

[Hlao-roo 388]

(to the point where I all but memorized his lines in Rodian back in middle school)

Hey, I did that, too!

[pixie_twinkle 44]

Jabba waninchi cocha!

[Hlao-roo 388]

I always got a kick out of saying, "Oota goota, Solo?"

[Chris ChrusherComix 27]

UPDATES:

OK, I watched Star Wars (AKA A New Hope) and I have my little comment/reviews:

1. The opening of the Death Star trench battle: The music IS there. Verified with my own two ears. On the English 5.1 mix, it can be clearly heard in the rear channels. it's mixed VERY low, but I play my rears loud (as I do with every movie with Williams music because it makes it more noticable), and I could hear the entire cue with no interruption. Of course, it is extremely hard to hear with the loud sound effects, but it is there. Also, the music is nice and loud on the French soundtrack, and I think the Spanish one too (I switched back and forth and they seemed to be the same). Burrt was also commenting about the sound mixing in the commentary track on this particular part of the movie, so I'll go back and listen to it later.

2. The music channels reversed: I can't tell, and I would have NEVER noticed if it wasn't for reports of it found here. I don't really mind that at all, to tell you the truth. The music is there, and it's vibrant (other than the heavily muted trench battle opening) so I'm happy about that. Sure, maybe it isn't how it's supposed to be, but I tell you this... only us film score nuts will ever notice and ever care (and as I said... I would have never noticed it myself).

3. Changes: Greedo and Han shoot at the same time now (making it a 3rd different version of that micro-second of scenery, LOL). It still looks dumb. This is one area where I think the original cut is best. Jabba looks a LOT better than in 1997's SE, but it's still not perfect.

4. The dialogue tracks. Yes, MANY times I noticed SEVERE differences. However, like the music channels reversed, this was only brought to my attention by YOU guys! Now, it really isn't terribly distracting, but it is noticable. in fact, Neil should be proud. All these websites reporting the voice track differences are all sourced to him. The reason? It's one of a million such examples of quality fluxuations, yet, it's the only one that all these websites report! LOL!

5. The extras: Are wort the price of the set alone. TREMENDOUS amount of never-before-seen material, trailers, and all sorts of goodies. Some good parts about our beloved Johnny as well. And all the music on the Empire of Dreams is completely Williams music. THANK GOD! I always hate when they put rock and pop and all sorts of gibberish on other documentaries like on MTV and VH1 and such.

My overall rating: The best versions of the films. Don't get me wrong, I want the DVD-Rs from the laserdiscs of both the theatrical versions and the Special Editions, but this is the set that I'll always watch (unless showing previous editions to my future family). Also, it looks GREAT when paired with my prequel DVDs. I give it my highest possible rating!

-CJ

PS- I also memorized all that alien stuff too, LOL!

[Lurker 5]

The opening of the Death Star trench battle: The music IS there. Verifyed with my own two ears. On the English 5.1 mix, it can be clearly heard in the rear channels. it's mixed VERY low, but I play my rears loud

Every report I've ever written has said that the music cannot be heard on a properly calibrated system. Your system clearly is not, rendering this comment null and void.

Neil

[Chris ChrusherComix 27]

Every report I've ever written has said that the music cannot be heard on a properly calibrated system. Your system clearly is not, rendering this comment null and void.  

Neil

Neil, I don't want to offend you or anything, but that is just asinine. The music IS there. If you calibrate your sound system to your hated Lucas' THX standards, that's your deal. I have a 5.1 Dolby Digital Reciever. I turn my rear channels up, as my preference. And, I went over to the rears, listened to them, and the music is CLEARLY HEARD. 100% of the cue is there. I don't care if this contradicts you or anybody else's reporting about "THX calibration", but it's the truth, ok? :?

[Lurker 5]

Every report I've ever written has said that the music cannot be heard on a properly calibrated system. Your system clearly is not, rendering this comment null and void.  

Neil

Neil, I don't want to offend you or anything, but that is just asinine. The music IS there. If you calibrate your sound system to your hated Lucas' THX standards, that's your deal. I have a 5.1 Dolby Digital Reciever. I turn my rear channels up, as my preference. And, I went over to the rears, listened to them, and the music is CLEARLY HEARD. 100% of the cue is there. I don't care if this contradicts you or anybody else's reporting about "THX calibration", but it's the truth, ok? :?

It just so happens that the THX reference level is what these discs were mixed at and that those levels also happen to correspond with industry standards. Speakers in a surround set up are all supposed to play at the same volume and a sound level meter and test disc are all one needs to do this properly. It's very difficult to do by ear, since your ear doesn't really know what 85 db SPL sounds like.

Neil

[Chris ChrusherComix 27]

Well, that's all fine and dandy, but I can clearly hear the music. If you all want to hear it yourself, just turn up your rear channels.

[Kendal_Ozzel 32]

I could make some kind of joke here about how if you can hear the music that you should turn your rear speakers down to make Neil happy (or unhappy, as it may be), or that anyone who finds any sort of pleasure out of these DVDs should be shot.

Look, Neil. I'm a happy Star Wars fan today, like it or not. I just got done watching the whole trilogy with some friends and I actually had a good time. I'm sorry if that offends you.

If you really love Williams more than you hate Lucasfilm as you said above, then why don't you turn it into something constructive? Instead of bashing on Lucas day after day, why don't you call up Sony and ask them to release AOTC's complete score (or TPM for that matter)? Why not try to find out what's preventing us from getting a decent release of TOD? Heck, why don't you go on a quest to personally find the lost tapes of the Jabba's Sail Barge music? Lucas himself has said that he doesn't give a crap what you think. You will get absolutely no where complaining about everything. You have your precious original trilogy (or is it just "duology"?). Watch them. Enjoy them. You don't like what Lucas is doing now? Ignore it. No matter how much you complain, I'm still going to enjoy the Star Wars saga. You can ruin it for yourself all you want, but you're never going to ruin it for me.

Get over it.

[Luke Skywalker 1,284]

I couldnt believe i saw ESB and ROJ Scores here. Too quick! I sialike the coverart but the 3D thingy is cool, wich would have been cooler wit the SE poster.

I noticed the long cues are called for expample Battle of Hoth, wihtout no subtitles..that is data loss IMO

Luke, bought The Terminal (at last) instead. (I like it

I saw the package and my worst fear have prover true. EP IV is called LA GUERRA DE LAS GALAXIAS UNA NUEVA ESPERANZA, which breaks one of the motives of releasing this pack, to make people call and identify EP IV A NEW HOPE with a movie formerly known as SW. It seems Spanish people is too stupid to see A NEW HOPE is the former STAR WARS (or in Neil standards, too intelligent ). Ironically it also breaks what Neil supports, that ANH is not the same movie as SW.

I think i'll address FOX Spain and tell them to fix that in the saga release, and if they havent yet (i hope they have), put in the opening crawl STAR WARS instead LA GUERRA DE LAS GALAXIAS (like in the prequels), since even the pack is called TRILOGIA STAR WARS....

Luke, troubled spaniard

[Morlock 9]

Two people work at the Fox Complaint....uh....'suggestion' department. One to tear the letter in two, one to throw them out.

[Luke Skywalker 1,284]

I supposed that. Never hurts to ask though

[Rogue_Leader 2]

FYI:

To commemorate the release of the new SW soundtracks, our beloved friend Luke built an enormous bonfire in his backyard and immolated his old SE Soundtrack Releases while he cried like a baby.

He then went back to a party celebrating the releases where he danced the night away with his pet hamsters. The Spritis of Alec Guiness, Sebastian Shaw and the Puppet Yoda briefly made an appearance to whom Luke merely gave an unrealistic smile.

[Morlock 9]

Huh?

[Rogue_Leader 2]

Two people work at the Fox Complaint....uh....'suggestion' department. One to tear the letter in two, one to throw them out.

Actually there is a third guy who at Rupert Murdoch's request takes down the address of the sender and muders them.

[Rogue_Leader 2]

You know I am still surprised there was no Indy soundtrack re-releases for the DVD releases of that trilogy last year.

It seemed like a big event for the series so why not bring back the scores as well?

[Luke Skywalker 1,284]

FYI:  

To commemorate the release of the new SW soundtracks, our beloved friend Luke built an enormous bonfire in his backyard and immolated his old SE Soundtrack Releases while he cried like a baby.  

He then went back to a party celebrating the releases where he danced the night away with his pet hamsters. The Spritis of Alec Guiness, Sebastian Shaw and the Puppet Yoda briefly made an appearance to whom Luke merely gave an unrealistic smile.

I live in a flat, i have no pets, and i will not buy these versions (and never burn legit releases!) and i think i would see Hayden instead of Shaw (since i prefer the SEs, i will have to live with that)

So you guessed everything wrong

[Morlock 9]

Hey, Murdoch's a nice guy.

And anyone who's been on ther Simpsons can't be that bad (though he did present himself as billionare tyrant ).

[Rogue_Leader 2]

FYI:  

To commemorate the release of the new SW soundtracks, our beloved friend Luke built an enormous bonfire in his backyard and immolated his old SE Soundtrack Releases while he cried like a baby.  

He then went back to a party celebrating the releases where he danced the night away with his pet hamsters. The Spritis of Alec Guiness, Sebastian Shaw and the Puppet Yoda briefly made an appearance to whom Luke merely gave an unrealistic smile.

I live in a flat, i have no pets, and i will not buy these versions (and never burn legit releases!) and i think i would see Hayden instead of Shaw (since i prefer the SEs, i will have to live with that)

So you guessed everything wrong

Awww man and I was gonna show up at the party too!

Just to briefly shake a few hands and then vanish again like I was never there in the first place!

[Luke Skywalker 1,284]

That is what happens when you are a supporting actor...

[John Crichton 4]

Well, I'm a good way through this release and I'm enjoying it as well. Some people out here actually still like Star Wars you know.

These movies have never looked better, I don't care what anyone else says. Wonderful. As for the ANH complaints, the dialed down music was very obvious and I would have noticed it without prior warning. Hell, I probably would've been on here telling everyone about it. The shift in dialouge quality is also very obvious, something I would have noticed myself too. As for the reverse channel problem, I don't have a 5.1 set so there's no way I could have.

The Han/Greedo scene is better. Not the way it should be (the original) but better. Jabba looks better in ANH, but still not great. Having Ian McDiarmid in Empire is a dream come true. But although his dialogue sounds fine, he's not very expressive. It almost looks like they tried to keep the eyes of the original Emperor in that scene and it messed up the way McDiarmid's face looks. And I don't think it's been mentioned here before, but the Rancor in RoJ looks much better. All the stop motion giveaways are gone, it looks very smooth and realistic.

To those who hate all this I add to the cry: pull out your laserdiscs or your DVD-Rs of the originals, pop 'em in, and ENJOY them. To some people Star Wars has become nothing more than a vehicle for constant bitching and moaning about something or other. You have what you like, we have what we like. I appreciate the effort in tracking down some obvious problems with the DVDs, and I backed Neil up earlier because he's been proven right about it, even if I strongly disagree with his anti-LucasFilm crusade. And I would like to mention that Kendal_Ozzel was right on the money in his earlier post.

[MAG-SI 10]

Have someone bought the CD yet? You are talking about DVDs here. Isn't that discussion somewhere else?

[flytrumpet 0]

I have listened to ESB today..i have to say it sounds better to my ears than the RCA SE version.It sounds less dry,and has a nicer colour overall..i'm talking for the brass section mostly,which i thought was too dry and edgy on the previous releases.

For me the set was definately worth it.

Richard

[Henry B 49]

Arrrrgh, nobody's listened to RotJ!

[John Crichton 4]

Arrrrgh, nobody's listened to RotJ!

Yeah, get with the program people. That's all we care about and we're waiting!

[Kendal_Ozzel 32]

Okay folks. I just listened to several selections from Return of the Jedi from both my RCA set and my friend's Sony set. And to my ears...

...they sound exactly the same. The first track I listened to was "The Battle of Endor III", which I always thought was the worst sounding track of all. It sounds just as bad on the Sony disc. I checked out several other tracks too, and I couldn't tell any difference. I haven't checked out the first two scores because really, I've always been pretty content with them.

So if there is any difference, I certainly can't tell.

No sale here.

[John Crichton 4]

Thanks, Kendal. Looks like this just went from "maybe" to "almost definately not" for me. And I don't really care about ANH or ESB either, the SEs sound just fine to me on both of those, Jedi was the one I cared about.

[ymenard 35]

Again, somebody please A/B them with like, Cool Edit Pro and post the results as a JPG, please. The worst cue from ROTJ in sound quality, please. This is for our entire community that you would do such thing

Or loop back-to-back the same portion of a cue from a track from both release.

[Chris ChrusherComix 27]

Okay folks. I just listened to several selections from Return of the Jedi from both my RCA set and my friend's Sony set. And to my ears...

...they sound exactly the same. The first track I listened to was "The Battle of Endor III", which I always thought was the worst sounding track of all. It sounds just as bad on the Sony disc. I checked out several other tracks too, and I couldn't tell any difference. I haven't checked out the first two scores because really, I've always been pretty content with them.

So if there is any difference, I certainly can't tell.

No sale here.

You can't be serious, Ozzel.

:cry:

-Chrusher, Who is saddened by this, and if it's true, it re-enforces every bad thing we've said here about Sony in the last 4-5 years.

[Mr. Breathmask 480]

Monkeys.

- Marc

[KittBash 77]

Well I saw this on music from the movies where they say (a New Hope at least) has been upgraded in the sound quality department saying

Newly remastered using Sony Music?s DSD (Direct Stream Digital) technology, the LSO never sounded so good, and memories of the occasional flub on the RCA Victor discs can now be banished to a galaxy far, far away. It?s not so much Newman?s 20th Century Fox Fanfare that raises the hair on the back of your neck, as the spectacular opening brass flourish that welcomes the scrolling prologue to a space opera that continues to define a generation.

and

The Limited Edition of the RCA Victor Special edition is still aesthetically the package to beat, with laser etched hologram CDs and bound booklet. But from a sound perspective, the DSD technology gives this version the aural edge, which after stripping away the layers of Lucasfilm merchandise and marketing theatrics is ultimately what really matters.

you can find the full thing here

http://www.musicfromthemovies.com/review.asp?ID=4340

They have empire and Jedi on their list to review so we'll see what they say

Brian99_1 - still skeptical at this point

[Kendal_Ozzel 32]

Well, I don't claim to be a big audiophile, but if there is any improvement, it's not much at all.

I'll try to post some comparisons from ROTJ. Any requests? Battle of Endor II & III have always sounded the worst to me. I'll try to use them.

[Kendal_Ozzel 32]

Didn't get those comparisons finished today. I'll try to put them up tomorrow.

[tpigeon 3]

There is definitely an improvement in the sound quality, but not one so dramatic that people should shell out the fifty or sixty dollars to buy these discs again. ROTJ might be an exception if you are as bothered as I was by the horrible sound quality of the RCA release. This new version sounds more like it was recorded today and not 1983. Such is true of all of the soundtracks, but you might be disappointed if you're expecting to hear something totally different and perfected. It's hard to get twenty year old recordings to sound perfect, but this is about as good as it's gonna get I think. That's my not-so-expert perspective.

Ted