The Fellowship of the Ring COMPLETE RECORDINGS 3CD set

[GoodMusician 56]

It's the "Complete Records".... they recorded it, so it's on there (realizing that doesn't ring true for everything, but for most.

If you don't like it, do a DVD rip of the Surround sound, the vocal is only on the front channel and barely audible in the other channels so... ;-)

[Richard Penna 3,684]

I found that slightly irritating but I can live with it.

There's a 'singing free' version on the menu segment that introduces 'The Road Goes Ever On...' on bonus DVD 2 of the FotR EE. I used it myself until I got this.

[Alan 689]

Those vocal levels, are you referring to the Dolby Digital ot the PPCM portion of the DVD-A?

I've only really listened to the PPCM portion so dont know if it applies to the Dolby track aswell. Will listen later on . Happy New Year all!!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Did they really need to incorporate Gandalf singing in his little ditty in the track "Bag End"?  Even though it was fine in the film, it was an unnecessary addition to the complete score album.

The same thing with "Keep it Secret, Keep it Safe".  In the middle of this fantastic track, is this idiotic singing, and it comes back with the drunk song at the end.  It's ridiculous.

Tim

I'm neutral about those tracks, though i can understand why some might be bothered by them.

[GoodMusician 56]

if all else fails, make your own edit! lol...

Rip the stuff from the surround sound dvd that came with the set, and burn your own version without it lol...

[Alan 689]

if all else fails, make your own edit! lol...

I've actually already started that lol. Edited the full version of the choral section back into Saruman the White. While I think this actually repeats the orchestral performance underneath the additional chior part, it works quite well. The orchestra only sections acts as a nice built to it.

Also working on an alternative End Credits suite that includes the strings from In Dreams and the alternative Breaking of the Fellowship. While I understand and agree with the reason given by Doug Adams for not including the NZ Orchestra version Im just interested to see how well I can make it flow. I'll let you know of the results when its done...

As for the vocal performances, I actually kind of like them. Nice little bits of pure Tolkien.

[nightscape94 965]

I'm too busy with my RotS Expanded score to worry about LotR LOL

Tim, wigging out over the first track already

[Trent B 337]

Good luck with ROTS Tim. Battle Over Coruscant for me was pretty tidius to do since I used opening from the album but with the over-dubbed drums from Battlefront 2. It still was hard to edit smoothly...

[Delorean90 42]

Alas, I did not get FOTR Complete Recordings for Christmas but I'm okay. I've got birthday coming up in April, so here's hoping. I DID at last get The Two Towers OST for $8 in fantastic condition from Half Price Books, so . And on that note, I've seen various analyses and stuff on what's what in TTT OST, but has there been an actual edit list, a la the Original/Prequel Trilogy Music Resources, showing what tracks to make, etc.?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Good luck with ROTS Tim.  Battle Over Coruscant for me was pretty tidius to do since I used opening from the album but with the over-dubbed drums from Battlefront 2.  It still was hard to edit smoothly...

Don't we have a seperate thread for this ROTS stuff?

[lordskylark 1]

I made 3 disc dvd rips (using the OST material from the 1 disc when it was included) for all 3 movies. (9 discs total). Some battle tracks still have some annoying SFX, but overall it's really good quality in my opinion. PM if you rather have that than make your own.

~Sky

[nightscape94 965]

Don't we have a seperate thread for this ROTS stuff?

Quiet You...

Tim

[Alan 689]

Posted this on moviemusic.com so thought I'd share it here. What you guys think?

"Don’t know if Doug will cover this in his complete book but I haven’t come across it in the liner notes or anywhere else.

I think I've 'discovered' a new motive. To my knowledge it occurs twice; once in The Sword That Was Broken (1:27 - 1:50) and again in The Mirror of Galadriel (4:50 - 5:03). It's barely a motive, consisting of powerful and passionate 2 note descending brass 'blasts' and percussion.

The two are, however, very similar as are the relative "themes" of each scene that they accompany. I'm wondering if it can be some kind of musical motive for what happens when figures of power become influenced by the Ring. In these cases, Isildur and Galadriel.

I’m not aware of it being used in either TTT or ROTK but then again, why would it? No figures of power come into direct contact with the Ring. Faramir doesn't get close enough and his is a different kind of power I guess.

So what do people think? Am I on to something or am I just looking for things that aren’t really there or even worse, pointing out something so obvious it didn’t need pointing out lol.

Cheers all!

Alan"

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

Alas, I did not get FOTR Complete Recordings for Christmas 8O  but I'm okay.  I've got birthday coming up in April, so here's hoping.  I DID at last get The Two Towers OST for $8 in fantastic condition from Half Price Books, so .

In april more or less... you could have got TTT complete recordings too...

[ridan 0]

I had to order it from Borders. That pissed me off, because it came in the day before Christmas.

[matmilne 0]

music theory? you ain't missin' anythin'

I know no music theory whatsoever and am constantly surprised when i find people mentioning that i must know a lot of theory cause i use a few uncommon chord arrangments in my scores.

I got the soundtrack for christmass. It was Great!!!! Though i did get the impression that shore got a bit bored with it by return of the king.. Theoden's death, crowning of ellessar, pelenor fields, the last 3 seconds before the credits, were just not quite completely fitting to what was going on.

Whereas in the fellowship of the ring, the moment just after the fellowship set out from rivendell; the fellowship are climbing up the rocky outcrops and the camera is flying round them and up towards them. The music builds and builds in suspense, and then suddenly between 2 rocks strides the fellowship and one of the greates themes of all time blasts out and the entire audience's mood is uplifted to the very cieling. Shore had complete control of the audience in that moment, whereas in trotk, bits of the score just didn't quite make it all the way.

However i don't think williams would have done it any better, nor anyone else for that matter, so my hat goes off to the man. Excellent, best we'll hear until williams retires i reckon, though in this business genius has a knack for turning up completely out of knowhere.

[BigMacGyver 0]

I haven't really read most of the previous comments yet but i will give my 2 cents anyways:

The scores for the trilogy were actually the only reason for me to sit through these films. Shore delivered a fine work that is so different from his thriller/horror work due to all these nice themes.

Needless to say that i have been anticipating these box sets since they have been announced. The fellowship box was a great release but there are some minor flaws:

The few vocal performances of the characters interrupt the flow of the music sometimes, especially on Bilbo's farewell. They could have put these useless songs at the end of the CDs, separated from the score.

It is obvious that there are several edits throughout the discs even though it is not a worst-case scenario like the 'wannabe' ultimate episode one score release.

The mix is sometimes a little weird, with some choir and vocal performances mixed at a ridiculously low volume.

But these are just minor quibbles. Having the complete score and being able to enjoy it separated from the boring picture is a joy.

Shore had complete control of the audience in that moment, whereas in trotk, bits of the score just didn't quite make it all the way.

Interesting point. I feel the same about the thematic moment in the fellowship score but in my opinion the best statement of the theme appears in RotK, namely For Frodo with the powerful choral outburst of this great piece. I had chills in that moment.

[ridan 0]

Daggit! Where on Earth are all of these bloody edits I keep hearing about? I've not heard one!

[Richard Penna 3,684]

Ok - the most noticeable is in Balin's Tomb at 7:47, at the string change, about 5 seconds is missing that is intact on the OST, track 13.

Any others, I simply haven't noticed, or have but they don't detract at all

It is obvious that there are several edits throughout the discs even though it is not a worst-case scenario like the 'wannabe' ultimate episode one score release.

That's very true. Jackson actually barely messed around with the editing at all - certainly nothing anywhere near the league of Lucas.

In fact, I listened to a DVD extract of part of the Amon Hen Battle (Second part of Parth Galen, starting with the nature theme variant) and there wasn't a single edit anywhere, despite it being exactly where you'd think they would extend or mess around with it.

Having said that, there's one moment in TTT where I'm praying they don't use the edited version - the march from Forth Eorlingas. Noticeably edited in the movie and I'll cry if they don't include the full version

[gkgyver 1,645]

Daggit! Where on Earth are all of these bloody edits I keep hearing about? I've not heard one!

Second that. Except the choirs of course. I'm very sorry, but nobody can make me believe those weren't edited. Here's the exact time stamp for the "Weathertop" piece:

at exactly 1:21 the full choir should kick in, just like in the "A Knife In The Dark" track. You can clearly hear it in the background as quiet as possible, and nobody can tell me they did that so that it sounds better. Same thing with Gandalf vs. Saruman.

I don't think they would include such major edits like the ones in the Forth Eorlingas cue, but one can only speculate.

[matmilne 0]

from what i can tell mr shore didn't produce the tracks himself on the album (normally if a composer oversees the operation there's an executive producer credit in their name) which means someone else used their creative talents on the disk.

[mstrox 6,651]

from what i can tell mr shore didn't produce the tracks himself on the album (normally if a composer oversees the operation there's an executive producer credit in their name)  which means someone else used their creative talents on the disk.

Really? I was always under the impression that it was the other way around, like it is in the movies:

Producer deals with the nitty gritty, while an executive producer credit can be given for almost anything--for instance, Kevin Smith was an executive producer on Good Will Hunting only because he brought it to Miramax. And Tarantino is the executive producer of Hero because it was his idea to release it stateside. They had no hand in the creative process. Other Executive Producers get that way because they supply money. Not to say that executive producers never have a hand in the work, but that it's much more of a throw-away honorary title than Producer.

However, maybe I'm wrong and the exact opposite takes place in the music industry.

[gkgyver 1,645]

Do you realise that the two tracks "Khazad- Dum" and "Caras Galadhon" are actually longer than in the movie (even the EEs)? I synced them to picture yesterday and it didn't work.

[ChrisAfonso 186]

did you take into account the PAL speedup?

[Alan 689]

Well, I've finished a first draft at a re-edit of the the end credit suite. It now includes the full build up to the lyricless 'In Dreams', the flowing string section at the end of the vocal version of 'In Dreams' and the alternative 'Breaking of the Fellowship'.

Flows pretty well

[gkgyver 1,645]

did you take into account the PAL speedup?  

Ummm, I don't know lol

Is there a way to slow the picture down to the appropriate speed then? Because I would like to make some music videos.

[robthehand 3]

You need to slow it down by approximately 4%. For me, this means lenghtening it by 4.167%.

[gkgyver 1,645]

Right, and how exactly can I do this? I've got MPEG Video Wizard to combine music and film, can I do it in there somewhere?

[gkgyver 1,645]

You need to slow it down by approximately 4%. For me, this means lenghtening it by 4.167%.  

Heeelp!

[Demodex 557]

Do you realise that the two tracks "Khazad- Dum" and "Caras Galadhon" are actually longer than in the movie (even the EEs)? I synced them to picture yesterday and it didn't work.

The same for the stupid track where Frodo and Sam watch the elves leaving Middle Earth. In the movie it's like 45 seconds but on the disc it's like 2 minutes.

[Incanus 5,714]

Well I have been away for a month and have a great deal of cathing up on the MB but I'll start from this thread

After listening the FOTR Complete recordings for a month I must say I still do not find problems with it. The music editing has been good (atleast to my ears) and the presentation is accurate. Of course some of the cues were kind of a surprise since they are quite inaudible in the movie and hearing them without the soundeffects and dialogue was really wonderful and strange at the same time. Cues like Saruman the White, Shortcut to Mushrooms and Weathertop differed from the OST cues which was not a great surprise and I had known it all the time but it took a while to get used to the the film versions. After hearing four years the one version of a cue and suddenly to hear a totally different mix/take on the cue was strange at first. First I missed the choral parts left out in those aforementioned cues but now I can cope with it

But is also shows the evolution of those cues quite aptly and how the cues get changed and restructured to fit the movie.

I felt also that I had not really heard the actual score for FOTR before this complete set. The OST feels so different compared to the EE's music. Of course the OST contains many alternate takes on the cues and some TE cues (like the beginning of Great River) but I am glad we have all this music now, both OST and CR.

After thorough reading Doug Adam's notes I must say he has done a great job (well I gushed about that in December as well but it bears repeating). Still I noticed few small errors that made it to the final print of the notes like the typo in the word Caradhras on page 34 and the The Ringwraiths' theme being said to contain Black Speech lyrics (they are in fact Adûnaic as if anyone reading this thread does not know that already ) but these are small things.

I was glad of the Annotated score found on the soundtrack page which was extremely helpful (even if it was not second-after-second analysis of every cue) and contained the lyrics for all the choir/soloist pieces.

But once again I found small thing to whine about. On Track 7 (7;18-48) on Disc 1 there is a choral piece when Gandalf is in Minas Tirith reading Isildur's account about the finding of the Ring. These lyrics are not mentioned in the Annotated score though they are in fact the first occurence of the Seduction on the Ring lyrics (I listened very carefully and am sure of it). Doug lists wrong "first track to appear" in in the Annotated score lyrics section.

Also I was little confused what lyrics were used in the Fellowship departing Rivendell cue just before the famous building statement of the Fellowship's theme on Track 9 on Disc 2.

Here are few thoughts on the subject and more to follow.

Omnes sodales salutem plurimam dico et ver quam optimum exopto!

-Mikko-

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Here is a post by Doug Adams on the FSM forum commenting on certain questions surrounding possible edits or other anomalies.

(page 2 for non-members)

post edited by moderator

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Finnish sounds funny.

[Incanus 5,714]

Thanks for the link Stefan!

Doug Adams' post was once again very informative and answered a lot of questions of the most fanatic of LOTR music fans concerning the compiling of the Complete recordings and I have nothing against the decisions Shore made. The Complete Recordings set is a well rounded listening experience and a fine presentation of a musical work.

[Incanus 5,714]

As does Dutch

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

How wude!

[Incanus 5,714]

Indeed.

[Marian Schedenig 8,191]

Finnish sounds funny.

Agreed.

Marian - who has some of Sibelius' choral works on CD.

[Incanus 5,714]

Oh that's right gang up on me.

Please somebody else quickly ridicule Dutch or German! I need support here.

But nice to see that you have some of Sibelius' works. Even if to make fun of our beautiful language. And I will have you know that our language has been ranked several times as the most beautiful language in the world.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

The only Sibilius i have is the last track on the Die Hard II soundtrack.

[Incanus 5,714]

Finlandia is a great piece of music. The most patriotic Finnish music ever written. Though that usually is the only piece of music an average Finn can remember from him even though Sibelius has written a large body of work. Those funny sounding songs amoung others

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Yeah cheers.

So, Lord Of The Rings anyone?

[Marian Schedenig 8,191]

Oh that's right gang up on me.  

Please somebody else quickly ridicule Dutch or German! I need support here.

Dutch is odd as well. German doesn't seem odd to me (how could it), but it takes a loong time to say anything in old German (compared to English at least).

But nice to see that you have some of Sibelius' works.

You can never have enough Sibelius. And yes, Finlandia is terrific, but the version conducted by Kamen (I assume it was) is more than just lame. Speaking of which, the original ending to the cue (when it was still called Finland Awakes) is kinda funny too.

Marian - who'll have to track down Scenes historiques No. 2 next.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Save this rubbish for the Finlandia thread please!

[Joni Wiljami 1,206]

Save this rubbish for the Finlandia thread please!

Is there any?...I'm in..

[Marian Schedenig 8,191]

Is there any?...I'm in..

Start one and I'll join.

Marian - too lazy to do it himself.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Indeed.

[Marian Schedenig 8,191]

That is no trinket you carry.

[fommes 153]

Anybody else whose favorite part on the 3disc FotR is the track Gollum, 01:42-end?

[Richard Penna 3,684]

Not my absolute favourite part (I think disc 2 is the best and there's too many highlights on it), but yes, that's an amazingly emotional rendition of Frodo's theme. One of the first pieces I extracted from the DVD actually, only now I have it without Gandalf echoing in the background

Other bits I'm obsessed about right now are Khazad-dum 3:55-4:20 - those really cool brass groupings for the swoop over the bridge. I was so disappointed when I found they'd edited it out of the OST. Also, The Fighting Uruk-Hai 1:18-1:50 and 4:00-6:20.

Heck, I could go on forever - the first 6 score tracks at least (basically the Shire stuff) are playing non stop at the moment - this is one aaaweesommmee set