Geez, the STAR WARS soundtrack! Has this EVER sounded good on LP or CD?

Hi Chris...

Just came across this thread and saw that Jamie Tate posted a link on the first page to some in-depth soundtrack "index".
Unfortunately the link doesn't work anymore... Is there another way to acquire this information??

Just got the Arista Box and it sounds great compared to the RCA's and now there are some Vinyls coming out on January 8th 2016 and I'm seriously thinking about buying them.
Any advice? Maybe you already know more about this release.

 

On a somewhat related note: wow, I never noticed the Episode I & II soundtracks were already available in 24bit/44.1kHz, only at Qobuz. Here and here.
They are certainly just the CD masters before reduction to 16bit... Anybody has them?

 

You can download the original PDF here: http://www.malonedigital.com/starwars.htm#.VncMmlJ3mBc

 

There is a new boxed set coming out in January 2016 with all six movies soundtracks but no information as to what they will be sourced from or how they were processed (not yet). We can only hope (Obi Wan) that they "found" better originals or better copies or otherwise made better choices when using the existing sources so that the music has some "life" to it. If they just took the RCA's and jacked-up the volume and boosted some treble (which is seemingly what they've done with the recent remasters), I think that would be a travesty to the music and the work that went into it's initial presentation. I hope it is not just another money-grab!

I have all of the RCA Deluxe sets (for completeness of the scores) and they're not terrible. But I would pay to get them in complete scores with a bit more depth, separation, brightness (I'd like it a bit more trebley), bass and not so loud.

 

Hmm, you probably don't want them brighter, but with less noise reduction instead; ROTJ in particular was smothered by NR.

The source for the 2016 Original Trilogy soundtracks will be the LP masters apparently -which would make sense since the original mix master tapes disintegrated while they were being transfered for the '93 boxset- unless they found copy tapes.
The question is, are these LP masters compilation tapes *before mastering* or *after mastering for vinyl*...

 

Agreed. If it sounds "brighter" without eq (or at least the dynamics are clearer with less processing) that will be welcome. I'll take some tape hiss if it means brighter dynamics.

My suspicion is that it will simply be the same RCA versions "tweaked" yet again, then repackaged yet again. If they can make those sound better, well then, OK I may buy it. I hope I'm wrong. Like I said - the RCA's are not terrible but I think I may eventually get the Anthology box to get a little bit better sound (sacrificing completeness). But, I'll wait on that until I hear if this new box is actually better.

 

Fingers crossed for the new LP box set

 

I have the Anthology box and I always have a blast with it BUT I wouldn't mind a great LP box set either
Also interested in the digital release... We'll see what happens.

Thank you! Read it immediately.

Just read the Matessini interview over at jwfan.com and there's a lot about new Williams masters but nothing (really) about Star Wara.

 

I have never owned the 4CD Arista box, only the RCA 2CD sets, but why is the audio quality superior on the Arista box?

Also, did the Sony reissues improve the sound quality of the RCA's or not really?

 

To make a long story short, the last time the master tapes of the original Eric Tomlinson mixes were transfered to digital were for the 4CD boxset. They disintegrated while they were being copied. They are very close to flat transfers as the only thing the mastering engineers did was adding some air and filtering some rumble. A couple of cues were impossible to find due to time and budget constraints (Lucasfilm...) and were mastered from digital transfers made for the 80s CDs. A few cues are different takes from those heard in the films but they are almost indistinguishable when you are not a superfan.

For the '97 RCA CDs, the original tapes were no longer available so they had to do some new mixes for most cues, with underwhelming results (instruments moving, weird balances, etc... compared with the originals). For the rest they just took the '93 digital transfers and applied noise reduction and more extreme mastering moves like limiting, EQing... A New Hope has dynamics limited, Empire suffers from bad mixes and Jedi is smothered by NR.

By all accounts, no. All they did was add another digital step.
At the worst for some tracks, the lineage would look like this: analog mixes > 80s PCM digital transfers > mastered in '93 > remastered in '97 > converted to DSD in 2004 > converted back to PCM for the Sony CDs.

 

The Anthology box is well worth your time regardless. I've had it cranked in the car over the past week, with the 4th CD material inserted appropriately in the 3 main soundtracks. A lovely sounding set, beautifully packaged.

 

Steve,

Have you had a chance to hear the new reissues of the original soundtracks? If so, would you mind sharing your thoughts?

Thanks!

 

I'm not Steve but I'd still like to share my thoughts on this...
I bought the digital collection OT in 24/96 and PT in 24/44.1
The OT sounds amazing! It's very close to the Arista box BUT it has more space and sounds cleaner.
The PT sounds better than my CDs I have here so I'm happy I got the entire package.
I'm in love with this new high-resolution release.

 

I thought this sounded pretty good as seen here. I have it somewhere, so must dig it out.....but it's a few years old now, not sure how well it has kept,
but another source to probably check out..... 7 1/2 ips too.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Story-Of-St...981240?hash=item4887eb2a38:g:r7QAAOSwf-VWbvot
RickB

 

Odd, not really a fan of the music having worked in a record store when it came out, subsequently finding itself in heavy rotation at the Wherehouse I used to work in. But only yesterday played a London Double Decker compilation of Holst's the Planets, Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathrustra and excerpts from John Williams' scores for Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Star Wars. Typically excellent Decca engineering, the Strauss has a tiny bit of hiss, the Williams scores have the most brilliant sound.

 

I'm not Steve but here is my review in the dedicated thread: http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...s-coming-jan-2016.466636/page-9#post-13605504

 

Sounds like that 93 boxset is still the best we are going to get. 50 bucks though..meh.

 

I think this new collection sounds better than the 1993 Anthology one, although not a huge difference and if you have the 93 version its not worth the download unless you want 24bit.

Listen to the difference in echo/ambience of the Steel Drums on 'Cantina Band' ??

I have not got a digital booklet with mine, is it downloadable elsewhere or do I need to click on another link on Qubuz ??

 

I got a used copy for $25 a few years back....

 

After a bit more listening to the 1977 Star Wars soundtrack, I stand by my review from 3 days ago concerning the Original Trilogy Hi-Res downloads.
These 2015 masterings may give the impression of being more detailed but it's because of the compression used for the vinyl mastering. It is easy to check as the balance becomes different. The Ep. IV also has more of that overmodulation that gives a slightly screechy sound -to the violins, notably. I'm not a fan of the tonality either, with a boosted bass cloud and that muted top end. I suspect they also spread the stereo field to compensate for the reduced separation of the vinyl mastering.

Don't get me wrong, these Hi-Res downloads sound OK, and they must be the best representation of the original LPs. So they are good for the nostalgia factor, or if you only want a good digest of the scores; but if sound quality is paramount, I would say you should get the '93 Anthology, which has a more natural tonality, more pristine sound, is more complete and presented mostly in the chronological order.

 

It didn't get one either. I don't think there is a digital booklet for the collection.

 

Qobuz only supplied a 1400x1400 jpg for the cover, no downloadable booklet.

Tempted to scan the insert booklet for my 1986 2CD Polydor, if just for the 1977 album in the downloads.

 

That set has increased in price, I saw a sealed set for $75.00 that just sold, some used sets are going for $40.00 to $60.00 some start low but by the end they sell for $40.00 or more. It could be the latest Star Wars frenzy or people have found this to be a quality set, not sure.

I got a used copy for about 35.00 plus shipping, waiting for it to arrive soon.

 

I need some advise...
Since I have the Trilogy box set coming soon and I already own the Target CD The Force Awakens and I already have a Target CD of Revenge of the Sith. I am missing CD's of Attack of the Clones and The Phantom Menace. If I wanted CD versions of these instead of digital downloads are there any special version on CD I should be looking for? I know Target released Attack of the Clones CD with a hidden bonus track called "On the Conveyor Belt" Do all the original CD's sound the same for Episode 1 and II those are the ones I'm missing.

 

As far as I'm aware there was only ever a single mastering of the 1CD's for The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. Other US members should be able to help out with bonus track exclusives etc.

I always thoroughly enjoyed TPM soundtrack album - for a film with so many issues, the score isn't one of them. So many strong and memorable new themes and ideas, it really does approach the original trilogy scores at times.

The other consideration is the 2CD Ultimate edition of The Phantom Menace score; it has been a long time since I've listened to it (I really don't like it); best described as the music as heard in the film - literally. So expect abrupt cuts mid cue etc. If you have access to Spotify or similar, you may want to try it out and see if it is to your taste or not. When it was released I was hoping for a 1997 RCA style of presentation. The 2CD Ultimate version is not that.