Doug Adams wrote:Hi everyone,
Boy, you guys are getting so good at covering the questions on your own, I’ve got little to offer other than updates. But worry not, there’s plenty to detail in that department.
Second things first, however… let me once again thank everyone who sent or posted well wishes regarding my recovery. Save for an occasional bit of soreness, I’m pretty much back to fighting shape!
And onwards…
>>>And for Doug, just a thought. Did you acknowledge sometime back and somewhere here that there would be a slipcase to kepp all the CRs in? If yes, and assuming it will be released alongwith ROTK:CR, and since the rarities will probably be released sometime later with your book, please please don't forget to leave space for the rarities box (if it is a box
) or else it'll feel lonely up on the shelf
If such a case is in the works for the music recordings I wonder what the color will be and if its design will be a little more imaginative? Doug?>>>
The slipcase continues to dwell in the realm of distinct possibilities. Personally, I think it will happen. As for specific designs, however, nothing has been cooked up yet. This doesn’t constitute a lack of forward progress however, it’s just quite early on.
>>>See the question posted on this page:
http://www.soundtrackinfo.com/ost.asp?soundtrack=5257>>>
Just FYI, we will finally tackle the Gandalf’s Farewell’s figure in the ROTK notes. Time to pay off the tease!
>>>In the MFTM LotR special issue, Howard Shore says he used all kinds of trumpets for the scores, C, Bb, F and Rotary Valve trumpets.
I've recently bought a book about orchestration, and it mentions that F trumpets are very rarely used nowadays (this book of course was released 80 years ago) because they are larger and have significantly less flexibility than modern trumpets, which aim for chromatic flexibility. But the book also mentions that it was a shame because those F trumpets have a strikingly brilliant and rousing character.
Now, my question is: are those the same trumpets Howard Shore used? If so, could you name us some specific cues where they can be heard?
Also, I know that he used Rotary Valve trumpets all throughout "The Destruction Of The Ring" and "The Destruction Of Mordor". He mentions they also have a very specific quality, they sound more ancient.>>>
F trumpets do indeed have a darker tone than C or Bb trumpets, and it’s that tone in specific that drew Shore to the sound. You can hear these trumpets in a good deal of the Gondor music. I’d have to double check, but I believe you’re hearing them in the Lighting of the Beacons sequence.
Thanks very much to Jaquandor for his detailed description of the instruments’ mechanics. It’s good to see you again, Jaq.
This one is ported over from email as I thought it may be of interest to all of you (though I don’t have much an answer to give, currently).
>>>Ok, Quick question, I read that "Houses of Healing" and "Arwen's Song" (performed by Sissel) would be on the CR of the ROTK. You stated that you would give more information later on the subject. On "Arwen's Song" is this supposed to be apart of the end credits of the soundtrack or will it be something mixed in with the movie portion of the soundtrack.>>>
Yes, the plan still calls for both Arwen’s Song and Sissel’s song to be included on this set. As for placement and / or editing, I’m afraid I still have no comment only because the decision hasn’t yet been made. There have been a couple of different edits offered up for perusal, and there are more to come. I have a pretty solid guess as to how this will end up being presented, but we’ll have to hold a bit before it becomes solid.
>>>I thought DR. SHORE remixed Clint Mansell's Requiem For A Dream, but now I've read on various sites (audible beauty, for instance): 'Requiem For A Tower - by The Ant Farm (or Simone Benyacar / Dan Nielsen / Veigar Mairgersson)'
As I understand it, the producers of the early Two Towers trailers sought out a group to remix this piece into an LotR-worthy epic style, and it definitely wasn't Howard Shore.>>>
The excellent and admirable board members have already answered this, but I should also like to note that Shore DID score the ROTK trailer. I recently ran across the discs from these recording sessions… which leads me to the “updates” section!
I just got back from NY yesterday afternoon from a genuinely amazing trip to Shore’s offices. He and I took a good four to five hours and ran through the entire current edit for ROTK in the listening room. It is shaping up amazingly. There’s still one last bit of unused music waiting to be tracked down, but decisions are now being made about specific track breakdowns, etc. It’s really close now, and it’s ridiculously affecting and beautiful.
The rest of my time was dedicated to sorting through the unused music archives. This is a genuinely massive task. There are thousands of CDs worth of material… and about 3 months worth of continuous audio. Everything recorded was saved for all three films. The tough part is sorting through what exactly is in there in order to decide what is interesting. You don’t want to hear 13 takes of a Bag End cue where the third oboe missed a note (no, there’s no third oboe, I’m just for-instance-ing ), but you do want to hear the original version of the prologue that included the… well, I can’t say right now, but I will say that my heart skipped a beat when I found this!
If you will, remember that the LOTR scores were being composed concurrently with the film’s editing. This is why so many sessions were scheduled. Shore would often have to tweak or completely rewrite compositions as the film changed. This means there are alternate versions of nearly everything! Now some of these alternates have nothing more than one crescendo changed, which is interesting as a curiosity, but not really worthy of disc space. But there are some revelatory differences in the alternates as well; radically different approaches to mood, orchestration and thematic structure. In some cases there are entirely different compositions that matched different edits of the films.
If you get to the end of ROTK:CR and think you’ve heard all the LOTR music there is to be heard, think again!
>>>Gotta question for ya: will the music for the bonus disc be on just one disc or is it possible that it will be on more than one disc? I know...I'm greedy and lustful for LotR music!>>>
And this is now the big question! There is SO much material that I’m just trying to figure out how best to present it. This past weekend I felt like I heard LOTR 4… or maybe 4 and 5. I’m quite certain you will all feel the same elation… but I really need to sit down and figure out exactly how much disc space will be required to showcase everything that should be showcased. That’s the other trick, I’m still not done digging through the archives!
So this is an on-going thing. It may take a little bit, but I will certainly keep you updated. I know this comes of as yet another tease, but I thought you may be interested in these current events. And really, I just wanted to share my glee from this past weekend. Despite the fact that I can’t go into details, some of these discoveries made my heart pound. I can’t wait to share them with you.
As always, stay tuned!
-Doug