OST Review

I'll explain why a few people had problems with this score and felt it was weak..

Firstly, the sound design for this film is all over the place. A lot of things just sound sloppily engineered.. some lines of dialogue were so badly mixed in with the rest, like they stuck a ****load of compression over some characters' voices to make them stand out, but it made them sound unnatural like Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. Its as if three different people were all trying to mix it at once, treading on each others' toes until it just became a mush of different mindsets.

Also there's the fact that Williams used a lesser quality orchestra than what was used in the other films, and something felt very off about the recording or the acoustic space. I can't figure out whether they stuck a load of compression over everything and killed the dynamic range, whether the orchestra hadn't got to grips with the room they were in.. or whether it was just badly recorded and mixed. Something was sloppily done somewhere and I don't put the blame on John Williams. Somebody somewhere wasn't very good at their job.. and the result was a very un-impactful sounding recording of the orchestra which wasn't helped by the fact it was so low in the mix. I've listened to the soundtrack on its own and was very disappointed. From the very moment it begins I was like "Why are all the horns panned over to the left?" It was just so bloody poorly mixed. It tried too hard to make things sound 70s stereo but it was just lamely done compared to the original. They shouldn't have gone retro with the sound too.

The Force Awakens is undoubtedly the worst sounding Star Wars film in my opinion. William's composition is good, but it was trampled on by the recording/mixing.

 

Ok. So we all know how great Rey's Theme is, I've listened to it a few times and it was great. But wow I had a shuffled playlist and it came on so I really really listened to it this time...My..I can't put it into words. This theme is so beautiful.

 

I quite like the mixing. Far less reverb-heavy and soupy than the prequel scores and other than the first note, I feel like the performance from the LA players rivals (if not bests in some areas) the prequel LSO. There's a real bite to all of it that AOTC and ROTS didn't have. And even if you don't like the mixing, the general sound falls more on the orchestration and conducting than the orchestra (compare TFA's performance to the lousy sounding Jurassic World from Michael Giacchino which was done by the same type of orchestra more-or-less).

I seriously doubt that so many of the Star Wars fans would be able to tell the difference between the LSO and the LA based orchestras, especially those who use the word "songs" when describing the music (not you I must stress, as you appear to have some technical know-how on the subject).

I do agree that the score is undermixed in the film's audio track.

 

The first time I saw The Force Awakens I barely remembered the score, it just got lost in all the excitement of seeing a new Star Wars movie I guess. The second time I definitely noticed it and I realized how much I really loved all of it. It wasn't overpowering or out of place at any point for me. Rey's theme and Jedi Steps are both absolutely beautiful ambient pieces that fit their respective scenes perfectly. Ways of the Force is also growing on me as a final battle piece. Overall I think this soundtrack is one of the best in the saga.

 

This is a fantastic score. It adheres so closely to film because of multiple scoring sessions compared to the Prequels where they didn't. To me it sounded inspired and exciting and fresh. Just like the movie, it gets better with every viewing.

 

I have no tolerance for complaints about this score.

No new themes?
Screw that.

Rey's theme is beautiful, the Resistance March kicks ass (why should only the bad guys have an awesome march?)
The Jedi Steps theme is excellent, too, although it's unclear what it represents as a theme - The new Jedi order? Rey's training? The island?

The complete score is refreshingly new. Williams doesn't spend most of the album recalling old themes, but when they do show up, they are beautifully integrated, and the basic action music has improved over Sith and Clones, in my opinion.

Detractors of the score obviously haven't bothered to give the complete score a decent listen or multiple listens, to allow the new themes to seep into memory, or they wouldn't sound so ridiculously ignorant when they complain about this being a substandard effort.

The only part that sounds a bit "off" from the London Symphony scores is the opening blast of the main title theme. It lacked the usual punch.

What I really want now is the supposed 3-hour version of the score that purportedly was recorded.

 

I agree with this post 100%
I'm willing to bet that most of the unreleased music is in the form of slight alternates to what we already have. There might be an odd completely new action cue here or there (especially for the Finn/melee trooper battle) but otherwise, it'll mostly be for collectors and completionists. I'd love to be proven wrong though.

 

I believe it wasn't done by Williams since it wasn't on the album (Or maybe it was 50/50?) but I've yet to hear Maz's Castle band song outside the film. I really want to hear a clear, full version of that.

 

Posted this link elsewhere but if you're a fan of the OST, definitely go check this out. Lots of goodies not included on the OST. Personally, I LOVE this soundtrack. Especially Jedi Steps.

http://millenniumfalcon.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=2015&t=9836&sid=3dbde0152c2d30b28ed6532546e6bad8

 

I agree. The nostalgia effect is the only thing that hurts it. He really is the modern "Beethoven" or "Mozart"
He knows how to interpret emotion into music using the right tempo, key, and more.

 

The majority of TFA is one, big nostalgia effect .

 

Good points, well I will give it a few more listens

I agree that its less reverb heavy than the prequels, in fact I prefer a dry sound but I feel they kind of went overboard with the lack of obvious effects.. the lack of reverb kind of made it less powerful/loud than it could have been in my opinion.. I also agree that the performance feels more heartfelt than Attack of the Clones, not sure about Revenge of the Sith though; I really like that soundtrack.

I'm just saying things felt more present in the left channel for me, almost distractingly so (talking mostly about the opening crawl)

I do really appreciate how warm and emotional everything sounds in this movie though, the mids are nice and exposed which surprised me a lot. I was expecting it to sound super tinny.

 

I'm glad people are now appreciating the score. I thought I was going crazy thinking the score was great right from the beginning. There seemed to be a section of negativity to wards it at the beginning. It seems after a few viewings and listens people are taking it in and really see what a great job Williams has done . Hes still got it. Over time I think it will go down as one of the better Star wars scores.

 

With the ironic exception of the strings.
It might be an issue with the mix itself but they have almost no presence in the recordings we have.
It stands out even more because the brass is so sharp and on point.
I've heard it happen in the very best of recording circumstances though - one studio recording of Tristan with Barenboim leading the BPO has the exact same problem.

 

I got that feeling too, its wasn't like BAM Star Wars, more like oh i guess the movies starting.

 

That's just you blasting it through your blue ray player all these years

 

The movie theater has louder speakers than i do.

 

I think there is another reason I did'nt read here.
If I don't make a mistake, JJA and GL are very different in the way they edit their movies.
With George, I'm pretty sure John Williams recorded the orchestra in front of the film, who was projected in front of them as they were playing.
With JJ, it's another way to work: JJ recorded "all alone" in London, and the film was edited in USA... so, the music was added to the pictures after been recorded.

I think this changes a lot of things...