Intrada Soundtrack Forum

Please, let's continue this discussion here.

I've just listened to the CD for the 1st time, and beyond the sound issues (which become annoying in some parts), I must say this is an exquisite Château Silvestri !

You've got everything Silvestri loves to compose for action movie : diabolic syncopated rythms and jungle beats a la Predator, hugely brassy parts, electronic pulsative techno beats a la Mission Impossible and Tomb Raider 2, pure heroic moments a la Eraser.
If you were expecting for more BTTF/The Mummy adventure tunes, be aware that this is the MUSCULAR Silvestri here. No place for playful melodies and candid lyrical flights. But you'll get a gorgeous main theme fully glorified in the end credits !
Alan Silvestri is really the last great action composer !

Has anyone heard back Varese about the sound quality issue surrounding this CD release. I saw a posting over on the FSM forum that was a supposed response back from Varese that read:

"Had a response from Varese re the GI Joe sound quality. Doesn't look good...

We also heard of some web site threads complaining about this disc and have since put effort into getting to the bottom of this. As I'm sure you know, there is a tendency in the message board world to light fires which are not based on facts. There is a great deal of misinformation spread about this way. We did actually receive a few emails about this as well, but the emails from different people were virtually identical ... word for word. We found that a little suspicious.

As a matter of procedure, viewing a spectral analysis of the audio files is never part of the approval process. A mastered album is always carefully listened to by Varèse Sarabande, the album producers and engineers and is approved before it is duplicated. This album went through the same approval process.

I can assure you that, after re-listening to the disc, everyone involved continues to stand behind the sound quality of the disc.

Hope that helps."

I hope that this is the case, as I wouldn't care to have to buy an inferior product only to have to return it later on.

Best,

Matt

This is an encouraging review. Ordered a copy yeserday after returning from a road trip. Thanks, Annakin. If the sound issues are unbearable, I will be contacting Varese for a replacement. Intrada is the benchmark on customer service and integrity, so I cannot, with conscience, accept anything less. I still marvel that that one slight pop, on TOMBSTONE, (which, really, I could have ignored) landed me a replacement in my mail box.

BB

I've received the same email from Varèse and Colosseum, and I'm very disappointed by the reaction of Varèse. I can clearly hear bad compression noise on my stereo and their technical experts cannot hear any problem. I should be candidate for a sound engineer job at Varèse, because it seems I've better ears than them...

They already ignored the problem about the glitch in the Matrix Deluxe Edition, and I guess their reaction about this kind of issues will now remain the same : don't buy if you don't like, because we won't pay you back.

I've made an extraction of the 7th track entitled "What Happened to Her" in wav, to keep the original "pure" sound of the CD. The game is called "Who can be sound engineer at Varèse Sarabande ?" and the (very difficult) goal is to hear what's wrong with the sound...
Now after listening to the track, remember those words "I can assure you that, after re-listening to the disc, everyone involved continues to stand behind the sound quality of the disc." and try not to laugh too loud. Anyway you won't if you've bought the CD...

By the way, here is the answer I got from Colosseum when I warned them about this issue.

An answer that finally makes sense and that fully recognizes there has been a mistake with the master. Of course I guess Colosseum didn't anticipate the lie of Varèse Sarabande when they admitted the sound problem of the CD.

I'm really sad, because Varèse used to be my favorite CD label ever, and they were so high in my heart, that it hurts me very much to see them release such poor products and not even being able to correct their mistakes.

I listened to your extraction, sure there were some background noises but nothing I would get hung up about.
I've heard a lot worse in my days...

How tha hell did we survive the LP age...

In my opinion someone has cried wolf alittle early.


Oh my, do I hear birds in the background....
Sorry my fault, I forgot to close the window while listening...

CRAP!

Well, I gave in and bought it today, but haven't opened it yet. Looks like I'm going to get my $$ back by taking it back to the vendor and wait until Varese addresses the issue properly. They may not, but at least I wont have to endure listening to sub-par sound quality and supporting a company that obviously cares very little for it's loyal fan base.

Matt

You're not gonna listen to it? Damn. Opinions offered have ranged from, "WORST SOUNDING CD EVER" to "it's fine, nothing wrong that I can here". Wish Doug would weigh in on this. I trust his ears.

Are you really surprised? I am not. They have already proved several times before that they don't care for their customers at all. Well, I am not buying this.

I've heard many people saying they won't buy the CD because of this. Some even said they would hesitate to buy future CDs from Varèse before being sure the sound is ok.

Is it possible that publishing music from a lossy source is less expensive ? Is there such a rule for mp3 publishing from the AFM ? That would explain why Varèse has validated the sound of this CD.

I doubt it. Given the message you received from Colosseum, I would guess that it probably was just a simple mistake that nobody at Varèse caught and they interested in spending the money to correct.

Do you mean the background noice that sounds like razzling chains or something??
Damn I thought that was the ghost in my basement making sounds again

Now back to my Lets get Harry LP (crack crack crack)

No. There are no such rules or discounts.

On television shows I've worked on, occasionally a composer or a mixer will send music files to the editor over the internet, via iDisk or the like, and for this the music will be compressed. This is not the final music, and the music editor (generally) will bring the full sound files to the final mix. My guess -- and it's completely a guess -- is that somehow files like this were provided to Varese. Again, let me stress, this is only based on experiences I've had in production, and is as likely as not completely wrong.

There is no benefit to Varese, even in the most cynical conspiracy theory, to issuing compressed music on CD.

Thank you for this information. It means they won't generalize this to their other products. They're not completely thieves, just liars.



Yeah that one. I admit I have a good hi-fi system to hear that the most clearly possible, but I guess anyone can hear it on computer speakers or any discman with standard earphones.

It is pretty bad, and this is coming from me the guy who "loves" everything, and like already stated Varese doesnt care about us, just the money, if by a slim chance anyone from Varese is reading this , well you have the chance to prove me wrong.