Intrada Soundtrack Forum

Just a note here. I got a nice email from a potential customer of Conan, asking if the bass on our release was as "pumped up" as that of the re-recording.

So people will know. I'm kind of a stickler for natural sound from an orchestra. The re-recording has a lot of processing, including compression (normalizing) of the levels and artificial boosting of the low end. Those aren't incorrect choices, just creative ones. But that's not how an actual orchestra sounds, neither live nor during the recording process. Yes, it can make that wall of percussion fat and boomy, but that's not the sound the instruments actually produce. It comes from the later processing. And, again, that's just a creative decision on the part of the producers. I have the re-recording and love it, too.

But please don't look for this kind of processing on our original. While we had mint condition session elements and have captured details not present on any other recording, I preferred to hear what Poledouris got from his orchestra without my added assistance. We have rich, clean sound... but just from the orchestra itself, and not from our processors. The raw intensity and primal vibrancy of the masters were wonderful to hear. My preference remains to hear that orchestra as if I were present on the stage, enjoying the "go for it" playing and not be distracted by the folks back in the mastering studios boosting it unrealistically.

You, dear listeners, are the lucky recipients of two versions of Basil's magnificent score. Hopefully you can enjoy both.
--Doug

P.S. And thank you for such a terrific response. We started off with a large number of copies, a triple batch if you will, to avoid having to re-press for a while but... well, looks like we'll have to be re-pressing quickly instead. Not a complaint, however. I appreciate the quandry.

You're always going to see differing preferences with a large orchestral score like this. I think a lot of people respond more to bloated low frequencies in percussion instruments as they are commonly presented in home video mixes.

Personally, I too prefer the sound of the orchestra to be as natural as reasonably possible regardless of what my memories may be of a mix made for DVD.

Yes, that's a sticking point with me as well. I've seen other labels jumping on this normalization bandwagon. Sure I appreciate it when I'm at the gym listening on my iPod...but when I'm at home listening on my stereo I do like a natural dynamic range. But when the soft moments and the loud moments are all at the same level it's not overly pleasant.

Does anyone know if this is limited? I think the previous one was by LL Land

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Jerry Goldsmith conducting the Detroit Symphony and nearly knocking me through the back wall with Air Force One....priceless.