- Sat Oct 27, 2018 4:42 pm
#111038
So...Halloween 40th release...hhmmm.
I love the concept of this release. Props to DW for making this happen - a unique version of this score.
About 50% of the album works great as a listen - it sounds good, even with the 'source noise/hiss' which it would seem they were unable to finess (it was mastered by James Plotkin after all, so you know...safe hands.)
The other 50% is a really bizarre experience if I'm honest - the sound levels (particularly throughout side A, from around track 3 onwards) waver wildly up and down within cues, and it's crazy distracting from the music. I'd love to know why this is happening, and why effort was not made to 'level' them out. Or if effort was made, why they couldn't do more to adjust for these fluctuations and dips in volume during the cues.
During some cues with stabbing piano notes in the upper end, the higher notes were distorting. I'm going to check through and see which tracks this was happening on, and make sure it's nothing to do with the vinyl needing a clean.
I've only had one listen so far, and found it all quite bewildering - my mind was asking many practical questions, distracting quite heavily from enjoying the score/new sequencing. I will obviously be returning to it very soon to see what a second listen brings! The LP doesn't carry any sleeve notes, and the only mention of the provenance of the tracks/process of creating this latest version is a few vague lines on the Obi (where the phrases 'stems' and 'master' aren't really elucidated upon that clearly). It really feels like some detailed 'process' notes for this project would set a good mental frame for diving into the music. Maybe I'd be in the minority who would actually want this, I don't know.
Again - hugely appreciate the concept and effort that has gone into this new approach to an (over?) familiar score. I wasn't knocked out on first blush, but will go back in with an open mind and see what happens!
Ps. This is the orange retail edition.
Pps. I'm not completely sold on the inner gatefold spread, but I love the front cover. It's pretty badass irl.
Last edited by ScoJo on Sat Oct 27, 2018 5:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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