The Dark Knight--Complete Score Release

[tomandshell]

The LOTR complete score packages are still the gold standard against which all other soundtrack releases are to be measured.

 

[Nocturne]

What would've been nice would've been a bonus DVD with the concert Zimmer and Newton Howard performed of the score before the premier of the film

 

[MaulFan]

Unfortunately, it seems like the companies just don't anticipate support behind scores enough to do full ones, or the composers don't or want to arrange a CD that stands by itself. I appreciate the art of them doing that, but as the consumer, a major factor in why I'm buying the score is the presentation of it from the movie. Missing notes or out of order arrangements stand out. Big example is the climax battle from TDK. The music from the point where Batman is on the roof with Gordon to Joker's arrest is spread out over 3-4 tracks. I still enjoy the sounds, but I enjoyed more the mix of all the cues together and it stinks you can't have that without mixing them yourself.

 

[Nocturne]

I do agree, can i have a copy of yours when you've mixed it

 

[MaulFan]

I can probably post mp3 files easy enough. We'll see. The trickiest track, which is the most important, is the end battle. There's a sort of beating build up as Gordon and Batman argue about how to handle the hostages and the boats are panicking, then it basically repeats once Batman's in the Prewitt building and Two-Face calls Gordon before the SWAT moves in. Since my only option is to take the cue and repeat it and blend it together, trying to figure out how the point where the two takes merge in the movie is hard with all the noise going on, and I want the transition to be smooth and natural as if JNH and HZ cut it themselves.

My TDK score compilation will be a mix of the bootleg and the 2 disc set. Between the two sources, I think I'll have pretty much all of the music from TDK. I'm glad to have the DVD now so I can discern the music and know which tracks need to be split up of the ones where it's not totally obvious. Now that I have the 2 disc set, I can tell some of the bootleg tracks were homemade too using cut tracks from Begins and things where on the genuine score you can hear a whole bunch of notes that were absent in the bootleg.

 

[Nocturne]

Well I'll look forward to hearing what you do with it.

As heretical as this sounds I'd love to have a version without the score, just because I want to lift speech samples for when I DJ.

Was trying to lift the Jokers " Come on, come on I want you to Hit me" to overlay on the intro to Noisuf-X's "Hit me Hard, Hit me fast" and put over the outro "there's nothing you can threaten me with, nothing to do with all your strength"

 

[scubasteve]

I can probably post mp3 files easy enough. We'll see. The trickiest track, which is the most important, is the end battle. There's a sort of beating build up as Gordon and Batman argue about how to handle the hostages and the boats are panicking, then it basically repeats once Batman's in the Prewitt building and Two-Face calls Gordon before the SWAT moves in. Since my only option is to take the cue and repeat it and blend it together, trying to figure out how the point where the two takes merge in the movie is hard with all the noise going on, and I want the transition to be smooth and natural as if JNH and HZ cut it themselves.

My TDK score compilation will be a mix of the bootleg and the 2 disc set. Between the two sources, I think I'll have pretty much all of the music from TDK. I'm glad to have the DVD now so I can discern the music and know which tracks need to be split up of the ones where it's not totally obvious. Now that I have the 2 disc set, I can tell some of the bootleg tracks were homemade too using cut tracks from Begins and things where on the genuine score you can hear a whole bunch of notes that were absent in the bootleg.

Glad to hear you got your hands on a copy, MaulFan. Hope you are enjoying it as much as my car and I are.

 

[MaulFan]

Glad to hear you got your hands on a copy, MaulFan. Hope you are enjoying it as much as my car and I are.

Immensely, I'll tell ya, it's like 10 seconds long but that bit from him throwing the Joker is probably my favorite part of any track in all of Nolan Batman. It's the same as my favorite moment in Begins, "I won't kill you, but I don't have to save you either." Just something about the cue really moves me.

However, the whole bonus disc is worth it to me. The proper prologue music (yes folks, while most of it's on disc 1, there's elements and notes that are in the film cut that aren't in Why So Serious?), having the full Scarecrow scene and Bruce's stitching up music is great. Some of the other tracks seem to feature bits and pieces from all over.

I wish they'd thrown the bit from the DC and TDK logos at the opening in front of Prologue instead of at the end of, can't remember which one, one of the other tracks, but oh well, easy enough to cut.

Also love having the proper cut of music when Batman takes out Two-Face, one of my favorite lengthy sections of music in the movie.

 

[scubasteve]

I do agree, can i have a copy of yours when you've mixed it

I may upload some tracks from Disc 2, probably not mixed though. I'll leave that to the pros

 

[scubasteve]

I wish they'd thrown the bit from the DC and TDK logos at the opening in front of Prologue instead of at the end of, can't remember which one, one of the other tracks, but oh well, easy enough to cut.

Oh yeah, I agree. I believe it's from the "Decent Men..." track. Funny you mention it, I like that little bit. And yes, I love "Buyer Beware" too, especially when the Molossus bit cuts in.

 

[MaulFan]

Buyer beware has that great Batman intro. I love how the music kicks in right as he bends the barrel of the rifle, that's a beautiful moment.

I love the Begins score, it had some so-so points, but TDK score seemed to take that and amplify the good points and add some new ones.

I have to say, I really love what JNH came up with for Harvey Dent. Reading the book with this set, it sounds like Joker's theme was in Zimmer's hands and Harvey went to Howard, appropriately I think, their styles match the characters well. But I love that noble tone to the Harvey stuff, it's really cool. I wish the bit from the Harvey/Two-Face track on disc one where it's that big grand cue from Begins like from the end of the film when Rachel tells them they can't be together. They gave it a grander, more operatic feel for the short bit in the Harvey track. Listening to the score before the movie, I was looking forward to what image could accompany that music.

 

[MaulFan]

Here's my cut of the Prewitt building scene. Pieces are missing, I did my best with what cuts are there. Basically everything from the moment the SWAT blasts their way in to the end is all there, just the buildup before that is choppy.

Prewitt Building Showdown

I won't leave it out there long so get it in the next day or so.

 

[Nocturne]

Does sound great mixed together like that, you've done a great job the volume level does seem to pop up quite noticeably around the 55 second mark. Can be a tricky thing to get right. I remixed a scene from The Sarah Connor Chronicles to remove that horrible Shirley Manson cover

 

[MaulFan]

Does sound great mixed together like that, you've done a great job the volume level does seem to pop up quite noticeably around the 55 second mark. Can be a tricky thing to get right. I remixed a scene from The Sarah Connor Chronicles to remove that horrible Shirley Manson cover

Actually, the volume is the same at the point you're referring to, it's the point in the track. In the movie, they spliced Like A Dog Chasing Cars, so the first 50 seconds of the track are there then it cuts to a faster, louder paced point, but the whole cue is toned down for the sake of dialogue on the ferry in the movie so the transition point is less noticeable. It's not a clean transition like the composers could do for the movie though, I hate that part. Some stuff mixes clean and easy without the advantages the composers have, other parts just don't come out right. I did this to make some tracks from ROCKY BALBOA too because there are mixed cues in that movie that are meshes of older tracks.

 

[Nocturne]

You've still done a great job, so I'm not knocking that and I hadn't had a chance to go and compare it to how it appears in the film. Just from a first listen (to a DJ's ear) it's noticeable. But if that's how it is in the film more power to you for staying true to it instead of going for what would sound more pleasing aesthetically

 

[MaulFan]

It's tricky trying to splice tracks together from the movie for a number of reasons.

Watching BTS clips of different movies, I've found they play games with the dialogue, SFX and music tracks to find the best mix at any given point, so within the same scene, one cue of music may go up and down all over the place depending on when people are talking etc. When you go to mix pure tracks off the CD where they're all one volume, transitions can be ugly.

I'm very amateur at this, I'm just using Apple's GarageBand to split them together. With a little luck someone out there may do better and make it available.

 

[Nocturne]

GoldWave and Soundforge are very good for playing around with sound volumes for transitions. I've not GarageBand myself so I can't comment on it. But I do know what you mean, it can be a nightmare at times getting tracks to gel together, even more so if they were never meant to be integrated in that way.

This is the re-score I did for the SCC scene, I'll post a link as opposed to embedding so it doesn't disturb the flow, plus the youtube page lists the tracks used.
Terminator :SCC - Rescore

 

[Thrustmaster]

Aloha,

I've tried to do a TDK suite and uploaded it at youtube. It's my first attempt for TDK, so I hope you're liking it. And don't forget to tell me what you're thinking of it.

If someone wants the mp3, just shoot me a pn.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKXkuYmrbFQ

 

[CelticPredator]

I want the whole soundtrack. When will someone just put it on Rapid!?

And dont give me that bootlegging is wrong thing. Everyone does it.

 

[Nocturne]

And dont give me that bootlegging is wrong thing. Everyone does it.

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