The SYNTH myth

[RobertScorpio]

I was at comic-con this weekend, and while walking outside to get some fresh air (whew..talk about a mix of perfume/bo in that place) and I got to talking with a Star Trek fan who claims that there was sythnesizer music already penned for KHAN when they decided to use Horner/orchestra. Does anyone know if that is true, and if they ever made that music public???

Rob

 

[trevanian]

That's pretty crazy. They barely had two cents to spend on the thing to start with, the last thing they'd do is commission a synthesizer score WHILE THE FILM WAS IN PRODUCTION under Meyer (which would have had to be the case, since Horner was already on the movie when it shot, since you see him in uniform.)

 

[plynch]

(whew..talk about a mix of perfume/bo in that place)

Rob

Ha! Very vivid. Combination of Betazeds and Klingons?

 

[CoveTom]

Meyer was the director of TWOK from the get-go. They never considered anyone else. And I can't imagine Meyer ever even considering a synth score for the film. In fact, he speaks very specifically about his desires for the score and its grand naval feel. I suspect that synth thing is a myth.

 

[RobertScorpio]

Meyer was the director of TWOK from the get-go. They never considered anyone else. And I can't imagine Meyer ever even considering a synth score for the film. In fact, he speaks very specifically about his desires for the score and its grand naval feel. I suspect that synth thing is a myth.

I agree...but I have had heard the rumors that they were going to have synth score, but when they realized how good it was, they went with an orchestrated score. I am very glad they did.

Rob

 

[Anticitizen]

It's not entirely impossible that Horner used a synthesizer to help write the music and 'test it' against the footage before having the orchestra record the real deal.

 

[Indysolo]

Horner doesn't write his music that way.

Neil

 

[Christopher]

I think the only thing synthesized here is this rumor.

 

[RobertScorpio]

I think the only thing synthesized here is this rumor.

I had thought so...But I do remember reading some where back, not sure where, that Paramount was favoring a synth soundtrack (we are talking paramount here) and that later, when they started getting the film in, they went ahead and decided to get a real score. That rumor goes back years...

Rob

 

[CoveTom]

^ Well, Paramount did want to do TWOK on the cheap, that's for sure. But I can't imagine that a synth score was ever seriously considered by anyone actually involved with the film's production. And unless circumstances were very unusual, I'm pretty sure decisions about the music are usually left up to the director.

 

[tharpdevenport]

Meyer was the director of TWOK from the get-go. They never considered anyone else. And I can't imagine Meyer ever even considering a synth score for the film. In fact, he speaks very specifically about his desires for the score and its grand naval feel. I suspect that synth thing is a myth.

He considered Miklos Rosza first.

 

[Captrek]

It's not entirely impossible that Horner used a synthesizer to help write the music and 'test it' against the footage before having the orchestra record the real deal.

Horner doesn't write his music that way.

I remember reading somewhere that Edelman recorded the TUC main theme on a synthesizer and played it for the producers before getting the go-ahead to record it with an orchestra. Maybe somebody got their Meyer movies mixed up.

 

[tharpdevenport]

Well, one should also consider that what Meyer wanted, may not have been what other people such as the other producers, and the studio, wanted, and at some point another composer could have submitted ideas.

 

[darkwing_duck1]

On the soundtrack for either II or III there was a synth/rock cut at the end.

 

[Christopher]

On the soundtrack for either II or III there was a synth/rock cut at the end.

Not on the editions I have, which are the original LPs. Are you maybe thinking of the "Market Street" cue from the Voyage Home soundtrack, or "The Moon's a Window to Heaven" (Uhura's fandance music) from The Final Frontier?

 

[Broccoli]

On the soundtrack for either II or III there was a synth/rock cut at the end.

Not on the editions I have, which are the original LPs. Are you maybe thinking of the "Market Street" cue from the Voyage Home soundtrack, or "The Moon's a Window to Heaven" (Uhura's fandance music) from The Final Frontier?

The last track of the ST3 soundtrack, titled "The Search for Spock", is a pop remix of the main theme. I don't know if it is on the LP, but it is definitely there on the CD. Listen to the sample on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-III...1P0S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1249225521&sr=8-1

 

[Christopher]

Okay... I took a closer look at my TSFS soundtrack album, which I haven't listened to in years (I got tired of Horner a long time ago). Turns out it's a two-record set in a double sleeve. (It folds open like a book, and on the inside is a big, widescreen image of the Enterprise facing down the Bird of Prey. Two feet wide, one foot high. You can't get that in a CD case.) The first LP contains the soundtrack, whose contents are listed on the back cover (which was all I looked at when I checked earlier). The second LP, despite being a full-sized 33 1/3 RPM record, has only one track on it, which must be the pop remix. It's weird -- there are only grooves on part of one side and the other side is blank. Seems like a waste of material. If they were going to put out a 2-record set, why not do a fuller release of the soundtrack? Though offhand I can't recall there being much music in the movie which wasn't on the LP.

 

[RobertScorpio]

Okay... I took a closer look at my TSFS soundtrack album, which I haven't listened to in years (I got tired of Horner a long time ago). Turns out it's a two-record set in a double sleeve. (It folds open like a book, and on the inside is a big, widescreen image of the Enterprise facing down the Bird of Prey. Two feet wide, one foot high. You can't get that in a CD case.) The first LP contains the soundtrack, whose contents are listed on the back cover (which was all I looked at when I checked earlier). The second LP, despite being a full-sized 33 1/3 RPM record, has only one track on it, which must be the pop remix. It's weird -- there are only grooves on part of one side and the other side is blank. Seems like a waste of material. If they were going to put out a 2-record set, why not do a fuller release of the soundtrack? Though offhand I can't recall there being much music in the movie which wasn't on the LP.

ahhh..records. My kids have no idea what they are. We don't have a turntable anymore, but I saw one at Best Buy I might get. We have a lot of old LPs in storage from those days. Would be fun to listen to them again after all these years, and put the Nicholas Cage test to work...

Rob

 

[Peach Wookiee]

On the soundtrack for either II or III there was a synth/rock cut at the end.

Yeah, on the end of the III CD.

 

[Therin of Andor]

The second LP, despite being a full-sized 33 1/3 RPM record, has only one track on it, which must be the pop remix.

Yep. It's the disco version of the theme for "The Search for Spock", and they anticipated disc jockeys actually playing it in discos!

The funny thing is, LP-sized 45s had become very popular in the early 80s, but this bonus record failed to say on the label whether it was meant to be played at 33 1/3 or 45 RPMs! I hadn't bother timing them, so I didn't really know for sure until the CD came out; it's the last track, #9. Runs 3 mins 43 secs, three seconds longer than the record's track.