John Williams - Jaws (1975) [The Great White Edition v.2]



Hi Shriners,

Allow me to share with you... JAWS, The Great White Edition ! VERSION 2 !!

In 2000 Decca Records released "The Collector's Edition Soundtrack" featuring the original score. Well presented as it was, the sound quality was disappointing. "The Great White Edition" is the result of a serious effort to enrich the sound, using the audio tools and experience at my disposal. I am happy with how it turned out, hence the share! Several things subsequently vexed me about the previous release, hence VERSION 2. The sound quality this time is much improved IMO.


What went wrong with the 2000 CD?

Spielberg documentarian Laurent Bouzereau had discovered the recording sessions whilst researching Jaws material for the 20th anniversary laserdisc. The "Collector's Edition Soundtrack" was then concieved in collaboration with Steven Spielberg and John Williams, and was engineered (using "24-Bit Digital Mastering") by the experienced Shawn Murphy.

Presumably in an attempt to suppress the large amounts of background noise audible in the 1975 recording (analog tape hiss, noisy musicians etc), a heavy-handed Noise Reduction filter was used. This unfortunately acted like a big, black shroud, muffling out most upper frequencies above 10 khz. When applied to a recording that prominantly features low strings and brass (especially in the first half) across a very wide dynamic range, the end result sounded dull, weak and distant.

So?


I adjusted the dynamics to lift the volume of quieter sounds up out of the murky depths.
With harmonic excitation I salvaged as much of the lost higher frequencies as possible, and restored the texture of the cellos, violas, and brightness of the harps, percussion etc.
Re-Equalized to give it the power and BITE this wonderful score deserves. [v.2 features improved EQ]
Denoising was used to reduce the inevitable increase in noise, but I did NOT remove any background orchestra noise because I actually like those sounds! There was however some other static-y sounds that I reduced as much as possible. [v.2: Some of the more obtrusive musician noise reduced]
Cues are now chronological; Cues on the DECCA CD were rearranged slightly (by JW himself) "to allow for a richer, harmonious and original orchestral narrative". Shorter cues were cross-faded into longer tracks (always chronologically), which has not changed here.
'The Great Chase' is now edited as JW intended, with the insert replacing the original start, although I nearly left it as it was on the Decca (with insert preceding original) as I always thought it worked well. [v.2: The insert precedes the original once again]
I did a 4-page cover and traycard too. :)

PLEASE NOTE!!
This does not contain any unreleased music, it is purely an effort to improve sound quality.
If you thought the DECCA release sound just fine, this release is NOT for you. :)




[U]TRACKLIST
01 - Main Title / The First Victim (03:27)
02 - The Empty Raft (01:22)
03 - The Pier Incident (02:22)
04 - Father and Son / The Alimentary Canal (03:42)
05 - Ben Gardner's Boat (03:29)
06 - The Montage (01:30)
07 - Into the Estuary (02:50)
08 - Out to Sea / A Tug on the Line (02:59)
09 - Man Against Beast (05:32)
10 - Quint's Tale (02:40)
11 - Brody Panics (01:09)
12 - Barrel Off Starboard (01:30)
13 - The Great Chase (03:28)
14 - Three Barrels Under (02:04)
15 - From Bad to Worse / Quint Thinks it Over (02:06)
16 - Work Montage (01:58)
17 - The Shark Approaches the Cage (02:40)
18 - Quint Meets His End (01:16)
19 - Blown to Bits (03:02)
20 - End Titles (01:51)

FLAC - 252.3 MB - Password: tiburon

v.2: MEGA (https://mega.co.nz/#!BQxmTQwI!YKY2yjMveCAOfvEvafD8M2PE9jBSNm3achm5qyK 3xkw) or DEPOSITFILES (http://dfiles.eu/files/ornk29d3e)

Hopefully, one of the labels will release a properly mastered Jaws [box-set?] one day. In the meantime, hope you enjoy this! :)

Mil gracias

Thanks a lot !

Big thanks for all the work you put in this. I appreciate that!

Thank you!

thanks

Excellent - thanks!

cheers for this

hey thank you you have style

Thanks for your work on this project and for share.

My jaw is ready for this bite! thanks!

I believe someone said many years ago that the surviving recordings of Jaws are actually stored on reels of magnetic 35mm film, not tape. This kind of material is, let's say, a piece of cr@p... ;)

i've got the DECCA release Flac, but this is a great share, Thanks!

I was just working on my own study of this score. I'll have to check it out. I found many of the tape noises could be reduced so I'm intrigued to see if you did the same I did heh

Another funny thing is that I have the very first home video release of Jaws, which was released in Dec/1978 on the "Discovision" format (later called Laserdisc). You woudn't believe how fantastic John Williams score sounds, even in monaural sound. I don't have this kind of hardware anymore, but someone recorded on a Betamax tape the opening credits of this release. It doesn't come close to represent the actual sound quality, but you can have an idea. I don't know if it's allowed, but here's the link of this video:


http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7g9dx_original-mca-discovision-laserdisc_shortfilms

Thank you so much for your effort.
I agrree with you that the remaster of the Jaws Decca is very very bad. So dry....without any sound definition.....the eq so flat.......bufffff....
I don't like the work of Shawn Murphy........especially in this reissue. Although i must confess i haven't like his job. Never...never. (an opinion absolutely personal)
Great job!!! Excellent sound of this shark.

Great! Thank You!

Thanks, OtNife!

For those who have the Laserdisc or DVD of "1941", which has John Williams isolated score, at the very beggining of the movie (after the opening credits), they recicled the first half of "The Empty Raft" track from Jaws. Since this movie is from 1979, I believe the Jaws master tapes were in much better shape, as you can clearly notice a very different quality of that recicled track than the one used in the 2000 Decca release.

I was under the impression it was re-recorded for 1941. Isn't it on the recent Complete release of 1941?

Nope, just on the isolated score (Laserdisc/DVD). I don't believe it's a re-recording, but I can't answer exactly.

Here:

"1941" Empty Raft cue (Laserdisc):

https://mega.co.nz/#!84tiHDZJ!NjNblG0mWnXZlA5sK5Nu-yLq2Ll9K-6Dhv4GpWGfwE4

"1941" Empty Raft cue (DVD):

https://mega.co.nz/#!U4sRFSBC!D2wYrzC2TU2MCB_2t-En6F-_OFZwhnQ48Z6ciNjv5n4

Thanks for sharing this. I heard a lot of people saying that this score needed some re-mastering so I'm glad to give it another listen in this version.

Nope, just on the isolated score (Laserdisc/DVD). I don't believe it's a re-recording, but I can't answer exactly.

Here:

"1941" Empty Raft cue (Laserdisc):

https://mega.co.nz/#!84tiHDZJ!NjNblG0mWnXZlA5sK5Nu-yLq2Ll9K-6Dhv4GpWGfwE4

"1941" Empty Raft cue (DVD):

https://mega.co.nz/#!U4sRFSBC!D2wYrzC2TU2MCB_2t-En6F-_OFZwhnQ48Z6ciNjv5n4


Yup, that's definitely the Jaws recording wow.

Many thanks!

Thanks, OtNife

Thanks!

Another funny thing is that I have the very first home video release of Jaws, which was released in Dec/1978 on the "Discovision" format (later called Laserdisc). You woudn't believe how fantastic John Williams score sounds, even in monaural sound. I don't have this kind of hardware anymore, but someone recorded on a Betamax tape the opening credits of this release. It doesn't come close to represent the actual sound quality, but you can have an idea. I don't know if it's allowed, but here's the link of this video:


http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7g9dx_original-mca-discovision-laserdisc_shortfilms

By contrast, much as I love the recent Blu-Ray Restoration, the score on the new DTS-HD 7.1 is swamped in reverb! :(
There is also a mono track on the Blu which I've yet to hear.

---------- Post added at 01:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:33 PM ----------


Thank you so much for your effort.
I agrree with you that the remaster of the Jaws Decca is very very bad. So dry....without any sound definition.....the eq so flat.......bufffff....
I don't like the work of Shawn Murphy........especially in this reissue. Although i must confess i haven't like his job. Never...never. (an opinion absolutely personal)
Great job!!! Excellent sound of this shark.

Thank you!
With regards to Shawn Murphy, I'd say his sound for Jaws would have sounded better, had it not been deadened by the noise reduction. The various parts of the orchestra are particularly well placed in the stereo field.

I love his recent stuff with Williams: War Horse, Tin-Tin etc - I think they sound awesome. :)

---------- Post added at 01:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:41 PM ----------


For those who have the Laserdisc or DVD of "1941", which has John Williams isolated score, at the very beggining of the movie (after the opening credits), they recicled the first half of "The Empty Raft" track from Jaws. Since this movie is from 1979, I believe the Jaws master tapes were in much better shape, as you can clearly notice a very different quality of that recicled track than the one used in the 2000 Decca release.

Interesting stuff, I'll have a proper listen when I get home! :)

Thanks for new and better listening experience.

Many thanks for this great effort - may I make some constructive criticism without half the world jumping down my throat? :)

This is a wonderful contribution and excellent work! Thank you very much ^^

Many thanks for this great effort - may I make some constructive criticism without half the world jumping down my throat? :)

Fire away! :)

Thanks for this glorious effort, OtNife! I have this CD in its physical form myself, but had played it so often that it got some scratches so that even my own rip were compromised by them. This remaster of yours helps alot in preserving this release for me, while at the same time its a magnificent improvement (which I can clearly experience right now while I'm writing my comment!). Thanks again!

To tangotreats: Your comments are always welcome, looking forward to them! :)

Thanks

Shit !! What a great job you did ! As good as any FSM release... I had always been frustrated by this Decca release.
Carry on !

Thanks!!

Thanks

Thank you so much for your time, effort & care on this, I'm really looking forward to listening to it.

Nice job!

thank you for the great job on the upgrade.

This is why I come to this website. This is outstanding work, sir. Thank you so much. It sounds fantastic. :)

OtNife Would you mind sharing what software you use? Adobe,Sony, etc...
Thanks.

Had a listen...... Stellar Job...... Well Done

Thank you for the Great White!

Thank you for your time and effort you put into this :)

thanks will listen

Thank you OtNife, you did an excellent job tweaking this recording. I listened to it yesterday and it sounded great with good tonal balance and wonderful stereo imaging and depth.

Thanks! Looking forward listening to this tonight.

One hopes some day that Intrada or La-La Land possibly could come out with both a score and original album presentation, remedying the aforementioned sound quality/remaster issue, as well as a nice booklet.

Fantastic! Thank you.

Great Job! Many thanks!!

Thanks for this.

Thanks for sharing this. Wonderful to hear this with fresher clarity. It was a very needed adjustment. Great!

Thank you for this and for all the work you put in to this great share!

Thanks for your work

Loving this. Many thanks. (And the hidden track is a nice touch).

Very nice work. Not overdone. Thanks.

I have to chime in again because this is really stunning work. This has quickly become my Jaws go-to.

Great work. Love the clarity and thickness of those slicing strings in the main title. Sounds like a truck coming right at you.

It'd be heaven itself if somebody could remaster the 1995 Decca Raiders Of The Lost Ark CD and create a terrific sounding version of the COMPLETE desert chase cue and not the butchered one on the Concorde release. Concorde sounds great - but I HATE those edits.

Many Thanks!

Great work. Love the clarity and thickness of those slicing strings in the main title. Sounds like a truck coming right at you.

It'd be heaven itself if somebody could remaster the 1995 Decca Raiders Of The Lost Ark CD and create a terrific sounding version of the COMPLETE desert chase cue and not the butchered one on the Concorde release. Concorde sounds great - but I HATE those edits.


I agree that would be great.... Also if someone could fix the pitch and speed issues along with Temple Of Doom and Last Crusade

Thanks for your work on this! :)

Thank you guys for the positive comments! :)

Thanks! I look forward to listening to this and comparing it with the official release.

I too I have the Decca release but I'm shelving that for now and downloading this one. I'll share this one with my pops too who is a fan of the original film. Thanks for your hard work on this.

Thank you for yur work :)

thank you

thsnks !!

Can someone upload Jaws Soundtrack & Jaws 25th Anniversary Soundtrack in FLAC? Thanks! =)

Thanks OtNife!

Marvelous. Thank you

Thank you!

Great!
Thank you very much.

thank you :)

A possibly exciting news for a possible remaster JAWS in the words of Douglass Fake from Intrada:

Intrada Soundtrack Forum ? View topic - Poltergeist II: Complete & Remastered! (http://www.intrada.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=65806&sid=5ab08a0fb9955853a9225ad2f36b9e83#p65806)

Neat! Thank you.

Thank you, and great work!!

Thanks!!

Thank you very much!

awesome! thank you!

SAweet!!! This is great, thanks soo much!

Jea Great !!! Thanks !!!

I must sort out my quadraphonic edition of this soundtrack.

Thank You, for the OST !!!!

Thank you !

thanks !

Thanks.

SUPER WORK!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for creating this much superior version :-D

Thanks mate, much appreciated!

great work ! thank you guy for the effort

Version 2! :)

See First Post (http://forums.ffshrine.org/f92/john-williams-jaws-1975-%5B-great-white-141915/#post2440519)

This new update is a huge improvement; wow. Thanks for posting! I like this enhancement even more then the one recently posted by Spectre8750. Both are a real treat for Jaws fans to say the least. Good stuff all around.

THANKS,YOU ARE GOODMAN

Thank You Very Much! This is the best version of the Jaws soundtrack I have ever heard :D

Thank you.

Thanks!

I have made an album cover for Jaws:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/126807721@N03/15140011066/in/photostream/

If you like it, let me know, and check the Custom Covers thread for more :D

v2 is unreal. I never knew this score could sound this good!

Danke times infinity!!!!!!

Thanks!

This is just awesome! Thank you guys

thanks for the share.

I have made an album cover for Jaws:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/126807721@N03/15140011066/in/photostream/

If you like it, let me know, and check the Custom Covers thread for more :D


Splendid! Splendid!

I have made an album cover for Jaws:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/126807721@N03/15140011066/in/photostream/

If you like it, let me know, and check the Custom Covers thread for more :D

Awesome... would you be able to do one For JAWS 2

Great.....Thanks very much!

gracias

Just wanted to let you know that you did an AWESOME job on this! The audio and graphics are AMAZING!!!!

Thanks so much!

Many Thanks.

THANK YOU!

Nice job! Many Thanks!

Much appreciated

Big thanks for this classic and good job, OtNifef!!!
I really appreciate, my friend!!! :)

ty

Thank you.

Thanks:)

Thanks:)

No probs BUT this release is pretty redundant now that Intrada have released their wonderful restoration! :)

Thanks!

Thanks