Apparently it is impossible to change the title of a thread, for it is no longer coming soon, it is here :)
Part 1:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/3c85hb
Part 2:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/gng7lg

Hi guys,
I am currently uploading an edited version of the 5CD Avatar release that Scoreman recently posted. I am not sure when it will be done...hopefully tonight, but I have had some problems in the past with uploading large files and I only have about 60kbps of upload bandwidth. Also I am thinking I'd better listen to the completed project once more, in case I missed anything. So it might be 'til tomorrow. But I am posting this ahead of time so that if anyone else is thinking about jumping into the major task of editing this release to official-album-style standards, you may want to try out my effort before going to the trouble yourself. I've probably put about 10 hours into this, between the earlier 3CD version and this new one.

What follows is a list of what I have done - not specifically, as there are hundreds of little changes, but in general what I did was:

-I removed excess silence at the beginning, end, and occasionally middle of tracks. This was done manually in mp3directcut so no loss-producing re-encoding occured. I was careful and am 98% sure that I did not mistakenly cut off the tiniest bit of actual sound, reverb, etc. In most cases I left a moment of silence at the end, as you get with most official albums.

-I applied mild volume leveling to really quiet and really loud tracks. absolutely NO dynamic compression or anything else that would risk clipping was done, so there is no loss of audio data as far as I understand the process. I simply used foobar to bump up the gains of the soft tracks and bump down the loud tracks, on an individual track-by-track basis so that each decision was made intelligently rather than automatically by the software. So the quiet tracks are still quiet, and the loud tracks are still loud...the only real change is that the differences between the two are not as extreme as they are on most promos. If you listen to a lot of promos/bootlegs/unofficial releases and compare them to the official album of the same soundtrack, you will realize that most album producers do this anyway. A big part of the reason why many promos seem to have subpar sound quality is that this hasn't been done. Volume affects perceived quality. So while every single person may not agree with every single adjustment I made regarding the volume of each track, I believe that the end result will be a much pleasanter listening experience for most people.

-I did my best to arrange the material into film order. Unfortunately I do not have the movie on disc, so I am mostly going by memory, from seeing the film in theatres + the arrangement of the 3-disc version. Personally, I am not the biggest fan of the Avatar film itself, so dead-accurate film order was not my biggest priority here. I just love what Horner did with the score in creating a beautiful musical and sonic palette for the film, a palette that despite being terribly unoriginal in its components, is gorgeous and utterly unique in its sum-total entirety. So my guiding principle in this arrangement was presenting the score in as listenable and entertaining a format as possible. Thus I have arranged the tracks in the same way that most recent complete & chronological releases from labels like Intrada have been arranged: a film order presentation followed by all the alternate versions, source music, and unused cues. In this particular case, there is very nearly as much as the latter as the former, so if you really want to listen to the whole thing in one session, you'll basically be going through the entire movie twice: once with the film order presentation, and once with the alternates, sources and unused music arranged by session number. But this way, you have the freedom to make that choice without having to figure out for yourself which version belongs where. The film order presentation is about 2 hours and 40 minutes, so you can stop at its end if you prefer, or soldier on through the whole thing :)

-Along similar lines, I mixed and matched tracks from the 3CD and the 5CD to achieve optimal sound quality and select the best cues for the film order presentation. Believe it or not, the 5CD is not a complete release...there are actually a few cues present in the 3CD that do not appear to be on the 5CD! And I bet there's actually a good deal of music on James Horner's hard drive that we have no idea of yet. A couple of tracks on the 5CD are called "demos" and are obviously synth, but I can't imagine those are the only demos or mockups he did, so I'm sure there's enough more music for even more than 5 CDs :) Just look at the "recording sessions" bootleg for Horner's Troy to get an idea of how many different alternate takes composers tend to do, keeping in mind that Troy was written and recorded in about 5% of the time he had to work on Avatar!

Anyway, still on this same point, and speaking of sound quality: it seems that the 3CD and the 5CD came from different sources and/or went down different roads to get to us. Not only are there differences between the names of some of the cues and the content of the music, not only does the 3CD have mono tracks and other flaws not present in the 5CDs, but to make things all the more complicated, the 3CD actually seems to have been mixed better and/or lossified less than the 5CD. Just listen to the opening track "You Don't Dream in Cryo" with some good headphones or other high-end equipment. Paying careful attention to the dynamic range through the first 30 seconds of the original album compared to the 3CD compared to the 5CD, I came to the conclusion that the 3CD often has the best dynamic range and sonic impact. Granted, this may be simply be a perception difference caused by the difference in gain of the two versions, but I didn't want to mess with the gain any more than I had to for balance's sake. The 3CD sounds better than the 5CD in many places, and doesn't clip, so not wanting to boost the 5CD to the point of risking clipping, I simply chose the 3CD versions of tracks in the situations where it was appropriate.

So yes, originally I thought I could just throw out the 3CD and simply re-arrange the 5CD, but that turned out not to be the case. Instead, I had to listen to snippets of each cue from both the 3CD and the 5CD, and select the best version in each case. The 3CD isn't ALWAYS better, for example, I decided that, between the cue called "Exploring" on the 5CD and "Thanator Chase Part 2" on the 3CD, which seem to be the exact same track, the 5CD version was mixed better. So it was a long process of listening and mixing and matching and (in the case of duplicate tracks) eliminating. Sometimes there were 3 or 4 different versions of the same cue between the 3CD and the 5CD, and I did my best to determine the actual differences between the versions, select the best for the film order presentation, etc. It is entirely possible that I made some mistakes in this process. So again, if you notice anything you don't like, feel free to let me know, or just download all the available material and patch it up just the way you want it.

As soon as I have double-checked my files to make sure everything is in order, I will post a track list of my edit and start uploading. So if you have any questions, concerns, advice, etc before I upload, please let me know before tomorrow morning.

Tracklist:


01 - You Don't Dream In Cryo - 6:19
02 - Quaritch Speech - 1:52
03 - First Look - 1:34
04 - Real Legs - 0:27
05 - Jake Enters His Avatar World - 5:31
06 - Into The Na'vi World - 0:47
07 - Exploring - 3:02
08 - Thanator Chase - 1:50
09 - Viperwolves - 3:17
10 - Pure Spirits Of The Forest - 4:05
11 - Jake Meets The Na'Vi - 10:35
12 - Sleep - 0:51
13 - The Plan - 1:05
14 - The Floating Mountains (Part 1) - 1:43
15 - The Floating Mountains (Part 2) - 0:57
16 - The Floating Mountains (Part 3) - 1:48
17 - The Village - 2:06
18 - Lessons - 1:55
19 - Becoming One Of ''The People'' - 3:06
20 - Night Iridescence - 2:04
21 - Climbing Up Ikniyama - 5:39
22 - Jake Gets His Banshee - 3:24
23 - Jake Flies His Banshee - 3:45
24 - The Hunt - 1:15
25 - Leonopteryx - 2:34
26 - A Man Of My Word - 0:59
27 - Mated For Life - 4:14
28 - Scorched Earth - 3:30
29 - Quaritch Pulls The Plug - 3:37
30 - No Reasoning - 3:02
31 - The Skypeople Are Coming - 5:12
32 - The Destruction Of Home Tree - 6:58
33 - Shutting Down Grace's Lab - 2:44
34 - Escape From Hellgate - 3:14
35 - Help For Grace - 2:34
36 - Bonding With Leonopteryx - 1:29
37 - Prayers For Grace - 2:49
38 - Grace's Death - 2:49
39 - Gathering The Na'vi Clans For Battle - 4:51
40 - Quaritch Takes Over - 1:25
41 - Battle Plan - 1:19
42 - Jake Prays To Eywa - 1:52
43 - War - 7:40
44 - The Battle Continues - 3:08
45 - Quaritch Down - 5:09
46 - Fight To The Death - 5:22
47 - A New Beginning - 3:23
48 - Eyes Open - 1:06
49 - I See You (Theme From Avatar) - 4:21
50 - Jake's First Flight (End Credit Edit) - 1:59
51 - Gathering The Na'vi Clans (End Credit Edit) - 1:33
52 - 1M5 Unused - 1:37
53 - 2M0 Unused - 0:24
54 - 2M2 Unused Original Demo - 1:42
55 - 2M2 Into The Na'Vi World (Album Version) - 1:33
56 - 2M2 Into The Na'Vi World (Alt) - 1:30
57 - 3M1 Excerpt - 0:39
58 - 3M3 Na'Vi Hometree Chants - 0:39
59 - 3M3 Unused - 0:51
60 - 4M4 Becoming One Of The People (Album Vocal Version) - 3:09
61 - 4M5 Unused (For "Bioluminescence of the Night") - 3:34
62 - 5M1R Climbing Up Iknimaya (Short Version) - 2:51
63 - 5M1 Unused? - 0:57
64 - 5M2 Original Film Ending? - 0:46
65 - 5M3 Intro - 0:26
66 - 6M1 Unused - 0:59
67 - 6M4 Jake and Neytiri (For "Becoming One") - 4:50
68 - 6M4 Mated For Life (Alt End) - 4:20
69 - 6M6 Scorched Earth (Alt) - 3:25
70 - 6M7 No Reasoning (Alt) - 3:19
71 - 7M2 Destruction of Hometree (No Choir) - 7:28
72 - 7M3 Long End - 1:16
73 - 7M3 Shutting Down Grace's Lab (Album Version) - 2:45
74 - 7M4 The Escape (Alt) - 3:16
75 - 8M1 Help For Grace (Extra Percussion) - 2:14
76 - 8M2 Bonding With Leonopteryx (Alt) - 1:31
77 - 8M3 Funeral Chant - 0:25
78 - 8M3 Funeral Chant (Sweetener) - 0:29
79 - 8M4 Prayers For Grace (Alt) - 2:49
80 - 8M5 Grace's Death (Alt 1) - 2:14
81 - 8M5 Grace's Death (Alt 2) - 2:11
82 - 9M1A Unused? - 1:29
83 - 9M2 Jake Prays To Eywa (Alt) - 1:53
84 - 9M5 Insert - 0:32
85 - 10M1 Fight To The Death (Insert) - 1:09
86 - 10M1 Fight To The Death (Original Start) - 0:23


Part 1:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/3c85hb
Part 2:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/gng7lg

PS: Just in case anything in the above monstrosity of a post unintentionally comes across as a criticism of either the 3CD or the 5CD release, please do not take it that way. I am completely indebted to the posters of both of those releases. This is just my way of giving back, and hopefully saving a few people some work. :)

Looking forward to this -- thanks for the hard work!

I can't see there's any advantage in wasting time on editing mp3 with variants.

Wow, all of that sounds awesome.

Would it possible to have the Eyes Open cue sound exactly like it does in the film - right up until the song starts playing over the credits. On the 5CD I'm sure it is missing a couple of seconds which seemed to have been tracked in from earlier in the film.

Thanks in advance for your awesome work. Looking forward to hearing it. John

Hmm, I will look into that. As I said I don't have the film (although I actually just ordered it from Amazon last night) but I will try to find something on youtube and see if I can get it to match.

Hmm, I will look into that. As I said I don't have the film (although I actually just ordered it from Amazon last night) but I will try to find something on youtube and see if I can get it to match.

Don't know if this helps with the Eyes Open track but the following was posted by JHFan so I am not taking credit and I don't know how the quality compares to 3CD ot 5CD edits:

"This is the segment directly off the DVD. I have not, repeat, NOT included the full song. Since people want this pretty much just to edit into their own arrangement, I faded the introduction of the song out (no vocals) so if you want to you can blend it into the song if you want, or just fade it out completely.

12 MB WAV file:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BFK4W56N
"

Now I don't have the software to either insert the full song at the end of track or to remove it completely so that the song could be the next track for a perfect film like presentation of the music.

This might save you some time on youtube or ripping it directly from a DVD.

Thanks,

John

John I am going to post the tracks separated, then after I get the film in the mail I will try to recreate exactly what is done for the ending and post it as a separate single-track upload. Hope that works for you.

Ok the files are now up :)

I had no real interest in hearing Avatar's score, but 1) because of the rarity of this 2) the way you say its pieces are unoriginal (that's what I expected) but its whole is much better than that, and 3) because of the effort you're putting into this, I'll give it a shot. Thank you for your OCD-like focus on this. That's the way I am about things I like too. :D

I hope you enjoy it! I was lukewarm about the score at first, but it's really grown on me during the last few months. The commercial album was terribly produced so I hope this is a better way to get to know the score. :)

Thank you!!!

Thank you so much! I knew that someone will edit the album so i didn't do it lol!

Thanks! I wanted to edit it too, but it's great someone did it!

John I am going to post the tracks separated, then after I get the film in the mail I will try to recreate exactly what is done for the ending and post it as a separate single-track upload. Hope that works for you.

Sounds awesome. Thanks.

Thanks for this! I definitely prefer this over the original 3 & 5 CD sets, and I can tell a lot of time and care went into this. Many, many thanks again! :)

Wow... this is amazing! Great effort, and a great listening experience! Many thanks for your time put into this.

*Squee!* Thankies!

Love the work Matt. You have obviously put a lot of time into this and I thank you for it.

Has anybody else listened to the Lessons track on this edit and thought that it sounded like Morricone's The Mission?

Not criticising Horner but I had never noticed that before.

And for all those who want an even more complete score, here's the music from the website that was posted approximately a year (maybe less?) ago on the official website, promoting the movie:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/sbf8tq

It's a very quiet, four and a half minute long piece, and a bit reminiscent of a few cues from Alex Brandon's Unreal score, of all things.

Very nice. Thanks for your effort

Very well, this seems to be the definitive version to get. Thank you!

I was just wondering if the alternate version of Quaritch Down is the only thing missing from the 5CD, 3CD? Anything else you left off your album edit? Thanks

Matt thanks for taking on such a monumental task! It took me days to edit the 3 disc variant into an album version. I pretty much love your order. I cut out a few tracks and edited a few to my liking.

Regarding the Alt tracks after the end credits I made a very long suite. (From most but not all of the alt tracks) Aptly named "Avatar Alt Suite". Its just short of 45 minutes long and almost continuous. Mind you its an "alt" suite and not a "best of" suite. But it still sounds very nice. I hope I can return the favor by posting that suite here for you and for others.

http://rapidshare.com/files/389605984/Av_Alt_Suite.zip

Edit: Alt track list include.

I was just wondering if the alternate version of Quaritch Down is the only thing missing from the 5CD, 3CD? Anything else you left off your album edit? Thanks

I'm actually not sure what you mean by the alternate version of "Quaritch Down". I don't remember there being more than one version, just those interesting inserts.

As far as I am aware, I did not leave anything out of this version that was present on either the 3CD or the 5CD. If you see some missing tracks, it was because I could not discern a single difference between two supposed "alternate" versions of the same cue. That doesn't mean there WAS no difference. If you decide you want those versions, you can always copy them over from one of the previous releases...but I did my best to make sure that this edit contains every worthwhile moment from both.

Sounds awesome. Thanks.

I might not get to doing the end credit edit for a while yet...too much going on in my life. Keep reminding me! :)

I'm actually not sure what you mean by the alternate version of "Quaritch Down". I don't remember there being more than one version, just those interesting inserts.

As far as I am aware, I did not leave anything out of this version that was present on either the 3CD or the 5CD. If you see some missing tracks, it was because I could not discern a single difference between two supposed "alternate" versions of the same cue. That doesn't mean there WAS no difference. If you decide you want those versions, you can always copy them over from one of the previous releases...but I did my best to make sure that this edit contains every worthwhile moment from both.

Hi Matt
On the 5CD version, there are 2 Quaritch Down cues. One of them is quite different in the first minute or so and the end. A little shorter than the 5 min one you have. Is that labelled as something else? Thanks mate

Awesome job you did on this project. You made this in the rough 5 cd set worth listening to. Mucho thanks for your hard work. It is really appreciated!

Hi Matt
On the 5CD version, there are 2 Quaritch Down cues. One of them is quite different in the first minute or so and the end. A little shorter than the 5 min one you have. Is that labelled as something else? Thanks mate/

Upon reviewing what I did, it looks like I got rid of the shorter one because it seemed to me that the only difference was the 25 seconds or so of female-vocal at the beginning of the longer cue, which transitions into the beginning point of the shorter one. I don't think the ends are really different. But I could be wrong.

Hi Matt
You've done a great job otherwise. Can you tell us what else you mighthave left off? If its not too much trouble. Thanks

I took out the longer version of "War" from the 3CD because it seemed to be the 7 minute cue plus the end of "Destruction of Hometree" tracked on.

I took out the second alternate version of "Scorched Earth" because I couldn't find any clearly new or different material in it.

I took out the "Flight of the Banshee" track because it seemed to be just a combination of "Jake Gets His Banshee" and "Jake Flies His Banshee"

I took out "Sleep (less tinkly)" because it is the same track as "Sleep" just mixed terribly (IMO)

I took out the alternate "The Plan" and "The Plan from 4M1" from the 3CD because they were short, drone-ish, and ultimately seemed pointless to include.

And I took out all the tracks marked "CD mix" because I think they were just copied over from the album, meaning they are worse sound quality, and if you really want to listen to them you can download the album.

So again, the point of all this was not to create an exhaustive "complete" with every single moment from everything...the point was to use the available material to create an enjoyable listening experience...which to me, means removing repetitive material that contributes nothing unique to the whole.

Anyway, I think that is a complete list of everything I took out. If I am missing anything, I apologize :)

Hi Matt
Thanks for that. Really helpful! Check out the other Quaritch Down when you can. There is some different sections to it. Love your edit.
Thanks!

Hi, Matt! I and my bro Cloud9Winged now worked up on "Every Cue" Definitive Edition (maybe 7CD!!!), created from:

"Original Score" @320
"Original Score. Deluxe Edition" @256 [some beautiful stere and pseudo-stereo mixes]
"3CD Academy Promo" @320
"5CD Rough Recording Sessions"
and some bonus tracks

contact me, there is a deal.

hey Matt, this was a fantastic set. I lost it in a HD crash however. Is it possible to reupload this? It'd be greatly appreciated

Re-upped, links in first post :)

Thanx a lot!

Self-made front Cover... :) to make it look good on itunes.

Nice cover, I wish every score had so many different peoples' works to choose from :)

Re-upped, links in first post :)

thanks a bunch!

just when I was starting to think this thread was forgotten about lol

And for all those who want an even more complete score, here's the music from the website that was posted approximately a year (maybe less?) ago on the official website, promoting the movie:

Free large file hosting. Send big files the easy way! (http://www.sendspace.com/file/sbf8tq)

It's a very quiet, four and a half minute long piece, and a bit reminiscent of a few cues from Alex Brandon's Unreal score, of all things.

Reupload, please

Okay, tomorrow.

Well I don't know I guess I'm too late, but if anyone wants to reupload this stuff I'll definately grab it up.

Appreciate any efforts, thanks!

cool

May this score be re-uploaded please?