Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: mock-up possibilities?

Hi everyone.

Not sure whether this is the right place for such questions, but to my surprise no one else seems to have discussed this, and it has been on my mind for a few days so here goes.

We have the complete sheet music for the Prisoner of Azkaban, and until Warner Brothers stops having the recording sessions guarded by Dementors (may everyone involved burn in hell), we only have SFX-ridden DVDrips to enjoy thanks to the ever-so-brilliant 5.1 sound mix of the film.

So I was wondering, isn’t it possible to run this sheet music through a set of computer programmes and make, say, MIDI files of every cue? I know that this would result in a completely emotionless version of the music, but I’d simply love to have a clean version of the score loyal to the sheet music. Cues such as Something Wicked, Harry And Voices and Enter Winter really need a good edit.

According to a few people, this would be totally impossible because the sheets are hand-written (which is the reason my braille display doesn’t even allow me to read them), and some even claim that scores which aren’t scanned are impossible to mock-up easily as well. Is this really true? I’m not that interested in a mixture between OST material and mock-ups of the remaining cues (though that would be really great too of course), and I don’t demand the usage of the best sound library either, I’m merely trying to think of a way to have something other than sfx cues.

Any opinions? Didn’t people do the same for Titanic?

here is titanic thread (perhaps link at end). maybe finding from him how doing it?

Thread 125352

Update: I now firmly believe that it is perfectly possible to easily convert sheet music into midi files. I just found a ton of classical music in midi format online, from Bach’s Orchestral Suites to Mozart’s entire symphonies, and I doubt Mozart had any computers at his disposal. It’s very interesting to note that all those classical files have the same (very occasional) glitch: sometimes the midis miss sharp notes, which makes it seem as though they were all run through an auto music scanner. So, wouldn’t it be possible to convert any film score sheet music to MIDI in a few steps? I tried to download one tool and another, but surprise surprise, my screenreader doesn’t support them so it’ll be up to someone else to experiment…

Also, I downloaded a free instruments library and all the midis sound spectucalar now. Plus, the midis allow you to discover complexities in the film music you just can’t heard in the orchestral mix, the Jurassic Park End Titles is a very good example of this.

This sounds like a good idea, I know people have done something similar for some of the older Doctor Who scores and Titanic as mentioned above. The rendered music wouldn’t be totally emotionless, but it would give a good idea of the actual cues structure and maybe intention as they change little things during the sessions…

Well, thanks for your support! I just don’t buy these theories that i’s impossible to do this because the amount of nearly-perfect classical midis on the net is huge. Also, if it was such a painstaking process, I don’t think anyone would have even ventured to do Harry’s Wondrous World. I’d be very happy to pay for a ‘MIDI transcriber’ or to do other things to have complete mock-ups of the HP sheet music in MIDI. It would be earshattering to hear my sound library play all these cues.

It’s a big undertaking, there are parts written that sometimes don’t translate into the digital programs.

I would try people on Musescore.org who have transcribed sheet music into (mainly piano) mock-ups and in that program you can have many soundfonts.

When you say that some music is transcribed differently, are you only talking about the Williams sheet music? If I’m not mistaken, Deathly Hallows are digital scores, would transcribing those also be a big unddertaking?

I’ll definitely try that website.

There is a sheet music book for orchestra (I could find with a quick search), with 5 tracks, that is being sold for about 60$ here: Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban Sheet Music By John Williams (SKU: HL.4490389) – Sheet Music Plus (http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/harry-potter-and-the-prisoner-of-azkaban-sheet-music/5811539)

Making MIDIs or mock-ups from that would be quite doable, albeit time-consuming. The hand-written one from HP3 is also doable from what I see but ehm, for 835 pages, definitely time-consuming…

There are also some HP MIDIs here:
MIDI Movie Theme Songs & Video Clips – H (http://moviethemes.net/H1.html)

Here is an example I made using 1 of those MIDIs (it could be better, I’m just too bored to edit more…):
http://uptobox.com/5amg9rv7tpy6

I find that many of the scores on MuseScore (those that are for orchestra) usually use many general MIDI sounds (e.g. one Strings patch for all strings) and you’ll still have to spend some time pairing instrument voices to tracks or separating chords etc. So, it still needs work oftentimes. Except if you don’t really care for the extra detail (it would still be important for an accurate mock-up though).

Maybe having a group of people doing it a few pages each would be easier.

The suite is already played by the City of Prague Orchestra on their albums.

Very impressive effort! Well I would strive for perfection, of course, I just thought seeing as those sessions can’t be found anywhere people would be interested in mocking the thing up those parts not on the OST. I tried asking a company but they didn’t want to do it.

I tried asking a company but they didn’t want to do it.

Legal issues?

The good thing is that the sections are quite sparse overall and there aren’t too many notes. I could have a go at (some of) it. But no guarantees. 😀 Ideally, you’d need a team (and someone or someones who are good at mock-ups and generally a separation of the tasks involved). Well, for the transcribing part at least…

Here’s a list of the cues (page – title):
1 – Opening III
21 – That’s A Lie
22 – Aunt Marge Points The Finger
23 – Parent’s Portrait
25 – The Empty Playground
28 – The Knight Bus
36 – The Knight Bus Ride, "Concerto For Hub Caps"
50 – Newspaper Headliner
62 – Sqeeze Play (Lazy Waltz)
67 – Second Collission
70 – The Book Attacks
76 – Discussing Black
80 – The Train To Hogwarts
82 – The Train To Hogwarts V.II
84 – The Dementor Appears
101 – Something Wicked
104 – Dumbledore’s Warning
110 – Dumbledore’s Warning [Piccolo]
112 – Double Trouble March
115 – Rainy Nights, Dementors and Birds
125 – You have The Grim
128 – Double Trouble On The Hill
140 – Befriending The Hippogriff
148 – Sir Cadogan
155 – Kids Inspect Newspaper, Etc.
158 – Snape Dresses Up
164 – The Spider
168 – The Snake
171 – New Beginning
174 – Clown Out Of The Cupboard
180 – Revealing The Bridge
183 – Remembering Mother
188 – Remembering Mother [Alternate]
192 – The Portrait Scene
206 – The Bog Doors
210 – The Great Hall Ceiling
218 – The Great Hall Ceiling [Revised]
226 – Quiditch 2004
260 – Choral Overlay
261 – Woods Walk And Birds Flight
280 – Enter Winter
289 – Map To Snow Scene
292 – Snow FIght
303 – Brief Snow Scene
314 – Explore Your Past
315 – Harry And Voices
317 – Dueling The Dementor
326 – Insert For Patronus Light
329 – The Whomping Willow
351 – Buckbeak’s Sentence
353 – Reaing The Map
366 – Reveal Your Secret
369 – The Mention Of Pettigrew
372 – The Crystal Ball [Shakuhachi]
374 – The Crystal Ball
387 – The Executioner
393 – The Walk To Buckbeak
398 – Buckbeak Is Sentenced
416 – Scabblers Runs
428 – The Conforontation Scene
458 – Sirius And Harry
466 – Werewolf Scene
498 – 6M5 Pt. II
522 – First Frozen Lake
546 – First Frozen Lake
570 – Reviewing The Recent Past
593 – Viewing The Recent Past
620 – Saving Buckbeak
654 – Bats Extension
656 – My Dad Conjured The Patronus
680 – Buckbeak Saves The Day
684 – Watching The Past
701 – The Rescue Of Sirius
711 – ???
718 – Turning Time Back
724 – Ext. Whomping Willow
726 – Whomping Willow Revisited
729 – Lupin’s Departure
732 – A New Broomstick
739 – End Credits
771 – End Credits (Double?)
802 – Hedwig’s Theme
824 – Harry Potter III Trailer

I see you’ve mentioned a few. Do you know which are available only with SFX? (And preferably the moment/time at which they play in the movie)

Haha, no, surprisingly it wasn’t legal issues, merely their exorbitant fee.

Cues available with sfx:

22 – Aunt Marge Points The Finger
23 – Parent’s Portrait
25 – The Empty Playground
76 – Discussing Black
80 – The Train To Hogwarts
82 – The Train To Hogwarts V.II (in some trailer)
101 – Something Wicked
104 – Dumbledore’s Warning
110 – Dumbledore’s warning Piccolo (not sure)
112 – Double Trouble March
125 – You have The Grim
128 – Double Trouble On The Hill
140 – Befriending The Hippogriff
148 – Sir Cadogan
155 – Kids Inspect Newspaper, Etc.
158 – Snape Dresses Up
171 – New Beginning
174 – Clown Out Of The cupboard
180 – Revealing The Bridge
183 – Remembering Mother
206 – The Bog Doors
218 – The Great Hall Ceiling [Revised]
260 – Choral Overlay
261 – Woods Walk And Birds Flight
280 – Enter Winter
292 – Snow FIght
303 – Brief Snow Scene
314 – Explore Your Past
315 – Harry And Voices
351 – Buckbeak’s Sentence
353 – Reaing The Map
369 – The Mention Of Pettigrew
372 – The Crystal Ball [Shakuhachi] (not sure)
374 – The Crystal Ball
387 – The Executioner
393 – The Walk To Buckbeak
458 – Sirius And Harry
498 – 6M5 Pt. II (not sure)
522 – First Frozen Lake
546 – First Frozen Lake (not sure which of the two is on the OST)
593 – Viewing The Recent Past
654 – Bats Extension
680 – Buckbeak Saves The Day
701 – The Rescue Of Sirius
711 – ??? (not sure)
718 – Turning Time Back
726 – Whomping Willow Revisited
729 – Lupin’s Departure
732 – A New Broomstick
739 – End Credits
771 – End Credits (Double?)
802 – Hedwig’s Theme
824 – Harry Potter Trailer

Cues I would love to have in MIDI format:

23 – Parent’s Portrait
80 – The Train To Hogwarts
82 – The Train To Hogwarts V.II
101 – Something Wicked
104 – Dumbledore’s Warning
112 – Double Trouble March
148 – Sir Cadogan
180 – Revealing The Bridge
183 – Remembering Mother
188 – Remembering Mother Alternate
261 – Woods Walk And Birds Flight
280 – Enter Winter
289 – Map To Snow Scene
303 – Brief Snow Scene
314 – Explore Your Past
315 – Harry And Voices
317 – Dueling The Dementor
326 – Insert For Patronus Light
351 – Buckbeak’s Sentence
366 – Reveal Your Secret
387 – The Executioner
393 – The Walk To Buckbeak
458 – Sirius And Harry
593 – Viewing The Recent Past
701 – The Rescue Of Sirius
711 – ???
718 – Turning Time Back
729 – Lupin’s Departure
732 – A New Broomstick
824 – Harry Potter Trailer

I would help, if you tell me how… 🙂

I would help, if you tell me how… 🙂

Can you read notes? If you can, you could get the score and pick one of the listed tracks and transfer it to a clean sheet in Musescore or Finale Notepad (free) or any score/sheet writing program. Then, it can be exported to MIDI and edited further with automation (volumes, reverbs, etc.) and velocities (in a DAW like Reaper or a program like Aria Maestosa or even in the score writing program itself, although it’s more cumbersome) but having just the notes should be ok for starters.

Here, I made the (short) version 1 of "The Train To Hogwarts":
http://uptobox.com/1ob68otuldr2

Some of the symbols are weird and I’m not quite sure what he means but I think it’s quite right. Anyway, most if it is there. You can make whatever changes you want to it.

Sounds wonderful! Just a little too quick but that’s okay.

BUMP.

So I think we can conclude that the Azkaban recording sessions are locked up in Azkaban. Everyone please take a listen to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGzS095FMzw

I just don’t understand why any die-hard JW fans don’t work together to mock this masterpiece up! I can’t do it so I’m not one to talk, but as you can hear in the video, possibilities are infinite.

You can try to contact that user from youtube and ask for help. Maybe he will help you and if not for free, you could offer him some money if he will help you.

Or you can look at other places/forums. Maybe there are other forums for composers and you can hire someone.

———- Post added at 08:33 PM ———- Previous post was at 08:20 PM ———-

Just checked his website, and he is a real professional! He worked on MU and Assassin’s Creed 4 Black Flag and some other movies as score arranger.

Sure, this video is amazing and shows what’s possible but I doubt that someone who’s not into composing can do this. The video shows the timeline with the beginning and ending of each instrument and it looks like a lot of work was put into this.

Right, but wouldn’t putting the notes in some kind of file already be a huge start? I mean, it just sounds odd to me that all the crazy JW fans want this score but none of them takes the trouble to digitise the handwritten sheet music. OCR…?