I've downloaded a few "complete score edits" (well, this could apply to homemade score edits in general), and I've noticed something peculiar. Why is it that some uploaders split up the tracks in the middle of a music cue, meaning the music cuts off abruptly? (Some CDs do this as well.)

Anyone noticed this? You'll be listening to someone's score edit, maybe in iTunes or on an iPod, and if you're just listening to one particular track or if you have it on shuffle, the music just stops abruptly. Kind of jarring. Thoughts? What are your particular preferences?

And yes, I've tried joining cues together using an audio editor, but sometimes it creates a bit of a skip or a pop/click, where it just doesn't join together seamlessly.

Usually a track ends abruptly because that's how it is in the film. There'll be SFX or dialogue to help fade the cue out, but hearing the cue alone it will end abruptly.

No, I'm talking about splitting the music into two tracks. If listening on a CD, they would theoretically flow seamlessly (track 5 flows right into track 6). A good example would be if you took one of the Star Wars main title cues (ESB main crawl followed by Probe Droid/Hoth) and split into two tracks. When listening to the main crawl track in iTunes, it would just stop abruptly.

For whatever reason, they think it's awesome for music to segue into the next track.

Remember: The World Is Not Enough (David Arnold), track 2 segues into track 3.
Two separate cues, but works better as a single track.

I know there's a lot of people who prefer this style of listening to music.
Pink Floyd sure does.

There are even plugins for Foobar2000 (and other players) that allow you to cross-fade tracks into each other for the "ulimate album effect".

Studios probably do it to appease those assholes.

Those uploaders don't split themselves. That's how it is.
Whether it's a studio leak, an isolated score, or a custom BD edit.

It's designed to be two-cues-in-one.

Ronin (Elia Cmiral) is another soundtrack where the build-up/suspense cue is a single track and segues into the next track (action).
The action track works alone very well.
But works better with the previous track.
It was composed that way for the film, but for whatever reason, they asshole'd it for the album.

Goldeny (Eric Serra) did that, too, IIRC.

Just pure stupid aesthetics.

Uploaders won't alter what's been given to them, they're purists in that way.
It's up to the downloader what to do with them when they get them.
If it's in a lossy format, it's been given to the uploader in lossy so they don't want to recode it to be a seamless track and degrade quality any further.

If it's a lossless format, they still don't want to do it because it's really two separate cues, and the point of a complete score is to have all the cues.


However, for lossy, I believe there's programs that will append MP3 tracks together "losslessly" (as in, it doesn't recode, just rebuilds the files into one without gaps).
You'll have to research that.
Lossless formats, do whatever you want to append tracks.

One of the things I love about Intrada and LLL is that they (usually) respect the individual cues, regardless of length, whether the cue is 30 seconds or 12 minutes.

12 minutes.

One thing about the time.

I remember during "Priest (2011)", the director wanted Christopher Young to make a 15-30 suite (director had no care about the total run time for the action scene) for the final climactic scene on the train.
Scott Stewart (the director) wanted a suite for the entire scene, no matter how long it took.

CY's first reaction is how bored the audience would get with his music.

It's like the Lord of the Rings ending with 5 different endings.
What's your average attention span?

For music you love, probably a lot.
For music you don't know, there's a limit. There's always a limit.

Young is no new composer from RC/MV.
He's a damn good veteran. With years of practice.

The composer knows what the audience wants.
The director has "an idea" what the director wants.

The general audience loves to favor the director over the composer or other technical details of what makes a film.

Who do you knowk, personally, that said: "Damn. That grip knew exactly where to keep things... in grip." ????

Nope.

Audience priority:
Director/Actor
Producer/Writer(s)
Every thing else.

Personally, I like to have the film versions of tracks, even if two cues are combined. It's also interesting how the film editors will crossfade two cues together for the film mix. For instance, in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the end of "The Map Room" fades into the beginning of "Reunion."

Also interesting how, technically, "The Battle of Endor" in ROTJ is comprised of several different cues, but in the film it's 30+ minutes of continuous music, one cue fading into the next.