(12 November 2012)
WHAT I THOUGHT OF IT
The strings in 'AIRWOLF II' are just so intense, fast and were just plain crazy and time-consuming to mix (that's the Mk6 draft mix version you're listening to above as it went through plenty of iterations), as it was a trade-off in converting the original Mono off-air version which is very flat and mid-range for mid-80s TV speakers as well as under all those Redwolf foley FX and actors' dialogue, to having the full dynamics of the orchestra.
I didn't want it to become too "muddy" at the bottom end either as I feel you should always be able to hear all the instruments with high-end audio gear, which you can.
It's the guys with the bottom end gear (like the tiny, free speakers you get with a Dell PC) I fear for though as I'm pretty sure it'll push their systems to breaking point - nothing I can do about that though - and will sound crap on there anyway - this one was for the good gear to play with. I've tested it on everything from an iPod/iPhone to audiophile' system and it blew the ears & doors off.
Udi Harpaz fantastic episodic score from the 'AIRWOLF II' episode in Airwolf's early 3rd Season
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The Teaser MP3 file:
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| 3rd season Airwolf episode and fan-favourite, 'AIRWOLF' II' provides a big orchestral-heavy score in four parts, perfectly illustrating Harlan Jenkins (played to egotistical perfection by WINGS HAUSER) single-minded theft and subsequent battle with Hawke, pitting the two Airwolf choppers and two Airwolf test pilots against one another. |
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| The Zeus demo sequence provides the third part of the score with fast, aggressive strings with synth overlay as a back-drop to all the best Redwolf action. Great shot of Archangel after Zeus reveals Redwolf's existence for the first time. |
Big synth and heavy orchestral score for Airwolf's early 3rd Season music score for 'AIRWOLF II' and probably one of Udi Harpaz' best-loved of his episodic theme music from his stint on the show.
This 8-minute epic for the fan-favourite episode is made from a medley made up of four parts:
The first part is the Opening sequence (with the guest star credits etc.) were Archangel and his "Archangela white lady" pilot, Amanda lands at the Chamber of Commerce' black tie dinner to chew out Hawke in his visceral and mental war of thinking that Hawke was part of a USAF military train hijacking to secure Airwolf weaponry.
The second part of the theme is from Harlan taking the camo net off Redwolf for his duel with Hawke and the sequence with Harlan flying around Hawke, Dom & Archangel in their JetRanger after initially stealing Redwolf. Big, BIG, aggressive cello and contrabass action here.
The third part is from the Zeus demo sequence of Airwolf II's upgraded capabilities over the original Lady, with the fourth part being the fight sequence between Hawke, Archangel and Alonzo Del Olmo's goons at his Derado Canyon ranch.
WHAT I THOUGHT OF IT
'AIRWOLF II' was an interesting and different start to the series as Udi brought in a different composing style for the season ("THE HORN OF PLENTY" season premiere the week before started it) for Exec Producer, Bernie Kowalski, which he took right through to 'FORTUNE TELLER' really, with much more emphasis on orchestral over synth, but still combining the two.
The strings in 'AIRWOLF II' are just so intense, fast and were just plain crazy and time-consuming to mix (that's the Mk6 draft mix version you're listening to above as it went through plenty of iterations), as it was a trade-off in converting the original Mono off-air version which is very flat and mid-range for mid-80s TV speakers as well as under all those Redwolf foley FX and actors' dialogue, to having the full dynamics of the orchestra.
I didn't want it to become too "muddy" at the bottom end either as I feel you should always be able to hear all the instruments with high-end audio gear, which you can.
It's the guys with the bottom end gear (like the tiny, free speakers you get with a Dell PC) I fear for though as I'm pretty sure it'll push their systems to breaking point - nothing I can do about that though - and will sound crap on there anyway - this one was for the good gear to play with. I've tested it on everything from an iPod/iPhone to audiophile' system and it blew the ears & doors off.
WHAT'S COMING NEXT?
As I said in yesterday's "FAMILY THEME" Blog, I've nearly finished mixing the "EAGLE'S THEME" (both real cello solo, orchestral and synth version) with some final tweaks and changes still to do; so after that, all that's left is 'PROOF THROUGH THE NIGHT' and 'THE HORN OF PLENTY' mixes to finish my CD2 of Airwolf Extended Themes 2CD Soundtrack. So, it'll defo not be out this side of Christmas, before you ask again.
DID I HEAR TALK OF COSTS OVER ON THE 'AIRWOLF THEMES' CHAT FORUM?
Yes, the 2CD will **probably** be in and around GBP £30-ish per set (or that's what I'm aiming to keep it around) but final licensing costs from Universal (we've increased to 40+ tracks - YEAH, we've added more to Jan's CD1 so details on that upgrade soon - now up from 35+ which is horrendously high in music terms) and production costs will dictate the final figure. Quite a few folks have asked how much they should squirrel away from their Christmas budget. Well, that's my best estimate so far.
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| The awesome AIRWOLF II helicopter aka "Redwolf". |
JAN'S BLOG -- STATUS
Jan's pretty much finished his CD1 for Airwolf Extended Themes, so go and have a listen to his various Airwolf Main Themes on his own: Airwolf Orchestrator's Blog.
For progress of were we are with the Airwolf Extended Themes project as a whole, please see the updated Pre-Production Tracklist here.
OUR AIRWOLF WEBSITE
And the official Airwolf Themes website is always HERE.
OFFICIAL AIRWOLF DOCUMENTARY
Marty Grant's progress on the other big Airwolf project... the official Airwolf DOCUMENTARY can be found on his Blog and if you haven't seen the Music Teaser Promo we did for the documentary were the original cast and crew describe what they felt about Sylvester Levay's music on the show, then see the awesome 16:9 HD video on our YouTube channel. Make sure to change it to 1080p HD 16x9!
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