Thorin_Oakenshield Ringer Antonio has taken the sneak peek trailer (that’s trailer #3), and combined it with some snippets that we’ve heard so far of Howard Shore’s score. It’s not always a seamless experience, but it’s an interesting one that, perhaps, provides a better indication of how the finished product might look, sound and feel next month.

Check it out for yourself! Continue reading “Fan vid: the sneak peek trailer combined with snippets of Howard Shore’s score”

Desolation  of Smaug soundtrack special edition Ringer Simon gives us a quick heads-up that Entertainment Weekly have 30-second samples of all 29 tunes from the special edition of the soundtrack for The Desolation of Smaug.

Howard Shore’s soundtrack is due for release on December 10, and you can pre-order the Special Edition on Amazon here, or the standard release here. My verdict: they sound great but the clips are too short! Continue reading “Listen to 30-second sneak previews of all 29 tracks on The Desolation of Smaug soundtrack”

live event To wrap up the week that saw an unprecedented live fan event where fans gathered in theaters around the world with cast and crew, here is a list of things that stood out for TORn staff.

During the event, fans were treated to costume displays, live Q&As, a preview of the end credit music video, and most importantly, 20 minutes of nearly complete, previously unseen footage. As stated in previous posts, this means movie spoilers are coming, so feel free to stop reading now if you wish to spend the next four weeks without knowing what’s to come. Continue reading “Thirteen things we love about The Desolation of Smaug footage”

Artwork for both the Standard and Special Edition of Howard Shore’s soundtrack for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug has been out for a few days now. If you haven’t already caught it, have a look below!

Doug Adams on his website/blog has labelled the two “Burgundy” and “Dragon”, or if he’s just being descriptive. Not sure whether that means anything in particular. I do rather like the Cyan colour of the Special Edition, though.

Amazon is currently slating the SE for a December 10 release, with the Standard Edition expected the same day. Thanks to all those who write in with the news! Continue reading “Artwork for the Standard and Special Edition of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”

Director Peter Jackson in the gallery of the Wellington Town Hall during the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra's recording sessions for 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug'. Photo / Hagen Hopkins.
Director Peter Jackson in the gallery of the Wellington Town Hall during the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra’s recording sessions for ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’. Photo / Hagen Hopkins.
Russell Baille from The New Zealand Herald gets the low-down on the recording process at Wellington Town Hall last month. He was present last month as the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra laboured mightily with orchestrator Conrad Pope, Peter Jackson and senior audio engineer Peter Cobbin to bring composer Howard Shore’s musical vision to life.

My favourite quote from Conrad Pope:

“It always pays to have great performers. Whenever you are in front of an orchestra you are in front of almost 2000 years of musical experience if you think about it. So you are taking that expressiveness and you are unleashing that. If you have a digital thing it is only one person. That is why it’s so remarkable to have that kind of power in this orchestra here.”

Continue reading “Peter Jackson talks about the musical score for The Desolation of Smaug”