The Ultimate Soundtracks Project:

Let’s face it.  There’s a lot of great movie music out there, especially for epic sagas like The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars.  And it’s always a great investment to buy the albums and have a chance to listen to every minute of music released for those films.  But if we’re honest, there’s often quite a bit of incidental music involved with these releases — with over two hours of film to score, how could there not be?  What I’ve tried to do is to edit the soundtracks from some popular sagas, and create a condensed listening experience, give listeners the very best of what each composer has to offer.  The result?

The Lord of the Rings – The Ultimate Soundtrack

Perhaps my own quest wasn’t nearly so arduous as that of Frodo, Sam and their Fellowship.  But nonetheless, I have finally completed the Lord of the Rings Ultimate Soundtrack.  This soundtrack represents a mix of all 10 CDs of the Complete Recordings from The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King.  In total, there are 18 tracks, focused primarily on a single musical theme, comprising of over 170 separate cues.

Star Wars: Ultimate Soundtrack

The Star Wars Ultimate Soundtrack was the culmination of my work in remixing the Star Wars scores. With this two-CD set I managed to compile nearly every musical cue that I enjoyed across all eleven Star Wars CDs, including some unreleased material I was able to locate on the internet. This is a definitive collection. I still go back to the individual soundtracks on occasion, but when I’m in the mood to listen to Star Wars, this is what I use. I’ve mixed over 125 musical cues into 18 thematically arranged tracks. If you’re interested in the nuts and bolts of this collection, I’ve listed the track names, times, and cue breakdowns below.

Star Wars: Battle Suite

The Battle Suite was my first Star Wars remix album. Because John Williams’ scores are so epic, so energetic, I wanted to capture those moments on just one CD. So intent behind the Battle Suite was to create a mix of the most prominent battle cues in the Star Wars saga. Because this was my first mix, the transitions weren’t as smooth as the would later become. And, too, I wasn’t as adept at “composing” a remix, either. But the work still stands pretty strongly on its own merits — warts and all.

Of course, these aren’t meant to replace the actual soundtrack releases themselves.  But they’re a lot of fun to make and listen to.  What’s in store next?

Click below for a preview: