"Star Wars: The Ultimate Vinyl Collection" Q&A + Unboxing | Talks at Google

Dann Thompson from Skywalker Sound, Tom Laskey from Sony Music Masterworks, Pat Sullivan from Bernie Grundman Mastering and recording engineer Shawn Murphy discuss the process of putting together the three new, definitive editions of the soundtracks from first six episodes of "Star Wars", the most acclaimed and enduring film music in Hollywood history. Talk includes an unboxing of the new 11 LP Ultimate Vinyl Edition.
All composed by the legendary five-time Oscar®-winning composer, John Williams, these unique collector’s sets have been reissued and are now available worldwide from Sony Classical in three new, definitive editions:
Star Wars: The Ultimate Vinyl Collection (11 LPs)
Star Wars: The Ultimate Soundtrack Collection (10 CDs plus DVD)
Star Wars: The Ultimate Digital Collection (hi-resolution download)
Now available on Google Play:
Talk moderated by Chris Dale
Talk produced by Kevin Vlk
PANELISTS
TOM LASKEY has worked at Sony Masterworks for 25 years and is currently Director of Product Development and Custom Sales where he oversees US catalog product re-issues and digital metadata. Since the Star Wars score came from a myriad of sources, he faced many challenges in finding catalog assets for the re-release and worked diligently with Lucasfilm, Skywalker Sound, Bernie Grundman Mastering, and the Sony Music Masterworks Product Development team in successfully creating the final physical product.
SHAWN MURPHY is an Oscar, Grammy, and Emmy award winning score, sound, and recording mixer who was the mixing engineer for the Star Wars prequels Episodes I, II, III and now Episode VII: The Force Awakens. He has recorded and mixed over 350 feature films during a thirty year career in film including Braveheart, Apollo 13, Saving Private Ryan, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the Hunger Games series, the upcoming Concussion, and Jurassic Park for which he won an Academy Award for his work.
DANN MICHAEL THOMPSON joined Skywalker Sound in 1999, after three years as a staff-recording engineer at Capitol Studios in Hollywood, CA. Before Capitol, he was on staff at Group IV Studios in Hollywood, CA starting his career there back in 1987 after studying recording at LA Valley College and at UCLA. For the Star Wars Original Trilogy vinyl re-release, he partnered with Leslie Ann Jones at Skywalker Sound to search the Lucasfilm archives for the original 1/4” masters. Once found, these tapes were checked, baked and then transferred to 24 bit, 192 kHz sample rate WAV files before being sent to B-Sharp studios in Berlin for final mastering.
PATRICIA SULLIVAN is the original mastering engineer for Episodes I-III where she restored the stereo files for the CDs of the 3 films, and remastered the Episode I CD. Pat started working in the music business in 1991 at Cornerstone Recorders as a runner/assistant, where she met Don Smith who recommended her for a job at A&M Studios. Soon after, she began to assist Chief Mastering Engineer Dave Collins on her own time and was offered a full time mastering assistant position in 1993. Pat assisted Dave on many projects, including The Police Box Set, Janet Jackson, Frank Zappa, Soundgarden, Nightmare Before Christmas, and Schindler's List. She moved to Bernie Grundman Mastering in 1999 and has been there ever since. Throughout her career she has worked on a diverse range of musical genres, with a primary focus in movie soundtracks.
ABOUT Star Wars: The Ultimate Soundtrack Editions
"Star Wars: The Ultimate Vinyl Collection" includes each of the six film soundtracks – from Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace to Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi – in deluxe gatefold sleeves faithfully replicating the original artwork. Audio was transferred from the original LP masters for episodes IV – VI and from the original CD masters for episodes I – III using the highest resolution available and pressed with heavy 180 gram vinyl. The five double-LP and one single LP sets are presented in a black, soft-touch laminated slipcase with an embossed, hot silver foil Star Wars logo, which includes a digital download card for one complete box set (all six soundtracks).
"Star Wars: The Ultimate Soundtrack Collection" includes the original six soundtracks in mini album jackets on 9 CDs, plus a bonus CD featuring a new audio interview with Harrison Ford (Han Solo) alongside an interview with John Williams. Also included is the DVD Star Wars: A Musical Journey, a one hour special hosted by actor Ian McDiarmid (Chancellor Palpatine) highlighting select musical themes alongside key sequences from the films. Rounding out the set are a fold-out poster and three collectible stickers.
"Star Wars: The Ultimate Digital Collection" features a bundle of the six original soundtracks available for the first time as high definition downloads.