Star Wars Original Trilogy Soundtrack History

1977, 1980, 1983 Original releases (RSO / PolyGram)

• "the LP masters were made using 1977/80/83 analog editing "technology" and the final master would be several generations removed from the original" Jay @ JWFan forum

1993 Anthology 4-CD box set

• "box set version of ANH, where many tracks that were not supposed to be alternates or anything actually were because Ford Thaxton didn't recreate all the performance edits like MM does." Jay @ JWFan forum
• "For the first time Star Wars utilised the actual film mixes, prepared by Eric Tomlinson, sourced from two-track tapes that contained each take recorded for every cue" Chris Malone

1997 RCA Special Edition 3x 2CD

• "there's no guarantee they even USED the original unedited takes and reconstructed anything back in '97; They might have simply used analog dubs of the final edits cues for everything!. In fact, IIRC, that is what they used!" Jay @ JWFan forum
• "THE ASTEROID FIELD which was botched on the 2CD RCA/Sony Special Edition sets" Amer @ JWFan forum
• "Almost immediately following release of the 2CD Special Edition to Return of the Jedi, the recording was criticised for possessing a soft and muffled sound. A three-track reduction of the original pre-edited Abbey Road tapes was used to prepare the set" Chris Malone
• "At this time the original, unedited three-track 35mm magnetic film recordings of Star Wars were located as well as the 16-track master session tapes." "The 16-track tapes were of limited value as the sections that corresponded to the preferential takes were edited out and presumably stored on another set of reels that are now considered misplaced." Chris Malone

2005 "Star Wars – A Musical Journey" DVD

• "Two audio tracks are present on the DVD, namely a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix in English and a PCM 2.0 mix also in English. A bit rate of 448 Kbps has been adopted for the 5.1 mix, which is significantly higher than the 192 Kbps often afforded to 5.1 tracks. The PCM mix is sampled at 48 KHz and 24-bits, running at approximately 2.25 Mbps, and is the default audio track. To accommodate both these high bit-rate audio tracks the video bit rate has been consequently lowered and is expected for a music oriented programme such as this." Chris Malone
• "For the three cues from The Empire Strikes Back, it appears that the multi-track tapes have been remixed specifically for the DVD by Shawn Murphy. A central cue to the score, titled “The Asteroid Field,” accompanies the Millennium Falcon’s pursuit by Darth Vader’s TIE fighters with propulsive rhythms and complex woodwind passages. For this cue, the woodwinds are more clearly defined on the DVD, with a noticeable absence of minor distortion on the piccolo runs and some of the loud brass passages that affected both the album master and 4CD set. The french horns are correctly spatially placed on the left as compared with right on the disappointing 2CD Special Edition mixes. The horns are also slightly raised in level to match the balance heard in the film, revealing extra detail in their orchestration. The violins have a new air to them with an extended upper frequency range and the basses retain their low grunt, which was something noticeably absent from the lifeless sound of the 2CD Special Edition version." Chris Malone

2016 Sony Ultimate Digital Collection

• digital and vinyl [remastered original analog LP masters]
• "all the 2015 remasters did was spruce up those 77/80/83 edited analog masters" Jay @ JWFan forum
• "the audio of which was 'transferred from the original LP masters using the highest resolution (up to 192kHz/24bit)'" Quppa @ JWFan forum
• "you can put the 2016 Sony editions as a "remastering" in quotes, because all they did was take the old LP masters and spruce them up digitally." Jay @ JWFan forum

2017/01 Disney Records

• digital only [reissue of Sony's 2016 edition] + 3LP deluxe hologram/book edition for ANH [using Sony's 2016 remaster again]

2018/05 Disney Records

• "The soundtracks were reconstructed from new hi-resolution (24/192) transfers supervised by Shawn Murphy and Skywalker Sound" StarWars.com
• CD (first time TESB full 2LP is available on CD) [Brand new Shawn Murphy remaster / "reconstruction"]
• "Shawn Murphy to supervise fresh transfers of the original recording session elements, then someone reconstructed the OST programs from those transfers."
• "This edition presumably began from scratch with a fresh digital transfer of the 77/80/83 unedited takes, which were then edited into the albums using proper modern digital editing technology."Jay @ JWFan forum
• "So where the previous release was a remaster of the previous sound track releases, the team at Skywalker this time sourced and resampled every available piece of music on all six films" Faleel J.M. @ JWFan forum
• "This is also the first time the prequel OSTs have been remastered ever, and this is actually those OSTs returning to being in print at all on CD since they've been officially OOP on CD since Jan 1 2017." Jay @ JWFan forum
• "unlike the vinyl and digital release in 2016, which were sourced from the original album masters, these releases are reconstructed from new 24/192 transfers of the original score overseen by Shawn Murphy at Skywalker Sound. Murphy confirmed in a Facebook post that “the film mixes from the original sources” (as opposed to LP-specific and later mixes) will be edited to match the original soundtrack programs." TheSecondDisc.com
• "The hissy flute from "The Wampa's Lair" portion of track 4 "The Heroics of Luke and Han" is gone, just like on the 93 Anthology. They're there on the original album mix and the 97 SE." phbart @ JWFan forum
• "The Asteroid Field" is excessively reverbed. phbart @ JWFan forum
  • "Percussion also sounds a bit buried in there." Holko @ JWFan forum

The Future

• "Mike M has said himself on podcasts he'd love to tackle the Star Wars scores all over again." Jay @ JWFan forum