Harry Manfredini Talks Soundtrack Box Set With F13th Franchise!
There are a lot of fans and collectors that are eagerly awaiting the release of the Friday The 13th Limited Edition 6-CD box set that was announced by La-La Land Records a few weeks ago. This writer is just as excited to get his copy of the box set and also wanted to find out how this dream project came to be a reality. So, I contacted composer Harry Manfredini to find out how he became involved.
Since I am a huge fan of film scores in general, and of course Harry's work with the Friday the 13th franchise, it was a pleasure to get his insight into the makings of this box set. Read on to find out how this whole project got started and where the source for the scores came from!
F13th Franchise and Harry Manfredini
(F13th Franchise) Fans have been waiting to buy an official release of the music from the first six Friday the 13th films on CD for decades now. Why have you decided to release the music now and were there any legal hurdles with respect to Paramount Pictures that needed to be resolved before this new box set project could be started?
(Harry Manfredini) NO... the reason for the non release of the music was basically that the masters were not to be found. I had none, and it seemed that Paramount did not have them in the archives... So with a lot of frustration there never seemed to be a way of doing such a thing. Legally there were very few things to be resolved, just no masters available.
(F13th Franchise) La-La Land Records has a tremendous reputation for re-producing numerous out of print soundtracks for many cult films from the past decades. How did they become involved in the box set project and what role did you and Sean Cunningham have in brainstorming how the box set would be created and produced?
(Harry Manfredini) The project started out as something completely different. Lenny Wohl, of Lionsgate had a meeting with my agent John Tempereau, myself and some folks at FearNet. They wanted to create a kind of download for the FearNet site. (which of course is now a reality). I mentioned the problem with the masters, and that such an idea would probably not work, but then I realized that there had just been a release of the first six DVD versions of the film. I heard them, and they sounded pretty darn good. So I wondered how they did that without masters. When I mentioned that to Lenny, he was friends with the music department at Paramount, and after a few meetings, we had the elements that they used for the DVD... So we were off and running. At least to make the FearNet downloads. The next meeting brought Michael, and Matt from LA LA. I thought they would be interested in a compilation album, but they said no, they wanted to do a complete, and total 6 cd box set of EVERYTHING that was available for Collector's Only in a limited edition. I said, WHAT? you want to release everything there is? and they said YES.. thats what the collectors want. I have always loved the efforts and releases of LA LA and they are totally cool guys, so off we went, and so it is happening. Sean and I did a cool video from the FearNet release, but we did not consult on the box set.
(F13th Franchise) There is sure to be a lot of secrecy that needs to be left in-tact with regards to the contents of this project for the time being. With that being said, can you offer insight into if there will be more than just a musical score included on the discs in the set, perhaps other audio cues from the movies or audio interviews?
(Harry Manfredini) As far as I know, there are only the cds of the scores. Pretty much every piece of music that existed. I have not heard the cds as yet, but they are being mastered by James Nelson, and he is an artist at this sort of thing. So I am excited to hear them myself. Brian Satterwhite did the liner notes and I was very impressed with them. I am assuming there will be some cool pix as well.
(F13th Franchise) The music tracks are being remastered for this box set for the best Friday The 13th audio presentation ever experienced by the fans. Where did the original audio files come from that are being remastered and what is the process to remastering the audio?
(Harry Manfredini) Well, like I said, they are the music stems from the DVD release. As far as I know, the remastering might include a number of things.. Since each stem has its own particular needs. These are very old tracks.. So there might be some separation, and equalization, and all sorts of processing that might be performed on each of the films. Some need more than others. Some are Left, Center Right, while others are broken into various orchestral elements, i.e. Strings, Brass, Percussion.. etc. So each has its own adventure for James Nelson.
(F13th Franchise) It has been announced that there will be an extensive booklet included with the CD's which will contain a deeper look at the music. Can you go into what subjects are touched upon regarding your music for the booklet?
(Harry Manfredini) Well, I can tell you musically we talk about the various basic musical elements of the actual score . Sonically and in terms of pitch content, and then what various pieces of equipment and instruments were added as the films and budgets grew. And also what new themes etc might have been added as the story progressed. Not too technical, but definitely written so the average person might get the idea.
(F13th Franchise) Even though you have been invovled with the fans of the Friday the 13th films for many years while attending conventions and communicating on message forums and through email, revisiting the music for these six films must have been a nostalgic experience for you. What about this entire box set experience has been the most fun? Looking back over the past thirty years, what do you think it is about your music that has contributed to the overall love of the Friday the 13th films?
(Harry Manfredini) Well, I think that the Friday the 13th films in many ways have become a Brand. People know what to expect. I think my music is a vital part of that Brand. It sounds like Friday the 13th. The original materials from part one still exist and play a big part in all six of the scores, each one however has its own added sound which is usually based on some sort of plot or character element that has been added. It was fun for me to hear some of my favorite scenes again. I think each film had a scene that I really enjoyed scoring, and hearing them brought a smile to my face. It was also rather scary but nostalgic to remember how much this was all gorilla film scoring and how I was shooting from the hip, and just letting my imagination take over. There were a lot of musicians and engineers, and editors, and friends who helped me.
Since I am a huge fan of film scores in general, and of course Harry's work with the Friday the 13th franchise, it was a pleasure to get his insight into the makings of this box set. Read on to find out how this whole project got started and where the source for the scores came from!
F13th Franchise and Harry Manfredini
(F13th Franchise) Fans have been waiting to buy an official release of the music from the first six Friday the 13th films on CD for decades now. Why have you decided to release the music now and were there any legal hurdles with respect to Paramount Pictures that needed to be resolved before this new box set project could be started?
(Harry Manfredini) NO... the reason for the non release of the music was basically that the masters were not to be found. I had none, and it seemed that Paramount did not have them in the archives... So with a lot of frustration there never seemed to be a way of doing such a thing. Legally there were very few things to be resolved, just no masters available.
(F13th Franchise) La-La Land Records has a tremendous reputation for re-producing numerous out of print soundtracks for many cult films from the past decades. How did they become involved in the box set project and what role did you and Sean Cunningham have in brainstorming how the box set would be created and produced?
(Harry Manfredini) The project started out as something completely different. Lenny Wohl, of Lionsgate had a meeting with my agent John Tempereau, myself and some folks at FearNet. They wanted to create a kind of download for the FearNet site. (which of course is now a reality). I mentioned the problem with the masters, and that such an idea would probably not work, but then I realized that there had just been a release of the first six DVD versions of the film. I heard them, and they sounded pretty darn good. So I wondered how they did that without masters. When I mentioned that to Lenny, he was friends with the music department at Paramount, and after a few meetings, we had the elements that they used for the DVD... So we were off and running. At least to make the FearNet downloads. The next meeting brought Michael, and Matt from LA LA. I thought they would be interested in a compilation album, but they said no, they wanted to do a complete, and total 6 cd box set of EVERYTHING that was available for Collector's Only in a limited edition. I said, WHAT? you want to release everything there is? and they said YES.. thats what the collectors want. I have always loved the efforts and releases of LA LA and they are totally cool guys, so off we went, and so it is happening. Sean and I did a cool video from the FearNet release, but we did not consult on the box set.
(F13th Franchise) There is sure to be a lot of secrecy that needs to be left in-tact with regards to the contents of this project for the time being. With that being said, can you offer insight into if there will be more than just a musical score included on the discs in the set, perhaps other audio cues from the movies or audio interviews?
(Harry Manfredini) As far as I know, there are only the cds of the scores. Pretty much every piece of music that existed. I have not heard the cds as yet, but they are being mastered by James Nelson, and he is an artist at this sort of thing. So I am excited to hear them myself. Brian Satterwhite did the liner notes and I was very impressed with them. I am assuming there will be some cool pix as well.
(F13th Franchise) The music tracks are being remastered for this box set for the best Friday The 13th audio presentation ever experienced by the fans. Where did the original audio files come from that are being remastered and what is the process to remastering the audio?
(Harry Manfredini) Well, like I said, they are the music stems from the DVD release. As far as I know, the remastering might include a number of things.. Since each stem has its own particular needs. These are very old tracks.. So there might be some separation, and equalization, and all sorts of processing that might be performed on each of the films. Some need more than others. Some are Left, Center Right, while others are broken into various orchestral elements, i.e. Strings, Brass, Percussion.. etc. So each has its own adventure for James Nelson.
(F13th Franchise) It has been announced that there will be an extensive booklet included with the CD's which will contain a deeper look at the music. Can you go into what subjects are touched upon regarding your music for the booklet?
(Harry Manfredini) Well, I can tell you musically we talk about the various basic musical elements of the actual score . Sonically and in terms of pitch content, and then what various pieces of equipment and instruments were added as the films and budgets grew. And also what new themes etc might have been added as the story progressed. Not too technical, but definitely written so the average person might get the idea.
(F13th Franchise) Even though you have been invovled with the fans of the Friday the 13th films for many years while attending conventions and communicating on message forums and through email, revisiting the music for these six films must have been a nostalgic experience for you. What about this entire box set experience has been the most fun? Looking back over the past thirty years, what do you think it is about your music that has contributed to the overall love of the Friday the 13th films?
(Harry Manfredini) Well, I think that the Friday the 13th films in many ways have become a Brand. People know what to expect. I think my music is a vital part of that Brand. It sounds like Friday the 13th. The original materials from part one still exist and play a big part in all six of the scores, each one however has its own added sound which is usually based on some sort of plot or character element that has been added. It was fun for me to hear some of my favorite scenes again. I think each film had a scene that I really enjoyed scoring, and hearing them brought a smile to my face. It was also rather scary but nostalgic to remember how much this was all gorilla film scoring and how I was shooting from the hip, and just letting my imagination take over. There were a lot of musicians and engineers, and editors, and friends who helped me.
