# Jerry Goldsmith-“Main tittle” (The Nostromo)- Alien 8th passenger- Mockup by Xavier Duch



## xaviduch (May 30, 2020)

What can I say...Once I asked my cousin "Is there another film like star wars in theaters right now? I want to go with my friends, etc..." 
I was 11 years old... Thank you, cousin!! To give me the chance to be scared from the second one and don't forget ever this movie, give the chance to have a lot of nightmares many times in the future months...(This is what I thought 41 years ago). 

Now, Alien, "the 8th passenger" is my favorite movie, among a lot of other great movies because I love this art. I saw it so many times that... 

The music. Just think about this; Jerry Goldsmith was truly scared creating the ost! and maybe, this is the best thing for creating such a score... 

This is THE NOSTROMO! version. It's the music you can hear in the movie, not the rejected one (the original, beautiful, lyrical, romantic, and less scary than this). 
I am pretty sure I could be really upset if my first composition with that amazing quality was rejected, but...honestly, this final version is straight and very clear to the audience...

You'll gonna be petrified in the chair 2 hours... 

Libraries: Spitfire Audio BBCSO and Albion IV, U-he Zebra, 8DIO Alien drums, and Fabfilter Synth for some brushes and effects.

I hope you enjoy it!


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## SMAustinTexas (May 30, 2020)

This is really excellent work.


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## LamaRose (May 30, 2020)

YT take this down?


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## Noeticus (May 30, 2020)

Hello Xavier,

Your work here is VERY impressive!!!

What did you use for the eerie "Indian conch horn" that I think was used in the original version?


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## Land of Missing Parts (May 30, 2020)

xaviduch said:


> I hope you enjoy it!



Magnifique.


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## xaviduch (May 30, 2020)

Noeticus said:


> Hello Xavier,
> 
> Your work here is VERY impressive!!!
> 
> What did you use for the eerie "Indian conch horn" that I think was used in the original version?


Thank you so much! I guess that Indian conch horn is called Shankar, so after looking for some kind of rare libraries out there with negative results I created a synth sound trying to emulate Its nature. I used Fabfilter One, a very simple synth just using white noise with a bit of automation in resonance and finally processed through an Eventide double harmonizer also with an automated line to rise those ghost notes! After I achieved this, then I decided to go on with the track...I thought this would be the most tricky part...and because there is no score available so, it’s easy but a bit tricky.


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## lux (May 30, 2020)

very cool


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## xaviduch (May 30, 2020)

Land of Missing Parts said:


> Magnifique.


Merci!!!


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## xaviduch (May 30, 2020)

lux said:


> very cool


Thank you Lux!!


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## xaviduch (May 30, 2020)

SMAustinTexas said:


> This is really excellent work.


Thank you!!


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## xaviduch (May 30, 2020)

LamaRose said:


> YT take this down?


Ups, sorry! I Don’t know what means YT! I apologize..:(


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## Noeticus (May 30, 2020)

xaviduch said:


> Thank you so much! I guess that Indian conch horn is called Shankar, so after looking for some kind of rare libraries out there with negative results I created a synth sound trying to emulate Its nature. I used Fabfilter One, a very simple synth just using white noise with a bit of automation in resonance and finally processed through an Eventide double harmonizer also with an automated line to rise those ghost notes! After I achieved this, then I decided to go on with the track...I thought this would be the most tricky part...and because there is no score available so, it’s easy but a bit tricky.



Thanks for the detailed explanation.

I would have made the Fabfilter synth version you made of this "Indian conch horn" effect a bit louder in your mix, as I believe the original has this effect quite prominent. Of course I may be wrong. 

I would love for you to post just the effect by itself.


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## davidson (May 30, 2020)

Noeticus said:


> What did you use for the eerie "Indian conch horn" that I think was used in the original version?



So _that's_ what that is! I always assumed it was a sampled wind howl, pitched down a couple of octaves.

@xaviduch great mockup!


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## xaviduch (May 30, 2020)

Noeticus said:


> Thanks for the detailed explanation.
> 
> I would have made the Fabfilter synth version you made of this "Indian conch horn" effect a bit louder in your mix, as I believe the original has this effect quite prominent. Of course I may be wrong.
> 
> I would love for you to post just the effect by itself.


Yes! You are right! I was about to do it but in the middle of my flight with time delay to emulate the Echoplex with Plexitape I lost that perspective in the mix...I would love to have a way to fix this and then reupload the video in youtube but there is no option...Anyway, I will do it for Soundcloud version! I will let you know...


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## xaviduch (May 30, 2020)

Noeticus said:


> Thanks for the detailed explanation.
> 
> I would have made the Fabfilter synth version you made of this "Indian conch horn" effect a bit louder in your mix, as I believe the original has this effect quite prominent. Of course I may be wrong.
> 
> I would love for you to post just the effect by itself.


About the sound of the “pseudoshanka” you want I upload the present I did or just a demo about the sound? I will be glad to upload it once I back to home!


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## xaviduch (May 30, 2020)

davidson said:


> So _that's_ what that is! I always assumed it was a sampled wind howl, pitched down a couple of octaves.
> 
> @xaviduch great mockup!


Thank you! Yes, it was a dude for me until I discoverd a great video about Goldsmith’s disagreements with Ridley Scott and the editor...Here you can find some interesting and not well knowed info about tricks for the recording!


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## LamaRose (May 30, 2020)

xaviduch said:


> Ups, sorry! I Don’t know what means YT! I apologize..:(



No problemo! I had to copy the link and open in another tab for some reason. 

You did killer work on this effort! Really amazing. "Alien" never gets old... everything is masterful about it.


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## xaviduch (May 30, 2020)

LamaRose said:


> No problemo! I had to copy the link and open in another tab for some reason.
> 
> You did killer work on this effort! Really amazing. "Alien" never gets old... everything is masterful about it.


Oh! I understand! Yes, Alien always will shine among all kind of bad copies!


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## José Herring (May 30, 2020)

Man that was good. I miss this type of scoring.


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## xaviduch (May 30, 2020)

josejherring said:


> Man that was good. I miss this type of scoring.


Thank you! Yes...I agree and I am afraid we’ll never hear something like that score...


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## RonOrchComp (May 30, 2020)

This is really good.

But I am confused. Is this something you composed, or are you recreating Goldsmith's score?

And what is all that hissing starting around 2:10?


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## Noeticus (May 30, 2020)

xaviduch said:


> Yes! You are right! I was about to do it but in the middle of my flight with time delay to emulate the Echoplex with Plexitape I lost that perspective in the mix...I would love to have a way to fix this and then reupload the video in youtube but there is no option...Anyway, I will do it for Soundcloud version! I will let you know...



I am again staggeringly impressed with your work here, Xavier!

I'm pretty sure that you can change/re-upload a video on youtube and have the rest of the page go unchanged.


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## Noeticus (May 30, 2020)

xaviduch said:


> About the sound of the “pseudoshanka” you want I upload the present I did or just a demo about the sound? I will be glad to upload it once I back to home!



If you could upload both the current version of the “pseudoshanka” and a demo about it would be great!


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## Noeticus (May 30, 2020)

Also... perhaps this is a nice version of the transcribed score here as reference...


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## Dr.Quest (May 30, 2020)

Excellent! BBCSO sounds very good in this! I also like your West World Comp.


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## mducharme (May 30, 2020)

Very impressive.

I think Goldsmith probably would have been astounded by the fact that you could create such a mockup on basically a home computer.


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## Noeticus (May 30, 2020)

Just a note... but has anyone noticed that the first two notes of music from Holst's "Saturn" from his Planet's Suite are the same two notes that Goldsmith used as part of his opening to his "Alien" Main Theme. I assume Goldsmith was influenced by Holst in this regard. I was not the first by any means to notice this.


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## mducharme (May 30, 2020)

Noeticus said:


> Just a note... but has anyone noticed that the first two notes of music from Holst's "Saturn" from his Planet's Suite are the same two notes that Goldsmith used as part of his opening to his "Alien" Main Theme. I assume Goldsmith was influenced by Holst in this regard. I was not the first by any means to notice this.



I didn't notice that - great catch - but I did notice the very similar nod John Barry made to "Saturn" in the intro of his theme for "The Black Hole":


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## RonOrchComp (May 30, 2020)

Noeticus said:


> has anyone noticed that the first two notes of music from Holst's "Saturn" from his Planet's Suite are the same two notes that Goldsmith used as part of his opening to his "Alien" Main Theme.



I just checked - while there is a bit of a smiliarity, they are definitely not the same. 

But I do think, like many film composers, that Goldsmith was influenced by Holst.


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## xaviduch (May 31, 2020)

RonOrchComp said:


> This is really good.
> 
> But I am confused. Is this something you composed, or are you recreating Goldsmith's score?
> 
> And what is all that hissing starting around 2:10?


Thank you so much! I wish with all my strenght to be the composer!!!  But no, as you said it’s a recreation of the piece you can hear in the movie. He composed another version, more close to Star Trek world and was rejected by the editor and the director.


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## xaviduch (May 31, 2020)

Noeticus said:


> I am again staggeringly impressed with your work here, Xavier!
> 
> I'm pretty sure that you can change/re-upload a video on youtube and have the rest of the page go unchanged.


No my friend, or yes! But right now YT just let you change or re upload the sound if you are going to use some of the music they offer you free of copyright, but not uploading another file of my computer...at least, until three days ago! Thanks again for your kind words.


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## xaviduch (May 31, 2020)

Noeticus said:


> Also... perhaps this is a nice version of the transcribed score here as reference...



Upsss!!! it seems you have a big weapon here!!!! I try to open it but it says “ not available! Let me see if I can open it from the channel...


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## xaviduch (May 31, 2020)

Dr.Quest said:


> Excellent! BBCSO sounds very good in this! I also like your West World Comp.


Thank you Doctor!! By duplicate! I have no chance to win there, there are a LOT of entries and obviously every pair of ears has different tastes, sometimes well trained or who knows...it’s more as a lottery, but Thank you!


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## xaviduch (May 31, 2020)

mducharme said:


> Very impressive.
> 
> I think Goldsmith probably would have been astounded by the fact that you could create such a mockup on basically a home computer.


Oh thanks! He was a Master using synths and I am sure nowadays he would make wonderful màster pieces melting both worlds like he did in 13th warrior or Rambo, etc but at least, I am sure he gift me a smile...


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## xaviduch (May 31, 2020)

Noeticus said:


> Also... perhaps this is a nice version of the transcribed score here as reference...


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## xaviduch (May 31, 2020)

Ok, I can watch it now! It’s the main tittle rejected version, but there is some information very useful because some parts are the same about harmony!


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## Noeticus (May 31, 2020)

RonOrchComp said:


> I just checked - while there is a bit of a smiliarity, they are definitely not the same.
> 
> But I do think, like many film composers, that Goldsmith was influenced by Holst.



Well, it's only two notes.


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## Noeticus (May 31, 2020)

mducharme said:


> I didn't notice that - great catch - but I did notice the very similar nod John Barry made to "Saturn" in the intro of his theme for "The Black Hole":




Wow, now that is indeed an homage!


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## xaviduch (May 31, 2020)

RonOrchComp said:


> This is really good.
> 
> But I am confused. Is this something you composed, or are you recreating Goldsmith's score?
> 
> And what is all that hissing starting around 2:10?


Yeah! good ears!! that hissing was introduced through a plugin called "Abbey road vinyl" just for covering that "clean" and fresh modern digital sound I am using...
Exactly from this point, in the original version you can apreciate some weird hiss or ambience or something that makes the sound "dirt"and in this part, my bbcso colegnos even with the Plexitape was too much clean to my taste...
So I was looking for a way to introduce some artifact than was very close to the original. I used just the noise button and adding some automation between that point and the start of the final part. 
Abbey road vinyl


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## Noeticus (Jun 1, 2020)

xaviduch said:


> No my friend, or yes! But right now YT just let you change or re upload the sound if you are going to use some of the music they offer you free of copyright, but not uploading another file of my computer...at least, until three days ago! Thanks again for your kind words.



You are correct about not being able to change a YouTube video. 

I was thinking about Vimeo paid accounts which do allow this.


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## JKruppa (Sep 26, 2020)

xaviduch said:


> What can I say...Once I asked my cousin "Is there another film like star wars in theaters right now? I want to go with my friends, etc..."
> I was 11 years old... Thank you, cousin!! To give me the chance to be scared from the second one and don't forget ever this movie, give the chance to have a lot of nightmares many times in the future months...(This is what I thought 41 years ago).
> 
> Now, Alien, "the 8th passenger" is my favorite movie, among a lot of other great movies because I love this art. I saw it so many times that...
> ...




This is amazing. The col legno strings are very effective. Are those from the Spitfire library? 

Did you make a score from your midi file? This is one piece of music I've been wanting to see a written version of for years!


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## xaviduch (Sep 27, 2020)

JKruppa said:


> This is amazing. The col legno strings are very effective. Are those from the Spitfire library?
> 
> Did you make a score from your midi file? This is one piece of music I've been wanting to see a written version of for years!


Thank you!! Yes, the colegno and the rest of the strings are from Spitfire Audio BBCSO. Well, as I processed that colegno through an Ecoplex style plugin, you can use almost whatever you want...It's just I needed to put some kind of "mordente" to match with the original one and get that special tale you can listen to in the soundtrack.
At that moment, I could not find any score to make the mockup, just a little part that is available in "hypersleep" midifile out there, but all the silent runs and glissando in the middle section was a sort of really useful samples In the Albion IV SA library, placed until I was happy with the results. All the flutes, percussions, horns, the Shanka, etc I did it with synths and some brushes of Alien drum from 8Dio by ear. I added also some "noise" with the Vynil waves plugin where the colegnos are alone and again, for sounding more analog with a dirty background


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## xaviduch (Sep 27, 2020)

JKruppa said:


> This is amazing. The col legno strings are very effective. Are those from the Spitfire library?
> 
> Did you make a score from your midi file? This is one piece of music I've been wanting to see a written version of for years!


Thank you!! Yes, the colegno and the rest of the strings are from Spitfire Audio BBCSO. Well, as I processed that colegno through an Ecoplex style plugin, you can use almost whatever you want...It's just I needed to put some kind of "mordente" to match with the original one and get that special tale you can listen to in the soundtrack.
At that moment, I could not find any score to make the mockup, just a little part that is available in "hypersleep" midifile out there, but all the silent runs and glissando in the middle section was a sort of really useful samples In the Albion IV SA library, placed until I was happy with the results. All the flutes, percussions, horns, the Shanka, etc I did it with synths and some brushes of Alien drum from 8Dio by ear. I added also some "noise" with the Vynil waves plugin where the colegnos are alone and again, for sounding more analog with a dirty background


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