# John Williams as you've never heard him before.



## robcs (May 21, 2021)

Maybe this should be EW's next library?


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## Ray Cole (May 26, 2021)

Thanks, that was cool. There's also this:


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## Rob (May 27, 2021)

Ray Cole said:


> Thanks, that was cool. There's also this:



Wow that's excellent


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## MA-Simon (May 27, 2021)

Ray Cole said:


> Thanks, that was cool. There's also this:



Incredible finger work. Going to hide my piano skills in the basement again.


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## Ray Cole (May 27, 2021)

MA-Simon said:


> Incredible finger work. Going to hide my piano skills in the basement again.


I know what you mean! Bence is an amazing player and arranger. His version of Hans Zimmer's theme to Inception is very different from his Harry Potter arrangement, but is also pretty awesome. His arrangement of Michael Jackson's "Bad" is also great (an incredible 13-year-old pianist from South Korea named Yohan Kim played Bence's arrangement of "Bad" in a video on YouTube that went viral back in the day that is also worth seeking out).


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## Ray Cole (Aug 3, 2021)

I just came across this worthy addition to this thread.


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## robcs (Aug 3, 2021)

Ray Cole said:


> I just came across this worthy addition to this thread.



Hmm maybe it’s time for the guys at Spitfire to release Albion 3.14159


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## chimuelo (Aug 4, 2021)

Very early JW in the original movie Midway.
Henry Ford, Charlton Heston, Robert Mitchum, etc.
He weaved in and out of what he perceived Japanese to more Western style music. Really well adapted to the movie, never once being a theme or interfering with the plot.

John Williams in LoFi.


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## Pixelpoet1985 (Aug 6, 2021)

I have another addition:


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## Richard Wilkinson (Aug 6, 2021)

I thought this was going to be about his score for 'Images'...


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## Ray Cole (Aug 6, 2021)

Pixelpoet1985 said:


> I have another addition:



I didn't get it until I played it the second time. Pretty cool!


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## Fab (Aug 7, 2021)

robcs said:


> Maybe this should be EW's next library?



and it's still kind of epic


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## Pixelpoet1985 (Aug 7, 2021)

Ray Cole said:


> I didn't get it until I played it the second time. Pretty cool!


Yes, it's not that easy. There are some other tunes on this channel, but I found this the best. Maybe we hear the melody in our heads, because we anticipate it. Wondering if people would hear it without knowing the tune.


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## Ray Cole (Aug 7, 2021)

Pixelpoet1985 said:


> Yes, it's not that easy. There are some other tunes on this channel, but I found this the best. Maybe we hear the melody in our heads, because we anticipate it. Wondering if people would hear it without knowing the tune.


It's interesting how recognizable the music is just from the rhythm. Once you know what to listen for, you can hear the melody even though it's not actually present. Pretty neat.


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## Ray Cole (Aug 8, 2021)




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## Ray Cole (Sep 12, 2021)

Imperial March, with sounds generated from floppy disk drives:


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## Stephen Limbaugh (Sep 12, 2021)

Ray Cole said:


> Thanks, that was cool. There's also this:



Nah. 100% a fake performance. Check the fingers moving when notes aren’t being played and the totally incorrect evenness/balance of the notes when chords are being played. Also, that is NOT what a mic’d Steinway B sounds like with those mics in those positions.

Peter Bence is full of shit. A few years ago I had posted an extended comment on this Michael Jackson Bad video pointing out dozens and dozens of places where the keys pressed were not the notes that were sounding in the recording. He censored it cause a real pianist like me knows a bullshitter when we hear it.


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## gst98 (Sep 13, 2021)

Stephen Limbaugh said:


> Nah. 100% a fake performance. Check the fingers moving when notes aren’t being played and the totally incorrect evenness/balance of the notes when chords are being played. Also, that is NOT what a mic’d Steinway B sounds like with those mics in those positions.
> 
> Peter Bence is full of shit. A few years ago I had posted an extended comment on this Michael Jackson Bad video pointing out dozens and dozens of places where the keys pressed were not the notes that were sounding in the recording. He censored it cause a real pianist like me knows a bullshitter when we hear it.


You mean he mimes for the video? That bit's clear (there's a ton of looping, layering and production obviously) but are you saying he also fakes his live playing at concerts?


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## Stephen Limbaugh (Sep 13, 2021)

gst98 said:


> You mean he mimes for the video? That bit's clear (there's a ton of looping, layering and production obviously) but are you saying he also fakes his live playing at concerts?


The whole thing is a grift, yes.


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## Rob (Sep 13, 2021)

mmm... not sure, looks like he can play


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## Drundfunk (Sep 13, 2021)

Rob said:


> mmm... not sure, looks like he can play


Well, I definitely think he can play, but in this case what you're hearing isn't the actual performance. Take the trill at 2:16+ for example. Keeps going even tho his hand left the keys. So it's clear what you're hearing isn't the actual performance. There were a few other things which definitely were kinda odd (the no-look plucking of the strings (which you don't see) or the perfect elbow chord for example). So, nobody could recreate this just by playing and to me personally this kinda undermines the worth of the performance, although it still sounds impressive.


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## Stephen Limbaugh (Sep 13, 2021)

Rob said:


> mmm... not sure, looks like he can play


Can he play? Yes of course. Is his note accuracy below 80%, his physical movement utterly different from the volume of the notes (especially on runs/chords), and fakes his performances to cover for his lack of ability? Yes.

..its just a social media era grift from some Berklee kid who spends more time editing than practicing. I just moved so I don’t have a rig up, but I’m happy to show the instances from the viral Michael Jackson cover he did and show it’s a total grift.


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## gst98 (Sep 13, 2021)

Stephen Limbaugh said:


> Can he play? Yes of course. Is his note accuracy below 80%, his physical movement utterly different from the volume of the notes (especially on runs/chords), and fakes his performances to cover for his lack of ability? Yes.
> 
> ..its just a social media era grift from some Berklee kid who spends more time editing than practicing. I just moved so I don’t have a rig up, but I’m happy to show the instances from the viral Michael Jackson cover he did and show it’s a total grift.


Sure, but are you accounting for the video choreography where he's trying to put out an engaging video rather than make his miming 100% accurately? I'd be interested to see where his miming differs, but that doesn't mean he can't play.

Also does he not hold the Guinness world record for fastest piano playing? That would have been regulated and not possible to fake. Also, I think calling him some Berklee kid is a little unfair.


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## Rob (Sep 13, 2021)

well, I just wanted to say he can play the piano... I personally despise that kind of show/performances, the moves, the faces, it all seems to be very superficial. But he's not alone on that...


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## Kery Michael (Sep 13, 2021)

Stephen Limbaugh said:


> Nah. 100% a fake performance. Check the fingers moving when notes aren’t being played and the totally incorrect evenness/balance of the notes when chords are being played. Also, that is NOT what a mic’d Steinway B sounds like with those mics in those positions.
> 
> Peter Bence is full of shit. A few years ago I had posted an extended comment on this Michael Jackson Bad video pointing out dozens and dozens of places where the keys pressed were not the notes that were sounding in the recording. He censored it cause a real pianist like me knows a bullshitter when we hear it.


Didn’t notice at first, but I went back and restarted the video (didn’t watch the whole thing the first time) and right away at about 2:20 he stops trilling in his right hand but the trill continues for another fraction of a second. I’m sure there’s more but I’m not that invested in this.

Can the guy play the piano, clearly yes, much better than I can. Is he “lip syncing” or I suppose “finger syncing”? Yeah. But lots of artists do that In their videos. I don’t think it takes anything away from him.


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## Stephen Limbaugh (Sep 13, 2021)

gst98 said:


> Also does he not hold the Guinness world record for fastest piano playing? That would have been regulated and not possible to fake.


🤷🏻‍♂️….Sure… I mean… i guess one could also have sex with 400 chocolate-covered chickens below sea level on a leap year and achieve such infamy as well. Doesn’t really denote an expertise or societal interest. 😂


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## Scamper (Sep 13, 2021)

Yeah, I'm also not really into seeing a piano performance, that's not actually performed.

On the other hand, talking about Harry Potter on piano, this is by far my favorite - not just the playing, but also since it's done on the fly.


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## gst98 (Sep 13, 2021)

Stephen Limbaugh said:


> 🤷🏻‍♂️….Sure… I mean… i guess one could also have sex with 400 chocolate-covered chickens below sea level on a leap year and achieve such infamy as well. Doesn’t really denote an expertise or societal interest. 😂


Well, I didn't say playing fast made for good music, but it demonstrates a level of ability and dedication to the isntrument. It also makes it hard to refute that he can really play the material himself. So really the gripe you have is that he didn't do enough takes on the filming day to get it to the point where he nailed the parts 100%. He is however good enough to play live to some pretty impressive crowds. Idk, I think it's pretty impressive how big a following he's managed to gather and convert into paying audience members.


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## Stephen Limbaugh (Sep 13, 2021)

gst98 said:


> demonstrates a level of ability and dedication to the isntrument


Pushing a linear sequence of adjacent buttons is categorically different than playing music though.

Also, why did he set up microphones if it wasn’t being recorded? It’s to lie about what he can _actually_ do.


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## Kery Michael (Sep 13, 2021)

Scamper said:


> Yeah, I'm also not really into seeing a piano performance, that's not actually performed.
> 
> On the other hand, talking about Harry Potter on piano, this is by far my favorite - not just the playing, but also since it's done on the fly.



Wow. Ok. I think he's taken a couple of those smart pills from the movie Limitless. Maybe a fist fill. That's pretty impressive.

But... if you watch very closely the G#5 at 4:35 is about 50 ms too late. So... clearly fake... obviously.


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## gst98 (Sep 14, 2021)

Stephen Limbaugh said:


> Pushing a linear sequence of adjacent buttons is categorically different than playing music though.
> 
> Also, why did he set up microphones if it wasn’t being recorded? It’s to lie about what he can _actually_ do.


Of course, but it's unlikely he has achieved that title without being about to play actual music too.

Because it's act! It's called a performance for a reason, the overdone hand movement's, the sets and the dressing up is all to make something entertaining. You don't have to like it, but it doesn't prove your point that he's a fraud. Is every band that went on top of the pops a fraud then? 

Anyway, as you say, he's a recent Berklee grad and hiring videographers and set all costs money. Hence why his it's pausable he had to rush and get a take where he didn't nail the part.

If you're claiming he fakes his live performances, then that would be a reasonable thing to call him a fraud on.


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## Stephen Limbaugh (Sep 14, 2021)

Dude… he set up mics that weren’t turned on with the intent to deceive people like you into thinking these videos were authentic live performances. If you call that just “an act” then it’s a real bummer for our industry! 😬


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## gst98 (Sep 14, 2021)

Stephen Limbaugh said:


> Dude… he set up mics that weren’t turned on with the intent to deceive people like you into thinking these videos were authentic live performances. If you call that just “an act” then it’s a real bummer for our industry! 😬


I suppose every band that ever made a music video was deceiving us by miming in front of amplifiers and playing their drum kits... I do hope you left them a nice message in the comment section too.


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## Stephen Limbaugh (Sep 14, 2021)

gst98 said:


> I suppose every band that ever made a music video was deceiving us by miming in front of amplifiers and playing their drum kits... I do hope you left them a nice message in the comment section too.


Those bands weren’t lying to us by trying to create a the illusion they were playing live. They weren’t doing virtuosic arrangements to prove technical skill and faking it. C’mon, these are arguments you can figure out yourself before you post this nonsense. You need to think more before authoring these weakly-reasoned apologetics.

Better yet, you should go practice music until you achieve a level of skill that confers in yourself a modicum of artistic taste. …much better use of time than defending charlatans.


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