Danny Stewart's Remixes of Dominic Glynn's DW Theme

[Danny Stewart]

Dominic Glynn has been kind enough to send me the original 8-track master recordings of his 1986 Doctor Who theme. With these, I am now in the process of producing various remixed and remastered versions of his themes.

New mixes will be posted here as they are completed.

[Mister_Wilbur]

[Danny Stewart]

The fun has officially started.

[Mister_Wilbur]

That's the highest quality I've ever heard the 1986 opening. Very nice!

[Danny Stewart]

Thank you very much!

[BritCanuck]

Originally Posted by Mister_Wilbur

That's the highest quality I've ever heard the 1986 opening. Very nice!

Total agreement here. Big thank you to Dominic and Danny.

[James P.]

The DVD remix, quite frankly, lacks the "oomph" of the original. Danny's remix is really good. You should make it full length.

[Danny Stewart]

Here's a full-length remix for you guys. I've taken inspiration from all over the place for this one -- each of Dom's original themes, his 2008 remix, the original Derbyshire theme, plus a few touches of my own.

I've added the same bass layer that Dom added for his 2008 remix, plus I've extended out the bassline's intro section (as in the original Derbyshire theme) and run a filter over the entire bassline. I've also recorded an entirely new melody for the bridge.

Hope you guys like it.

[BritCanuck]

First rate work once again. Love the revamped Middle 8. Keep up the good work, both of you.

[Mister_Wilbur]

Very nice! I like that the middle eight has more oomph and the bass line sounds smoother. I like it!

[Danny Stewart]

Here are opening and closing themes with a new bassline that has been recut to match the structure of the original Derbyshire theme.

[James P.]

I love them. It's awesome, it's fresh, it's... WOW!

[Danny Stewart]

New closing remix. This one is a bit of a departure from the original closing mix, and it uses the new bridge sound from my full-length mix above.

[Danny Stewart]

Looking for feedback on this one...

Trying to do a "perfect" master version of both the opening and closing. I've already been at it for almost two hours and have just finished the opening. The closing will probably take me even longer.

The goal here is not to do anything new or different, just to make the mix sound as clean, punchy, and professional as possible. Essentially just making it sound as good as it can, as it was originally intended to. Get the levels just right, apply some light reverb to certain elements, maybe some mild compression here and there. That sort of thing.

Here's what I've got so far for the opening. Feedback and suggestions are welcome.

[Danny Stewart]

I'm checking back every few hours and watching the download count go up. I know you guys are listening, so where are the comments?

[BritCanuck]

So far, the remixes sound fantastic. Looking forward to the Closing Master, but take your time. The longer the wait, the better it can get.

I'm guessing that Dominic is very proud of Danny right now.

[Danny Stewart]

Here is an updated version of the Opening Master. I've gone back over Dom's original final masters (both 1986 and 2008) to try and get closer to what he intended. I decided the bassline needed more punch, so I've compressed it some and brought it up a bit in the mix. I also corrected what seemed like minor clipping on one of the original melody tracks by lowering the volume a bit at that point. It's less noticeable now. I'll live with this for a day or two and figure out whether it's good enough, then get started on the Closing Master.

Originally Posted by BritCanuck

So far, the remixes sound fantastic. Looking forward to the Closing Master, but take your time. The longer the wait, the better it can get.

Closing Master should be done in the next couple of days.

Originally Posted by BritCanuck

I'm guessing that Dominic is very proud of Danny right now.

I very much hope so.

[Danny Stewart]

I'm just about ready to call it a night, but I have run off a quick demo of the Closing Master. I'm not completely happy with it yet, but it should give you a rough idea of where I'm going with it.

I've played with the EQ on the bassline a bit to give it punchier highs and deeper throbbing lows. Dom's closing bassline is actually very different to his opening bassline. The opening bassline is dry and very punchy, whereas the closing bassline has significant delay on it and uses a less punchy and more twangy sound. I generally treat the opening bassline as the ideal, so I've tried to enhance the sound of the closing bassline to match it more closely.

I'm not sure what I should do with the bridge melody... as you all know, it's a point of some contention for everybody. There are a lot of people who really don't like Dom's harshly digital-sounding bridge melody. Even Dom himself has never been happy with it, and jumped at the chance to reimagine it somewhat for his 2008 version. I don't dislike it, but I do feel that it could use some work, and I'm not sure how best to approach it. Seeing as this is a remaster and not a remix, it has to stay in and stay prominent (I can't replace it like I've done with my other remixes so far), but I do have some choices regarding what I can do with it. I could leave it mostly dry, or I could try and use some effects to dull it down and blend it in a bit more. I've gone for the latter for this version, using a phase filter and some heavy reverb to help blend it in. If you all would prefer that I do something different, please let me know. I'm very much open to suggestions in this regard.

Anyway, let me know what you all think of it, and it's safe to say you can expect a new version tomorrow or the next day at some point.

EDIT: Reuploaded the mix after a minor tweak. I advised Dom to make a change to his 2008 remix and then forgot to make the same change myself!

[Mister_Wilbur]

Excellent work so far! And I think you're heading in the right direction with the bridge.

[James P.]

...*Speechless*

*Regains composure* Wooooooooah! Rock ON!