Surround End Credits in Movies and TV Series

QuadraphonicQuad

Help Support QuadraphonicQuad:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

SurroundSensei

New member
Joined
Oct 4, 2017
Messages
7
A lesser-known entity in the surround sound universe, the end credits music in movies is an area that deserves some discussion, as there are some hidden gems in there. Granted, many movies with surround audio actually have upmixed end credits music (or, worse, stereo), but it seems that most blockbusters these days have beautiful discreet surround final cues. That is, unless they are riddled with silly outtakes and such. But, I digress.

There can also be inconsistencies in a movie franchise. For example, the first two Matrix movies only had songs by various artists, all in stereo (the first one did have a short orchestral cue in surround at the very end), but Revolutions had the cue "Navras" in excellent 5.1. Credits with popular songs instead of orchestral music are usually the reason for a lack of a surround mix, unless the mixing enigneer actually has the stems for the songs themselves. Examples: John Newman's "Love Me Again" was mixed in 7.1 for Edge of Tomorrow, "Game On" by Waka Flocka Flame and Good Charlotte was mixed in 7.1/Atmos for Pixels and even the 1995 movie Space Jam had proper 5.1 mixing for all the songs in the end credits. On a side note, I've come across songs heard during a movie that have had a surround mix; one such case is Miami Vice, where the Audioslave songs were mixed in 5.1 exclusively for the movie. I could clearly hear Tim Commerford's bass guitar stem in the center channel. Unfortunately, there was dialogue and loud sound effects happening at the same time, and a version with an isolated score does not exist.

Like I said before, in the case of "big" composers like Hans Zimmer, John Powell, James Newton Howard, Junkie XL et al, there usually are great surround mixes in most of their epic scores. Not too impressed with the mixes of Michael Giacchino (e.g. Star Trek Into Darkness) and Alexandre Desplat (e.g. Godzilla), they don't sound clean or discreet enough. Giacchino's soundtracks for Disney/Pixar movies are beautifully mixed, though.

Seeing as though surround albums of soundtracks (DVD-A, DTSCD, SACD...) are few and far between, and so are movies with isolated music tracks (and surround isolated music is even rarer), and editing out voice and sound effects out of a mix ranges from "okay-ish" to "near impossible" depending on the film, multichannel end credits music is the next best thing.

As for the themes in TV series (both for main and end credits), things are a bit more complicated. Upmixes are much more common, and in many cases they just copy the stereo mix to the rears and don't even touch the center or the LFE. However, big-budget shows can have music mixed in surround. Penny Dreadful, DaVinci's Demons, 12 Monkeys and Agents of SHIELD have had great mixes (composer Bear McCreary is very good at this). In the case of huge shows like Game of Thrones and Daredevil, which have different ending music for each episode, all of them are mixed in surround. GoT and Westworld are in Dolby Atmos, and so will be the second season of American Gods. The first was mixed in 7.1, according to this interview.

Wow. It sure feels good to be on a forum where I can type the word "surround" so many times. Surround, surround, surround. :D
 
Was aware of GoT and Westworld (both worth a binge), but not that Penny Dreadful had surround ending music! Excellent, all.

Now you make me want to put on the ending credits to the LOTR finale, Return of the King, and check out Annie Lennox singing Shores' "Into the West."

The deluxe blu ray version was 6.1 -- does anyone know if that Oscar-winning song was upmixed or in true surround? Beautiful music! Wish the soundtrack to the whole series came out in blu ray surround instead of the stereo versions that we got. . . .

Which brings out a question: which movie soundtracks are available in surround? I'd definitely spring for Bladerunner's Vangelis soundtrack :banana: I have it on SACD but as far as I can remember without pulling it out, it is stereo only.
 
Last edited:
The deluxe blu ray version was 6.1 -- does anyone know if that Oscar-winning song was upmixed or in true surround? Beautiful music! Wish the soundtrack to the whole series came out in blu ray surround instead of the stereo versions that we got. . . .

Actually, the soundtracks for all three LOTR movies were released as DVD-A with excellent 5.1 audio. But, maaaan, they're incredibly expensive these days. Haven't checked the 6.1 Blu-rays yet, but I'm sure they sound great, too.

https://www.discogs.com/Howard-Shor...e-Ring-The-Complete-Recordings/release/779652
https://www.discogs.com/Howard-Shor...Towers-The-Complete-Recordings/release/800186
https://www.discogs.com/Howard-Shor...e-King-The-Complete-Recordings/release/800204

Which brings out a question: which movie soundtracks are available in surround? I'd definitely spring for Bladerunner's Vangelis soundtrack :banana: I have it on SACD but as far as I can remember without pulling it out, it is stereo only.

Apart from the aforementioned LOTR, here are a few...

DVD-Audio:
Artificial Intelligence
Koyaanisqatsi (2001 re-recording)

SACD:
A Beautiful Mind
Chicago
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
Le Premier Cri
Seabiscuit
Star Trek: Nemesis
The Great Train Robbery (1979)
The English Patient
Timeline (Jerry Goldsmith's rejected score)
Titanic

Blu-ray:
Inception (bonus feature in the movie's Blu-ray)
The Social Network

And, of course...
Quadraphonic:
Jaws
 
Actually, the soundtracks for all three LOTR movies were released as DVD-A with excellent 5.1 audio. But, maaaan, they're incredibly expensive these days. Haven't checked the 6.1 Blu-rays yet, but I'm sure they sound great, too.

https://www.discogs.com/Howard-Shor...e-Ring-The-Complete-Recordings/release/779652
https://www.discogs.com/Howard-Shor...Towers-The-Complete-Recordings/release/800186
https://www.discogs.com/Howard-Shor...e-King-The-Complete-Recordings/release/800204

I got lucky at a store closeout and got the Two Towers soundtrack boxset for $7. There's a mark on the box and disc 1 is missing, but the DVD-A is still there :)

The movies are obviously spectacular in 6.1, too.
 
Gulp, that IS a huge cost for the soundtrack DVD sets of LOTR (in 2005 I had returned from overseas, and had no equipment except a laptop to play music, so it passed me by).

I do have the extended 6.1 blu rays of the movies (as well as THE HOBBIT). Come to think of it, I've never opened the box set of LOTR to check them out!!!

Collector's habit -- must-have items on shelf, unopened ;)
 
Anyway, let's go back to the original topic. I have some more surround end credits from movies to recommend:

American Beauty
A Series of Unfortunate Events
The Bourne series
Broken City
Constantine
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Gravity
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian

Even Scarface's music was mixed again when the whole movie was remixed for 5.1. Giorgio Moroder's synths have very clear separation.
 
just watched the Matrix blu-ray last night and the end credits have Rage's "Wake Up". Not discrete though, just like you posted.
 
From “The Irishman”, in Dolby Atmos on Netflix. Gorgeous multichannel song “Remembrance” by Robbie Robinson. Discrete high SQ instrumental. 2nd song during credits, starts at 3:31:30. Highly recommended.
 
Snood was re watching one of me fave movies - THE BIG SHORT - ending credits LED ZEPPELIN - WHEN THE LEVEE BREAKS - Nothing exceptional but is 5.1 with the Harmonica and ending slide in the rear left, tis not bad turned up. :rocks

Not sure if me posted this like 3 years back lol
 
Peter Gabriel's song at the end of Up is in surround, I believe. Discrete, IIRC. Pretty good song too.

Sent from my TA-1025 using Tapatalk

Just stumbled onto this thread, Baggy. Do you mean Gabriel's song for the end credits of Wall-E, "Down to Earth"? That's a great song. Hmm...I wonder if anyone has ever extracted the audio....

His song "The Veil" plays over the end credits of Snowden (the Edward Snowden biopic), too; not sure whether that's in discrete surround. And how about his cover of "Heroes," which has been featured twice in Stranger Things (S01 E03 and S03 E08)?
 
Just stumbled onto this thread, Baggy. Do you mean Gabriel's song for the end credits of Wall-E, "Down to Earth"? That's a great song. Hmm...I wonder if anyone has ever extracted the audio....

His song "The Veil" plays over the end credits of Snowden (the Edward Snowden biopic), too; not sure whether that's in discrete surround. And how about his cover of "Heroes," which has been featured twice in Stranger Things (S01 E03 and S03 E08)?
Yeah, Wall-E!
 
Not sure this post really belongs here, but I just watched the first episode of Lovecraft Country on HBO (awesome!), and it features a killer surround version of Nina Simone's "Sinnerman"--more impressive when it appears partway through the episode than when it's reprised for the end credits.
 
In the documentary LAUREL CANYON [EPIX] there is an incredible discrete 5.1 remix of CSN OUR HOUSE. I listened in awe as the audio was crystal clear and the discrete elements UNMISTAKABLE!

Laurel Canyon - About the Documentary | Amblin
 
Not end credits, but opening sequence: the first episode of Fargo, season 5 on FX & Hulu opens with "I've Seen All Good People" (from The Yes Album). Pretty sure Hulu uses DD 5.1; can't tell if this was adapted from Steven Wilson's mix.
https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/fargo
I've been pretty amazed at the music they're using this season. From opening the first show with that Yes tune to using Grand Funk's "Paranoid"! in the second show. Thinking I remember a Sabbath tune in one of the shows as well. Pretty cool. But I have been watching them after my wife went to bed so haven't listened thru the avr, but saved the shows planning on going back and checking to see if they were true surround mixes.
 
Back
Top