I want to make a phone ringtone with the old (like from the '80s) music that HBO used to play when they showed their logo, but I’m totally at a loss as to how to acquire a copy of this music. I don’t mind paying for it somewhere I just don’t know where to look.
That particular piece of music was also used in The Beastmaster. Sadly, neither IMDB or Wikipedia identify it. You could always rent Beastmaster, or watch it on cable, and read the music credits.
duh duh dundundun dundun dundundoo duh duh dundundun dundundun dunduhndoo . . .
Some more searching turns up that Lee Holdridge composed the music for Beastmaster.
Interesting! I always assumed it was written for HBO. Does that mean that a longer version exists?
http://www.moviemusicuk.us/beastmcd.htm
I think the track in question is The Great Battle which is a minute and a half in full.
I’m surprised at this too, seeing as HBO still uses a modified version of the theme for its “coming up next” bumpers to this day.
Apparently, HBO used to run Beastmaster so much in the old days that Dennis Miller joked that HBO stood for “Hey, Beastmaster’s On!”
Doc: can you show me a cite somewhere that verifies that song is the HBO theme?
Once you have an mp3, how do you turn it into a ringtone? Maybe this is a stupid question, but I really have no idea how its gets onto your phone.
If you can edit the mp3 clip down to about 10-15 seconds (I used to have a free program to do that, but I forgot the name of it), and if your phone can accept sounds (I have an LG-VX8300), just e-mail the file from your computer to your phone. I did it several times over the holidays, putting the Heatmiser theme on as a ringtone, and “Fa-ra-ra-ra-ra” as a message alert.
This is a really good website for turning an mp3 into a ringtone:
There is nothing to download, you can edit your mp3 down for length right on the web page, and it is absolutely 100% free. After your mp3 has been converted, it gives you a link for your phone’s WAP browser, and you just download it to your phone. I have converted several mp3’s from my computer for use as ringtones this way.
Damn, missed the edit window! Meant to add:
Or if you want to clip your mp3 first, (makes for a shorter upload time) you can download Audacity from
which is a free, full version, audio editing software.
My brain is my cite!
I can’t find any sites that mention it. But the music you linked to is exactly the piece I thought you meant. I’m not sure which song on the Beastmaster soundtrack it is. But I am sure it was originally composed by Holdridge for the film. I’ve seen Beastmaster I know not how many times. That ‘HBO feature presentation’ music is a clip from a longer ‘hero triumphant’ piece in Beastmaster.
Hmm, searching turns up that the segment is known as HBO In Space and that the music was composed by Ferdinand J Smith. This confuses me as I am sure it was used in Beastmaster. I must get a copy of the film and watch it to be sure.
Well that’s just spiffy as all get out! I have software to do this but that’s actually faster. Sweet.
Thanks for the info on how to get the mp3 to the phone. Holding my phone really close to the computer just wasn’t working. 
“HBO in Space” is the nickname given to the segment by logo fans such as those in Yahoo!'s Closing Logo Group (which I used to be a member of many years ago, before the current crew took over with their logo surprises/nightmares- which are funny, but the SFM++ video clips take up too much of the running time). BMI lists a number of HBO themes composed by Smith (or as he is credited there, Ferdinand J. Smith III). The one that sounds most likely is BMI work #534645 “HBO Feature Presentation Theme” aka “HBO Main Theme.” Publisher is LT Music, a division of Warner-Tamerlane (no surprise, since HBO is a Time Warner company).