Examples: Good 5.1 remixes and Bad 5.1 remixes (1 Viewer)

[Radioman970]

I'm more forgiving that most here. So I had to dig deep to find one that I thought was really bad. Killer Klowns from Outer Space. What a mess!

Yeah, the TCM missing sfx problem is why I won't be buying it. What did they do that for? Dopes!

With Westworld the sound seems to slowly creep from side to side and I can almost picture in my mind someone moving a slider of some sort back and forth to do it. I'd rather have mono.

 

[Robert Harris]

Ken...

DMEs on "Vertigo" were junked in 1967. Surviving elements were a couple of used 35mm prints with wear on the track surfaces and some foreign. Music floor recordings had been held in the Paramount vaults and survived, albeit with full VS.

RAH

 

[JimTravis]

Well, I appreciate your work on Vertigo, Robert. I remember hearing the opening credits at Mann's Chinese and I was knocked out by how good it sounded.

As for Fantasia, if I read the book by John Culhane correctly, the original multichannel mix for the film was condensed down to a standard mix over a telephone line in the 50's. We can only approximate and guess at what the original Fantasound tracks sounded like. Terry Porter said in 1990 that removing the telephone line hum was the first challenge he had to tackle when restoring the audio.

They held special "Fantasound 90" showings of Fantasia in Los Angeles and New York for the film's last re-release. I wish I could have experienced that.

 

[Douglas R]

MGM are major culprits in advertising spurious 5.1 mixes. They did the same thing with The Magnificent Seven which is another mono spread. The strange thing is that purusts complain about such re-mixes, saying they want the mono sound, when really that's pretty much what they've got!

 

[Douglas Monce]

I found the car sound effects to be very distracting in the early scenes. Not only did it sound like a modern recording, it sounded like a modern car.

Doug

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

The mono track is something of a mixed blessing as it sounds like there is a lot of compression (dynamic range, not data) on the track. One of the common complaints I have heard about the remix in addition to the new foley was that they "got the levels" wrong w.r.t. the score relative to other elements during certain scenes. The compressed mono track is little help in this regard as everything is dynamically flattened. Hopefully something better will show up some day, like the mag track that seems to have "gone missing" between the release of the Japanese laserdiscs (which I have heard discussed favorably but never actually heard for myself) and the restoration effort.

Regards,

 

[Jack Theakston]

Chace's remix of HOUSE OF WAX is nice, albeit (as usual) overprocessed. It's probably the closest you'll come to hearing the now-lost WarnerPhonic tracks, though.

I was thoroughly unimpressed with Tokyo Shock's handling of the 5.1 mix on THE MYSTERIANS, although the image was superb. It sounds as if they had the music and effects track, but used the original optical for the Japanese dialogue. They forgot to filter out the Perspecta tones on the optical, and they threw on a noise filter during silent passages that only make the room noise stand out more when it comes back up.

GREASE's stereo mixes always sucked, even in '78. I think the only tracks on that that ever sounded slightly good were the original Dolby tracks, and even then, that's not saying much.

There were many things about the VERTIGO's remixed audio I was unimpressed with. Whoever mixed it had a tin ear.

 

[Lyle_JP]

Alan Howarth's 5.1 mix on Halloween (all editions) is quite competant. It takes the stereo recordings of Carpenter's score and opens it up nicely, and the sound effects, although noticeably replaced, are not so out of place as to be jarring (like those in the Terminator and Jaws remixes). I also found the 5.1 remix on Phantasm to be excellent.

The 5.1 remix on the first Thunderball DVD is great, but questionable decisions were made in the new mix. The other mono-to-5.1 Bond remixes are all generally non-offensive and pretty fun, though some have complained that the music should be mixed louder.

At the risk of pissing off every film purist on the board, I find the 5.1 mix on Gone With the Wind to be exquisite, and I doubt I'll ever listen to mono again on that title.

-Lyle J.P.

EDIT: Oh yeah, forgot to mention 5 of my favorite 5.1 remixes: The Dirty Harry Collection. Solid 5.1 goodness!

 

[Stephen_J_H]

I was watching Backdraft last night and was thoroughly impressed with the 5.1 mix. This was originally Dolby Stereo, and there were a few 70mm prints released.