A few words about...™ Grease -- in Blu-ray - Page 2

Re: A few words about...™ Grease -- in Blu-ray

I've always felt that the new mix is inferior to the original and see no reason why they could not have included it here. As if there isn't any room. :mad:

Re: A few words about...™ Grease -- in Blu-ray

I think for some reason Paramount wants us to forget about the original mix. Why? I don't know!

Re: A few words about...™ Grease -- in Blu-ray

Um, Chuck, it might be me but I clearly hear the repeated 'electrifying' on both versions.

Re: A few words about...™ Grease -- in Blu-ray

Even in the original mix, there's an echo on the line "it's electrifying"--you can clearly hear it repeated at least twice.

This echo is retained for the remix. Additionally, the remix contains another repeat of the line. This one is a second or two later, unlike the original echoes, each of which immediately followed the previous. On Chuck's second video, you can clearly hear it just when the film cuts to the shot of Sandy's friends motioning for her to put out her cigarette.

Re: A few words about...™ Grease -- in Blu-ray

Oh yeah, I heard it now. It is a bit strange. But since the original mix isn't there, I was hesitant to buy it anyway. And since it's also Paramount we're talking about, I'm sure there will be a lot of re-releases down the line.

Re: A few words about...™ Grease -- in Blu-ray

Here is another example, albeit still with limitations owing to the compression required for YouTube. The added reverb for the remix is more noticeable when playing the scene back in surround sound, but here it goes...

Note how much richer the vocal is without the reverb? Listening to the scene with the uncompressed original mix (which, unfortunately, is not possible in this YouTube example) removes the horrible remix from being a valid option. Let's hope the original mix resurfaces someday.

Original Mix


Remix on the DVD and Blu-Ray

Re: A few words about...™ Grease -- in Blu-ray

You don't hear it on the original mix on the shot where the girls are directing Olivia to put out her cigarette. You DO on the remix. It is more apparent when listening to the Blu-Ray in full surround sound than listening to a YouTube video, but it is there and a fault of the remix.

Anyone else find it funny how LOUD the sound effect of the leather jackets being thrown to the ground is on the remix, and how pronounced the effect is to the extreme right and left of the soundtrack on the remix? There are many jarring moments like this in the remix, not to mention how disorienting it is for suddenly a massive reverb pop up every time someone drifts into song, yet disappears just as quickly during normal dialogue. It only serves to remove the viewer from the film.

Re: A few words about...™ Grease -- in Blu-ray

I agree that the reverb is very obvious, but to play devil's advocate, I can kinda see why Kleiser prefers the remix: with the reverb added, it reduces the obvious fact that the vocal is overdubbed, and given the technology of the time, that it sounds completely different from any live dialogue captured on location. Some reverb should've been in the original mix to reflect what high school hallways sound like and to obtain the desired similarity to dialogue captured on set, but the amount used here is overkill. Of course, I'm only referring to the Worse Things example; I haven't had a chance to watch the You're the One That I want scene yet.

Re: A few words about...™ Grease -- in Blu-ray

I disagree. The singing without the reverb plays much better in the film than with it. And since the dialogue BEFORE the singing does not have the reverb "to reflect what high school hallways sound like" (note that the scene is outside and not in a hallway), and since that dialogue is obviously looped and not original production audio anyway, the original mix clearly rules in this case.

I'm going to post the scene again with the remix and original mix but including some dialogue before the scene. After viewing both, let me know which you prefer. It is difficult to judge the merits of the original mix with no way to actually compare it save for digging out an old Laserdisc (only the early 80s pan/scan has the original mix, without digital audio or noise reduction - it is terribly noisy and was not used for this comparison) or VHS tape (the early 90s VHS release was used for this comparison and, believe it or not, it sounds better than the remix on either the DVD or Blu-Ray, TrueHD or not. Not that the Blu with TrueHD of the ORIGINAL MIX could not sound far better than the VHS - it certainly could - but since only the warped remix is on the disc...). The original mix has not been available on ANY home video release since 1998.

Original Mix excerpt


Remix excerpt

Re: A few words about...™ Grease -- in Blu-ray

The loud sound effects added throughout the movie are really annoying. During the dance off, the foley effects are way too loud.

The worst mistake (to me) during You're the One That I Want is during the last verse (that both characters sing). The male background vocals are WAY out of sync midway though, after "who can keep me satisfied" It is just inexcusably sloppy. You can hear the vcoals get abruptly turned down to try and cover it.

Also, at the end of the song, the vocals of some of the backgroud characters are missing. Plus there are some bad music edits. That song is just a mess.

Summer Nights has weird bass drum percussion thrown in the middle, Hopelessly Devoted has added background vocals. Love is A Many Splendored Thing is edited differently in the beginning beach scene. The instrument mix of We Go Together is wrong. There are so many mistakes and changes.

Re: A few words about...™ Grease -- in Blu-ray

I read somewhere a while back that the remix was made using the mixes of the songs from the soundtrack album master. That would explain a lot, as it is typical for a soundtrack release to be mixed differently than the actual film. It still doesn't explain how sloppily it was all done, or why the original mix has disappeared and never appeared on ANY DVD or Blu-Ray release. I have seen some TV broadcasts using the original mix, but owing to the (lack of) quality of the broadcasts, the fidelity left much to be desired.

Re: A few words about...™ Grease -- in Blu-ray

The top end (treble) seems to be rolled off on the remix.You can hardly hear the drums.
The worse parts of the remix to me are summer nights with that cheesy bass drum just after the line "did she put up a fight",the added drum in Hopelessly Devoted to You,which should just be a rim shot on the snare drum,the sound effects in Greased Lightning,the Rydell dance is just all over the place.Infact there's just too many to mention.Apart from all the mistakes the songs have a puny,compressed quality to them.

Re: A few words about...™ Grease -- in Blu-ray

I agree with all the criticisms of the remix, but how could they use the album masters when they shorten many of the songs, removing intros in many cases? And the album has different vocal passages in some places (especially on Greased Lightning).

If Paramount seems to want to bury the original mix, there is a third option: throw out the 1998 garbage remix and go back and re-remix it correctly.

Re: A few words about...™ Grease -- in Blu-ray

Exactly - it's absolutely not the album masters and where Mr. Pennington might have read that or even if he read that is the question. The video presentation on Blu-Ray is, for the most part, quite good. The remix is unnecessary and bad and there is no scenario ever where the original mix should not be included - studios, please do not rewrite history.

Re: A few words about...™ Grease -- in Blu-ray

Well, excuse me... I do remember reading an interview with the director in which he briefly talked about the remix done for the 1998 theatrical reissue. I'm currently searching for the interview to see if it is still available someone online.

How anyone can claim the video on the Blu-Ray is "quite good" I can't grasp. There is NO grain and NO fine detail, period. Color is fine, as is contrast, but all of the processing has left a waxen image that no longer looks like film. Add to that a horrible remix and you have a Blu-Ray worth skipping until the next re-release - which is inevitably coming. All of the people praising the Blu-Ray release will be the same ones knocking it when an improved version appears.

It's too bad all I can post for comparison is a compressed version of the original soundtrack via YouTube to compare to the remix. I created my own uncompressed PCM version of the original mix from an earlier video release with the remix on a separate audio track. Switching back and forth between the two shows up just how haphazardly the results are from the remix.

Re: A few words about...™ Grease -- in Blu-ray

From what I remember from the Kleiser interview, it was stated he wanted the sound on the film to be more modern and more like the soundtrack album. If I can find that interview, I'll post portions of it.

Can anyone come up with a plausible reason why Travolta's line "It's electrifyin'!" is suddenly repeated in the center channel where it does not belong during an instrumental bridge that is only in the film and not on the soundtrack release? That's the real question, and might explain a bit more about why there are so many changes on the remix, which is more of a "reimagining" that a remix as so many things are changed - all the added reverb, a chorus where there wasn't one before, enhanced sound effects, etc.

Re: A few words about...™ Grease -- in Blu-ray

Chuck, I did indicate I was playing devil's advocate. I've heard much worse mixes than this.

Re: A few words about...™ Grease -- in Blu-ray

VH1 HD is showing the movie right now with the original soundtrack. This is the first time I have heard the original mix used on a broadcast in years. Unfortunately, VH1 HD doesn't seem to be real HD. The movie is being shown full screen and is most definitely an older transfer. The sound was in stereo at first, then seemed to switch to mono after a commercial break. Weird. Regardless, it is nice to hear the original soundtrack.

I finally got around to watching Grease tonight.  Overall, I thought it looked pretty good.  It does look very slightly digital at times as there is some EE and I think there might have been some light DNR.  Clearly, some of the softer shots were due to the photography but there is barely any film grain present which makes me wonder if there was some light filtering.  However, I didn't see what I would call a "waxy" look.  As far as the audio controversy of the remix, it does seem to sound different and it's too bad the original isn't present.