Vern Dias
Second Unit
- Joined
- Apr 27, 1999
- Messages
- 353
- Real Name
- Theodore V Dias
I have to disagree with your opinion of the sound on Dumbo, although I do agree with it on many other Disney films. In the interview with the restoration teams, it was stated that Disney transferred all their optical sound elements to mag back in the '50s. Frankly, they must have done a crappy job of it, probably by failing to preserve the entire frequency range present on the optical tracks (DC to 10KHz was very doable using optical recorders back in the '40s) and IMHO this transfer process may well be be responsible for your "boxy" sound.The Dumbo multichannel mix is the absolute worst of the worst.
Disney had a kind of boxy sound normally, but monkeying around with it digitally only makes it worst.
In the case of Dumbo, the mag elements were missing, so they went back to an almost pristine IB Tech print and digitized the optical sound track for remixing. No stems, no dialog tracks, no effect tracks, and the result is that Dumbo has the best sound I have heard on BD fron a mono optical Disney source.
Many years ago, BD (before Dolby) I built some custom preamps for reproducing optical sound. I also built in some eq and slit loss comp. I was amazed at the quality of the Disney and WB IB Tech. sound tracks, even those released in the '40s. Wide frequency range, low noise and wide dynamic range were the norm when run through a DBX 3BX processor. One of the reasons for the difference is that, unlike other color film stock, the sound track on IB Tech film stock was actually composed of a black and white ultra fine grain emulsion. The RCA film recorders had been refined and enhanced over the the years and certainly deserved the "High Fidelity" label that RCA used in the film credits.
I only hope the Disney learns from this experience, discontinues the use of the inferior mag masters dubbed from their early optical tracks, and redigitizes the audio for their older mono releases from surviving IB Tech optical tracks.
Vern