Persona (1966)

I previously wrote that the StudioCanal blu-ray has some filtering applied that reduces ambient sound throughout the film. I was wrong.

The Criterion blu-ray increases the prominence of those sounds by way of the same weird, bass-heavy EQ apparently present on most of their recent audio 'restoration' jobs (heard more prominently on The Seventh Seal).

I was, however, correct in stating that the Criterion audio has its treble significantly exaggerated. (It's probably also worth pointing out that I can't at this moment think of another Criterion release that does this -- attenuate high frequencies, yes, but not increase them).

And I have to admit, it sometimes works: the dialogue in some scenes sounds clearer without being strident. But it wasn't until I noticed that the StudioCanal blu-ray replicates the tonality (and dynamics) of the Tartan DVD verbatim--while being sourced from the same 2011 Svensk Filmindustri restoration as the Criterion--that I concluded with certainty that none of this perceived detail is truly detail.

And there are there scenes--the vast majority, I would argue--that do sound bright and overly strident.

I think it's safe to assume that the StudioCanal blu-ray presents the audio track completed by Svensk Filmindustri in 2011 without any changes.

Yet, everything the StudioCanal track does better than the Criterion (more natural sounding dialogue, clearer and less muffled music and sounds effects) is doubly true of the Tartan DVD. With its PAL speed-up removed, the Tartan sounds like a flat presentation of the same magnetic track used for the 2011 restoration* and was not altered much (or possibly at all). The occasional pop or tick can be heard every few minutes, but so what?

*Criterion booklet:
The original monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from the 17.5mm magnetic track. Clicks, thumps, hiss, and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube's integrated workstation.

The MGM DVD sounds the worst of them all, if anyone's wondering.

After removing the Tartan DVD's PAL speed-up and syncing it and the StudioCanal blu-ray to the Criterion blu-ray, they look like this:

The Tartan DVD has a small issue with its channel balance: every once in a while, the right channel gets louder for like 100 ms. it's extremely minor and can probably only be heard with headphones. Dropping the right channel rectifies this issue.