Heavy hiss and bass reduction on the original Japanese blu-ray (released by Studio Ghibli) and on the StudioCanal blu-ray -- both tracks are ostensibly the same. The later 'Hayao Miyazaki Collection' Japanese blu-ray has less high-frequency noise reduction and leaves the bass frequencies intact. The Japanese tracks on the old DVDs (both Japan and US) and the Disney blu-ray are unfiltered and sound much, much better.
Note: The waveforms of all of the above look identical -- no egregious compression/clipping.
English track:
Here, the first Japanese blu-ray, the StudioCanal blu-ray, and the Disney blu-ray use the same mastering with noise reduction. The second (Miyazaki Collection) Japanese blu-ray has much less NR, and the old Disney DVD has none.
More interestingly, every edition except the old Disney DVD exhibits a high level of clipping. Minor clipping, unlike noise reduction, isn't audible to most people, but the amount here absolutely should be.
Great info! Could you comment on Laputa as well?
ReplyDeleteAlmost four years later, but I second this. Especially since Laputa/Castle in the Sky's music was re-recorded in 1999 for the English dub and the GKIDS Blu-ray includes two English dubs with both soundtracks
Deletei would like to see a comparison/comment too!
DeleteThere's an audio glitch on the Disney Blu-ray.
ReplyDeleteAt around 23:34, the music plays slightly longer than any other version of the film.
The Disney Blu-ray is the only version to have this issue. I can send you the 1996 Ghibli ga Ippai LaserDisc audio track and the Animage Hi-Fi VHS audio track (it's unknown when the Animage VHS came out, probably 1985).