I said previously that the original mono mix for this film has never been issued on home video, but the 1984 Japanese LaserDisc does in fact carry it.
It sounds very good. Certainly less detailed than the new 5.0 mix, with a fair dose of '60s compression and a dirtier/slightly distorted high-end, but it has its charms: it's better balanced (music to dialogue) and it's nice and ballsy.
But it also reveals how faithful the new 5.0 mix is. The earlier remix from 1992 sounds much more like your typical remix, with the overall fidelity actually marginally superior -- the bass is much deeper and the soundstage quite a bit wider. ...But it all sounds completely wrong! The balances are wildly different and everything sounds sterile and harsh. The music in the new 5.0 is definitely significantly louder than it is in the mono, but it's consistent and not too far off.
Still, the newest remix isn't perfect. Fidelity is sometimes better in the original mono, and it seems to be a mixing issue (not a mastering one from StudioCanal, who did well not to apply the additional NR Criterion did). While the music is free of NR and consequently very clear and detailed, the vocals are sometimes murky and considerably less detailed than they are on the mono. This is most noticeable during vocal solos (when there is no music), like Geneviève's singing in the final scene.
NB: The left and right surround channels in the new 5.0 mix are identical.
No comments:
Post a Comment