The very first Universal DVDs are probably the worst, having been hit with heavy noise gating that wiped out everything below a certain volume -- so despite having moderately more high-end detail than the others (even the LaserDisc, which probably did undergo some high-end roll off) it's riddled with warbly-sounding artefacts everywhere and just sounds strange.
The 75th anniversary DVD and the blu-ray sound similar, with lots of noise reduction and a loud low-frequency noise floor that sounds almost like shellac.
The LaserDisc is missing the "Now I know what it feels like to be God" line.
my friend actually did make a comparison regarding the missing sound effects and miscued audio
ReplyDeletehttps://vimeo.com/295910511
he uses the LD and BD as source comparisons, I own the 1999 DVD myself and while it does sound too quiet at least it doesn't have the missing and miscued sound effects issues
I'd take mistimed sound effects any day over noise gating as extreme as it is on the 1999 DVDs.
DeleteIt's kinda apples and oranges. The 1999 DVD audio while heavily DNR'd and with a mostly low volume level is still MUCH clearer than the mix used from 2004 onward. The latter mix does have a better volume level and a better balanced background hiss but is just a bit flat and muffled.
ReplyDeleteI think they can be compared, which is why I've done so above. The noise gating on the 1999 DVD cuts low-frequency sound (just as the hiss reduction in the later mastering cuts high-frequency sound), but the noise gating produces further artefacts that sound sort of like what extreme lossy compression sounds like - a garbled, underwater-sounding effect that becomes impossible to ignore once you notice it's there.
DeleteSemantics: they're all the same mix.
I'm a little lost. Are you saying the 1999 audio is the same as the BD?? That's debatable but again I'm only going by what I hear. I am NO expert. The BD (and the 2004 and 2006 DVD versions) sounds closer to the 1980 VHS I have. Similar muffled flat sound (VHS is a bit worse but its from 1980 so thats no shock) and is missing some of the dialogue/effects missing from the BD. The 1999 audio is more similar to the LD audio though only marginally. Similar clarity but much of the audio crackle on the LD is absent on the 1999 DVD audio and also the LD wasnt so low in volume.
DeleteI mean every version is the same mono mixdown produced in the 1931 -- the LD, VHS, DVDs, BDs, etc.
DeleteMy comment was comparing the 1999 DVD to the later DVD and the blu-ray (the latter two are basically identical). They approach noise reduction in a different way, with the 1999's noise gating being the (in my opinion) more destructive method. It's possible that the VHS was subjected to noise gating too - it was more commonly done in the analogue era. Here it has wiped out crackle and low-level distortion but has also taken a good chunk out of the mids of the dialogue.