The 5.1 has some intense noise reduction throughout and some gimmicky panning in the crop duster sequence. It is an
actual remix, though. All the mono tracks below are significantly more detailed.
1984 MGM LaserDisc [ML100104]: No noise reduction whatsoever, but quite distorted during louder segments and increasingly mushy as the film progresses - surely due to the track's analogue limitations.
1984 MGM Hi-Fi VHS: Similar to the '84 LD, but no distortion. Truly excellent sound - clear highs and deep lows. Easily the best the mono track has ever sounded.
1987 MGM Hi-Fi VHS: A different transfer than the 1984 VHS, with uniformly more noise and no additional detail.
1990 Criterion LaserDisc [CC1226L]: Decent, but not great; high frequencies above 8-9 kHz have been removed, so the score and some of the action sequences sound duller than they do in the '84 transfer.
1991 MGM LaserDisc [ML102228]: The opening credits music is a stereo remix with little actual stereo separation. The rest of the film has bad EQ; voices are shrill and hiss is louder without being accompanied by additional detail, so the entire film sounds thin.
1996 MGM Hi-Fi VHS: A different mastering than the earlier tapes. The opening music is stereo, like the '91 MGM LD, but the rest of the film preserves high frequencies better for the most part - just with stronger noise reduction during quiet scenes.
2024 Warner UHD Blu-ray: The mono track here, while worlds better than the 5.1, sounds like the Criterion LD track but with more global hiss reduction. Distortion in loud sequences (see the drunk driving scene, 1:57 in the clip below) is more noticeable than in the '84 VHS.
This is even more obvious than The Train. I agree, there really is no comparison. It's not even a case of moving backwards but actually in a new bad direction. What or whom are they mixing for?
ReplyDeleteOne thing I do think you really need to mention is how the Atmos track is not a simple repurposing of the old 5.1 remix. It's a legitimate new remix that annoyingly has many new sound effects added, which as flawed as the old 5.1 track was, at least resembled the mono far more than the Atmos track does. The music is also mixed as if it's being played in a concert hall, rather than natively with the visuals like in the mono and old 5.1 mix.
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