2009 R4 Madman DVD: This DVD is sourced from the same problematic restoration as the Madman and Masters of Cinema blu-rays, but it actually has less reduction on its video, though still obviously a tonne. Its audio remains the same, though - quite a lot of hiss reduction, very murky. It is pitched 0.7 semitones higher than them due to PAL speed-up.
2009 Madman Blu-ray: Like the Madman DVD but pitched 0.7 semitones lower.
2014 Masters of Cinema Blu-ray: Like the Madman blu-ray. A lossy transcode.
2025 Umbrella UHD Blu-ray: Much less hiss reduction - I think its fidelity is excellent - but it's pitched 0.7 semitones lower. Uncorrected reference.
John Scott's original score recording has never been released on LP or CD (only via a 1991 re-recording, cat. JSCD111), so an ideal pitch comparator doesn't exist. At 58:44 (UHD timecode), we hear Amelita Galli-Curci's 1916 recording of Caro nome from Rigoletto. The pitch of the earlier blu-rays matches that of the 1988 Pearl and 1990 RCA CDs fairly well. After pitching the Umbrella UHD 0.7 semitones down, it's pretty similar (certainly closer than before the adjustment), though there's still a small inaudible discrepancy - understandable, as the speed of playback of the song during production (whether done diegetically or if inserted into the soundtrack later) is unlikely to have been perfect. I suggest someone ask Umbrella directly to see if they found the pitch of previous editions to be incorrect.
I think another good reference to use is in fact the original theatrical trailer that Umbrella posted on their own website. I located a rip of what I assume is the 2014 MoC BD and I examined it next to the trailer, it sounds to me like the MoC BD is pitched lower compared to the trailer and honestly in general the voices sound much more natural in the trailer compared to the actual movie's audio track.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A3b9H0-yFY
That trailer is pieced together from the 2009 restoration, which is why I didn't use it as a reference.
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