Remix Movie Soundtracks On DVD/B-R

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Remix Movie Soundtracks On DVD/B-R

Postby Ewan_McMahon » 29 Aug 2017 18:31

Hi everyone.

Some of you out there may or may not be aware that a number of movie titles have at some point in their history had new remix soundtracks made for them - which can include: different sounding sound-effects / altered background music / possibly alternate dubbing voices etc compared to the original theatrical release. In effect, for these kinds of movies there can be TWO distinct soundtracks (typically the original theatrical version, and the new remix version).

Now do not be confused with this - most old soundtracks have more than likely been "cleaned up" so they sound crisp / clear / easier to hear etc + some probably reconstructed into 5.1/7.1 surround sound for DVD/Blu-Ray releases. Any (most) movies where the soundtrack has simply been cleaned up or updated for 5.1/7.1 in this way still essentially have the original soundtrack - I AM NOT referring to these (which would be most movies in existance! :lol: ). It's the few movies where they decided to heavily alter whole sound-effects for a modern re-release or something that I am referring to.

Below are a few examples from a few movies. For some I have found some YouTube videos (hope they remain active video links) which you can check out for yourselves to compare the differences (the sound effect differences can sometimes be very subtle - listen very carefully):
***Note: I do not own or take any credit for any of these YouTube videos - I just found them and noted them here so you guys can compare for yourselves***

"Grease" 1978
--- Listen to the sound of the "trash-can" being knocked over, and the "boing" of the comb on these two YouTube links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODOj2jBUKW0 - (1minute-42seconds) + (2minutes-30seconds) - original soundtrack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZW0DfsCzfq4 - (2minutes-11seconds) + (3minutes-0seconds) - remix soundtrack
--- Similarly listen to the sound of the "bubble-gum" being popped on these links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1OBn0HuC50 - (2minutes51seconds) - original soundtrack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCumGJ0y9lc - (2minutes53seconds) - remix soundtrack
--- The remix soundtrack has heavier sounding "footsteps" and "thump" noises of the movement of characters during major song and dance routines - I think included in the above mentioned remix YouTube links.
--- During the car-chase near the end of the movie, when the scorpion leader is racing against Danny (John Travolta), the scorpion leader car has bladed hubcaps which tear through Danny's car making a metallic sawing sound. The original soundtrack sound effect of this sawing has a low tone kind of sawing sound. But the remix soundtrack version has a much higher pitched sawing sound.

Jaws (1975)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q81Ublj9k_A - compares the original and the remix soundtracks of a scene

An American Tail (1986)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCgWnA2cprg - compares the original and the remix soundtracks of a scene (although I read on some other websites there is some confusion over just which was the original... Still I know the rest of the remix version of this movie contains other altered sound-effects on and off throughout)

The Terminator (1984)
***Be advised these scenes are somewhat implied violent - but compare the sound of the gun-shots***
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5MlmtHgpf8 - original soundtrack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm8y-kDFb1s - remix soundtrack
--- Similar differences to sound-effects of mostly gunshots continue in the same way throughout the movie.

Suffice to say, there are definitely some differences. And they don't just occur in the above mentioned scenes - various kinds of differences occur on and off throughout the movies (I know for certain, because at one time or another I have seen and listened to all four of these movies many times, and when I heard the remix sound-effects versions for the first time I immediately noticed the differences). True often they can only be very minor things and that might not matter to some people, but to others they can be noticeable and annoying!
Anyway, these titles are listed here on dvdcompare with as many DVD/Blu-Ray comparisons from as many countries as possible. But what may or may not be known is just what versions of soundtracks have been included on so-and-so country DVD/Blu-Ray release - do they contain the (OLD)original-soundtrack, the (NEW)remix-soundtrack, or both? Most listings of these titles on dvdcompare do include data if it has a 2.0 mono, 5.1 surround, 7.1 surround (whatever) soundtrack included on its DVD/Blu-Ray release. But I don't know about anyone else, but to me all that tells me is the number of speakers involved - not if so-and-so movie soundtrack is OLD or NEW version. And I think with these kinds of titles, a little bit of extra data needs to be added to the currently listings showing what soundtrack actually plays what...
But that's the problem - I don't know what is played on what + nor do some of the moderators / administrators of this forum know for sure (or at least we don't know 100% what is on what). Other websites such as IMDB and WIKI that have extra details concerning these kinds of soundtrack alterations are not necessarily reliable enough sources either.

So I was thinking, for starters lets make a list of these kinds of movie titles that have had a heavy sound-effect remix done to them at some point. I only know of the above four titles currently - can anyone point out anymore? Next, hopefully if anyone has their own DVD/Blu-Ray copies, can you help identify what soundtracks are on what releases from wherever (possibly make some notes about the differences between the two versions here on this thread). That way we'll all have a clearer idea what's what and then ultimately I hope we can update the listings pages accordingly.
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Re: Remix Movie Soundtracks On DVD/B-R

Postby James-Masaki_Ryan » 30 Aug 2017 00:51

"Vertigo"
"Psycho"
"The Good the Bad and the Ugly"
"Quatermass and the Pit"
"A Better Tomorrow" trilogy
"Project A" 1 and 2
"Police Story" trilogy
"Mad Max"
"Trainspotting"
"Kes"
"Anatomy of a Murder"
"In Cold Blood"
....

The list goes on and on. Basically almost every pre-90s movie with a 5.1 track on DVD or Blu-ray is guaranteed to be a remixed audio track, whether it is a remix from original source materials or ones with new effects.
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Re: Remix Movie Soundtracks On DVD/B-R

Postby Ewan_McMahon » 30 Aug 2017 06:22

Well OK - really what I meant was those with the heavily altered new sound effects differences. Like I said most films probably have a remix from the original, but it's those were the sound differences are particularly noticable that I was sort of interested in making a list about. Or perhaps as you say there are just far too many to list and I've kind of wasted my time making this topic. :cry:
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Re: Remix Movie Soundtracks On DVD/B-R

Postby Samuel_Scott » 30 Aug 2017 09:33

Lots of older Hong Kong action films that are popular in the West have added effects in the 5.1 tracks. Instead of including original mono tracks, they often just downmixed the new 5.1 remix.

Anchor Bay were also bad for this back when Anchor Bay were releasing better titles.
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Re: Remix Movie Soundtracks On DVD/B-R

Postby James-Masaki_Ryan » 30 Aug 2017 09:36

"Vertigo" had heavily altered sound effects and foley for the 1997 rerelease that was hugely controversial. The original DVD had only the new 5.1 while later releases had the original mono added. The Blu-ray's 5.1 was also altered to remove the new sound effects and used the surround channels for mostly the music cues.

"The Good the Bad and the Ugly" had also rerecorded sound effects and even dialogue with Eastwood and Wallach redone by the actors 40 years later.

"Quatermass and the Pit" had some very subtle sound effects added to the Blu-ray restoraton.

The Fortune Star Hong Kong releases went all out in rerecording gunshots, explosions, and punches and kicks for their DVD editions, but luckily kept the mono tracks too.

"Mad Max", "Trainspotting", "Kes" had alternate soundtracks to downplay some of the accents. "Mad Max" had some issues on home video with the original Australian English and the American dub track, Trainspotting's American soundtrack dubbed Begbie to make him a bit more intelligible, and "Kes" dubbed the Northern accents to a more standard English accent. Luckily Trainspotting always used the original Scottish English accent track on DVD and Blu-ray and the Kes Criterion and Eureka releases have both audio tracks as options.

"In Cold Blood" and "Anatomy of a Murder" went back to the original score masters by Quincy Jones and Duke Elllington respectively for the 5.1. The music sounds clearer than ever, like the band is there in the room with you. Unfortunately that's not how it originally sounded. The Criterion "Blood" only has 5.1 but the Criterion "Anatlmy" also has the original mono.
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Re: Remix Movie Soundtracks On DVD/B-R

Postby Ewan_McMahon » 30 Aug 2017 13:27

Oh of course there's:

"Star Wars: A New Hope"
"Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back"
"Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi"

These have gone through multiple soundtrack remixes in their time compared to the originals - as with other movies just minor differences in sound-effects on and off throughout. Oh and as well of all the other stuff done to them over time like remastering picture, extra scenes etc - but never mind that stuff for the point of this topic! :lol:
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Re: Remix Movie Soundtracks On DVD/B-R

Postby Ewan_McMahon » 02 Sep 2017 08:24

(From the Jaws (1975) Soundtrack comparison corrections thread I started a while ago):

Brent_Reid wrote:There are various soundtracks where the remixed surround version is significantly different to the mono original. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to paste a standard disclaimer into the footnotes of different comparisons, like:
    Many effects present in the original mono soundtrack are substituted or missing completely in the remixed surround audio track.

Now that's an idea - I think that's what I was aiming for in the first place with these kinds of multi-soundtrack titles... Only wish I could explain myself better in less than a 900 word essay! (But I can never really keep things brief and simple when there are a lot of facts involved!) :-D
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Re: Remix Movie Soundtracks On DVD/B-R

Postby Ewan_McMahon » 17 Oct 2017 16:50

OK, I think I can add "V-miniseries" (1983 TV-series) http://www.dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=1697 to the list of movies/etc that have had their original sound effects tampered with.

It's another example of something originally made in mono-audio. They re-did it as stereo 2.0, but of course they had to take things too far... Not only did they clean up the sound to make it clearer / crisper, they also (annoyingly) went and changed various sound effects (and a few seconds of background music too it seems) on and off throughout (I have found a couple of YouTube videos and peoples reviews etc that show this).

The "V: The Final Battle" + "V: Complete Series" (x2 TV-series - 1984-1985) are listed on site as having mono-audio, so safe to assume those are alright, at least.

Also there is "Superman (1978)" that has new sound effects too. Though for this movie I can be more forgiving, because I read there was extreme deterioration of the original sound-effects track (+ they have recovered old deleted-scenes material from somewhere - wonder if it will ever get re-released on DVD with all those deleted-scenes - I know there has been a Blu-Ray re-release...)

---

I wish the film / TV companies would just leave things alone as they were - or at least include both old and new versions on their DVD releases! I do get too used to original sound-effects I'll admit, but sometimes (*cough* Terminator gunshots) the original sound-effects sound so better to any new versions. :-D
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