5.1 remixes of "old" non-5.1 films.

[eddievanhalen]

I just finished watching 2010 The Year We Make Contact on BD and at the end of the film this question popped to my mind, "who does the 5.1 remixes for DVD/BD release of movies which were not initially released with one (stereo, mono, analog Dolby Stereo) and why are these mixes uncredited?".
Let's say new visual efects were added/created for a new Towering Inferno release on BD, sure these new efects would be credited, but I have seldom seen new 5.1 remixes credited unless the film is screened again on cinemas.

[Blu-Dog]

Originally Posted by eddievanhalen

I just finished watching 2010 The Year We Make Contact on BD and at the end of the film this question popped to my mind, "who does the 5.1 remixes for DVD/BD release of movies which were not initially released with one (stereo, mono, analog Dolby Stereo) and why are these mixes uncredited?".
Let's say new visual efects were added/created for a new Towering Inferno release on BD, sure these new efects would be credited, but I have seldom seen new 5.1 remixes credited unless the film is screened again on cinemas.

Good question...I was wondering if they remixed from the masters, or did some kind of matrix thing.

[BozQ]

There are definitely companies and facilities that specialize in this.
There is one particular company I came across, which did the 6.1 (and/or 7.1) soundtrack for Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movies as well as a few other New Line films.

But for the life of me, I can't find the dang company website now.

Originally Posted by Blu-Dog

Good question...I was wondering if they remixed from the masters, or did some kind of matrix thing.

It depends on the age of the movies.
Some of the newer movies may have their original 5.1 soundtrack project files intact. And so re-opening these up and then re-mix it to 6.1 or 7.1 is a fairly easy process to do.

For older movies, well...there were many methods to achieve a surround experience before Dolby Digital discrete 5.1 became the de facto format. I think there was an old Dolby format that was 2.0 matrixed out to 4.0 (From Left, Right to Left, Right, Center and Rear).
In cases like this, it could be a simple case of using the matrixed audio and encoding it as a Dolby Digital 5.1 format for convenient decoding.

As for the really old mono and old stereo soundtracks, I don't think anyone has remixed such old classics into a surround format. Then again, I seldom buy such movies, so I'm not sure if there is a movie remixed in such fashion before.

[steve_dave]

Here are some...

Walter Murch did the 5.1 mixes for Apocalypse Now, The Godfather Trilogy, and Return to Oz himself. Return to Oz and Apocalypse Now were actually mixed for discrete audio at the time of the original sound editiing.

Mi Casa Mulitmedia did a lot of the remixes for New Line & Lionsgate and worked on A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Mask, Dirty Dancing, House Party, Basic Instinct, and Total Recall.

Van Ling, visual effects editor and special edition DVD & BD producer for James Cameron, supervised the 5.1 remaster for The Terminator which has a newly recorded score along with both sound samples from T2 and newly recorded foley effects.

From Here to Eternity has an upmixed 5.1 track so its not a true 5.1 remix. The original mono elements were reprocessed to produce discrete audio.

[YodasFootPowder]

I've always been curious how they get a 5.1 or higher surround track when there was no surround track to begin with. For example, Wizard of Oz. Obviously, a mono track at the time it was created. How do they make a true 5.1 experience out of that?

[KubrickFan]

Originally Posted by YodasFootPowder

I've always been curious how they get a 5.1 or higher surround track when there was no surround track to begin with. For example, Wizard of Oz. Obviously, a mono track at the time it was created. How do they make a true 5.1 experience out of that?

The music and specially recorded sound effects are on different tracks, so if those tracks still exist you can fabricate multiple channels out of them. Or they'd have to add in new effects, like they did on Vertigo, for example.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of remixing just for the sake of getting sound out of all the speakers. Yes, there are some good ones that exist (the Star Wars movies, Apocalypse Now, for instance) but most of the time it sounds incredibly artificial. Plus, even if the original sound track is included at all, it's almost never lossless. I don't think it should be considered an 'extra' feature, but as essential. Clean it up nicely and put it in lossless on the disc, that's not too much to ask, is it?

[Douglas R]

Originally Posted by BozQ

As for the really old mono and old stereo soundtracks, I don't think anyone has remixed such old classics into a surround format. Then again, I seldom buy such movies, so I'm not sure if there is a movie remixed in such fashion before.

There have been many examples. DIRTY HARRY, VERTIGO, NORTH BY NORTHWEST and A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, for instance, were all mono films which had their soundtracks remixed from the original separate sound elements to DD 5.1.

[GGX]

Originally Posted by KubrickFan

Personally, I'm not a big fan of remixing just for the sake of getting sound out of all the speakers. Yes, there are some good ones that exist (the Star Wars movies, Apocalypse Now, for instance) but most of the time it sounds incredibly artificial. Plus, even if the original sound track is included at all, it's almost never lossless. I don't think it should be considered an 'extra' feature, but as essential. Clean it up nicely and put it in lossless on the disc, that's not too much to ask, is it?

Agreed. I'm sick of gimmicky surround remixes. Give us the original audio track in lossless with however many channels it was originally intended for.

[Riddler95]

Well look what they did with the older James Bond movies, the first nine movies in the series were recorded in Mono, but for the Ultimate Edition DVDs they were remixed in Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 Audio.

I remember when I got the Ultimate Edition Boxsets, I was blown away to see how they took these old Mono movies and made them sound like new...

It is possible to take an old Mono Movie and remaster it into 5.1.

But when it comes to many older films the audio does show its age.

[Douglas R]

Originally Posted by Riddler95

Well look what they did with the older James Bond movies, the first nine movies in the series were recorded in Mono, but for the Ultimate Edition DVDs they were remixed in Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 Audio.

I remember when I got the Ultimate Edition Boxsets, I was blown away to see how they took these old Mono movies and made them sound like new...

It is possible to take an old Mono Movie and remaster it into 5.1.

But when it comes to many older films the audio does show its age.

Actually, the first 3 films, Dr No, From Russia With Love and Goldfinger were simply given a mono spread and Thunderball originally had a theatrical stereo soundtrack. The only soundtracks which were remixed from mono to authentic 5.1 were You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever and Live and Let Die.

[ClaytonMG]

Originally Posted by KubrickFan

The music and specially recorded sound effects are on different tracks, so if those tracks still exist you can fabricate multiple channels out of them. Or they'd have to add in new effects, like they did on Vertigo, for example.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of remixing just for the sake of getting sound out of all the speakers. Yes, there are some good ones that exist (the Star Wars movies, Apocalypse Now, for instance) but most of the time it sounds incredibly artificial. Plus, even if the original sound track is included at all, it's almost never lossless. I don't think it should be considered an 'extra' feature, but as essential. Clean it up nicely and put it in lossless on the disc, that's not too much to ask, is it?

Didn't they add new effects to Jaws as well? I seem to remember reading that for some reason... I could be way off though.

I agree with you 10000% though. 99.999% of the time, I'd rather hear the original track compared to a remixed one. I am still somewhat sad that Disney hasn't included the original restored audio tracks for some of their films in lossless sound.

[steve_dave]

Originally Posted by ClaytonMG

Didn't they add new effects to Jaws as well? I seem to remember reading that for some reason... I could be way off though.

Jaws has an entirely different 5.1 soundtrack than the original mono. Liike, The Terminator, the only original elements left from the mono track was the dialogue. All of the foley effects and score were re-recorded in 1999/2000 for the 25th anniversary DVD edition.

This means that the 5.1 track is not the Academy award winning soundtrack rather the mono track is the one that won the Academy award. The 25th anniversary DVD only includes the 5.1 mix while the 30th anniversary DVD includes both the restored mono and 5.1 mix.

[Davidk]

I watch a lot of 1940's & 1950's NOIR type films , most are only on dvd so far , but they do give you surround mixes , stereo when they were original Mono , some spread the mono all around , some add a delay or reverb which is artificial sounding , i usually watch them with the original mono track .

[Riddler95]

Originally Posted by Douglas R

Actually, the first 3 films, Dr No, From Russia With Love and Goldfinger were simply given a mono spread and Thunderball originally had a theatrical stereo soundtrack. The only soundtracks which were remixed from mono to authentic 5.1 were You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever and Live and Let Die.

Isn't a Mono Spread when they take a Mono Signal, and adjust the volume for each speaker in a 5.1 system. So it creates like a fake 5.1 mix?

I'm pretty sure that Thunderball was recorded in Mono, the Ultimate Edition DVD contains the original Mono Mix.

The Spy Who Loved Me was the first Bond movie recorded in Stereo.