The Original Audio Track Appreciation Thread

[Saucerful]

Hey all, I've been a bit of a lurker here for quite some time so I figured it was time to break the silence. I fancy myself a bit of a purist and I pretty consistently prefer watching movies with their original audio - whether it be mono, stereo, sometimes 4.0, etc.

This may be a silly idea but what I'd like to do with this thread is try to compile a list of Blu-rays with significantly altered main audio tracks, and viable alternatives to those tracks. This aspect of the film is often overlooked, so I'm looking to make this information easily accessible in one place. I'm not looking to compare different encodes of the same mix, or to compare new surround mixes that are based heavily on the original track.

What I'm really looking for are tracks with new foley sounds, altered dialogue, incorrect music cues, and things of that sort. We may never have an exhaustive list, but I'll start:

Scarface. 1983. Universal. Canada region free.
DTS-HD MA 7.1 - New foley sounds. Quite apparent during the firefight in the chainsaw scene.
Alternative: Original DTS 2.0 stereo.

Halloween. 1978. Anchor Bay. US region free.
LPCM 5.1 - New foley sounds. Obvious with lightning and rain effects when Loomis is driving up to the institution.
Alternative: Original Dolby Digital 2.0 mono.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. 1966. MGM. US region free.
DTS-HD MA 5.1 - New foley sounds. Gunshots, etc.
Alternative: None for English. Original mono available on theatrical cut 1998 US DVD version.

Frantic. 1988. Warner. US region free.
DTS-HD MA 2.0 - Incorrect dialogue included from the French theatrical release in the English language audio track.
Alternative: A quiet re-release was issued by Warner with the correct dialogue.

One of the biggest offenders for me was the Universal Legacy DVD of Hitchcock's Vertigo featuring a "mono" fold-down of the horrendous 5.1 mix. Thankfully, this has been resolved in the Limited Edition Blu-ray set.

These are just the ones I could think of off the top of my head. I will be adding them as I discover them, but please feel free to help out!

[EddieLarkin]

Conan the Barbarian's 5.1 has missing music cues, and additional foley not present in the mono. I believe the missing music cues were corrected in a new pressing of the UK release, but not the US. The additional foley remains, and the mono is only available on the DVD.

A Fistful of Dollars & For a Few Dollars More's 5.1 have additional foley and probably other screw ups but the monos are available. They are not mixdowns of the 5.1 as far as I'm aware, like some sites state.

Psycho. New foley on the 5.1, compare the sound of the rain before Marion arrives at the motel. Mono present on the Blu-ray.

Jaws. The ending at least is still messed up on the 7.1, with the shark exploding and crashing through the boat window sounding pathetic compared to the mono, which is thankfully included.

The Terminator. The grand daddy of them all, with countless occurrences of replaced or additional foley and missing music cues on the 5.1. No mono on any of the Blus

[jd_from_da_80s]

Originally Posted by EddieLarkin

[Show spoiler]Conan the Barbarian's 5.1 has missing music cues, and additional foley not present in the mono. I believe the missing music cues were corrected in a new pressing of the UK release, but not the US. The additional foley remains, and the mono is only available on the DVD.

A Fistful of Dollars & For a Few Dollars More's 5.1 have additional foley and probably other screw ups but the monos are available. They are not mixdowns of the 5.1 as far as I'm aware, like some sites state.

Psycho. New foley on the 5.1, compare the sound of the rain before Marion arrives at the motel. Mono present on the Blu-ray.

Jaws. The ending at least is still messed up on the 7.1, with the shark exploding and crashing through the boat window sounding pathetic compared to the mono, which is thankfully included.

The Terminator. The grand daddy of them all, with countless occurrences of replaced or additional foley and missing music cues on the 5.1. No mono on any of the Blus

Sorry, can't tribute to this thread but is this true for the remaster that came out last week?

[steve_dave]

Originally Posted by jd_from_da_80s

Sorry, can't tribute to this thread but is this true for the remaster that came out last week?

Yes. The same 5.1 remastered soundmix used for the 2001 SE DVD is the one on every Blu-ray release.

[Saucerful]

Originally Posted by EddieLarkin

A Fistful of Dollars & For a Few Dollars More's 5.1 have additional foley and probably other screw ups but the monos are available. They are not mixdowns of the 5.1 as far as I'm aware, like some sites state.

I wasn't aware of any additional foley sounds for these two, I thought it was only for TGTBATU. Either way, there are definitely some screwy pans and directional effects as well as some added reverb.

Also, I agree that the monos do not sound like mixdowns. Granted, I've only watched them once since I upgraded to the Blu versions, but I will double check them against my old MGM single-disc DVD versions.

[slimdude]

Originally Posted by EddieLarkin

Conan the Barbarian's 5.1 has missing music cues, and additional foley not present in the mono. I believe the missing music cues were corrected in a new pressing of the UK release, but not the US. The additional foley remains, and the mono is only available on the DVD.

A Fistful of Dollars & For a Few Dollars More's 5.1 have additional foley and probably other screw ups but the monos are available. They are not mixdowns of the 5.1 as far as I'm aware, like some sites state.

Psycho. New foley on the 5.1, compare the sound of the rain before Marion arrives at the motel. Mono present on the Blu-ray.

Jaws. The ending at least is still messed up on the 7.1, with the shark exploding and crashing through the boat window sounding pathetic compared to the mono, which is thankfully included.

The Terminator. The grand daddy of them all, with countless occurrences of replaced or additional foley and missing music cues on the 5.1. No mono on any of the Blus

How can anybody remember each and every sound effect from any movie? If I haven't seen a movie for a long period of time, I can't possibly recall every detail sound effect, and music cue from its original soundtrack, that's featured in a film years later! Something that's so insignificant, an average person wouldn't pay that much attention to it, nor care to remember.

[EddieLarkin]

Originally Posted by slimdude

How can anybody remember each and every sound effect from any movie? If I haven't seen a movie for a long period of time, I can't possibly recall every sound effect, detail and music cue that's featured in a film years later! Something that's so insignificant, I wouldn't pay that much attention to it, nor care to remember.

It has less to do with memory and more to do with recognising when a foley effect is from an older time period or not. It's easy if you're watching say, GBU from 1966, you expect the gunshots to sound like old Colt revolver foley circa 1966! When the gun instead sounds like a modern handgun from space year 2000, you know something is up.

Music is harder to spot, it tends to be people who are obsessed with the OST CDs who notice changes.

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

To Kill a Mockingbird
The Big Country
The Poseidon Adventure
Enemy Mine
The Delta Force
The Misfits
Predator
The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)
Much Ado About Nothing

Can you give examples for any of these? Specifically Enemy Mine, Predator and The Misfits? The Misfits Blu-ray only includes a mono track.

[slimdude]

Originally Posted by EddieLarkin

It has less to do with memory and more to do with recognising when a foley effect is from an older time period or not. It's easy if you're watching say, GBU from 1966, you expect the gunshots to sound like old Colt revolver foley circa 1966! When the gun instead sounds like a modern handgun from space year 2000, you know something is up.

To me, a gunshot is just a gunshot, regardless what it sounds like. An improper sound effect, is not going to ruin the movie viewing experience for me. I couldn't tell the difference between the sound of a 1960 revolver, to a 2012 revolver. And besides, lossless audio, is loud anyway! If I hear a real gunshot outside of my house, do you think I'll be able to tell what make, model, and year of the gun was made? No. Unless I'm a firearm enthusiast or a gunsmith, an average person wouldn't notice.

[PuppyJonathan]

Originally Posted by EddieLarkin

Is that right? That's too bad. Can you advise on any notable differences between the two versions?

Unfortunately I just found out how to hook up my surround setup after I watched it

[EddieLarkin]

Originally Posted by slimdude

To me, a gunshot is just a gunshot, regardless what it sounds like. An improper sound effect, is not going to ruin the movie viewing experience for me. I couldn't tell the difference between the sound of a 1960 revolver, to a 2012 revolver. And besides, lossless audio, is loud anyway! If I hear a real gunshot outside of my house, do you think I'll be able to tell what make, model, and year of the gun was made? No. Unless I'm a firearm enthusiast or a gunsmith, an average person wouldn't notice.

Well sure, but that's not really the point. A change made to a film 50 years after the fact after the director has snuffed it, with those changes being presented as a more "definitive" way to watch the movie, is a dangerous practice in my opinion and it should be fought against in all its forms.

And it's not just changes, but additions and deletions too. In the Psycho 5.1 mix, when Marion turns on the shower, they decided to add a sort of gag like shower squeek as she turns the faucet. Why? Well because that's what sound a shower faucet makes right? Maybe (never in my experience), but Hitchcock and his sound man didn't put it there, so it shouldn't be there.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by EddieLarkin

Can you give examples for any of these? Specifically Enemy Mine, Predator and The Misfits? The Misfits Blu-ray only includes a mono track.

Predator was done in 4 track stereo and the BD contains that in DD 4.0. The Misfits was mono and it contains a DTS-HD MA 1.0 track. Enemy Mine was a 4 track stereo production like The Poseidon Adventure and contains a DTS-HD MA 4.0 track.

[nocomments87]

The Return of the Living Dead (1985) - A couple of songs changed and Tarman and the "Send more cops" zombie's voices have been dubbed. The original audio can be found on the UK Blu-ray from Second Sight in PCM mono (the MGM US Blu-ray has the changed audio only)

Day of the Dead (1985) - A couple of lines have been dubbed on the 5.1 track. The mono track (included) has the original audio.

National Lampoon's Vacation (1983) - "I'm So Excited" has been removed, and replaced with "Little Boy Sweet". The original version has yet to be released on home video, in any form; however, the French audio has the right music (not sure about the Spanish and German audio options, though)

[PuppyJonathan]

Most of the Disney films have their original mono tracks. The only one that doesn't (pre-70's) is Fantasia

[SGB]

Superman

The film's 5.1 track is a new mix that was created in 2001 for the first DVD release of the film. From memory, it has several new sound effects, and a couple of other sound elements were dropped or altered.

The film's original 1978 sound mix was eventually made available on the 2006 DVD re-release and the Anthology blu-ray set in 2.0 form, but only on the Theatrical version of the film.

[EddieLarkin]

Originally Posted by PuppyJonathan

Most of the Disney films have their original mono tracks. The only one that doesn't (pre-70's) is Fantasia

Fantasia was exhibited in some theaters in Fantasound, a stereophonic and surround sound format

[PuppyJonathan]

Originally Posted by EddieLarkin

Fantasia was exhibited in some theaters in Fantasound, a stereophonic and surround sound format

Well the Fantasound was unaltered on the 2000 DVD (not counting Deems Taylor), that mix wasn't included on the bluray

[EddieLarkin]

Is that right? That's too bad. Can you advise on any notable differences between the two versions?

[Captain Mal]

Originally Posted by nocomments87;7200709[B

National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)[/B] - "I'm So Excited" has been removed, and replaced with "Little Boy Sweet". The original version has yet to be released on home video, in any form; however, the French audio has the right music (not sure about the Spanish and German audio options, though)

What the? I didn't know that. That's ridiculous. The 30th anniversary edition is coming out this year. Hopefully it'll have the original audio.

[EddieLarkin]

Originally Posted by nocomments87

Day of the Dead (1985) - A couple of lines have been dubbed on the 5.1 track. The mono track (included) has the original audio.

Further to this, the dubbed lines actually replace curse words with softer stuff like "damn". Why on earth they felt the need to go to the lengths of dubbing over part of the soundtrack to remove foul language in a film where a dude gets his head torn off by zombies, I'll never know.

[Geoff D]

Blues Brothers is another one. The 5.1 remix uses plenty of new sound effects and what I think is a different take for 'Everybody...' when they sing it near the end of the film. IIRC the 2-disc SE DVD had the original 2.0 mix for the theatrical version of the film, but Universal didn't bother to put it on the Blu-ray.