OK I figured out my own issue with the wav files(*edit, well I thought I did but it turns out my idea did not work) Vegas SUX in this department, but anyways this is where I am at,

1) "Dead Beat Dance", fully restored
2)Tarmans original voice edited in where it was different, there are actually some scenes where it is a little deeper on the original also, but where it is different it was fixed.
3) "Take a Walk" has been fully restored.
4) The line "Send more cops" has been fully restored.
5) "Burn The Flames" fully restored, and the little audio glitch that was placed over Franks suicide scream has been removed from the front left & right channels as well as the center.

So this baby is just about done, I can't wait to watch this movie fully again.

mitz77 said:

quick questions: *Is the Francis Haines/Matt Clifford score devoid of SFX in the rear channels? *For "Panzer Rollen Afrika Vor" (Ernie's Nazi Anthem on his Walkman), has this been replaced

There were only 5 changes listed on IMDB for the original audio, this was not one of them mentioned, but I will check it out.

PM sent.

Also, is the Tartan DVD the ONLY source for the original audio? do the old US laserdiscs or VHS have it? I can find no info on this either.

OK we will see what happens in a few days, I am hopeful on obtaining the real retail "untouched" audio file from the very hard to find Tartan R2 DVD, if all goes well I will see if it sounds any different than what I am currently working with, which is supposed to be the same source, we will see.

Now an update, Ady has shown me what I needed to know and now I can save all my lossless wav files, so now this really opens up the door, I just did a sample encode of the finished edit of the "original" audio in DTS-HD MA form, this baby weighs in at 2 GB's LOL and I also made up a LPCM 5.1 audio file to test weighing in at 8.76 GB's LOL.

Tartan DVD is the only way for me to go now, I do not have the VHS and can't find the LD anyways.

I just tested the DTS-HD audio file and it sounds great, so what is the format you guys here would want, DTS-HD, DTS, or Dolby Digital when finished?

Dolby Digital is more widespread than DTS audio.

Lacerated said:

Dolby Digital is more widespread than DTS audio.

Also not to mention, a lot smaller in size LOL, the DTS-HD file is about 2 GB's for an audio file.

I guess it wouldn't hurt to upload the DTS-HD 5.1 and a DD 5.1 and give out the appropriate links in PM.

1 more thing, before I release anything though, I want to compare the audio I have to the actual Tartan R2 DVD audio first, I am wondering if that is why the audio I have sounded so dull and flat(which I cleaned up and made more lively) but still like to compare to the real deal, thanks to mitz77 for this.

Mitz77 I sent you a PM, just curious if you were still going to help or not.

does anyone else here have the Tartan R2 DVD of this movie just in case?

If anyone is following this I have finished this now, and I was hoping some of you would listen and see what you think, here is a recap of what was done,

1) "Dead Beat Dance", fully restored (12m 43s to 13m 27s)
2) Tarmans original voice edited in where it was different, there are actually some scenes where it is a little deeper on the original also, but where it is different it was fixed. (44m 35s to 46m 47s)
3) "Take a Walk" has been fully restored. (48m 52s to 49m 51s)
4) The line "Send more cops" has been fully restored. (1h 9m 9s to 1h 9m 19s)
5) "Burn The Flames" fully restored, and the little audio distortion that was placed over Franks suicide scream has been removed from the front left & right channels as well as the center, so it is fully restored. (1h 16m 22s to 1h 17m 26s)

Now I have done up 2 versions, this is the reason it took some time, I needed to figure out how to encode it back to what it was originally, which was DTS HD MA, so that said the 2 versions I have for anyone interested is, DTS-HD MA 5.1, and Dolby Digital 5.1 @ 640.

The hardest thing to do on this edit was getting Tarmans voice and the zombie's voice that said "send more cops" to blend perfectly to the existing audio mix, and also editing back in the "Dead Beat Dance" but I think I got it as good as it can be, personally I think it can only be better if the studio themselves did it, but all in all, I think it sounds waaay better than the crap we got on the release, especially the distortion added to cover Franks scream, really bad, the edits made on this were as small as I can make them to keep as much of the Blu audio as possible.

here is the link ofr the DD 5.1 file for you guys to take a listen to,
http://hotfile.com/dl/75515638/d8e820b/ROTLD_DD_5.1__640.rar.html

DarkGryphon2048 said:

I could PM you a link where to find a high quality custom extended soudtrack download for Return of the Living Dead.

That would be GREAT! looking forward toy your PM.

I've actually worked on a project like this for the 1st movie. I have the original VHS releases for the first 3 movies, which all have their fair share of issues on their DVD counterparts (1 has the audio changes mentioned here already, 2 has the whole score changed, and 3 is the R-rated cut, while the VHS is unrated...about a minute longer, with more of the violent footage intact). I also have the Region 2 DVD release of part 3, which has the same unrated cut as the VHS.

I've done a slightly different route for part 1, though. On top of reinserting the original audio, I've also taken out the MGM logo from the beginning and end of the Collector's Edition DVD (the 2002 DVD has the same MGM logo, but the CE has better picture quality), and replaced the intro logo with the Orion Pictures logo, just as it was in theatres (the 1989 VHS I have contains the same Orion logo). I used the Silence of the Lambs DVD as the source for the Orion logo, which has the same 1.85:1 ratio as the CE DVD of ROTLD, so everything matches up nicely.

All I need to do is work on some menus, and it'll be good to go.

Part 2, I'm also working on, but that one isn't finished yet.

Part 3, I could always do a PAL to NTSC conversion of the Region 2 DVD, fixing the 4% pitch difference. I've done this before with another movie that needs a Region 1 DVD release: the direct-to-video movie Night of the Running Man, from 1994 (it did have some airings on HBO around the same time).

I actually have the 2002 DVD...while the colors do look a bit more natural, it's also a bit too bright and the contrast is way off. The cropping is normal, since the CE DVD is in its original 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratio. The 2002 DVD has the 1.33:1 full frame, but open-matte print, and also an incorrectly framed 1.78:1 aspect ratio on the flip side. Of course, the best picture quality is on the Blu-ray, but it does have the same warmer colors that the CE DVD has and it's also the same 1.85:1 aspect ratio that the CE DVD has, since it's the same print. While not the best source for comparison, the 1989 VHS has the same warmer colors as the CE DVD and Blu-ray, so the colors on the 2002 DVD are off, if using that for a basis of judgment. If I knew anything about do-it-yourself color correcting, I'd try to match the 1.33:1 version to the CE DVD, and have the best of both worlds...