Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is my favorite animated film of all time, and I want a new way to hear it.
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind only had a mono mix for it’s theatrical release and every release onward, even the 4K remastered Blu-ray and the English dubbed version.
There are 5.1 remixes released in Thailand and Germany but they are apparently of low quality compared to an actual remix, even compared to their mono counterparts.
The DVD/Blu-ray is in 2.0 but it’s a dual mono mix.
For many purists (including Studio Ghibli itself as well as me), the mono version is the best-sounding mix of the movie, even if there are other remixes. And I love how the movie sounds in mono.
However, I want to stop and ponder how would the movie sound in stereo, would it be better or worse?
It would be different, for sure. But I want to know.
There is a Drama Album for Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind as well as other Miyazaki films released in 1989, and since Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro are the only Miyazaki films in mono, and Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro never had a Drama Album, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind has a unique stereo remix for it’s Drama Album, with some changes in music, sound effects, and more.
However, thanks to some changes in the music cues (some scenes are either longer or shorter because of this), syncing it up with the Blu-ray isn’t as simple as it seems.
There are also some scenes where the music is slightly altered/there are new snippets but they sync up with the animation.
I want someone to construct a stereo mix of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind using the Drama Album, as well as other Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind soundtrack albums, and the Blu-ray mono mix if possible.
Maybe hunt down FLAC music albums (you need the Drama Album, Soundtrack, Image Album, and Symphony Album for this) and edit them together so that they properly sync with the Blu-ray. You may need the mono track from the Blu-ray but I’m not sure.
The music cues should follow the same ones as the mono mix/Drama Album.
I also want two versions of this: A “purist” version which is still a stereo remix but it more closely resembles the music cues in the mono version, and a different “enhanced” version which has all of the altered music cues from the Drama Album except if they ruin the sync with the Blu-ray.
Now, I cannot do this and I am just giving away ideas but I will handle distribution of this project.
UPDATE: When comparing the Drama Album and the theatrical mono mix, it seems that only some sound effects have panning in stereo, the Drama Album mix is mostly a mono mix but with some stereo sound effects and completely stereo music, still a pretty interesting version of the film.
P.S: I am not sure if this should go in the Fan Preservation or the Fan Edit boards.
Thanks in advance!