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Info Wanted: Godzilla 1985 - 5.1 Upmix Project (Can anyone do this?)

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Hey guys! Me and RedMenace are working on a Godzilla 1985 project in collaboration, and as a little side bonus, I thought it would be cool to have an option of a 5.1 Upmix of Godzilla 1985. Now, this is only a possibility, as I am not very good with audio. I don’t even know how difficult it is or if it can be done. However, it does seem extremely interesting to see if it could be done, and it would be a cool new option for Godzilla fans to be able to watch the film with. My question is, anyone who knows about audio and audio mixing, can it be done? And if so, how can it be done? Thanks!

https://www.instagram.com/servanov_/

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Looking at IMDB, the Japanese version was in Dolby.
If you playback a Dolby track on any surround amp, you get a nice 5.1 up-mix. It works because the system is the same, they just called it Dolby for theaters and Dolby Surround for home.
PC playback will also get you 5.1 sound (many codecs do this).
So you don’t need to upmix it, just let the player do it’s work.

The US version is mono, so there’s not much that can be done there.
You could in theory create a new mix using the stereo and surround channels from the Japanese version and the US mono as the center channel… but the edits are different, right ?

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I believe so, there are different audio effects, mainly from the New World Library. I do think there is a stereo mix, either based off the workprint version or theatrical, not sure. Maybe if the effects were isolated? they could be separated into the channels? I know that was done for Psycho (1960).

https://www.instagram.com/servanov_/

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What you are describing is redoing the entire sound mix… There’s no easy way to separate the elements from the mono mix. At least not with the usual sound editing software. So it would be months of work. Also few people have a 5.1 system on their computer for sound mixing… I don’t 😃

Yet I think something can be done. I suggest doing it in steps.

First, go for a simpler Stereo mix, where you just add music from the stereo soundtrack recording.
There might be problems with this, since the mono mix already has the music in (phasing and time problems), but it’s worth a try.

Second, look at the Japanese version. It needs to be recut to match the US version I think, but if it’s usable (no sudden changes in music or sound effect it should be usable. The Blue Ray already has an English dub with surround sound…

I don’t mind giving this a look, PM me so we can discuss it a bit more.
No promises but I’d like to help 😃