So the next idea was to de-SE the sound to the 1997 mix by Neil S Bulk, but upon closer examination, while there was more life to this mix, there were some areas where mine was better so I set about mixing the two together in a multitrack vegas session. This work ultimately ended up incorporating a lot of pieces from the 2004 DVD Ac3 5.1 file, including a lot of the dialogue centre channel.
So, what this release will now have is a full bitrate 5.1 Dolby Digital Soundtrack in addition to the other soundtracks on offer on this disc.
My Edit is as follows.
Star Wars : The Special Edition
Now before people start whinging and moaning and wringing their hands, it is NOT the 1997 special edition. Similar to Darth Editous' print, this is a DE-SE'd DVD retaining the CG space battle scenes and other shots I was unable to fix. Darth Editous allowed me to use a lot of his fixes and I have also incorporated a lot of fixes of my own. See the list earlier in this thread.
This will be a dual layer release with animated menus and the following soundtracks
1. AC3 1.0 Mono Track (1977 35mm Academy Mono track by Moth3r with ad breaks fixed)
2. AC3 2.0 Stereo Track (1977 35mm Two track Dolby Stereo Track by Neil S Bulk)
3. PCM 2.0 Stereo Track (1993 Definitive Collection Two Track Dolby Stereo, recorded off my laserdiscs)
4. AC3 5.1 Surround Track (see note)
5. AC3 2.0 Stereo Track (Isolated Score Track created from the Isomix release)
6. AC3 2.0 Stereo Track (Commentary Track from 2004 DVD Release)
* Track 4 is created from 3 separate sources.
a. 1993 Definitive Collection audio separated out into a 5.1 track using Adobe Audition (my own work)
b. 1997 Special Eedition 5.1 AC3 file created by Neil S Bulk, provided by Rikter and Russs15
c. 2004 official DVD 5.1 AC3 file.
Things to consider
The 1977 6 track mix (re-mix re-constructed courtesy of the EditDroid team), the 1985 mix (courtesy of the 1992 Pan and Scan Laser Disc), the Definitive Collection commentary track and the Editdroid isolated score were all considered for this project but quality of the video source was of more importance than even more audio options and what you actually have is one of the biggest single collection of film soundtracks on one disc.
As this is the Star Wars Special Edition all of the first three soundtracks are untouched apart from the addition of sound elements to make the audio match the onscreen action. This means a few dewback howls and a few shots during the final space battle.
Track 1 as per broadcast includes the 3po line tractor beam line, blast door line and Wedge line missing from subsequent mixes.
Track 2 is untouched
Track 3 Includes the 3po line tractor beam line, blast door line but not the wedge line
Track 4 includes the 3po line, blast door line and wedge line missing from all stereo releases until 1997.
I am now at the stage of creating the master video file and once that is done, then I will be having a stab at authoring the disc.