Originally posted by: blitter
I mentioned this in passing over on the X0 Project thread, but for what it's worth, I've got a transfer of the 70mm audio mix straight to cassette tape. My father was fortunate enough to have been an assistant manager of a theatre in 1977 and ripped the soundtrack directly from the projection equipment, through patch cables into a cassette deck, and onto two dual-sided 60 minute cassettes, which have been stored in plastic cases for the past 25 years.

I don't know how good of a source 25-year-old tape is though... when I played it recently I found it warbles a bit but the line "Blast it Biggs where are you" is indeed there and it seems to be an actual stereo recording (not downmixed to mono/upmixed to stereo). I'm sure someone with a background in audio might be able to do something with it but it definitely needs some work.

This definitely sounds like the best possible 70mm audio capture yet. All others we know of have been open-air recordings. By all means, see to getting that transferred to digital ASAP. If you don't have the best means of doing it yourself, there are others here who have those means, some of whom work in the audio field professionally. They will be more than happy to do their best work on preserving this piece.

Now, since it was recorded onto two cassettes, I'm guessing the music is likely missing some small pieces due to side flipping. This is where David's version may be of best use to stitch the soundtrack back together. David, I wonder if it would be worthwhile to use the technique you used on this new clip you posted just for making transition pieces that are likely to be needed? I'm guessing the missing bits would be less than a minute long, so syncing them up shouldn't pose too much difficulty.

We may at last have a 70mm audio track here worthy of serious consideration as an alternate soundtrack. Great find!

--SKot