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The Mono Mix Restoration Project (Released) — Page 3

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can someone please post it on demonoid or something i cannot do atlbinaries.

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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WOW! Audio quality is better than I expected! You've done a great job at restoring the monomix Belbucus!
Fez: I am so excited about Star Whores.
Hyde: Fezzy, man, it's Star Wars.
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Got my copy in the mail today. Thanks Belbucus! I have to say that I'm extremely impressed with your restoration work. It sounds excellent, especially considering the sources.

Simply put..... everyone needs this.....

You can go about your business. Move along, move along.

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/4962/nowplayingbannermasterzc2.jpg
The Story of Star Wars
The Adventures Of Luke Skywalker

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Torrent/RapidShare PLEASE! Oh man, I think I just wet myself...

I used to be very active on this forum. I’m not really anymore. Sometimes, people still want to get in touch with me about something, and that is great! If that describes you, please email me at [my username]ATgmailDOTcom.

Hi everybody. You’re all awesome. Keep up the good work.

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Originally posted by: Moth3r
OK guys, keep an eye on alt.binaries.starwars.


I am keeping an eye out for some pars as well.....there's a par2 but that's it.......

I love everybody. Lets all smoke some reefer and chill. Hug and kisses for everybody.

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Sorry about that. My PC was shut down before the posting had finished. It should be complete now.

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I'm downloading it now and will torrent it as soon as I have it.

"Right now the coffees are doing their final work." (Airi, Masked Rider Den-o episode 1)

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As I am downloading it, it's a WavPack (lossless compression) file.

"Right now the coffees are doing their final work." (Airi, Masked Rider Den-o episode 1)

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It's at the top of usotsuki.info:6969 under the name "restoredmonomix".

According to the .nfo, "Requires 1.017s delay to sync with video from 2006 DVD."

Also from the .nfo:

Encoded with WavPack lossless compression.

http://www.wavpack.com/downloads.html

Use the command:

wvunpack "m48 dvd.wv"

to restore the original WAV file.

"Right now the coffees are doing their final work." (Airi, Masked Rider Den-o episode 1)

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Belbucus, what is your next project? Recreating the 6-track?
Fez: I am so excited about Star Whores.
Hyde: Fezzy, man, it's Star Wars.
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Could someone mail me a copy of this restoration project? I would gladly mail a blank dvd to whomever would make me a copy! I have always wanted to see Star Wars with the original mono soundtrack!
Olivia James
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Could some kind soul upload this to rapidshare/megaupload/yousendit?

How big is it?

You know of the rebellion against the Empire?

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301.9 MB

"Right now the coffees are doing their final work." (Airi, Masked Rider Den-o episode 1)

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First i would like to say thank you to Belbucus and Moth3r.. awesome work!
i wished i could watch star wars with mono sound for a long time cause its the way
i heard the movie soundtrack back then when i first seen it .. a long time ago , you guys
made that possible thanks.

GOUT + this restored track and forced subtitle. awesome

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Hi, friends, is it torrented somewhere ?
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Yes, on usotsuki.info:6969 (still 2 seeds).

"Right now the coffees are doing their final work." (Airi, Masked Rider Den-o episode 1)

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Belbucus, Great job and many thanks. This was definitely worth the wait. Any chance you would like to do sync up the '89 mixes of Empire and Jedi?

If I had some gum, I’d chew a hole into the sun…

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This is a WV file.. what do I do with it?
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Read the .NFO file.

However, in practice you must take into account the “fuckwit factor”. Just talk to Darth Mallwalker…
-Moth3r

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Today I listened to the entire track. I love it. Noise is gone, dynamic range is excellent (love the (bass) sounds of the Falcon fly-byes). So thanks again Belbucus and Moth3r, this is the coolest Star Wars related release in a long time.

By the way, why does the Beru line "it means so much to him" sound like "it means so much to it" in every available monomix. Or does it only sound to me like that?
Fez: I am so excited about Star Whores.
Hyde: Fezzy, man, it's Star Wars.
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Monomix Chronicles – Postscript

Thanks for the preliminary kind words. I’d be the first to admit that it could always be better, but I think I exhausted about 95% of everything I could throw at it before I let it go (and, thanks for your patience on that one!)

So much to do with the sound of this project was a compromise. Subscribing to the notion that you can’t please everybody, consider the following sort of a preemptive document to any future critique.

The final composite turned out to be comprised of about 80% Moth3r file and 20% Alan Mikkelson file (with exception of the very open and close which were sourced from CD). Once into the mastering stage, I felt it necessary to replace some additional scenes (mostly the longer dialogue pieces) with the Mikkelson file, where it proved to be a cleaner source.

I deliberated long and hard about the final EQ for this thing.

I did some early tests with the approach of matching the overall EQ to that of its stereo counterparts, including the German track that shares some common elements. It was immediately clear that this was not the way to go. The result was very harsh and strident, and virtually unlistenable at higher volumes. I would chalk this up to a couple of things:

The design of the mono mix was to play respectably off of an optical soundtrack with no Dolby noise reduction in an average (lo-fi mono) theater. As such, it did not employ extended frequency response or dynamic range, as the target venues could not reproduce it. Furthermore, the release sound format (known as “Academy mono”) was designed to be reproduced through what is known as the “Academy Filter” - a hard roll-off in the theatrical system's playback response above ~2kHz (to -18dB at 8kHz) to minimize noise in mono optical tracks. Put simply, a severely truncated high frequency response. Typically, the practice in mixing for this limiting playback curve was to accentuate the midrange to give the track presence. Taking this into account, I would imagine that it was approached differently than its wider range counterparts.

The other contributing factor would be the source material, which came from the linear audio tracks of a VHS tape - of a television broadcast whose original audio was a transfer of a 35mm optical track with no noise reduction (optical tracks will always exhibit a unique signature distortion, most apparent in the mid and upper frequencies, and more pronounced with the absence of noise reduction).

The approach in mastering was to extend out the upper and lower frequencies, while attempting to quell some of the midrange edginess. To this end, I think I was reasonably successful. The primary reference monitor was a JBL 4435 system that meets professional THX cinema specifications - tuned with the modified X-curve for medium-small rooms. All mastering was done at a fixed monitor level of 85dbc, with the volume approximated to recreate typical cinema playback levels.

Lastly, although various single-ended noise reduction (hiss removal) schemes were applied to the source file, the process by nature is destructive to the program content as well. One CAN remove virtually all of the hiss, but not without also removing much of the subtle detail. The final product is usually best served by settling on a balance between the two. The hiss level that remained DID influence the decision as to how much high frequency boost could be added to the final product. Certainly, more boost would bring it closer to matching its stereo counterparts, but would also increase the hiss to an objectionable level – particularly at higher monitoring volumes. I’m still not satisfied with degree of hiss that remains, but I believe it is as good as I can make it with the technology currently available to me. That said, the effectiveness of digital noise reduction has progressed significantly since its inception. I can only imagine it will continue to improve with time. I will be archiving files at various stages of progress pertaining to this project, including a fully mastered version WITHOUT noise reduction. Perhaps I will revisit the project in a few years time to see if this aspect can be improved.

Over the two years I’ve spent working so intimately with this track, there was always a concern in the back of my head that by the time I was done I’d probably never want to hear it again! The outcome actually turned out to be quite the opposite. This may now be my favorite mix for the film. Maybe it’s simply a matter of finally coming home to the one that got me hooked on SW in the first place, but it seems to nail it in a way the others don’t quite manage to. I have noticed that there’s occasionally an inadvertent side effect to the quality of these older mono tracks that impart an edgier almost documentary quality, don’t draw so much attention to themselves, and end up better serving the story.

I think Neil S. Bulk said it best here:

“It's probably the best mix of the movie. Everything in it just sounds so right, to the point that I start saying to myself, "This is how it should have been all along". It's the most complete sounding version of the movie, and since it's all from 1977, nothing stands out as new, the way things in the 1993, 1997 and especially that horrendous 2004 mix do. I like the 1977 and 1985 Dolby mixes but even they don't seem to be as well done as the mono track.”

I would have to agree. Despite the shortcomings of this particular issue, it has become the one I default to. The music is much more prominent and well integrated; the effects and even dialogue seem to have more thrust.

One final note: This has been a collaborative effort. OK, if your keeping score, I’ve clearly logged the most hours, but none of this would have been possible without the generous assistance of MoveAlong, THX, Mallwalker, Russs15, Allan Mikkelsen, and most of all Moth3r. I am an audio engineer by profession. I deal with “professionals” everyday, and they all have their individual agendas. I cannot say I’ve had finer experience than working with the people on this board who seem to have none, and have consistently offered untiring, uncompromising collaboration without a second thought. Thank you one and all.


















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I listened to the whole thing as well and I would just like to express my gratitude to you, Belbucus, and to everyone else involved in this restoration. Considering the limited availability of the source material, what you've done and what I heard was nothing short of astounding. I'm hoping that this mix will be eventually synced with the XØ project and made available as an alternate audio mix
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Any kind soul able to up this to megaupload? I have the bandwidth if someone can hook me up.

“I love Darth Editous and I’m not ashamed to admit it.” ~ADigitalMan