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Post #377600

Author
hairy_hen
Parent topic
Questions about audio mixes
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/377600/action/topic#377600
Date created
15-Sep-2009, 1:32 AM

If the 2006 GOUT did not have the shattering glass of the cameras and alarms, I would have found it much more listenable.  But this unnecessary '93 addition most definitely is there.  There are various sounds added to R2 and Chewie's game on the mono mix and the SE, but not in the '93 version.  I could go back and compare them again to make sure, but I'm quite positive they are exactly the same.

Those shattering sounds are the only '93 addition that I find truly egregious, which is what lead me to substitute the '77 stereo mix for that scene.  I also reverted to the original again just before Luke and Han jump into the garbage pit because the added blaster sounds there didn't sound anything like the rest of them.  There are a few other additions I would probably prefer to not be there also, but they don't bug me on anywhere near that scale.  Certainly not enough to sacrifice the power of the '93 to get rid of them.

I think if I had a time machine one of the things I would do is go to see Star Wars in 70mm when it first came out.  By all accounts it was an awesome experience sonically.  The thrill of seeing/hearing it the first time can never be entirely recaptured, of course, but it would still rock.

The missing snowspeeder sound in the '93 Empire is somewhat mysterious, but I think it can be explained by its being mixed from an early 4-track master, and not a release print master.  If the snowspeeder effect was a late addition mixed in afterwards, when it was being readied for 35mm release, then its absence from an earlier generation copy would make sense.

Sometimes I wonder about the 70mm mix of Empire.  It is claimed by many that the changes to the SE version, both of dialogue and of music editing, are derived from the 70mm, but without any recordings of it available to compare, such statements must be considered unconfirmed.  Supposedly Empire came out in 70mm first, but if the 35mm version, which is 'missing' several things claimed to be in the 70, came out later, then why would a more 'complete' version of the soundtrack be released earlier?  With Star Wars, the less 'complete' stereo version was the first one out.  I'm a bit sceptical that those changes are actually in the 70mm version, although I could be wrong.  The SE music editing is definitely superior, because it doesn't hack up the music in some places the way the 35mm does, but the dialogue additions seem unnecessary.  I dunno.