Classic Sounds
Oct. 01, 1998
-By Perry Sun
Over the past few years, a trend appears to be growing-the restoration and re-release of films from the past. These movies range from cult favorites of the 1980s to standard-setting works of the 1970s, and to seminal classics from the golden age of cinema such as Gone With the Wind. And these are in addition to Disney's longtime tradition of re-releasing their legendary animated films every seven (or so) years.
Along with the reintroduction of these films, there are often extensive efforts toward restoring film prints and remastering soundtracks. It's been well-publicized that the image integrity of films stored over decades in archives can deteriorate because of the chemical instability of the emulsion (or base) of the print. But what about the sound? Similar restoration efforts are required, if the sound to be used is the optical track from the film print. Then, special considerations need to be taken into account, among them reducing noise in the sound, such as pops, clicks and hiss, through the application of specialized technology. If the sound is to be reconstructed from magnetic tape masters, inherent anomalies are possible due to the effects of long-term storage.
In the re-release of movies, generally what is done with the picture is to assemble the best surviving film elements, restore the prints, correct color timing if appropriate, possibly use digital enhancements to fix imperfections, and then create new master prints on reference-quality film stock. In essence, the purpose of these efforts is to allow the audience to visually experience the film as close as possible to what the public saw when the movie first opened.
However, as will soon become apparent, there has been considerably greater latitude with the use of sound in motion picture reissues. For vintage films, efforts entail print restoration (and therefore the optical soundtrack) and reduction of noise, with the objective of simply presenting the sound in a condition as pristine as possible. But in other cases, the original filmmakers may decide to channel new creative energies to make use of today's digital sound technology, crafting soundtracks with new dimensions and effects, which were originally desired by the filmmakers but not possible due to financial or technological constraints. Still, experts in sound restoration may decide to enhance the spatial horizon of a film, originally released with a monaural soundtrack, by applying specialized techniques to steer mono sound effects throughout the theatre, and extract ambience from the original sound and create surround channels.
In this article, we will take a look in detail at the sonic restoration and remastering of two important films in the past two decades, both of which underwent a dramatic 5.1-channel digital sound makeover. Some impressions of these films in their new digital life follow. In addition, we will look at the reworking of the sound for older movies, and a listing will be offered of other films and ongoing projects with new digital soundtracks.
Star Wars Special Edition
This is perhaps the most widely publicized film in terms of its sound re-engineering. Star Wars is already known as one of the major milestones in the history of cinema sound. Its original opening in May 1977 signaled the beginning of a new era-the release of films with Dolby® Stereo multi-channel sound. The opening scene, in which the Star Destroyer flies over the audience, came with the premonition that "stereo surround sound" was here to stay.
In remastering the sound for the 20th-anniversary release, it was decided that the original four-track master, which had maintained its integrity over almost 20 years of storage, would serve as the backbone for the creation of a new 5.1-channel master. This master was the LCRS (Left-Center-Right-Surround) mix for Dolby Stereo, recorded on magnetic tape. In preparation for the new soundtrack, the first step was to duplicate this master, and then reduce inherent tape hiss by using the Cedar DH-1 noise-reduction system. Then, the four tracks were equalized using a GML Model 8200. Finally, an Aphex Dominator II limiter was employed to reduce harshness in the sound caused by sharp transients.
Because the surround channel in the original master was monaural, stereo surround was created by running the mono surround through a home theatre THX® processor, which splits the single channel into left and right, and then scrambles their relative phase. In some cases, stereo surround effects were added, to an extent similar to what is done with today's digital sound mixes (such as separate left and right effects to impart a feeling of spatial dimension in the theatre). For the LFE (Low Frequency Effects) channel, deep bass effects, such as for explosions, were added to give some visceral impact at key moments in the film.
New mixes were necessary for the added scenes, which were created in the 5.1-channel format. These mixes were meticulously blended into the four-track master, plus original dialog, music and effects elements to create a new 35mm Dolby SR (Spectral Recording) noise-reduction-encoded, six-channel master. Print masters were then created for the three digital sound formats (Dolby Digital, SDDS® and DTS®).
How did this new creative work sound? It was quite apparent upon listening to the first 10 minutes or so of the film that the sound engineers were trying to achieve a delicate balance of remaining faithful to the original mix and incorporating embellishments (mostly reflecting creative ideas originally envisioned but not carried out for various reasons). The music recording sounded remarkably clean, mostly devoid of excessive brightness, and with good fidelity.
The precise panning of sounds (and occasionally dialogue) along the screen from the separate front channels actually was very convincing, and was a testament to the remarkable work of the sound crew in the early days of Dolby Stereo. Of course, being able to hear the accurate placement of sounds on-screen is commonplace with today's digital sound, but experiencing this from a 20-year-old master is breathtaking.
In many scenes, "opening up" the ambient soundfield through stereo surrounds was apparent. One is the desert landscape on Tatooine, where the sound of the wind sweeps between the front and back. The opening scenes aboard the rebel ship and the final attack sequences on the surface of the Death Star exhibited similar enhanced depth in the surround field. And, some left-right rear effects were noticed, as in Tie Fighter scenes, though they seemed to be more subtle compared to current digital soundtracks. The LFE was present in the explosions of Alderan and the Death Star, and from the Millennium Falcon, though again the intensity of the effects was less pronounced than what would be encountered in a contemporary movie. These apparent subtleties could have been deliberate, in deference to the "delicate balance" mentioned earlier.
The one aspect of this new edition that was controversial was the dialogue. While there were no problems with intelligibility, it was almost impossible to overlook the dialogue's bright and strident characteristics. Such imperfections are to be expected due to the dated fidelity and recording technology. Nonetheless, the dramatic improvements to the sonics for this seminal film have prompted many film sound experts and enthusiasts to offer high praise for the achievements at Lucasfilm.
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