captainsolo said:

-What exactly causes the highs to warble and distort so badly on the optical tracks? This was thankfully very very minimal in PSB, but of course all over the place on PG.

-Is there any reason for the darker block boxes on the left third of the frame on and off throughout the film? Most notable on end credits etc. It's just something that stuck out to my eye for some reason.

I consider it a minor miracle that I'm able to grab the sound as cleanly as I can. These old projectors are hardly what one would call hi-fi. And I don't know of any other mechanism for grabbing 16mm audio.

There is actually one difference between the PG and PSB with respect to sound... the PG I captured with an EIKI, and the PSB I captured with an Elmo. Some sources on the web say that the Eiki has slightly richer sound, but the Elmo has a more stable film path. The Elmo is easier to work with and more reliable, but I'm not totally sure which one has better sound, all else being equal. I think the Elmo turned out better when comparing PG and PSB.

Can you be more specific regarding the "darker black boxes"? I'm not sure exactly what you're talking about. If I knew I might be able to figure it out.