Guspaz said:
I find all the different audio tracks a bit confusing, to be honest. Not complaining about having them, just want to know what the differences are so that I can figure out which to use. Using the v2.0 MKV as a reference here:
There is three 1977 tracks, the difference seems to be the number of channels. Is there a difference between these three? I could understand why there could be a 5.1 and 2.0, but what is the mono track for? Is it different somehow?
What is the difference between the 1977 and 1993 tracks?
Why is does one of the "isolated score" tracks have a bunch of the sound effects and dialog, but only some of it, and the other doesn't?
I guess ultimately it boils down to, should I be listening to the 1977 or 1993 tracks?
Star Wars was released in 1977 with 3 different sound mixes. First there was the dolby stereo mix: a 2 channel matrixed surround sound system that was pretty new back then and wasn't quite mature. You find this mix in LDs and VHS tapes prior to 85.
Then there was the 70mm 4.2 discrete channel surround sound version. This has never been officially released, so Hairy Hen took it upon himself to take the 93 mix - which was based from the 70mm mix stems but had additional sound effects - and recreate the 70mm mix. This involved splitting the matrixed 93 mix into discrete channels, adding an LFE channel and splicing in the 85 mix where ever needed to get rid of the 93 additions.
In terms of content, there aren't really any differences between the dolby stereo and the 70mm. Although note that "close the blast doors" is never said and c3po doesn't give instructions on how to disable the death star's tractor beam.
Then we come to the mono mix, which was created last and was deemed necessary since most theatres in that day only had monaurual sound systems and even though dolby stereo was supposed to be backwards compatible, they didn't want to take that chance with such a new technology.
Now the mono mix has a lot of surprising content changes. There's a new dubbing for Aunt Beru, new alarm sound effects, "Close the blast doors" first appears (not an SE addition like so many people thought in 97), C3PO gives instructions on how to shut down the tractor beam, the radio sound effect at the battle of Yavin is different, etc etc. Here's a more detailed list:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/russdawson/mono/mono1.htm
So the Mono mix is an entity unto itself and has surprisingly never been officially released despite it being George's final approved mix in 77. We have a restoration that was done by a member a while back that was sourced from Europen VHS broadcast recordings.
Now the home video mixes: the 85 mix is probably what you heard growing up in the eighties. It's the stereo version but EQed to sound better on tvs of the time and CPOs speech on how to disable the tractor beam is added.
The 93 mix, like mentioned above, is based on the 70mm mix but has added (some say distracting) sound effects including crashing glass in the detention block shootout. This mix was used on the Definitive Collection LDs, the THX "Faces" collection from 95, and the GOUT.