Hey guys, quick update from me about the soundtracks.
I was away from the forum for a over a month, due to being busy with recording projects, so I didn’t know that RotJ 2.0 was so close to completion until very recently. The last I’d heard before that, it was still a long way off. Because of that, I hadn’t started working on anything new until Chewtobacca asked me if I had new stuff ready. Fortunately, I have plenty of time now to work on them, and I’ve been making good progress in the past week.
I started with the 1983 stereo mix first, and it is completely matched to the GOUT in sync and in dialog level; I just need to fill in the gaps from missing frames at reel changes in order to complete it, as well as patching over a couple of dropouts and tape distortions. Most of it comes from the 1986 US laserdisc, with fixes taken from the 1989 Special Widescreen Edition. The SWE has the best-sounding equalization, but has also had its peak levels reduced with a brickwall limiter for some reason. The 1986 laserdisc sounds far too shrill due to its high frequency boost, but its dynamic range is fully intact. I was able to EQ the 1986 laserdisc to eliminate this shrillness, making it sound almost exactly the same as the SWE, minus the limiting. So now it has both the ideal tonal quality and the proper dynamics.
After I’ve finished with that I’ll set about making a new 5.1 version. As before, this will be mostly the 1993 mix with the addition of an LFE channel, this time taken from the Bluray instead of the DVD. I pretty much got the balance right the last time around, so this will mostly just be recreating my previous work in higher quality, with a few minor corrections.
In listening to the original stereo mix, I noticed several distinct differences from the 1993 version. Unlike the '93 mixes of SW and ESB, which were mostly derived from original master tapes, the '93 RotJ was a full-on remix from stems, so although there is no new content, it is not surprising that it would have a different balance between the various elements. The original stereo mix has more prominent music in some scenes, as well as some differences in panning and foley levels. I have not decided how much of this, if any, should be incorporated into the 5.1. My inclination is to leave most of them alone, since they are usually subtle, and the 1993 mix does sound very good, despite not being 100% authentic. Perhaps I will use the most noticeable differences only, and save the rest for some more in-depth version in the future (possibly to accompany Despecialized 3.0).
I aim to have this all done in the next few weeks. That’s all from me for now . . . I haven’t had time to look at the 2.0 workprint, so I guess I’ll wait to see the final result when it is actually released. I expect it’s going to be great. 😉