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I’m relatively new here and trying to catch up with the overwhelming amount of activity going on in the efforts to produce OT DVD versions.
I expressed in an earlier post my interest in trying to come up with a superior representation of the original mono soundtrack. I wanted to discuss here, my thoughts for what might be the definitive stereo version.
First, let me say that this issue may be have been well addressed already by many who are currently working on the various versions out there, and I by no means assume to diminish their efforts. That said, here are my two cents on the subject.
I think most would agree that the best representation of the stereo track available is from the Definitive or “Faces” edition. Essentially a matrixed fold down of the 6-track mag with some refinement to the LFE or “Baby Boom” channel, plus some very minor sweetening - this mix conveys the impact and dynamics of the original 70mm release better than any other. All that is lacking is the inclusion of a bit of missing dialogue. The 4-track mag sourced for the SE and 2004 DVD version features superior sonics in many ways but the mix was not near as good as the 6-track – even before all the added garbage. It does however provide an excellent source for the missing dialogue. Being 5.1, the bits in question can be lifted quite cleanly from the discreet center channel, timbre matched and dropped into the old mix relatively easily. Which brings up an interesting point. There are two additional lines in the 2004 DVD which were never in any previous issues, yet seem to have been recorded at the time of the original production and were probably always meant to be included. I refer to C3P0’s “We’ve stopped” spoken to R2 inside the sandcrawler, and the stormtrooper’s “No one’s here” after the initial search of the Falcon’s interior aboard the Death Star. In both cases the characters on screen appear to be saying…something. The question is: should these be considered part of the original or not?
I would welcome any and all feed back on this subject as I think I’m going to put a track together and offer it to anyone who is interested (Zion are you listening?)