13hm13

WXM said:

I’m not positive this is the correct answer, but perhaps it’s David C. Fein? This link ahead says, “Producer David C. Fein has shared with StarTrek.com an exclusive peek behind-the-scenes with first look images and details directly from the sound mix”

ST:TMP is 1979 and SW is 1977, so maybe this is an area of specialty for him?

https://www.startrek.com/gallery/updated-go-behind-the-scenes-of-the-restoration-of-star-trek-the-motion-picture

I don’t really know (for sure) though, just guessing for you.

Hmmmm … yeah, I’m not sure about the spelling.
Good info on ST-TMP … my fave ST movie of them all. Looking forward to the latest version of that.

Who is the “Dave Fine” audio guy MV referred to?

About that o-negative (camera) that was resurrected for 1997.
Was it OPTICALLY duped then, as a negative, onto more durable filmstock than the fragile ‘77 stock …if so, was it AFTER all that weird color grading, and de-noising? And/or was it duped to digital…and at what rez?

Mike Verta mentioned “Dave Fine” as the go-to guy for all things audio concerning '77. Googling, I came up with zilch for a " Dave Fine".
Supposedly, Mr Fine was in the YouTube live stream chat for Mike’s 25 May 2020 video here: https://youtu.be/G3W_O-tp0_g

alexp120 said:

13hm13 said:

I do have the OST for all three OT films on vinyl, and can definitely hear advantages (and disadvantages) of analog.

Are you talking about the music soundtracks or the “The Story of…” records?

Music – OST is original soundtrack (the commercial LP release of John Williams’ score).
Japanaese pressings of which are pretty good.

I do own all three ‘Story’ LPs, too, along with other movies’ story LPs like The Black Hole, Tron, etc. These all have marginal sonics.

One thing that may be compromised for vinyl lovers and certain audiophiles, is the analog goodness of the original recording.
I do have the OST for all three OT films on vinyl, and can definitely hear advantages (and disadvantages) of analog.
I can’t say how “analogyness” affects psycho-acoustics (perception/enjoyment) of the movie: music, effects and dialog. But you’re gonna miss some stuff with 16bit/44.1 k.
If Mike V. has access to the digital copies of orig. tapes, it’d be interesting to know what rez LFL used for digitization (e.g., 24bit/192khz, etc.).

I’m not sure WHEN Lucasfilm digitized the “original master tapes” (if that’s what they used)?
I’m GUESSING it was around the time (may be partly because of) the 1993 LD box set was released (also the 1993 CD Original Anthology soundtrack box set): both of these were pretty big production efforts for Lucasfilm; further, Lucasfilm had the SE projects in the plans .So it makes sense that they “invested” in the soundtrack at this time.

Magnetic tape (with analog audio or video) degrades – OVER TIME – for several reasons (tape plastics disintegrate, magnetic loss, Earth’s own magnetic field playing havoc, etc).

The optical (audio) film tracks do not have the rez/fidelity of analog/magnetic tracks (much less the orig. tapes), but they (optical audio) don’t suffer from de-magnetization (= fidelity loss) or print-thru (= pre- or post-echo).

Bottom line: One can only hope the original tapes were digitized in the early 1990s (if not earlier).

Image of 1978 TEAC ad from various Audio or Prof. Recording magazines:

Williarob said:

I can tell you for sure that the 4K77 project does not have access to the master tapes or copies thereof.

Mike Verta hinted in one of his videos that he has access to them for Legacy, but for obvious reasons he couldn’t discuss where or how he got them, nor could he share them. But since he does work in Hollywood, in the film industry and did interview many of the people involved in making Star Wars, visited the Lucasfilm archives, etc. I don’t have any reason to doubt him.
===============
I did read MV’s post about getting some official support from Lucasfilm, but didn’t know whether that included audio.
Hopefully, he treats the audio the same way he’s handling the video, except not using audio noise reduction (that will lose fidelity for sure).
Actually, (and as i noted in the OP), the LDs from 1993/95 were pretty good and lossless. I have no problem in Legacy/4k77 re-using that source for audio.

I’m curious as to the status of the original audio master tapes used for ANH.
On another SW forum it was suggested that the orig tapes were digitized in early 90s (??).

Not sure if these digitized copies of the orig. master tapes have made it into the various fan-based restoration efforts (e.g., 4k77 and Legacy Edition). I have my doubts about that 😉

Of ALL the video released (including Special Edition BluRay and DVD), I liked the sound of the LaserDisc and Hi-Fi tapes released in the early/mid 1990s …
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/e/ee/Laserdisclogo.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110316124030
The Special Edition version (BluRay, DVD) are too loud and EQ’d for my taste.

I know that the 2006 DVD bonus disc (with the non-SE versions) used the same audio as the LDs from the 90s. But the LDs, IMO, are better because they feature UNCOMPRESSED PCM digital sound; not lossy like DVD versions.