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nightstalkerpoet

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25-Oct-2010
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29-Mar-2024
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Post
#1292444
Topic
You Wanted the Best, You Got the Best Version of Every Album - KISS Discography Project (Released)
Time

With all of the Star Wars completionists around here, I thought there might be some KISS fans mixed in that could enjoy this. I’ve set out over the past few months to compile a complete set of Albums in their best available forms. After so many years here watching LD, CED, VCD, VHS, etc versions of Star Wars and seeing how incredibly different the experience could be, I found myself wondering if the same was true for audio recordings. Not only was it true, but the difference from one release to the next of the exact same album could be so different you’d think they were different recordings.

I heavily researched the KISS community opinion on every album, located the 2 favorite versions of each, then compared them myself (so yes, there is a small amount of personal bias, but I only varied from the general consensus on a few.) I’ve also completely reordered The Elder to make narrative sense.

As of now (I still have Symphony to work with and potentially reorder) I have the following set:

  1. (Self Titled) - Japanese P33C CD

  2. Hotter than Hell - Japanese P33C CD

  3. Dressed to Kill - Japanese 2013 SACD I re-mixed the intro to Rock Bottom to remove an annoying hum.

  4. Alive! - Mick E. Gee Vinyl

  5. Destroyer - Japanese P33C CD

  6. Rock and Roll Over - Japanese P33C CD

  7. Love Gun - Mick E. Gee Vinyl

  8. Alive II - Mick E. Gee Vinyl w/ Studio Tracks from Japanese P33C CD

  9. Ace Frehley - West German CD

  10. Paul Stanley - 95 UK CD

  11. Gene Simmons - Mastered for Itunes

  12. Peter Criss - Mastered for Itunes

  13. Dynasty - Japanese P33C CD

  14. Unmasked - West German CD

  15. Music from the Elder - Japanese P33C CD, Reordered and Mixed for Narrative flow by me. Escape from the Island from Killers Japanese PPD CD

  16. Creatures of the Night - Japanese P33C CD, War Machine (Remix) from Chikara Japanese P33C CD

  17. Lick it Up - US Remaster

  18. Animalize - Japanese SACD

  19. Asylum - US CD

  20. Crazy Nights - Japanese P33C CD

  21. Hot in the Shade - Mick E. Gee Vinyl, This was a tough one. The CDs are clearer, but since it wasn’t mixed well and many of the songs were just polished demos, I find that the vinyl evens the sound out nicely. The Japanese 2012 SACD is the best mixed and most professional sounding, but the feel of the album changed in doing so - the raw edge just isn’t there.

  22. Revenge - US CD

  23. MTV Unplugged - Mick E. Gee DVD

  24. Alive III - 1995 Australian CD

  25. Carnival of Souls - US CD

  26. Psycho Circus - Japanese CD (includes In Your Face)

  27. Symphony Alive IV - *NSP AC3 Mixdown/Remaster"

  28. Sonic Boom - US CD

  29. Monster - International Tour CD

  30. An “Album” of New Tracks found on Compilation Albums:
    Strutter '78 - Double Platinum
    Nowhere to Run - Killers
    Down on Your Knees - Killers
    I’m a Legend Tonight - Killers
    Partners in Crime - Killers
    Time Traveler - Box Set
    (You Make Me) Rock Hard - Smashes, Thrashes, and Hits
    Let’s Put the X in Sex - Smashes, Thrashes, and Hits
    Beth (Eric Carr Vocal) - Smashes, Thrashes, and Hits
    It’s My Life - Box Set
    Nothing Can Keep Me From You - Detroit Rock City Soundtrack
    Do You Remember Rock n Roll Radio - Ramones Cover

My Elder Reorder is
Fanfare
A World Without Heroes
Just a Boy
Mr Blackwell
The Summons
Only You
Under the Rose
The Oath
Dark Light
Odyssey
Escape from the Island
I
Outro

My thought on Symphony reordering is:
Psycho Circus
Strutter
Lick it Up
Calling Dr. Love
Deuce
Let Me Go, Rock 'n Roll

Shandi
Forever
Sure Know Something
Goin’ Blind
Beth

I Was Made for Loving You
King of the Nighttime World
Great Expectations
Love Gun
Do You Love Me
Shout it Out Loud
God of Thunder
Detroit Rock City
Black Diamond
Rock and Roll All Night

(Paul’s talking to the audience will be rearranged to fit the new song order, and recut to be appropriate for an audio only release.)

I’d love to hear any thoughts or opinions here.

Post
#1291479
Topic
Star Wars Episode II: The Approaching Storm (Released)
Time

Alright, ran through last night with your Ep 1 (this time to enjoy as opposed to pick apart 😉 )

Suggestions for TAS - lower the pitch of Jar Jar’s voice. It seems higher here, which accents the fact that he already has worse lines in this movie (not much you can do about the lines, “Mesa so smiling to seeing yousa”, “immediately emergency powahs”). You’ve done an awesome job making the two films flow.

I know you’re having some effects work done - any chance you could fix Anakin’s face after he says “I’m sorry, milady”. You’ve removed almost all creepiness. Here it lingers.

Flying through the fire is cool except… when they come out of it, there is nothing behind them to indicate they’ve just come from a red hot area. Made the flow of the chase seem strange to me.

With Possessions, attachments, compassion - by removing possessions, you’ve removed the standard movie trope of 3 things = comfortable payoff. By leaving only two, the scene becomes slightly awkward - since it’s an awkward movie anyway, I think this hurts.

The kiss would work great with a fade out. Fade completely to black silence. Then open to the next morning with Anakin on the balcony. Callback to ANH doing it once or twice, and makes it even more suggestive.

… I don’t know if there’s a different line that can be inserted, or something… but
I cringe every time I hear Obi-Wan tell the Prime Minister when they get up to check on the clones “That’s why I’m here”. He literally just spent the entire conversation explaining he knows nothing about what’s going on and is only there to track a bounty hunter.

Post
#1291269
Topic
schorman's HDTV Star Wars Saga Preservation (Released)
Time

I’d like to suggest you do 2 releases:

Your typical full bitrate, 30gb releases with multiple audio tracks, and soft subs.

DL-DVD 1080p AVCHDs, English Only, Hard-subbed Theatrically Accurate (or close to).

With so many of us being completionists these days, your preservations provide the best quality option available for the 2004/DVD masters- especially this V2. It seems a shame to me that your work is only really known to those within the OT community, and narrowed even further to primarily those looking for sources for other projects. Something along the lines of “Schorman’s 2004/05 Special Edition Set - 1080p” (~60GB total, as opposed to ~180GB).

Post
#1286844
Topic
Star Wars Episode II: The Approaching Storm (Released)
Time

I’ll push one last tiny bit for the Garage scene… simply because it shows Padme providing emotional support to Anakin. It shows the transition of worrying about his mom to worrying about Padme.However, my suggestion is far more slim.

INTERIOR: TATOOINE, HOMESTEAD, GARAGE - DAY

PADMÉ comes in with a tray of food and a blue drink. ANAKIN is standing at a workbench, repairing a part of the speeder bike.

PADMÉ: I brought you something. Are you hungry?

ANAKIN does not look up from the bike part.

ANAKIN: The shifter broke. Life seems so much simpler when you’re fixing things. (as PADME puts down the tray) I’m good at fixing things…always was. But I couldn’t…(stops working, finally looks at her) Why’d she have to die? (sighs) Why couldn’t I save her? I know I could have!

ANAKIN turns to walk offscreen. Try and match cut here, matching the turn with-

ANAKIN’s lip quivers, then he turns away. He goes to the ground. PADME watches him. She sits by him.

PADMÉ: To be angry is to be human.

ANAKIN: (shaking his head at her) I’m a Jedi. I know I’m better than this.

ANAKIN starts to cry softly and PADME puts her hand on the back of his neck. She strokes his head as he cries.

Post
#1285672
Topic
Alternate Resolutions
Time

I know that most of us are sticklers for quality - this probably isn’t the greatest option for quality alone. However, for compress-ability and space saving, I thought I’d share that I’ve found 2 resolutions that work great for backing things up.

For SD, I’ve begun using 672x504. This uses close to the same number of pixels as NTSC uses in 720x480.
The resolution itself is 4x3, so requires no stretching for full frame. In addition, using a PAR of 4x3, you get a 16x9 image of 896x504.

For HD, I’ve begun using 1152x864. This uses a similar number of pixels to 1280x720.
The resolution itself is 4x3, so requires no stretching for full frame. In addition, using a PAR of 4x3, you get a 16x9 image of 1536x864.

HEVC works exceptionally well at these resolutions.

Post
#1285321
Topic
Star Wars Episode II: The Approaching Storm (Released)
Time

Ok.
Semi crazy idea but…

Imagine the Droid factory with Padme removed.

It would take effects work, but if you paint her out of a few shots in the initial hallway (including removing her from the shot of the doorway.)
Skip the door closing/platform-withdrawing/Anakin hanging shots.

Use the Shot of Anakin jumping down. It looks like Anakin runs through the door and immediately jumps down, with the battle continuing.

The rest of the shots of Anakin can be arranged and strung together, leading up to being caught by Jango.

That way her and Anakin are captured separately. The sequence serves a purpose.

Post
#1284679
Topic
Star Wars Episode I: Cloak Of Deception (Released)
Time

V6 - absolutely outstanding. I felt like I was watching the same movie… But enjoying it 😱

Based on your stated goals, here are my thoughts/criticisms to perfect my now go to version. 😉

Add some of the battle droids weird dying noises to all battles where they appear. They are too silent in the initial Jedi fight.

Cut “Again, you come before us, your highness”. It contradicts that contacting them is a sign of getting results.

Maybe after the queen says “The Federation wouldn’t dare go that far.” Put in the last part of Panaka’s line “They’d be finished.” Here you’ve cut excessive legalese, but I think that tiny part will add to the scene.

Put a small shot of jar jar antics back in Anakin/Padme meeting. Against general film practice not to, and was literally the only point it felt like an edit.

When Maul sends out his probes, cut the first shot earlier before they appear 3D near the screen. Doesn’t feel OT in the way you’ve made everything else feel OT.

Remove the the line about “I didn’t actually come here to free slaves”. We’ve already established this at dinner, and it’s kind of harsh for his character. Plus, he’s clearly taken an interest so saying that is irrelevant. Her final reaction shot works just as well after “I don’t know…”

Cut the shot of Qui-Gonn saying good luck right after he says “May the force be with you.”, before he caresses Anakin’s head.
Crop the part of the shot of Anakin putting his helmet on so it looks like a new shot.

Change Jabba’s subtitles from “Welcome.” To “Welcome to Boonta Eve”. It far better matches what he says, using Return of the Jedi to judge the length of a sentence in Huttese vs English.
I always interpreted Anakin saying “(on) Boonta Eve” to be referring to racing ON that specific track, and prefer that to it being a holiday.

Maybe show the shot of the bullets hitting Anakin’s pod as if on the tablet the group is watching. Then reinsert the announcers saying the line about the tusken raiders. The spectators wouldn’t have a view of them on the ridge.

Replace the cries of agony from the Droid sucked through the pod turbine with droid dying sounds for consistency.

Swap Padme saying “Look, Here he comes.” She was super stressed earlier, her delivery is too positive. Use the Shot of Jar Jar from later saying “Here he comes” and being excited.
Padme was far more likely to be positive with Anakin close on Sebulbas tail after catching up, which seemed impossible.

I’d take out 3PO vision as Anakin says goodbye. Move the lines he says to the shot of 3POs face. Remove “I’m going to miss working on you.” to make it fit.

After Qui-Gonn cuts the probe droid, cut straight to the shot of Darth Maul walking to his ship. It seems he’d have a way to monitor them without them reporting (or just have felt with the force), and is coming because he saw/felt Qui-Gonn cut it down.

Anakins “Hi” is awkward meeting Obi-Wan. I’d stick to “You’re a Jedi too, nice to meet you.”

I’d leave in an oops for when Anakin launches the ship. Showing a little guilt at disobeying.

After Obi-Wan goes at Maul with QG down, show the first few strikes then jump straight to the closeup shot. The beginning looks far too choreographed.

Great job, getting better every release!

Post
#1248401
Topic
NSP/OT - NightStalkerPoet's Original Trilogy Project (Released)
Time

Correct - no worries! I’ve found with Jedi that you never quite know what you’re going to get. Either it benefits from the workflow getting honed with the first two films, or it suffers from being left until last minute because they want to perfect the first two.

I still highly recommend all three soundtracks you released, just didn’t think Jedi SE meshed as well with GOUT video.

Post
#1248144
Topic
NSP/OT - NightStalkerPoet's Original Trilogy Project (Released)
Time

Clearly, the test watch didn’t go well. 😉

With that said, I’ve completed the set and released Return of the Jedi today.

Here are the notes I’ve included on the spleen:

  • Originally, I’d intended on using a different video source. Something about the PAL Gout always rubbed me the wrong way. Luckily, after months working on trying to find the right source, I realized what was wrong - the colors were just different enough from the NTSC Gout to hinder my nostalgia. With a few small adjustments, I found a middle ground that matched the PAL Gout color of the first two (which I really liked), and am quite happy with the results.

  • In my pursuit of the right video source, I also questioned if Hal’s SE RotJ mix was what was throwing me off. Throwing on the standard 93 mix, I realized that in comparison to Star Wars and Empire, the SE mix of Jedi just didn’t feel as raw and powerful to me (definitely a fault of the source, not of Hal’s wonderful audio offers). With this in mind, and wanting a matching 256kbps audio track, I chose to use Schorman’s raw 93 Mix. This was resampled with SOX using a linear filter to avoid any phase shifting that would ruin the surround mixdown, and encoded to ac3 with Aften. I’d love feedback on how this sounds on your systems in comparison to the audio of the first two.

I’ve decided for the moment not to redo Empire yet, as I’m pretty happy with this as my ideal OT set.

With that said, keep an eye out for the NSP/PT. In the spirit of lower quality sources, I think this is an excellent opportunity to release an upscale of The Phantom Edit and Attack of the Phantom with proper crawls. They will be followed with Revenge of the Sith, but I haven’t quite decided which edit I’d like to use. I’m very partial to Dawn of the Empire, but would love feedback on which edit people feel best fits with the two Phantom Edits.

Seed and Enjoy! 😃

Post
#1247346
Topic
Star Wars Laserdisc Preservations. See 1st Post for Updates.
Time

I’m still curious on which sources have extra frames (per your notes, since your final releases have them removed for GOUT-Sync), but am pretty happy with a script I found on Doom 9 for the process of detecting your inserted black frames.

#Specify the name and location of the output file
filename = “e:\output_black_frames_rotjswe.txt”

#Specify the threshold that will be considered black (0 = pure black)
global blankthreshold=16.1 #24 seems to be a reasonable number for black frames sourced from analog

AVISource(“D:\ROTJ\rotj.avi”).killaudio()

#Only look at half the fields (speeds up processing, though if you remove selectodd, it should help locate
#any half frames)
i=separatefields.selectodd.ConvertToYV12()

#Write the frame number
WriteFileIf(last, filename, “(AverageLuma(i)<blankthreshold)”, “current_frame”, append = false)