Although I quoted from the "
trailer regrade thread" since it's more recent overall, I guess the core topic fits better in here:
(2018-03-08, 01:28 AM)TomArrow Wrote: The Blu Ray track didn't satisfy me, so I set out on a quest to find the best audio.
Ironically, once again that very mix has been rated quite highly
here amongst other sites - not that this would mean anything as Interstellar even got a full score there despite the clipping on virtually all channels.
I can't help it, but especially compared to movies such as "Lucky Number Slevin", "9", "A cure for wellness" or "No country for old men", which have a great dynamic range, Armageddon's mix to me sounds bloated, roary and features an omnipresent over-the-top center channel as well.
However, so does the Cinema DTS. To me, it's quite the same to what the Blu-ray provides except for minor differences in the "bass department", which I'm gonna pickup
here.
(2018-03-08, 01:28 AM)TomArrow Wrote: Ended up getting the Cinema DTS from a generous donor. Decided to use it, because it was A) a nice new skill to learn and B) It sounded a bit better than the other tracks I had tried.
I've written that before I went through the "homework" of synchronizing it to the BD video myself:
Here at latest it gets interesting as we now have the span between a "didn't satisfy me" - mix and a "a bit better than what didn't satisfy me" one. Assuming that a Cinema DTS source of any given movie (of that era at least) should be THE reference in terms of non-compromised dynamic range, clarity, correct pitch, etc. (excluding the theoretical loss due to the data reduction introduced by ADPCM which probably no one is able to discern anyway), is there a possiblity that the movie's soundtrack never was really "outstanding" then? Which leads me to the treasure hunt:
Quote:P.S. If the DTS track from that super rare and super expensive LD were to turn up and be as good as everyone says, I'd totally include it as well.
While it's possible of course, it would require the case where they put a better mix on a consumer medium than on what got shipped to the theaters back in the days. Are there any examples for that? Could be possible of course.
So, after having halfway watched it now, while I'd love to be proven wrong, I highly doubt that the DTS LaserDisc will be significantly better than any other release, especially since the Cinema DTS didn't positively surprise either. I guess that selective overly positive reviews once again comes from people who reliably confuse loudness with dynamics.
Most probably, it is what it is and the mixing was never done in a more "fishbone-like" way of mixing.