[Released] Terminator 2 CDS mix

[zoidberg]

Well they're lossless obviously but on the spectrogram Chewtobacca posted there's something going on at 16khz

[Stamper]

OK couple of things I note here:

AC3 has some weird hole at 10khz that is absent from the other discs.

HD-DVD have some stuff above 22khz cut off in the DTS that stops around 21khz

Could you experiment with the wav files? Like you replace the HD-DVD LFE with the JP DVD LFE, and then produce a new spectogram?

Here's what they may have cleaned, a hum from a monitor next to the recording.

These are the line frequencies of PAL and NTSC TV systems, and this signal can usually be heard coming from the back of a TV set. Any TV monitor in the recording room can radiate this sound, which is easily picked up by microphones.

I always found the sound annoying when I was a kid, but can't hear it now. Likewise the recording engineer was probably unaware of the problem.

Many acoustic/orchestral recordings have a slight line visible at 15.5kHz in the spectral view for this reason. Sometimes it's much louder than others, and will annoy more people.

You can easily filter it out using Cool Edit Pro - set up a notch filter using the FFT filter. It will probably sound much better to you then.

Al spectrograms in one post...

MrBrown's HD DVD



My HD DVD (possibly the same)



DTS from JP DVD:



AC-3:



So far, I think the JP DVD is the best source.

[Jetrell Fo]

^I would agree with you Stamper based on the evidence.

Isn't there a way to negate just that hum in the audio without touching the rest?

[MrBrown]

@Chewtobacca: What software do you use for the diagrams?
Es soon as some other discs arrive (FR 2 BD Edition & US first BD release) , I would live to create such diagrams, for their streams,so see how they compare.. And if it is noticeable in the diagram of the stream that the us disc has the remix... (I would think k, if it had the original mic, it would be known)

[Stamper]

My Blu-ray burner is on the way so I will be able to rip the sound hopefully by the end of the week. But my guess is this will be the exact same track as the HD-DVD.

Here's what I think, forget the old DD version, both tracks (DTS JP + HD) should be made available and resynced to both the 2015 disc and the new version (shouldn't be that hard). We could also produce a brand new track that align the DTS LFE with the HD sound, to make a custom mix that is "full", if this is warranted as an improvement. If not, both versions will do for posterity.

[MrBrown]

My guess is that, also. But hope is still alive...

[Stamper]

I hope the custom mix with the LFE blended could restore the peaks cut in the HD-DVD sound around 16khz. If it worked, that would make the best of both worlds. I'm not sure how many other sounds from the film their adjustment might have cut in the HD-DVD, if any.

Alternatively, assuming everything lines up without phasing, (that would mean each mix is from the same digital files) we could blend for each track the DTS with the HD-DVD sound and have a full on restored sound, just like when you align two images to get a better looking version.

[zoidberg]

Stamper, replacing the LFE channel won't affect the 16khz range. LFE is bandwidth limited to 120hz maximum.
I think the current thinking is that studiocanal performed some noise reduction to remove the 16khz monitor hum present in the spectrogram.
Personally I'm with Chewtobacca in thinking that the JP DTS looks to be the 'best' source, ie least molested. Having said that the studiocanal HD-DVD/blu track is the only known lossless source to date, if it sounds good despite the processing and still has decent dynamic range then I'm sure people would love to hear it.

[DoomBot]

@Chewtobacca: What software do you use for the diagrams?

http://spek.cc/

[Stamper]

Could there be a repair software, that recreate the holes in the range? Just like some people can declip CDs that are overclipped by restoring the audio ? Just asking. All hail MrBrown and the JP DVD!

EDIT I listened to both the JP DTS and the BD at the same level and I prefer the BD, it sounds less dirty and more "wide" whereas the DTS has a rawness to the sound that sometimes screech the ears. Anyone tried at home (JP vs HD-DVD) without looking at the snapshots?