The Good, The Bad and the Ugly - Original Mono on BD?

[bendermac]

There are quite a few BD releases for this movie. The Kino Lorber version possibly being the one with the best audio. At least on paper, as it has the mono mix in lossless. But is it the original mono mix or is just a faltdown of the 5.1?
So which BD is the one to hunt after, purely for the audio. For video the Mondo release looks the best, I'd say.

[PDB]

The 2nd release of the MGM 4K BD of the Extended cut has the original mono (not a mixdown) as does the Kino releases of the MGM Extended and International cut. So outside of LD sound the Kino are probably your best bet. Neither the MGM, Kino or the Mondo are accurate video wise. But of those choices, I like the Mondo best.

[bendermac]

Thanks PDB for the info
I get the Kino then for being lossless mono.

[dwalkerdon]

the original MGM DVD from 1998 has the original mono mix. Its not lossless, but it's your best bet. I suggest you buy the 1998 DVD to use as a reference. Check the sound levels, to make sure that the kino release isn't filtered or noise reduced.

[Lil Brutto]

I asked someone who is in the know the following question the other day:

"I'm curious about Kino's mono track. Is it the same mono track found on the 2014 MGM BD that was restored by Chace Audio by Deluxe? It sounds inferior to the LD PCM audio, thin and tinny by comparison. Just wondering why that is? I'm sure they had access to the English sound negative or other elements, as well as technology that would have outshined that used for the LD audio decades nearly 30 years ago."

His reply:

"The mono track on the extended was definitely restored by Chace Audio. 

I’m not certain if they also restored the mono track on the 2017 Kino theatrical version, but I believe they did as they are equally inferior.  Thin and tinny is right, and there’s a significant hiss. 

If I had to take a guess, I think the LD transfer was sourced from 3 track mag, and the Chace audio restoration was sourced from optical soundtrack negative, which may have been a dupe copy in poor condition. Regardless, the work is shoddy and over processed."

[Dek Rollins]

I figure this is probably the best place to ask this (if it isn't let me know), so here's a question... sort of.

When I was working on the audio in my reconstruction project last year, I noticed that the finale music timing was rather inconsistent between various audio sources. I didn't bother fixing anything because I didn't really know what was correct. I reminded myself of it recently and have been listening to the different audio tracks to try and figure out more about it.

What I'm referring to is that in some tracks the music cue starts too early as Blondie is setting down the rock in the middle of the cemetery, meaning that the music doesn't sync to the visuals in the same way (musical cues on specific cuts and movements are missed, including the melody cue on the cut to the big wide shot). The following audio tracks have the music cue come early here:

• 2014 MGM 5.1
  
• 2017 Kino Italian mono
  
• TheHutt's English mono sync to 2014 MGM and Mondo
  
• PDB's international cut reconstruction
  
• My Italian cut reconstruction in English (I used TheHutt's mono sync as my primary source)
  

The following audio tracks have the music cue when the rock is set down, rather than before:

• 1990 LD
  
• Mondo
  
• 2014 MGM English mono
  
• 2017 Kino English mono
  
• 2017 Kino 5.1
  
• My Italian cut reconstruction in Italian (I used the Mondo as my primary source)
  

I can't check any DVD editions, so if anyone else who can wants to compare them be my guest.

The odd thing is, the ones that start early fall into sync during the "silent" period of the standoff with just the birds chirping, since once the music comes back in, the rest of the scene has minimal deviation between tracks. I can hear sound effects that are clearly coming in early while the soft music is still building up, so I think the first portion of the scene is simply out of sync, and fixing that would make it line up with the other tracks that cue as the rock touches the ground. Exactly where the discrepancies lie, I don't know yet.

The main question here is, how did this inconsistency show up in the first place? When was a mistake made? How many mistakes were made? I find it all very interesting, but most of all I find it frustrating and confusing.

Has anyone else noticed this? I've never seen it discussed before, though I may have missed it if there was talk about it.

[Stamper]

Yes, I noticed. Did you check the old italian DVD with the stereo music track?

[Dek Rollins]

No, I don't have access to that. I currently don't have access to any DVD copies of the film. (unless they're available online somewhere, in which case I don't know)