5 hours ago
(This post was last modified: 5 hours ago by Daniellemgm.)
In 2010, Disney re-released Kiki’s Delivery Service on DVD. The English dub was reworked to be closer to the original Japanese audio, with the music and sound effects changed back. Unfortunately, it was very poorly executed. While I feel removing Phil Hartman’s ad-libs was a bit disrespectful, given it was one of his last roles before he was murdered, I can fully understand why they did that, as Jiji didn’t talk as much in the Japanese version. However, a bigger issue was how it made everyone’s voices sound like they were talking through an electric fan. It’s most noticeable with Kiki as Kirsten Dunst’s performance has a higher pitched voice. Every release since has used this version, even the GKIDS Blu-ray and 4K remaster.
I speculate that this is because Disney lost the original masters, so instead they used a pre-existing dub mix and violently ripped the vocals off of it with 2010-era audio extraction technology.
Needless to say, in the past decade and a half, audio extraction technology has jumped leaps and bounds, to the point the best ones out today are some serious CSI stuff. With stuff like UVR out there today that allows people with just home computers to make near-flawless instrumentals of songs, I thought to myself “why not fix the major issue Kiki had?”
The idea behind the 2010 audio mix, Hartman removal aside, isn’t a bad one. If done right, it would have been a “best of both worlds” dub with the Japanese score and the English dub audio. Indeed, the soundtrack alterations go against how Hayao Miyazaki intended the film to sound.
The models I used for stem extraction are MVSEP’s state of the art “Ensemble” models which mix and match various models to create the best possible vocal and instrument separation tracks.
The first release is a “purist” version with the ad-libs removed, effectively giving the 2010 mix without the “electric fan” artefacts. A “restorationist” version with the ad-libs reinserted will be released later.
When I first embarked on this project, I thought it was gonna just be removing a few lines here and there. What surprised me is that in the 2010 mix, some lines were retimed. For example, “Look Jiji, aren’t they beautiful?” when Kiki looks at the red heels happens a bit earlier.
This audio track is synced to the 2014 “Hayao Miyazaki Collection” MGVC Japanese Blu-ray, currently the best looking release.
PM me if you want a link to the FLAC file.
Sources used:
I speculate that this is because Disney lost the original masters, so instead they used a pre-existing dub mix and violently ripped the vocals off of it with 2010-era audio extraction technology.
Needless to say, in the past decade and a half, audio extraction technology has jumped leaps and bounds, to the point the best ones out today are some serious CSI stuff. With stuff like UVR out there today that allows people with just home computers to make near-flawless instrumentals of songs, I thought to myself “why not fix the major issue Kiki had?”
The idea behind the 2010 audio mix, Hartman removal aside, isn’t a bad one. If done right, it would have been a “best of both worlds” dub with the Japanese score and the English dub audio. Indeed, the soundtrack alterations go against how Hayao Miyazaki intended the film to sound.
The models I used for stem extraction are MVSEP’s state of the art “Ensemble” models which mix and match various models to create the best possible vocal and instrument separation tracks.
The first release is a “purist” version with the ad-libs removed, effectively giving the 2010 mix without the “electric fan” artefacts. A “restorationist” version with the ad-libs reinserted will be released later.
When I first embarked on this project, I thought it was gonna just be removing a few lines here and there. What surprised me is that in the 2010 mix, some lines were retimed. For example, “Look Jiji, aren’t they beautiful?” when Kiki looks at the red heels happens a bit earlier.
This audio track is synced to the 2014 “Hayao Miyazaki Collection” MGVC Japanese Blu-ray, currently the best looking release.
PM me if you want a link to the FLAC file.
Sources used:
- 1998 Disney NTSC LaserDisc (for the 1998 dub, which was the best possible source as it has the English dub in Dolby Stereo without 5.1 upmixing)
- 2014 Studio Ghibli MGVC JPN “Hayao Miyazaki Collection” Blu-ray (for the original Japanese audio)
- Soundtrack CD (to patch in bits of the soundtrack)
