Tommy - the 1975 Film

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user 7803

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I recently got hold of the 1975 Tommy DVD - the soundtrack album with Elton, Ann-Margret, etc, not the original Who album.

It says it contains the original Quadrophonic mix locked in a 5.0 track. That's fair enough - it seems to play nice and is very, very discrete. There's four channels of sound, no LFE, and no center speaker - so no isolated vocals

However, I decided to give the tracks a rip for my FLAC collection, and upon opening them in Audacity, discovered something very strange - there IS an isolated vocal track running throughout the film, that seems to have spread across to the left and right speakers. Despite it apparently being the original Quadrophonic mix, there are actually 5 active channels of sound.

I added a blank track where the LFE track would usually be, bringing it to the regular 5.1 standard, and re-encoded the file. When I play it back, sure enough, the mix is different to when the DVD is played regularly. It's a vast improvement.

Clearly it was never supposed to be heard with 5 channels of sound, being advertised as the Quadrophonic mix, but I don't understand how digitally the DVD-encoders would have been able to 'lock out' the center channel for regular play. I'm very glad I ripped it though, otherwise I never would have discovered this. Very strange!
 
"Tommy, Can You Hear Me?"


Soundtrack Notes on the Restoration of the Quintaphonic Sound for TOMMY


Restoration essay by Robert Heiber


The wizardry of TOMMY extends beyond director Ken Russell's imaginative visuals and The Who's rock opera score for the distinction of introducing Quintaphonic Sound theatrically. Quintaphonic Sound, or "Sound in the Round," features five discrete channels. Three speakers were behind the screen - left, center, right - and two speakers, also of equal fidelity, were in the left rear and right rear of the theater. This multi-channel stereophonic presentation was revolutionary for 1975 because it introduced the concept of matrixed stereo for motion pictures. Only three magnetic soundtracks were required to produce the five channels of sound. This was accomplished by "matrixing", combining the left-front and left-rear (Lf/Lr) and right-front and right-rear (Rf/Rr) into two channels. The center channel remained discrete and unprocessed. Those familiar with the music industry adaptation of the record industry's quadrophonic (4-channel: Lf/Lr - Rf/Rr) stereo. The addition of the center channel, used for dialogue and primary sound effects, was designed to improve the theatrical quality of the soundtrack since most of the important action in a movie takes place in the center of the screen.


Quintaphonic sound, however, was extremely short-lived because of the simultaneous development of Dolby(R) stereo. Unlike Dolby(R) stereo tracks, which could be recorded optically on motion picture prints, the Quintaphonic soundtrack was recorded on expensive 35mm magnetic-striped prints. Thus TOMMY was the only film to be exhibited theatrically in 5-channel quintaphonic sound.


The soundtrack presented on this DVD represents exhaustive efforts in both element and technology research to offer the most authentic quintaphonic sound experience. In total, Sony Pictures' Film Restoration department was supplied with fifteen sets of magnetic soundtracks, nearly 150 reels of 35mm magnetic sound, that were catalogued, inspected and evaluated for format and quality. Though released in quintaphonic sound, magnetic recordings for TOMMY were also created in 4-track (left, center, right and surround) stereo, 2-track Dolby(R) stereo, and a variety of mono formats. To further compound the evaluation process, quintaphonic sound used DBX(R) noise reduction while other sets used Dolby A encoding or no noise reduction at all. As was often the case with films made decades ago, many of the reels of film were not clearly labeled, so considerable time was spent in the studio to evaluate both the noise reduction systems as well as the quintaphonic sound decoding. Additionally, extensive tests were conducted to check for compatibility with the AC-3 encoding required to present the soundtrack on this DVD.


Once the preferred 35mm magnetic quintaphonic masters were identified, the tracks were processed with Sonic Solutions NoNoise(R) to reduce noise, distortion, dropouts, ticks, pops, etc., all problems common to older films. It should be noted that while many noise problems were addressed, great care was taken to not over-process the track, so that the artistic integrity of the original mix could be maintained. Thus, the unusual characteristics of the original mix - close micing of the performers, instrument noise, active panning among the front and rear speakers - were carefully scrutinized to ensure that an overly sterile track was not produced. TOMMY is a 1970s rock opera. It does not fit the mold of a typical film soundtrack. Often, in place of representational sound sound effects (a real car or the actual ocean), synthesizers were used for an interpretational approximation. The mixing style varies from rather conventional to extremely wild, with exaggerated panning, phase shifting and very potent surround information. "Pinball Wizard" and "Acid Queen" demonstrate this to good effect. The end result is the highest fidelity and most authentic sound that could be attained from the original quintaphonic sound masters.


The soundtrack for TOMMY was restored at Chace Productions in Burbank, CA, by the following engineers: Vince Zabaly - soundtrack evaluation and quintaphonic research; Robert "Rocky" Reiger - preservation transfer; Barry Goldberg - quintaphonic sound decoding transfer; Gene Hobson - digital sound restoration; James B. Young and Greg Faust - re-recording mixers; Ronald Bonk - project coordinator.
Special thanks to Robert Burton at Audio Rents, Mike Pogorzelski at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science's Film Archive and the late John Mosely for his paper "Quintaphonic Sound".
 
Quintaphonic sound, however, was extremely short-lived because of the simultaneous development of Dolby(R) stereo. Unlike Dolby(R) stereo tracks, which could be recorded optically on motion picture prints, the Quintaphonic soundtrack was recorded on expensive 35mm magnetic-striped prints. Thus TOMMY was the only film to be exhibited theatrically in 5-channel quintaphonic sound.[/B][/I]

It's been years since I've seen it, but I'm pretty sure that Ken Russell's follow-up "Lisztomania" has a Quintophonic credit at the end. Of course, even if my memory isn't playing tricks, that doesn't prove it was actually shown that way.
 
Ah, so it is Quintaphonic.

So, can anybody explain to me why, during normal DVD playback, my system played the center channel in the left and right speakers, but not in the center?
 
Ah, so it is Quintaphonic.

So, can anybody explain to me why, during normal DVD playback, my system played the center channel in the left and right speakers, but not in the center?

If the phantom setting is on, it will bypass the front and use the L-R front
 
Ah, so it is Quintaphonic.

So, can anybody explain to me why, during normal DVD playback, my system played the center channel in the left and right speakers, but not in the center?

its been a long time since I played the Quintaphonic mix so this is all just off the top of my head but iirc use of the Centre channel in the Quintaphonic mix varies throughout with some scenes/songs using it more than others but I'll have to double check.
 
If the phantom setting is on, it will bypass the front and use the L-R front
its been a long time since I played the Quintaphonic mix so this is all just off the top of my head but iirc use of the Centre channel in the Quintaphonic mix varies throughout with some scenes/songs using it more than others but I'll have to double check.

I don't think it's the phantom setting - other surround material seems to be playing fine. Additionally the centre channel seems to be playing throughout
 
I don't think it's the phantom setting - other surround material seems to be playing fine. Additionally the centre channel seems to be playing throughout

Dunno..! I have the Quintaphonic mix on the UK Region 2 DVD and U.S. Zone Free BD, I'll check them both out over the weekend and get back to you.
 
I know I'm drudging up an old post, but I just got the US DVD with Quintiphonic sound and everything is where it should be. All 4 channels have what they should and the center is mostly vocals and primary non-surround sound effects. Quite impressive. It is more like a quad mix with a center than a modern surround mix. I like it a lot. I was playing it at lower than usual volume, my only complaint is that it seemed light on bass, especially with no LFE track. Maybe it would sound better if I was really cranking it. Also sometimes the center gets too overpowering.
 
I know I'm drudging up an old post, but I just got the US DVD with Quintiphonic sound and everything is where it should be. All 4 channels have what they should and the center is mostly vocals and primary non-surround sound effects. Quite impressive. It is more like a quad mix with a center than a modern surround mix. I like it a lot. I was playing it at lower than usual volume, my only complaint is that it seemed light on bass, especially with no LFE track. Maybe it would sound better if I was really cranking it. Also sometimes the center gets too overpowering.

The Blu Ray release of TOMMY also includes the Quintiphonic soundtrack [5.0] in addition to a 5.1 soundtrack: http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Tommy-Blu-ray/11805/#Review
 
It does have both soundtracks - I own a copy And in case anyone is interested, it is region A, B & C.

Sent from my Elephone_P3000S using Tapatalk
 
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