alk3997
500 Club - QQ All-Star
Not time for a full review now but I just heard four Monkees songs without distortion and in true 5.1-channel discrete (guitars out of the rear channels) surround. Very impressive. More later...
A Surprise for Surround Sound Monkees Fans (Head)
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Not time for a full review now but I just heard four Monkees songs without distortion and in true 5.1-channel discrete (guitars out of the rear channels) surround. Very impressive. More later...
Is this the BD version from the Criterion America Lost and Found collection - 6 disc set which includes Head, Easy Rider and Five Easy Pieces?
alk3997
500 Club - QQ All-Star
Yes, yes it is. This is from the "About The Transfer" section of the "Head" Blu-Ray release,
"The original monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from the original 35mm magnetic 3-track masters and multitrack music masters."
"The remixed surround soundtrack was remastered and reconstructed at 24-bit using a variety of original sound elements from 1968. Four of the songs - "Porpoise Song", "Circle Sky", "As We Go Along" and "Daddy's Song" - were transferred from the original 1-inch 8-track audio multitracks. "Can You Dig It?" and "Long Title: Do I Have To Do This All Over Again?" were sourced from the 1968 stereo mixes originally created for the film's soundtrack album. A substantial portion of the incidental score for the film was recovered from the original 3-track session tapes, allowing for new stereo mixes. The remaining cues, dialog, and effects were culled from 1968 35mm DME elements."
Best as I can tell right now, the new mixes were created by Andrew Sandoval. The really nice thing is that Sandoval usually seems to add distortion to make it sound like 1968 mixes for CDs. For this Blu-Ray disc, these songs are really clear and are equal to the best multichannel remixes that we've heard from any late-1960s release.
"As We Go Along" is probably the most surprising since separate guitars are in the rear channels and the front channels. Nice effect with vocals coming out of the center channel. On second thought, maybe the most surprising was how much the kick drum stands-out in these new mixes. Never heard that on a Monkees album before. I'll have to look-up who the session drummer was for these songs.
"Porpoise Song" is pretty much how I think almost anyone would mix the multitracks to 5.1. Many of the drone sounds come from the rear channels and lots of instruments spread among the channels. Very nice and much heavier in the bass than any previous release.
"Circle Sky" is the live version with a very left-channel heavy mix.
"Daddy's Song" was impressive with the horns in the front channels and guitars in the rear channels. The only problem is that when Davy goes into his soliloquy almost at the end, the spoken words are from the optical film tracks and really sound out of place (as if the original didn't really sound out of place!). So it is like being thrown back into the box for that small part and then back to full surround again. Unfortunately this is the last of the songs that came from the 8-track multitracks.
"Can You Dig It?" comes the closest to sounding like it came from the multitracks ever when it did not. Very nicely synthesized 5.1-channel mix with more than effects in the rear channels.
I think this Blu-Ray gets the award for largest jump in quality from the original release to the newly mixed songs.
The only other Blu-Ray in the collection that indicates remixing from the multitracks is "Easy Rider". The rest show restoration from the original 3-track film elements. I have not watched "Easy Rider" yet to see how well that did. But if "Head" is any indication, that should be a great listen as well.
Well, it's only four songs that were truly remixed (I'm assuming the original 8-track multitracks are lost for the other two songs). I don't know why "Diego Ditty" is in mono since there seem to be a good amount of that session still available. My only question is why can't we have more?
One addition note: Looking at the mixes on ProTools shows that the center channel is heavily used, including for some lower frequencies such as a bass guitar. As is good practive to begin with, make sure your center channel is either set on "small" or has the exact same range as the front left/right channels for the music to sound the way it was intended.
Andy
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Can this Blu-Ray be purchased separately, or is it only available in the 6 disk set?
alk3997
500 Club - QQ All-Star
As far as I know right now it can only be purchased as the Criterion set. Don't know if they'll split them in the future.
thanks!
Very Very interesting!
I suspect it'll be released separately at some point, if I can wait that long.
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I suspect it'll be released separately at some point, if I can wait that long.
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Barnes and Noble currently has the Criterion blu-ray set for 50% off here:http://video.barnesandnoble.com/DVD...BS-Story/e/715515064415/?itm=1&USRI=bbs+story
Also there is a coupon for 15% off here: http://images.affinitysolutions.com/common/images/b_n_v2.jpg
I just ordered this today and the cost shipped was $67.72. I'm not sure when the B&N 50% off sale expires, but the coupon code is good until January 8, 2011.
I can already imagine the porpoise laughing in 5.1. Happy New Year!
Also there is a coupon for 15% off here: http://images.affinitysolutions.com/common/images/b_n_v2.jpg
I just ordered this today and the cost shipped was $67.72. I'm not sure when the B&N 50% off sale expires, but the coupon code is good until January 8, 2011.
I can already imagine the porpoise laughing in 5.1.
Happy New Year!Similar threads
