Intrada Soundtrack Forum

I made a stereo mix of the isolated track in the early 2000's when the DVD was released, and I left the exact same commentary from Jerry at the end of the album. Funny !
One day I should come back to it and do a 5.1 DVD-A presentation, now we have the softwares for that...

Complete scores of Alfred Newman's The Egyptian and The Robe

The new "Twilight Time" Blu-Ray release of The Egyptian (Alfred Newman & Bernard Herrmann) contains an isolated score track encoded in DTS-HD Master stereo, which is is usually encoded from the master at a very high bitrate, so a far better format than the standard CDs released by Varèse.

I also noticed that Fox released The Robe with an isolated track, but I didn't managed to know if the track has been encoded in high definition or in simple DTS/AC3.

DTS HD Master is usually encoded at a very high bitrate, even for an old picture. For instance, my Fantasia Blu-Ray's DTS HD MA track is encoded in 5000 Mbps. I don't know the bitrate for this particular Blu-Ray, but I guess it's not under 2000 Mbps, still over the common CD...

Thanks for this info! The Varese disc is remarkable and I'm glad to hear that it measures up to the Blu-ray, which I still haven't gotten although it is in my shopping cart at SAE. I was waiting for DAYS OF HEAVEN, which is now here so I should put my order through before it's too late!

Cheers!
Harry

Yeah thank you for the precise bitrate. Encoding the DTS HD at almost the same bitrate than the core DTS really doesn't make much sense to me. It would have been easier to make a simple DTS track at 1536 kbps. It's only for the sake of labelling it "HD" ! I'm a bit disappointed.
It seems that few blu-rays really use the full potential of the format. When will we see an isolated score track in LPCM/DTS-HD 24/192 stereo or 24/96 5.1 ? *dreaming*

Been a while, so I'll update:

"The Legend of Zorro" is a great 5.1 recording, but it's interesting to hear what is emphasized in each channel since that actually changes from cue to cue.

Guitars may be in the center channel only, or they may be in the front stereo. Shakuhachi blasts are always (rightfully) dead center, and the rears offer a great reverb of the trumpets.

At the same time the stereo mix is so good that I can't say I have a preference for either recording.

"A Beautiful Mind" is a whole other animal.

The original CD is a piece of garbage compared to the 5.1 for one simple reason: The original stereo CD is an incomplete performance.

When the film and score came out much was made of Horner's use of several pianos playing in an interlocking pattern, something you simply cannot hear on the stereo CD, because of the downmixing:

For the cues "A Kaleidoscope of Mathematics", "Playing a Game of GO!", "Creating Governing Dynamics", "Cracking The Russian Codes" and the "Closing Credits", that interlocking piano motif was very creatively mixed by restricting the pianos to the center channel, and left / right rear channels. There's a little bit of them in the front stereo but not nearly enough to be significant. Therefore when the stereo CD was created it simply used the front / center / right channels only, and discarded the rears so the majority of the piano performances are simply missing altogether. Another interesting aspect of the mix is that unlike most film scores with a solo vocalist, Charlotte Church's performance is completely absent from the center channel except for during the end credit song "All Love Can Be". Instead her vocals are in the front stereo, and very gently reverberate in the rear channels. If you listen to the stereo mix, having piano represented solely by the center channel for those cues just leaves it drowned out by the stereo left/right orchestral performance, specifically the strings. For all the non-interlocking motif sections, the piano is mixed more traditionally and not in the rears much at all. "Creating Governing Dynamics" is a good example of this.

I've actually made my own downmixed recording by recording the individual channels myself as I did with "Titanic", as well as making a "center mix" and a "surround mix" as I've always been fascinated by what you both hear and don't hear in each channel of a 5.1 mix.

You're absolutely right Nick. A Beautiful Mind SACD is way superior to the stereo CD. Is this the reason why the SACD is not hybrid by the way ? The pianos are everywhere and the musical experience is incredible. The kind of experience that makes you wonder why multi channels soundtracks don't exist anymore...

About Zorro, the Shakuhachi is beautifully isolated on the center channel, like you said, and this allows Kazu Matsui to particularily shine on this SACD, unlike on the stereo CD where it is drown with the other instruments.

I guess I should have did a search for HD threads before I posted my TITANIC one by itself. Oh well! I personally do not have any soundtracks on SACD or HDCD. All of my SACD are classical and rock. I also do not listen to my CDs in surround, but I have never tried it either. Maybe one day. For now the two speakers are just fine for me.

Here is that HD TITANIC CD I was talking about too. As Anakin McFly pointed out..."The remastering is made at 24bits/100 kHz, but the final CD is still in 16 bits/44 kHz. That's why any CD player can read it. I would still recommend the SACD (1 bit/2 822 kHz) for those who own the specific player, or the DTS CD (readable on any system capable of decoding the DTS)."

Here is some info for those who might be interested in purchasing this score again. I found this at Elusivedisc.com. It is a great place to still pick up SACD and lots of other audiophile discs and equipment.

Detailed Description
August 2011 pre-order your copy today! Orders with both pre-order and in stock items will have all in stock items shipped immediately!

Numbered, Limited Edition! Very Limited Quantities!
Only 1,000 Numbered Copies Available!

24-Bit/100kHz Mastering! This K2 HD Mastering CD will play on ALL CD players!


This recording has been mastered by the K2 HD format of 24-bit 100kHz, which creates an unbelievable sound surpassing other formats!

This soundtrack from the epic motion picture Titanic, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, includes the love theme "My Heart Will Go On" from Celine Dion.

Features:
• Numbered, Limited Edition
• K2 HD 100kHz / 24-bit Mastering
• Made in Japan

Selections:
1. Never An Absolution
2. Distant Memories
3. Southampton
4. Rose
5. Leaving Port
6. "Take Her To Sea, Mr. Murdoch"
7. "Hard to Starboard"
8. Unable to Stay, Unwilling to Leave
9. The Sinking
10. Death of Titanic
11. A Promise Kept
12. A Life So Changed
13. An Ocean of Memories
14. My Heart Will Go On (Love Theme from Titanic)
15. Hymn to Sea

_________________
Chris

This may have been covered already since I'm (typically) late to the party but...

The bonus isolated score on ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES (which is the album and not actually the complete score) is so oddly mixed that the effect is almost mono. You get literally no discreet stereo separation left to right, and the surrounds containing what sounds like identical info simply add to the mushy non-discript audio. I found it dreadful. In this instance, the two-track stereo mix on the actual CD is far more enjoyable to listen to. At least with the CD you can tell where the French horns are sitting, for just one example. Not so with the weird (and almost mono) isolated score excerpts.
--Doug

This happens a lot with isolated scores. Sometimes they just put the mix of the movie with all the volume variations and then you're basically listening to the film mix without the FX/dialogues. Plus the encoding is often a simple Dolby Digital at 192 kbps.
About Robin Hood (Kamen), I've never listened to this isolated track, but thank you Doug for warning us ! I'd rather listen to the superb Stromberg DVD-A of The Adventures of Robin Hood (Korngold) instead. A great concert-like listening experience.

But I still believe the Blu-Ray format could be terrific for isolated tracks. You just have to listen to Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 (in which the music is, well, already isolated, of course) to understand what I'm saying. Bruce Broughton's arrangement of Rhapsody in Blue is particularily brillant on this format. The problem is that studios won't put the budget in the isolated music track (and it often ends up as a Dolby Digital heavily compressed, badly mixed track), but all in the main movie track.
The chance with something like Fantasia is that the music is the main track. ^^

A new Best of Dimitri Tiomkin is coming at the end of the month in SACD (DSD recording), performed by the LSO and conducted by Richard Kaufman. It's good to see labels releasing more film music on multi-channel high definition formats !



Track list:
Cyrano de Bergerac – Overture
The Alamo – Suite
The Old Man and the Sea – Theme, Cubana and Finale
The Four Poster – Overture
Giant – Suite
The Fall of the Roman Empire – The Fall of Love
High Noon – Do Not Forsake Me
Rawhide – Theme
The High and the Mighty – Suite
Hitchcock Suite – Dial 'M' for Murder & Strangers on a Train
Wild is the Wind – Theme
The Sundowners – Theme
Circus World – The John 'Duke' Wayne March
Land of the Pharaohs – Theme and Pharaoh's Procession
Friendly Persuasion – The Fair, Thee I Love