DVD Boxset - Sound issue...
KMITB
and once again the sound has been toyed with. I have read many posts that the
5.1 audio would have the added effects while the 2.0 would retain the original
sound. This is not the case. The two episodes I watched have a lot of new
sounds. This is especially evident in the episode "Traitor". The buzzing
sound of the electrocells is quite overpowering and ,in my opinion, annoying.
I still am baffled as to why the sound needed to me messed with. The effects
sound out of place to me and at times, as mentioned above, louder than the
dialogue.
I am mentioning this as an observation and not to get 30,000 replys telling me
how much I am wrong and that I am whining and complaining. I am writing this
to let people know that there are some things added and it's not the original
episodes as we knew them. If anyone else hears more of these, let the group
know. Also, the bumpers have the added sounds again...which drowns out the
announcer in some spots.
I thank Rhino for the effort in bringing these classics to DVD, but I am
curious as to the need to add the sound effects.
Peace,
Kenny
Steve-o Stonebraker
> I just received the boxset in the mail today and watched a couple of episodes
> and once again the sound has been toyed with. I have read many posts that the
> 5.1 audio would have the added effects while the 2.0 would retain the original
> sound. This is not the case.
A couple other people have also mentioned the new sounds being in some of
the 2.0 tracks. It's a bummer, definitely. Either Zobovor or Tim Finn
has delivered word from Rhino that, basically, no one seems to know where
the sounds came from. The people that fans have been in touch with when
working on the extras have only been able to say that, as far as they
know, nothing was added. It's hard to imagine this is true, but, we don't
really know what the story is. Regarding the commercial bumpers, the
story from Rhino there is that the sound was *always* a part of those film
clips, but the volume on the effects was simply very low. So, they
brought it up to be audible.
> I thank Rhino for the effort in bringing these classics to DVD, but I am
> curious as to the need to add the sound effects.
I haven't picked up the set yet, but, I'm in agreement, as are most of the
fans that have noticed the change.
--Steve-o
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Stonebraker | Transformers FAQ Keeper | Astrophysicist
sst...@yahoo.com | www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~sstoneb | AOL IM: srstoneb
Zobovor with Very Few Cats
> I have read many posts that the 5.1 audio would have the added effects
>while the 2.0 would retain the original sound. This is not the case.
The Rhino tech guys said that they'll restrict the new sound effects to the 5.1
tracks from now on, but most of this DVD set had already been completed by that
point. I expect we'll see a more uniform sound formatting with the next boxed
set. (As an aside, most of the episodes on this set *are* watchable without
the new sounds. Only a handful of them have the new sounds on the 2.0 track,
at least on the first two discs. I haven't had a chance to examine the
remaining discs at length.)
>I thank Rhino for the effort in bringing these classics to DVD, but I am
>curious as to the need to add the sound effects.
Adding new surround sound elements enables them to slap the Dolby label on the
DVD packaging, which ultimately makes the product more marketable. I don't
necessarily agree with that line of reasoning, but I do understand it.
--
Zobovor
Well, maybe a little bit of kitty love. Just a bit.
http://members.aol.com/zobovor/index.html
Smokescreen
The added FX are not supposed to be on the 2.0 audio track. Fortunately, I've
watched most of the eps, and only Traitor and another first disk ep (I forget
which one) have this problem.
You were thinking the same thing I was, though. The added FX in Traitor really
do get annoying.
But, if this is the worst problem we find with the S. 2 boxset, I think we
should be grateful. I can't put into words how relieved I am that the eps
aren't the shitty unfinished ones from the first season boxset.
However, one disadvantage is that the improved picture quality lets us see just
how bad the animation is in Autobot Run and City of Steel. A couple of scenes
in Autobot Run are laughably bad.
-----
Proud owner of a MIB Storm Jet (Wooo Hooo!!)
Stop drooling on your keyboard!!
TF Count -- Total: 464 (G1: 297, G2: 10, BW: 74, BM: 36, RID: 35, foreign:
31), always growing. . .
Zobovor with Very Few Cats
>A couple other people have also mentioned the new sounds being in
>some of the 2.0 tracks. It's a bummer, definitely. Either Zobovor or Tim
>Finn has delivered word from Rhino that, basically, no one seems to
>know where the sounds came from. The people that fans have been in
>touch with when working on the extras have only been able to say that,
>as far as they know, nothing was added. It's hard to imagine this is
>true, but, we don't really know what the story is.
I'm strongly under the impression that Rhino is underestimating the
knowledgeability of the Transformers fan base. I've done a thorough
examination of the new sound effects from the first two discs, and I think I
can state with a fair amount of certainty that *none* of the new sounds found
on the DVD were *ever* present in the episodes prior to the DVD release.
There's simply too much evidence to support the idea that Rhino added these
sounds themselves. For starters, none of these sounds are in any other version
of the episodes. Rhino has stated that the sounds were always there, and that
you simply couldn't hear them due to limitations of 1980's television sets.
This explanation fails to address why I also can't hear the sounds on the TV
set I bought just last year. It also fails to address why the *only* parts of
the episodes in stereo are these new sound effects.
Also, none of the new sounds heard on the DVD exist anywhere in a Transformers
episode *except* on the DVD. These new sounds simply don't *exist* in the G1
sound library, in other words. You also won't be able to go to episodes from
other shows of the same time period like G.I. Joe or Inhumanoids and find these
sounds, because they didn't exist when those episodes were produced.
I've identified the specific source of several of the new sound effects which
clearly demonstrates this. One of the archival sounds Rhino added was the
sound of the Borg cutting beam used to carve out sections of the Enterprise-D
hull in ST:TNG's "The Best of Both Worlds." That sound was created
specifically for that episode, by the way. I'll be putting together a
comparison sound file later if I can find my Star Trek tapes, but in the
meantime, for anyone who wants to check this themselves, the same sound effect
is used heavily in the DVD version of "Changing Gears," just about any time we
see a shot of the Sun going wonky. If Rhino is to be believed, somehow a
circa-1990 sound effect was always present in a circa-1985 cartoon episode.
>Regarding the commercial bumpers, the story from Rhino there is that
>the sound was *always* a part of those film clips, but the volume on the
>effects was simply very low. So, they brought it up to be audible.
Of the second-season episodes I examined, I think this is probably true in
*one* case, anyway. "Traitor" is the only episode on the first two discs that
features the traditional transforming sound effect during the commercial
bumpers, so I'd say it's very possible that Rhino cranked up the amplification
on some existing sound elements for that specific episode. The other sounds,
like the inexplicable mechanical servo-motor noise Starscream makes when he
transforms or the tire-squealing and heavy pom-pom blaster noises Jazz makes...
again, they don't exist anywhere in a Transformers episode except on this DVD.
Starscream's servo-motor noises are especially telling, since they are a
virtually unprecedented instance of a G1 character making a sound *other* than
the traditional transforming sound effect. (Aside from scenes in which the
sound editors simply forgot to add the sound, this is something that basically
*never* happens.)
It wouldn't be so bad if Rhino would just come out and say something like, "We
tweaked the episodes because we wanted to take advantage of the surround sound
feature." It's also true that most casual fans probably won't be able to pick
out the specific sounds added to each episode (I've begun compiling a list of
the specifics, and I'll share it as soon as I catch up on the remaining discs).
It still bothers me, though.
And it's not like I expect currently-reissued stuff to be 100% identical to the
way it was before. I understand that the G1 toys are different to make them
safer, and the G1 episodes aren't going to feature toy commercials for M.A.S.K.
and Sectaurs toys. This thing with the sound effects is really pretty
arbitrary, though.
Kenshiroh
I think you are right about that.
There's something I noticed, and I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed it
before. Shortly after the Rhino-added sound effects, you can hear a clicking
noise. A specific example I can think of is from the first season set. In the
opening credits, a second or two after the added-in sound that makes it look
like Prime's shoulder hit the camera, you can hear a clicking sound. You hear
the same clicking sound after many of the other added in sounds as well.
In the Season 2 (vol1) disc, the clicking sound can be heard after some of the
bumpers.
As for the "the sounds have always been there" explanation, I think they may
have been referring to something else. I noticed in "Plague of Insecticons"
(season 1), on the 2.0 track there were a few sound effects that could not be
heard that are audible on VHS copies of the episode. Perhaps they were
thinking of this when they said that.
As many of you have already said, there is no good reason to add in extra sound
effects, but a lot of good reasons NOT to do so.
I think that Rhino should issue replacement discs with the 2.0 audio fixed.
They should also fix the Season 1 episodes that were incomplete and replace
those discs as well.
Ethan Hammond
I remember it with the deep bass bap bap, instead of the kind
of lame ass way it sounds in 5.1. I was wondering what was up
with some of the sounds.
--
All Purpose Cultural Randomness
http://www.angelfire.com/tx/apcr/index.html
Zobovor with Very Few Cats
>So if I pick 2.0 sound then the theme song will sound like
>I remember it with the deep bass bap bap, instead of the kind
>of lame ass way it sounds in 5.1.
For most of the episodes, but not all of them, yes.
Ethan Hammond
YAY!!!!
Gyumaoh
>aren't the shitty unfinished ones from the first season boxset.
Amen to that.
Gregatron
effects are all on Disc 1, and are all together.
Disc 1:
Autobot Spike (2.0 has original track)
Changing Gears (2.0 has "Rhino" track, with new sounds)
City of Steel (2.0 has "Rhino" track)
Attack of the Autobots (2.0 has "Rhino" track)
Traitor (2.0 has "Rhino" track)
The Immobilizer (2.0 has original track)
The Autobot Run (2.0 has original track)
I think maybe they just pick 4 episodes per set to have the Rhino
sounds in 2.0. The same thing happened in Season 1, disc 2, with only
4 episodes having this problem.
All the other episodes' 2.0 tracks are the originals!
- Gregatron
Gyumaoh
>sounds in 2.0
But for what purpose?
My theory: They probably divvy out 4 episodes to each staff member to encode,
and one of the guys is lazy/incompetant.
KMITB
complete as they were aired...so why can't they give what the fans want? Maybe
Rhino will come out with a press release addressing this issue. I for one
would be interested in reading it! I'll still watch my DVD's...but I still
prefer the original stuff....not Rhinofied!
Peace,
Kenny
True DMF 4 Life
away in my opinion, but oh well, that's just what I thinkl
-AD