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September 2001, Week 2

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Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
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Leo Enticknap <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 10 Sep 2001 22:13:00 +0100
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Jeremy Butler writes:

>Leo's comment reminds me that several of Hitchcock's British films have
>been released on DVD with digitally enhanced audio tracks.  I was watching
>the DVD of THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1934) recently and was stunned at how
>much clearer the dialogue was.  The signal-to-noise ratio has been much
>improved.
>
>Normally, I'd advocate seeing films in their original condition, but I
>think this is one case where the manipulation of a film is truly an
>improvement.

Hmm, there are some thorny ethical questions here   An 'improvement' when
judged against what criterion?  If it is 'improved' from the way that
soundtrack would have been heard in 1934 then what implications does that
have for the recording's status as a historical artefact?

In fact, I don't think this has happened.  1930s optical soundtracks played
back through 1930s thermionic valve (tube) amplifiers and doped paper cone
speakers will sound subjectively a lot 'better' than if they are reproduced
through modern equipment without any re-recording, because the 30s
equipment 'looked' for a much smaller frequency range than transistor-based
stuff.  A transistor amp will produce hiss when it can't find a signal in
the higher frequency ranges, which is why many types of early film
soundtrack, especially variable density ones, can sound horrendous without
archival re-recording.

In the case of this DVD, I'd guess that the track has been re-recorded
digitally, placing a flat signal over those area of the frequency range
which MPEG-2 can reproduce but 1930s Western Electric cannot.  I don't have
any problem with this, because the end result is to make the film sound
closer to what it would have sounded like when played in a typical cinema
in 1934 (minus the reverb you got in those huge theatres, admittedly).  But
when you get re-release such as the recent re-issues of 'Vertigo' and
'Jaws', in which the soundtrack has been totally remixed for 5.1 channel
surround when it was only ever played in mono for the original releases...

L
------------------------------------
Dr. Leo Enticknap
Director, Northern Region Film and Television Archive
School of Law, Arts and Humanities
Room M616, Middlesbrough Tower
University of Teesside
Middlesbrough  TS1 3BA
United Kingdom
Tel. 01642 384022
Brainfryer: 07710 417383

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