MovieChat Forums > A Star Is Born (1954) Discussion > The new botched soundtrack

The new botched soundtrack


There is a huge problem with the soundtrack as it now stands. Like many older films the sound has been "tweaked". The decible level has been increased. Quiet moments used to be extra quiet like Garland singing while Mason walks down to the beach you almost had to strain to hear were in deliberate contrast to the rest of the film and loud moments, like when Garland tears into a number, used to be thrilling. Now those numbers sound ear-splittingly LOUD, so much so that you now want to turn down the sound. No wonder people are saying Garland's voice was getting on their nerves. The soundtrack level is WAY too high. There is something really wrong with how old movies are being presented to us now.

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What you actually mean is that it is now too COMPRESSED. The loud parts are the same as always, but all the softer elements have been brought up, destroying the original dynamic range.

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Exactamundo, my friend. First it was CDs, now it's movies. Those Oscar winning sound men must be spinning in their graves.

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The original audio master does not survive. What is here is patched together from several sources of variable quality. This film is never going to sound as good as it could.

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That may be so, but it is really saying something when the VHS tape of this plays better,audio-wise, than the DVD.

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Not true. The complete audio tracks survived in the Warner vaults and was found there in pristine condition; it was only the visuals that were discarded when Jack Warner ordered the movie butchered.

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