5.1 mix gone wrong. Did the "pros" do a poor job?

[mazinz]

I own the latest edition. They refer to it as the "Special Edition". It's the 2006 release. If you follow:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071222/dvd

It's the first one displayed.

I see that there's also a distribution by Eclectic and another by Pid.

The guy that owns the rights suggested that I buy the version that I did, which would make sense. Obviously he'd suggest the one he "owns", the Critical Mass one.
I've only watched the film on a regular analog TV once. Honestly, I can't recall my opinion of the quality, as it wasn't my main focus. I think it looked fine though. However, on my monitor (what I'm using as I type, the picture is pretty bad.

Is Planetfall the one from 2005? If so, it has 2.0 Stereo and a 5.1. I don't know why I typed that, as it's the same as what you just told me < dunce moment
It's pretty severe that the rears would drown out the dialogue. I mean, it must've really been cranked...?

You had me confused, but I think I know what you mean now. You're saying that those that wanted the score to a film, such as you'd buy on a CD at a store, would sometimes find that a particular film didn't have an official release. So, as an alternative, they'd rely on ripping the film's score from the rear channels of a 5.1 mix...? As I said, I *think* that's what you mean, but I could be wrong.
If I DO understand you correctly, are you saying that only the UK 5.1 mix is done in a manner where the rears can be effectively used in such a way?

a few years back I used to speak to the guy who ran the itsmebilly.com website which was dedicated to the film. I also know he had a hand in at least one critical mass dvd and I think he did something with the UK edition

I am not exactly sure how things work with different studios dealing with masters for releases? I do know that the 2006 version (dvd) used sound effects never in any version of the film to help with the 5.1 track. Something along the lines of them not using the original film master audio but one from another type of source they found. At any rate it was because of that I never tampered with that versions 5.1. I can tell you that the UK was a different story and I have no idea what sound masters they were able to aquire, but it came within 95-98% close of a complete sound effect and vocal free rear channel soundtrack

yes that would be the 2005 planet fall. It was also one of the rare times when the 5.1 (minus the problem) sounded better than the 2.0 mix (I do not have a 5.1 setup so all of that is down converted by the dvd player). In my case I fixed the 5.1 for my backup and now it works fine

Yes you do have it correct. Black Christmnas never had any sort of soundtrack release (though supposedly the composer was going to re-do the soundtrack so it could be recorded and released at one point in time). Since studios have access to master prints for films and that the sound is usually not mixed in with the film, this sometimes gives them a great chance to do a true 5.1. Sometimes in such cases (or more so on earlier releases), they would keep the music tracks from a film on the back left and right channel of the 5.1 audio track. This in turn provided fans of the film a chacne to technically get the score music from a film which never had one previously

[takearushfan]

Yeah, I spoke to him (Dan Duffin) quite a few times. The last I heard from him, he still owns the rights and deals only with Critical Mass.
Like you said, I agree that the version I have contains some material that wasn't in the original mono mix. On the IMDB, he claimed that nothing was added, but that's simply not true. One example that's easiest to hear is when Margot Kidder is being stabbed. The 5.1 mix adds a "squishy" stabbing sound that's not in the original mix. There are a few other things as well, but I can't recall what they are off the top of my head.
I just listened to the rears of the 5.1 last night and there's no way it's anywhere near the UK mix that you're referring to. In the 5.1 mix on my DVD, you can easily hear vocals and sound effects (that really shouldn't be so prominent in the rears!).

[mazinz]

takearushfan,
sending you a PM

[takearushfan]

Hm. I see you're in NY. Whereabouts? I'm in Buffalo.