Differences in audio mix in Catalyst Logic pilot

[guildnavigator]

Just put on my copy of the chinese Catalyst Logic republic pictures pilot for the first time in years and was taken aback by how drastically different the audio mix is. Starting with the opening theme, the baritone guitar sound has more tremolo than on the gold box. The strings have more modulation applied. Sounds like phase shifter.

There is more phase shifting going on throughout the entire pilot. This is noticeable any time there are strings playing. Also, there is more presence in the upper midrange and treble frequencies. Certain sound effects are also mixed louder: the pickup shot of the waterfall, the fireplace in Ben Horne's office, closeup of the ceiling fan in the Palmer house, Bobby's GTO engine noise driving off, things like this. Most of these also have phase shifting applied.

You can really notice the phase shifting on the brushed snare drum while Audrey is getting into the car in her first scene.

Even Heidi's VW has phase shifting applied.

The only way I can see there being less tremolo on the baritone guitar sample would be if during the remix they applied dynamic range compression to the track, lessening the tremolo effect. The phase shifting seems like something that was intentionally done during the original mixing session. This was not carried over to the gold box version.

There are shots of trees blowing in the wind that have dramatic amounts of phase shifting as well.

If you don't know what I mean by phase shifting, it's an audio effect that imparts a "swirling" quality to the sound source.

Between this, and the dramatic color timing differences, it's a totally different experience. I love my gold box set, but the version on the Chinese DVD is special. Much more "atmospheric" in my opinion.

Hope you guys are all doing well,
-mitch

PS: I'm a recording engineer/studio musician by profession.
http://www.mitchelljdoran.com


PPS: I'd really like to know if the pilot had these audio effects during the original broadcast. I'm sure there are a few forum members who have a copy of the pilot recorded off the air from the original transmission.

Just checked the Spanish DVD from Manga Films and it too has the phase shifting missing from the gold box.

I'm going to make an A/B comparison to demonstrate what I'm talking about.

[guildnavigator]

Ok, here are some clips to compare. This is from the scene when Audrey is first introduced in the Pilot, getting into the car:


This is the gold box version, which happens to peak at -21.6 db, and does not have the phase effect

https://soundcloud.com/mdoran13/gold-bo ... n-no-phase

and here is the Catalyst Logic version, which is much louder, peaking at -11 db. It also has drastic phase shifting applied

https://soundcloud.com/mdoran13/01-1


Since the overall volume levels are so different, I normalized them so that they both peak at 0 db. This should make them easier to compare:

gold box:
https://soundcloud.com/mdoran13/gold-box-norm-01-01

catalyst logic:
https://soundcloud.com/mdoran13/catalys ... norm-01-01




The phase shifting should be obvious starting around 7-8 seconds into the catalyst logic clip

I'd really like to have a copy of the pilot as it aired on the original broadcast to compare. Anybody have it on VHS from the original airdate?

[qbin2001]

The original TV 2.0 audio is also on Gold Box. I don't think that phase effect was purposed and was in the original airing. I suspect that the Catalyst audio was just taken from old tapes and was not properly remastered.

[guildnavigator]

The original TV 2.0 audio is also on Gold Box. I don't think that phase effect was purposed and was in the original airing. I suspect that the Catalyst audio was just taken from old tapes and was not properly remastered.

I have had this thought myself. It just sounds so intentional in this clip and during other sections.

I remember from an older review of this Chinese DVD that the runtime is different due to PAL/NTSC conversion. Jerry Horne reminded me of this yesterday. I've time-stretched the audio by 4% in protools, and this alone does not introduce such an effect.

I've also taken the Chinese DVD audio and time-stretched its audio back out to the normal runtime and of course it still has this modulation.

The 4% change in PAL/NTSC conversion could ostensibly give the tremolo baritone guitar sound the appearance of having a faster tremolo rate. The modulation/phase on the other hand is something that I've not seen happen as a result of degradation of an old magnetic tape... I'd suspect that dropouts in the audio would be more likely and I detect none in the audio.

Looking at both versions on an oscilloscope and phase analyzer, the Chinese version is a lot more smeared while the gold box version is very tight and centered. There are too many sounds to detect wether or not there's an LFO controlling the phase, which would be a giveaway that this was an applied effect. It just screams "Lynchian" that there'd be phase shifting. It reminds me very much of Alan Splet's work on Eraserhead, Dune and Blue Velvet.

Jerry said he'd check to see if he has a copy of the pilot from the original broadcast.

If anyone else has a copy I'd love to hear from you.

[jlyon1515]

Though I can't speak to the music exactly, I know for a fact that all the audio is messed up on the Catalyst Logic pilot. Even the voices are all higher pitched than normal, very bothersome!

[thegreatnorthern]

Hmm, ..interesting, I am currently in the process of extracting all of the [ analog audio ] from the original laserdisc masters, before all subsequent dvd releases that "feature" remastered/remixed audio, including, dolby digital, dolby surround, 5.1 mixes, etc. even the 2.0 stereo audio track found on all consumer optical media formats seem to be surprisingly inferior - to the original analog audio found only on the laserdisc format, the Twin Peaks series analog audio was so dramatically different ! ( including the pilot and fwwm, both japanese and us releases ) I will concede that vhs too is an analog format but obviously the video portion of the format is at a dis-advantage when compared to the laserdisc video quality. Without getting in too deep of a discussion here, all I can say is that I have obsessively reviewed ALL twin peaks released home media formats over the years, and nothing can touch the fullness, clarity, and TRUE-ness of the analog stereo track found on the laserdisc. The difference is between hearing it ( digital ) , and feeling it ( analog ) especially when it comes to voices and dialog and people talking ( just sounds more real like they are right next to you and not from a source recording ) and as guildnavigator pointed out, there is an "atmospheric" quality found on the analog audio tracks as well, Basically the digital audio sounds clear - but tinny, empty, flat and lifeless. One exception and strength for the digital audio tracks is that the music swells sound slightly better, but the vocal tones tend to hover around the mid-ranges

I used Audacity ( audio visualization software ) to confirm my suspicions, I plan on marrying each episode's original analog audio track ( laserdisc analog audio ) with the superior video of the 1080p itunes/bluray video files real soon .. if you haven't yet heard the laserdisc provided analog audio tracks of the series, then I really think you haven't heard anything yet ! After viewing repeated scenes, from various formats, the difference is SO obvious, I checked the vhs format, log box and worldvision, 1991-1993, the beautiful artisan dvd release 2001 of the first season, definitive gold box dvd's 2007, high marks!, and the itunes 1080p version. In case your still reading this, I have very clean audio system(s), have tried various bookshelf monitor speakers, many integrated amplifiers and receivers that are capable of good audio reproduction and true fidelity. But my ears don't lie, check out an analog media format of twin peaks ( laserdisc ) and hear the difference yourself, if you have any experience with this I would love to hear about it..