Does James Caan say "Beam me up, Scotty" in Godfather 1?

[Rrose Selavy]

Originally Posted by Skeptical Greg

It looks like that one does..

Indeed but not very clever from a security/privacy aspect.

[Profanz]

no

[William Parcher]

Originally Posted by calebprime

*I still think Pacino's line sounds like it's on a separate track--closer mic, more treble, too close a sound for a boom mic several feet away.

I've watched it again numerous times with the question "is Pacino's voice dubbed in this scene?" No it isn't. He is being recorded live in that room along with the other three actors. AFAICT, the mic is closest to him.

Keep in mind that The Godfather originally had a mono soundtrack. It has been newly restored for both picture and sound by Coppola and now offers a 5.1 surround. This disc offers the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit) as well as Dolby Digital Mono. Many film purists want the Mono soundtrack because it is what everyone heard in the theaters.

The audio restoration must have had carefully intent mixing and adjustment for it is beautifully clear and now has some rear effects (which are subtle). You really do not know what you are missing without the TrueHD soundtrack. All voices in that room are clear, but those of Vigoda and Castellano are de-emphasized. They are all sitting in leather chairs and each posture shift and arm movement produces a perfect leather squeak. Pacino gets up and lights a cig then dials an old rotary phone. Every single thing in his part has a perfect natural sound. It's all live acting.

I'll give you more of what you are missing without Blu-ray. You remember that cat that Don Vito holds and strokes? Well, that cat is purring.

[calebprime]

I now have the Blu-ray version -- of the entire Godfather cycle -- from the library. I've noticed it looks and sounds better, but I haven't gone back to that scene with headphones yet.

In somewhat related news, I just tested my high-frequency hearing with a sine tone, with my son present for confirmation. I only hear up to 13k now.

being kinda old sucks.

But that's still enough high-frequency hearing to see if I'm also wrong about this issue, or whether it sounds substantially different in this scene on Blu-ray.

More when I go back, probably tonight.

[William Parcher]

I know you have the Blu-ray player but not about the rest of your setup. The lossless Dolby TrueHD soundtrack is only available through the HDMI cable output. You know that, right?

[calebprime]

Originally Posted by William Parcher

I know you have the Blu-ray player but not about the rest of your setup. The lossless Dolby TrueHD soundtrack is only available through the HDMI cable output. You know that, right?

No, I didn't know that.

I just got out my flashlight and checked. We're going out of the HDMI output from the PS3 to a Sony TV, then the standard RCA cable stereo pair out to an ok-ish Sony CD/amp/speaker mini-system with the headphone jack.

The headphones are good quality, semi-custom, long story. Closed-ear, hand-wound coils, lots of highs. (In fact, a little too bright for my taste.)

So no, it's not the best setup, but maybe adequate. I'll set the bass and treble to flat.

The difference I was hearing in the amount of presence wasn't subtle, before.

Let's see, first, whether this is an entirely different experience -- as before.

Then we'll talk.

[William Parcher]

Well, your PS3 may not decode Dolby TrueHD at all. Putting that aside, your Sony mini-system certainly won't decode it.

Can you attach the headphones directly to the PS3? If so, try that. Then try attaching them directly to the TV.

[calebprime]

I've listened; I'm out of time on this one. I'm happy to concede that WP has the better setup.

Now, I'll describe what I saw and heard. Set-up as described. Four passes, twice with eyes open, twice with eyes closed. Eyes-closed listening is important so that sight doesn't influence what I'm hearing.

In the previous scene, the strings in the music are panned left. So I'm hearing stereo.

However, no stereo am I hearing in this scene -- everything in center.

I'm hearing noise-reduction processing, fairly effective and subtle: As any given sound or bit of dialog ends, there's a little tail of hiss/noise that shuts off. This noise is from the film, not the system I'm listening on.

If there's only one mic in that scene, indeed, it's closest to Pacino. A lot closer.

There's less ambience (room echo) and more presence on Pacino's line, still, in the version/setup I'm currently hearing, as well as the DVD.

The louder and brighter you're hearing it, the less contrast you hear. (Some mixing effects are easier to hear slightly quieter, some are easier to hear louder.)

Pacino's back is to us, we can barely see one corner of his mouth. His mouth moves, but I can't tell if it's in sync. It seems to me that it's not, but I wouldn't bet on it. I've learned my lesson.

When the camera moves over to Duvall, we still hear the other characters muttering off-camera, and Duvall's sound is relatively louder. But it's still mixed in mono.

Now, my experience in the 90's dealt with composing music for science documentaries, and I'm not a film-buff, so I don't know how this is accomplished: The noise-reduction processing, separate mics if any, separate tracks if any, re-recording if any, mixing so that the sound pov and the camera pov reflect each other.

Since we don't have Walter Murch to ask about this, I'd defer to Mr. Parcher-- he seems to have the best set-up.

No visible headphone inputs off the PS3 or TV. I had to turn the gain on the Sony mini-system all the way up. The audio in the scene was clear but not loud. No distortion. Some faint hiss from the system, but not terrible.

I'd be curious to hear this with a surround system.

That's all I've got time for.