Hi everyone.
Some of you out there may or may not be aware that a number of movie titles have at some point in their history had new remix soundtracks made for them - which can include: different sounding sound-effects / altered background music / possibly alternate dubbing voices etc compared to the original theatrical release. In effect, for these kinds of movies there can be TWO distinct soundtracks (typically the original theatrical version, and the new remix version).
Now do not be confused with this - most old soundtracks have more than likely been "cleaned up" so they sound crisp / clear / easier to hear etc + some probably reconstructed into 5.1/7.1 surround sound for DVD/Blu-Ray releases. Any (most) movies where the soundtrack has simply been cleaned up or updated for 5.1/7.1 in this way still essentially have the original soundtrack - I AM NOT referring to these (which would be most movies in existance! ). It's the few movies where they decided to heavily alter whole sound-effects for a modern re-release or something that I am referring to.
Below are a few examples from a few movies. For some I have found some YouTube videos (hope they remain active video links) which you can check out for yourselves to compare the differences (the sound effect differences can sometimes be very subtle - listen very carefully):
***Note: I do not own or take any credit for any of these YouTube videos - I just found them and noted them here so you guys can compare for yourselves***
"Grease" 1978
--- Listen to the sound of the "trash-can" being knocked over, and the "boing" of the comb on these two YouTube links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODOj2jBUKW0 - (1minute-42seconds) + (2minutes-30seconds) - original soundtrack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZW0DfsCzfq4 - (2minutes-11seconds) + (3minutes-0seconds) - remix soundtrack
--- Similarly listen to the sound of the "bubble-gum" being popped on these links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1OBn0HuC50 - (2minutes51seconds) - original soundtrack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCumGJ0y9lc - (2minutes53seconds) - remix soundtrack
--- The remix soundtrack has heavier sounding "footsteps" and "thump" noises of the movement of characters during major song and dance routines - I think included in the above mentioned remix YouTube links.
--- During the car-chase near the end of the movie, when the scorpion leader is racing against Danny (John Travolta), the scorpion leader car has bladed hubcaps which tear through Danny's car making a metallic sawing sound. The original soundtrack sound effect of this sawing has a low tone kind of sawing sound. But the remix soundtrack version has a much higher pitched sawing sound.
Jaws (1975)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q81Ublj9k_A - compares the original and the remix soundtracks of a scene
An American Tail (1986)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCgWnA2cprg - compares the original and the remix soundtracks of a scene (although I read on some other websites there is some confusion over just which was the original... Still I know the rest of the remix version of this movie contains other altered sound-effects on and off throughout)
The Terminator (1984)
***Be advised these scenes are somewhat implied violent - but compare the sound of the gun-shots***
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5MlmtHgpf8 - original soundtrack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm8y-kDFb1s - remix soundtrack
--- Similar differences to sound-effects of mostly gunshots continue in the same way throughout the movie.
Suffice to say, there are definitely some differences. And they don't just occur in the above mentioned scenes - various kinds of differences occur on and off throughout the movies (I know for certain, because at one time or another I have seen and listened to all four of these movies many times, and when I heard the remix sound-effects versions for the first time I immediately noticed the differences). True often they can only be very minor things and that might not matter to some people, but to others they can be noticeable and annoying!
Anyway, these titles are listed here on dvdcompare with as many DVD/Blu-Ray comparisons from as many countries as possible. But what may or may not be known is just what versions of soundtracks have been included on so-and-so country DVD/Blu-Ray release - do they contain the (OLD)original-soundtrack, the (NEW)remix-soundtrack, or both? Most listings of these titles on dvdcompare do include data if it has a 2.0 mono, 5.1 surround, 7.1 surround (whatever) soundtrack included on its DVD/Blu-Ray release. But I don't know about anyone else, but to me all that tells me is the number of speakers involved - not if so-and-so movie soundtrack is OLD or NEW version. And I think with these kinds of titles, a little bit of extra data needs to be added to the currently listings showing what soundtrack actually plays what...
But that's the problem - I don't know what is played on what + nor do some of the moderators / administrators of this forum know for sure (or at least we don't know 100% what is on what). Other websites such as IMDB and WIKI that have extra details concerning these kinds of soundtrack alterations are not necessarily reliable enough sources either.
So I was thinking, for starters lets make a list of these kinds of movie titles that have had a heavy sound-effect remix done to them at some point. I only know of the above four titles currently - can anyone point out anymore? Next, hopefully if anyone has their own DVD/Blu-Ray copies, can you help identify what soundtracks are on what releases from wherever (possibly make some notes about the differences between the two versions here on this thread). That way we'll all have a clearer idea what's what and then ultimately I hope we can update the listings pages accordingly.