I am surprised by some of the comments I have read, not necessarily in this particular thread, regarding the fact that the new Saving Private Ryan release is not technically "remastered." There have been many discussions where the idea of remastering has been derided, dismissed as being nothing but "louder and brighter," etc., and where it's been expressed (sometimes astutely) that the original sonics were fine and should be left alone.
In the end, everything has to be addressed on a case-by-case basis. La-La Land's upcoming release is an anniversary commemorative edition, for the first time presenting the score with deluxe packaging and liner notes that I am very happy with. No one can do anything about the fact that there wasn't that much score left off the original album, but what we can do is embrace the fact that Maestro Williams was amenable to the idea of this release and that, as a result, additional music will soon be available. He could just as easily have said 'no' and that the original album was enough.
When it came to the audio, he took the time to listen to some of the original release -- which is actually a BIG DEAL, and said that he was happy with the program, the mix and the sound quality. That was certainly enough for me.
UME provided me with Pat Sullivan's delivered digital master, which she and I then reviewed together. We cleaned up a few little things, finessed track starts and endings, etc., but in the end, while this IS, in the strictest sense, a remastering, it did not feel right to shout that from the rooftops because the mixes, EQ and levels were not altered in any significant way. For the additional tracks, Patricia actually recalled her notes from 1998 that detailed exactly how to EQ and process the audio. I followed that in creating the added tracks so that everything would be uniform.
In this particular case, this was the best course of action for the release and the one that the Maestro was comfortable with us pursuing. It does not mean that any less TLC was applied to it. The only other option would have been to retransfer the stereo mixes and rebuild all the performance edits, but the end result would not have been drastically different from what already exists since both John Williams and Shawn Murphy liked their mixes.
If anyone feels that the those mixes were lacking and/or that there isn't enough new material to warrant a purchase, or if you don't care for the score at all, that's totally fine. But if having a deluxe treatment of a great Spielberg/Williams collaborative effort appeals to you, then I think you'll enjoy having the new edition in your collection. It's one we are all proud of and which La-La Land is now privileged to have in the catalogue. I hope that it will be supported by the collectors so that more will keep coming through the pipeline.
Mike Matessino |
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