When it comes to an English dub, depending on the series and when it was dubbed, it could be true 5.1.
As for Gundam:
-The English version of the MSG trilogy was released on VHS in late 98/early 99. Never really listened to that dub, but they probably kept the same music/SFX and split them to make it sound like stereo.
-The MSG trilogy DVD in R1 and R2 is true 5.1. In 2000, most of the original cast returned to re-record all the dialogue. There's musical differences, as well as an all new SFX track. Similarly, the 5.1 tracks on the Zeta movies are a new re-recording with new music and SFX.
-For 0083, you'd have to check Gunota for more details (too lazy to check myself). I'm not sure if the audio was re-recorded for 5.1 or just remastered.
-As to Zeta TV being in stereo, that's just an educated guess based on the time it aired and when Dolby Stereo technology was introduced.
-If you're looking for a "true surround experience" for Gundam, I pretty much listed it all in my last post. I own nearly all the Gundam DVDs released in the U.S. (not counting SD Gundam Force), so I checked the discs directly to see what sound they offer.
On 3/6/06, Dr. Core <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hmm let me disclose my motivation first: when I saw Gravion Zwei with
2.0 Jap track and 5.1 Eng track, I got pretty skeptical where the
extra sound channels come from. It's safe to assume that GZ was not
originally produced with 5.1 sound. So did ADV Films
mastered/remastered the audio into 5.1? Not f-king likely. They
probably just encoded the 2.0 audio (with their own Englsih dub) into
5.1. Something that my $179.99 receiver can do very well (I was
pleasantly surprised to find that my cheapo receiver can seperate the
BGM (backgroud music) and SFX (sound effects) out and space them
around to the front and surround speakers and keep the dialogues to
the front speakers only).
So just because the DVD box says Dolby 5.1 doesn't necessarily mean
that you can hear the surround sound experience. Or it could be
WORSE.
I now remember watching an Eng dub anime (can't remember the title)
which has horribly exaggerated surround audio. The English VA sounds
like ghost voices that spoke from thin air, completely detached from
the position of the character whose mouth is moving. Gosh I wish I
could remember which one it was... Does anyone else notice that?
(hmm it could be the English track on the Cowboy Bebop Remix???)
Ok anyway back to Gundam. I clicked around on amazon.com and
amazon.co.jp try and figure out the audio tracks on R1 and R2
releases. Amazingly almost everything on Amazon.co.jp are listed as
"Dolby" but there's no information if it's Dolby 2.0 (South Park TV,
Sex and the City TV) or Dolby 5.1 (Star Wars Ep.3). So that's
completely useless.
BTW, imdb lists the MSG movies as "mono", which sounds pretty
believeable. Dolby only introduced Dolby Stereo in early 80s,
http://www.dolby.com/about/who_we_are/history_4.html
When was the Englsih version of MSG movies produced? I think it was
in the VHS era right? So at best our friends at Westwood/Ocean only
recorded a 2.0 stereo track for the dub, but did they "image" the SFX?
And how come the R1 0079 movies (2002?) have 5.1 Jap track? Did
Bandai/Sunrise actually went back to the original recordings and
re-compose the sound elements for 5.1, like Frau is standing a little
to the left and Amuro is in the cockpit in the middle, or the Dopp is
flying right to left and approaching the viewer?
BTW, according to:
http://www.tvhandbook.com/History/History_timeline.htm
The first stereo TV broadcast in the US was 1984, just 2 years before
Zeta's first airing in Japan. Are we sure that Zeta was stereo
originally? (not sure if Japan led or lagged the US in mid-80s) I was
watching the R1 DVD on the weekend (rented it from Netflix) and I
don't think I noticed any spatial quality to the audio, despite it
being 2.0 supposingly. Of course the space combat scenes are perfect
for that. I will listen for it more intently when the next disc
arrives.
Could it be that 0083, Z and MS Igloo are so far the only true 5.1
surround sound experience?
Ok... that's my anal-retentive rant of the day.
--
Dr. Core
--------------------------------------------------
The Gundam Mailing List MK-II [email protected]
Archives: http://www.gundam.com/gml
Help: Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] with this in
the BODY: help list
--
Webmaster
Mecha & Anime HQ
http://www.mahq.net
