Is there a way to mute the music on a DVD?

[Nick Parker 3,017]

I would like to know.

[Henry B 49]

Nope. It's just one sound mix.

[King Mark 2,924]

if there was a way to mute music or SFX or dialogue individually we'd have complete scores of everything

[Nick Parker 3,017]

That is a good point. Maybe we should start another petition.

[Henry B 49]

Maybe not...

[Nick Parker 3,017]

This website seems rather fond of them....

[Luke Skywalker 1,286]

but it will be a usseles petition as they would know why we are asking it, and they would only see that they are losing the hypotetical money they would made if they released the scores.

[Richard Penna 2,084]

The only way of even slightly doing it is to listen to just the centre channel, which usually contains just dialogue and the more direct sfx, but even that wouldn't work if the film concerned is well mixed.

So in short, I echo the above.

Luke's point is an interesting one, because while it's completely and annoyingly true, the DVDs they do choose to put isolated music on are often stunningly random, aside from a small number of composers who routinely do commentaries like Elfman and Beltrami to name a couple.

[Koray Savas 2,095]

That is a good point. Maybe we should start another petition.

A petition to make DVD's with isolated score tracks?

[King Mark 2,924]

and they would only see that they are losing the hypotetical money they would made if they released the scores....

...but that they won't release anyways

[Henry B 49]

That is a good point. Maybe we should start another petition.

A petition to make DVD's with isolated score tracks?

What a silly idea. I think that unlike most petitions - which simply have no effect whatsoever - that one would actually hurt the cause. I mean, studios execs see that people want to bootleg music rather than buy the soundtrack album. I don't know. What is the marketing sense, besides composer commentaries, behind isolated score tracks, anyway? I don't really get it.

[Koray Savas 2,095]

I don't care about expanded bootlegs and such, I've realized that ever since I got my Macbook. It's been 3 months and I still haven't bothered to go through my hard drive and transfer over all my bootlegs. I simply don't care, I'm happy with the releases that are out there. I didn't even listen to them when I had them in my iTunes anyway.

If there are expanded releases, then I'm all for it. But I'm fine with just getting Indy re-releases, which is all we're gonna get if anything at all.

[Ollie 859]

Why would you want to mute the music from the film?

[Nick Parker 3,017]

In the case of "Dirty Harry: The Dead Pool", Lalo Shifrin's score is not what I would call a masterpiece, and I would like to see if I could do any better. Also, regarding the petition: that was a sarcastic remark reflecting this website's fondness for online petitions.

[Koray Savas 2,095]

Since when was JWFan fond of petitions? I've only seen like 3 threads regarding them since I've been here.

[John Crichton 4]

I don't think the site per se has a fondness for petitions. Usually they're started by induvidual members (and not regular ones) and the site just advertises them for a while.

[indy4 152]

I don't know why everybody hates petitions, sure they don't always work, but there's nothing wrong with them.

[Nick Parker 3,017]

I have seen quite a number of them on this website, the most obvious one being the petition to call for the expanded releases of the "Indiana Jones Trilogy" scores (a petition which I admittedly signed).

[Koray Savas 2,095]

I don't know why everybody hates petitions, sure they don't always work, but there's nothing wrong with them.

Name a petition that has worked.

[indy4 152]

The Transformers score one.

[John Crichton 4]

And why did it have to be that one?

[Nick Parker 3,017]

It was either that, or the score for "Aliens Versus Predator: Requiem" (my fingers shrivel at typing the words).

[King Mark 2,924]

or there's that guy who keeps starting petitions on every film music message boards for Bruce Broughton's theme park music

[Koray Savas 2,095]

The Transformers score one.

A score release was always planned for that. Petitions do nothing.

[Nick Parker 3,017]

Michael Crichton did not originally plan to write "The Lost World" until an enormous plea from fans (and Steven Spielberg).

[Docteur Qui 1,248]

There's a difference between an internet petition and overwhelming critical demand. Also, I very much doubt Crichton decided to write the sequel on that basis alone - he obviously wanted to and probably realized he could make a lot of money. Sorry to sound cynical, but that's the way the world works. Most petitions don't work because they simply don't appeal to whoever is the target, financially.

[Luke Skywalker 1,286]

and they would only see that they are losing the hypotetical money they would made if they released the scores....

...but that they won't release anyways

that's why the money is hypotetical

[Richard Penna 2,084]

'Hypothetical' is the big problem, and it's a point I think has been highlighted before. Studios don't want to make music available in this way, or sell the rights to someone who will get off their asses, because of the potential future revenue, but then generally have no intention of releasing it anytime soon because there are more profitable activities. Then they have the galls to complain when we download bootlegs and deprive them of this hypothetical revenue.

It's actually that situation with Spider-Man 3. No score released due to whatever financial or legal issues (demand can't be a problem if they're releasing rubbish like Untraceable), so I feel no guilt at all in having the three bootlegs available, because the industry has given us no way of obtaining it legally.

[Wojo 2,442]

Also, in a hypothetical world, you could use an isolated score mix to your advantage. You would pick a movie that has an isolated score, and rip that isolated score to a waveform. You would move this waveform out of phase by 180 degrees, and then introduce it back into your original sound environment. Hypothetically, the original score and inverted score would cancel each other out, leaving you with only sound effects and dialogue.

This is very difficult to achieve with complex sounds like speech, so it would be near impossible with a DVD with speech, sound effects, and music. Good luck.

[Richard Penna 2,084]

You can actually do that?

[Wojo 2,442]

Uh, no. Not with a complex sound, like music, and that's the only reason you'd want to do this.

Anyone with Audacity or SoundForge or Goldwave could try it with a simple and artificially generated sound, like a single instrument MIDI passage converted to waveform. This wouldn't have polluting frequencies like echo, feedback, ambient noise, and dissonance like you'd get with real music or speech. One would think that since you're flipping the entire spectrum of that sound by 180 degrees, every specific frequency would have a corresponding inverted signal to cancel out and reveal what you want.

Or, if you had a DVD or music CD where each instrument got its own track/channel, you may have a shot at creating selective inverted waveform signals. Since music and SFX are mixed into between 2 (stereo) and 6 (5.1 surround, or as many as 8 for 7.1 surround) channels, you've got no shot. It's far more complicated than this, or everyone would be doing it.

[Nick Parker 3,017]

This thread traveled to places that I did not expect it to travel to....

[Koray Savas 2,095]

It's still on topic. Either way, every thread trails off sooner or later.

[Nick Parker 3,017]

I have noticed....

[Wojo 2,442]

It's still on topic. If you don't want to learn anything, don't ask any questions.

[Nick Parker 3,017]

I never wrote that I did not appreciate the diversity in comments. In fact, I learned a number of things that I never would have learned otherwise.

[Wojo 2,442]

Then I apologize for snapping, Nick. This board doesn't need any more n00b fights than it already has, and until I get broadband and sit like a Hutt in front of my computer posting, I'll never become anything more than a n00b.

It's far easier to do everything I described above with image editing than with sound editing. I've edited photos like that with GIMP and gotten some pretty neat results.

[Nick Parker 3,017]

I accept your apology, though not your technological advice (I do not have much expertise with computers).

[Wojo 2,442]

Then I'll refrain from telling you how to play the 4-Mat-C game with your computer...

[Nick Parker 3,017]

"4-Mat-C"? What is this? ("I want to know"!)

[Marian Schedenig 5,520]

Michael Crichton did not originally plan to write "The Lost World" until an enormous plea from fans (and Steven Spielberg).

If that's true, do you really consider that a successful petition? The movie sucked, and the book was lame, too.

[ymenard 35]

Uh, no. Not with a complex sound, like music, and that's the only reason you'd want to do this.

Actually there is an upcomming software, called Melodyne "Direct Note Access" that will in the future make this possible.

Note that this software isn't a scam. It's a complex program that should be on the shelves at the end of the year. After a scan of the audio file, you could really "clean it up" to reveal as most music as possible.

[Nick Parker 3,017]

Golly Moses.

[Luke Skywalker 1,286]

Uh, no. Not with a complex sound, like music, and that's the only reason you'd want to do this.

Actually there is an upcomming software, called Melodyne "Direct Note Access" that will in the future make this possible.

Note that this software isn't a scam. It's a complex program that should be on the shelves at the end of the year. After a scan of the audio file, you could really "clean it up" to reveal as most music as possible.

that could be marvelous to erase the voice echoes in the Prequels!!!!!!!

Michael Crichton did not originally plan to write "The Lost World" until an enormous plea from fans (and Steven Spielberg).

the book was lame, too.

It was not JP, but its damn cool!

[ymenard 35]

Well the software is not intended for polyphonic sound files, but it can process it. I figure you could not completely mute an effect or a voice, but you could at least try!

[King Mark 2,924]

Well,that's kind of what I was imagining .A software that can take a movie soundtrack and "show" every note,sound effect and musical instrument individually in a sort of 3D display so you can delete whatever you want . Kind of like taking a regular WAVE and putting it under a microscope so you can see all it's parts separately.

This may not be it yet but if it's possible in the next 5 years it means the end of Holy Grail soundtracks .I'd send my copy of a completely sfx and dialogue free TOD complete score to George Lucas himself with a note to stick it up his ass .Anonymously of course.

[indy4 152]

Michael Crichton did not originally plan to write "The Lost World" until an enormous plea from fans (and Steven Spielberg).

If that's true, do you really consider that a successful petition? The movie sucked, and the book was lame, too.

Untrue!

I think the film deserves a bit more credit around here, also. Not SS best, but a decent piece of entertainment.

[Henry B 49]

Much better than Empire of the Sun, amirite?

[Nick Parker 3,017]

Why does everyone dislike "The Lost World"? Granted, the book was not exactly original, but the film was cool. It was certainly better than its sequel.

[Koray Savas 2,095]

Michael Crichton did not originally plan to write "The Lost World" until an enormous plea from fans (and Steven Spielberg).

If that's true, do you really consider that a successful petition? The movie sucked, and the book was lame, too.

Untrue!

I think the film deserves a bit more credit around here, also. Not SS best, but a decent piece of entertainment.

The book was pretty bad. I loved Jurassic Park, and then I started to read The Lost World. It was interesting, I continued to read on, then it got boring and poorly structure further into the book. I finished just for the sake of finishing, otherwise I would have put it down and probably have never picked it back up again. I'll probably reread it soon enough though. I want to read more, because I've kinda stopped in the last couple years of school and I miss it. However, I start school again on Sept. 3rd, so that will occupy more of my time. I have a flexible schedule though, and am taking a literature class, so yeah, I'll catch up on lost time.