The upcoming Blu-ray release of 'The Godfather Collection: The Coppola Restoration' will feature not only a restored and remastered video presentation, but also a new 5.1 soundtrack mix thanks to the folks at POP Sound. Paramount tasked the company to remix the legendary films in order to bring the sound quality up to today's standards.
Moksha Le Blanc, POP Sound Executive Producer for Home Theater, commented, "There was a lot of clean up to get it to sound fluid in transitions-the original mono tracks were rough, with rough transitions. There was a lot of de-humming and de-clicking, as well as time alignment issues to deal with." He continued, "Essentially Paramount wanted it to sound like it had been released yesterday and we came close to achieving that."
The project, which ended up taking eight months to complete, used the original mono track as well as the original multi-track music scores to recreate the mix from the bottom up. Additionally, areas where the original soundtrack was lacking were approved upon. One scene is particular was originally ADR'ed (automated dialogue replacement) due to a noisy dolly during filming. The results were less than satisfactory, so the the team adjusted it to be less obvious.
'The Godfather Collection' is set to be released on September 23rd, day-and-date with the DVD re-release.
I actually went to a seminar of Walter Murch about a year ago. As he was leaving he said the real
reason he was in LA was to do the re-recording mixing on the trilogy. So i knew then they were doing
a full new remaster of the audio and complete new picture transfer. He actually said that the entire
original negative of godfather 2 didn't even exist anymore. He said during editorial they just didn't
keep a good cutting room. So I'm looking forward to seeing on blu how good they remastered the
picture from a positive dupe-or even a release 35mm print. We'll just have to see.
I would add this to my pre-order list as well, but then my wife wouldn't have anything left to give me for Christmas! This will be a great Christmas present for me this year.
man I wanna preorder this so bad, I guess I will just have to wait until the last minute to preorder it, my home theater construction is draining every penny I have left, so I stopped buying BDs this month through October until the theater is finished, but this BD purchase will have to be an exception.
Purists can play the original DVD releases... I'm just fine with the newly remastered versions on Blu-Ray. I own the original DVDs so now I will have both.
The remastered DVD 5 disc set is already for sale on Europe and has been for several months. You can find it for around £18 or €25 on Amazon.co.uk or Play.com.
Paramount keeps getting better and better with The Godfather movies! I'm even more excited about adding the movies to my collection! It's like this for all of us: If The Godfather Trilogy is not in your Blu-ray collection, then you don't have a Blu-ray collection!
DrXym: No, thanks. I find the PAL speed-up issue intolerable. I'll be waiting on a release at the proper speed...and in HD no less. What's the point of the new video and audio restoration when the UK DVD release 1) speeds up the film 2) can't make the films look anywhere near as good as Blu-ray and 3) can't make the films sounds anywhere near as good as Blu-ray? Waste of money IMO.
Paramount is finally realizing blu-ray recordings demand the best audio. Why? Audio can a movie twice as good. I truly believe the quality of audio (or uncompressed) is the most important factor in a blu-ray movie. If a blu-ray movie doesn't come with at least uncompressed audio, I'm not buying it.
A blu-ray movie with COMPRESSED audio is simply a standard DVD with blu-ray packaging. Why buy it?!?!
I hope the original mono has been given the same attention, level of detail and remastering that the 5.1 is being given.
Disney has done it with some of their classics releases. Even Capital Records included both mono and stereo remastered sound couple of years back with the release of the American Beatles album releases in a couple of box sets.
I know it is cleaned up. I know it is getting better, but I still prefer movies that were filmed in mono presented that way.
Include 5.1 for those that want it. That is great. However, include the original soundtrack the way the film was made.
You would not colorize Psycho; why sterolize a mono sound?
Don't worry ibeetle, I'm sure it has. They mention in the article about the restoration in the american cinematrographer magazine that the original analog monoraul track has been cleaned up and restored as well, along with the new dolby trueHD track, so all pursits (myself included) and film archives can now play the movie with it's original sound. And that's another great bonus as well, because aside from cleaned up and restored picture, that's another thing that the DVD set was lacking. And the reason I really prefer the mono (aside from being a purist) is because it has all the original gunshot sounds, as opposed to the 5.1 where they all sound artificial and sound like pop guns. 5.1 tracks always seem to have that problem when it comes to gunshots.
I only liked GF1 & 2 and I watched all 3 recently (it was like a 10 hr marathon, lol) so I'll prob just rent them. However, they don't say if its going to be uncompressed or TrueHD Dolby, right? I only see 5.1 mix so hopefully they won't do DD+
Bye, Bye Warner, Hello Paramount. Another studio putting in alot of money and effort, I hope Paramount makes money like Lionsgate. I'm sure with the Godfather, Transformers, Top Gun having lossless audios they will.
Honestly... I would wonder if the God Father Family, the movie that tied all 3 films together, is in the wings for a future release in Blu Ray. If I recall correctly, it was 10 or 11 hours long, and had a lot of restored footage. I really enjoy that version as I felt it explained more, and it is the perfect rainy day movie.
The more work that takes place in both PQ & AQ the better. Blu-ray is an audio-video perfectionists format. It's a movie COLLECTORS format. I never see 80% of what comes out on rentals anyway even on Blu-ray. As great as Blu-ray is if the movie is a turd to begin with you just can't polish a turd. The Godfather movies are movies that will live forever and deserve the upmost attention. Give it the Bladerunner treatment the FIRST TIME. Give us a really good reason to past down our DVD's to our goofy low tech family members. (Uh..Sorry Uncle Bob)
The more work that takes place in both PQ & AQ the better. Blu-ray is an audio-video perfectionists format. It's a movie COLLECTORS format. I never see 80% of what comes out on rentals anyway even on Blu-ray. As great as Blu-ray is if the movie is a turd to begin with you just can't polish a turd. The Godfather movies are movies that will live forever and deserve the upmost attention. Give it the Bladerunner treatment the FIRST TIME. Give us a really good reason to past down our DVD's to our goofy low tech family members. (Uh..Sorry Uncle Bob)
Can't wait to see and hear them when I get back!! 
I'm just fine with the newly remastered versions on Blu-Ray. I own the original DVDs so now I will have both. 
