2020 Restoration by 20th Century Fox
Sound restoration by John Polito, Audio Mechanics
20th Century Fox asked Audio Mechanics to investigate the sound restoration for this timeless classic by Mel Brooks. Having managed the sound preservation for this title in 2014, John Polito had a hunch it could be improved. The original 35mm magnetic film sound master is what’s known as a “DME mono stems master”. This means that the final mix exists as individual tracks separated into dialog (D), music (M), and effects (E). This master represents the highest generation of the final approved mix, and was used to create the optical sound track negative used to create release prints.
Audio Mechanics was able to successfully remove a certain type of magnetic degradation called print-through without harming the fidelity of the sound. Print-through is a type of echo that happens over time. As the reel sits untouched in the vault, each wind of the magnetic reel imparts its magnetic field onto the windings above and below it. Generally the echos are very soft, but louder sounds have stronger magnetism and therefore create louder echos of themselves on the tape. In addition to removing print-through, Audio Mechanics also gently removed hiss, hum, distortion, and repaired dropouts. John Polito did a final mastering pass to ensure that the fidelity and tonal balance was optimal.
