Queen A Night at the Opera DVD-Audio: Scheiner vs. May surround mix

I just obtained what I believe to be the rare Queen A Night at the Opera DVD-Audio disc with the Elliot Scheiner surround mix. The copyright date on the disc is 2001, not 2002 as is found on copies with the common Brian May surround mix.

Has anyone compared the two surround mixes? Which one do you prefer and why? When comparing the two, where do you find the most striking differences?

I have thus far only compared "You're My Best Friend" and "'39". To me, the differences on "You're My Best Friend" are rather subtle. It seems as though the vocals from the front channels are louder and have greater depth on the '01/Scheiner mix.

A significant difference was noted on "'39", however. On the '01/Scheiner mix, the falsetto "aaah...ah-aaah...ah-aaah" from the front left or center channel disappears into a louder "aaah" from the rear right channel. On the '02/May mix, the falsetto "aaah...ah-aaah...ah-aaah" is clearly heard in its entirety from the front left or center channel.

I also should note that my two discs have identical inserts. The inserts have black spines. I've read that the '01/Scheiner disc is found with inserts that have light blue spines, and I even saw such a copy in a store back in 2001 or 2002. If you have the '01/Scheiner disc, do your inserts have light blue or black spines?

 

Bump. I'm interested in this.

 

Thanks, Mike. I figured this would get some "airplay" here. Many folks here no doubt have the DVD-Audio disc, but I suspect few have the original '01 version.

Anyone?

 

So you're saying that despite the fact that my 2002 ANATO DVD-A says in the insert that the 5.1 mix was done by Scheiner, that it was actually done by May? Never knew that.

 

I have 3 copies, 2 sealed. I'll be home in 2 weeks and get back to you ref the opened one Keith - I think it is the Scheiner mix.

 

There was a pretty long interview with Scheiner in "Sound and Vision" magazine back in the heyday of DVD-A and SACD where he talks about the fact that May had some problems with his (Scheiner's) original mix, and thus they went back and redid it.

I no longer have hard copy, but I bet it is out there somewhere.

Brian

Edit:

Found it here http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/entertainment/247/surround-at-work-part-1.html

I seem to recall that things were more contentious than what is discussed here. Faulty memory on my part I guess.

 

That is probably the case. I honestly haven't check the inserts with my two copies. Both of my copies have inserts with black spines and a copyright date of 2001. One disc shows a copyright date of 2001, the other shows 2002. The 2001 disc seems to have the Scheiner surround mix, while the other likely has the May surround mix. I'm sure this is correct since the '02 disc is very common. The surround mixes are definitely different on the two discs.

I was surprised to get an '01 disc with the black-spine inserts, which are the later common inserts. Going from memory, the '01 disc first surfaced with inserts that have light blue spines. Either someone switched the inserts with my disc or the inserts were changed very early on. I know that the '01 disc was only available for a very short time before Brian May had it recalled. It is strange that the credits weren't changed when the mix was changed since May seemed to take control over things.

 

Thanks, Brian. I saved the article as a PDF and will read it over later today. It is vaguely familiar, as I subscribed to Sound and Vision back then.

 

I have the 2002 DVD-Audio as well. Even though it is likely a matter of oversight, the insert includes the audio credits under the heading of Advanced Resolution. Does anyone know if the Advanced Resolution and DTS mixes on this disc are identical?

 

The 2001 DVD-A didn't even hit the stores as Brian May didn't like the mix. I remember this vividly as I bought a DVD-A Player specifically for this release. The 2002 disc is the only legal release until the 30th anniversary disc came out in 2005.

I do remember seeing a few copies on E-bay back in 2001 with the Elliot Scheiner only mix on it. But you couldn't find it in stores anywhere.

The advanced Resolution and DTS mixes are in fact identical.

 

I always thought the first mix was easily available on DVDA. I have both.

 

Thanks for that info. I suppose it's possible that the copy I saw with light blue spines back in '01 or '02 had the common '02 disc inside.

 

I have two of these with some differences in packaging but I don't know if I have both versions of the two mixes and haven't opened one of them up yet. I guess I need to figure out if they are different.

Chris

 

Thanks, Chris. If you do open the one copy, please let us know the differences.

 

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=65735

Funny thing, after all this in 2005, I prefer the 2005 dts version.

 

All inserts, regardless of spine color, show a 2001 copyright date. I've only seen 2002 on the common disc with the May surround mix.

Both of my booklets reference Scheiner for the 5.1 mix. May is not mentioned as suggested above in the Sound and Vision article.

 

Shown here are the 2001 and 2002 discs.

 

I don't think you are going to get a lot of quality input. It appears the May version is rare so not many people have it.

 

Actually, to be clear, it's the Scheiner mix that is rare. The May mix replaced the Scheiner mix. Brian May did not like Scheiner's mix (2001 disc) and replaced it with his own (2002 disc).

You may be right about getting input. I don't think many people even know about the original mix.

 

Not only that, but a lot of us - myself included - didn't even know there was another version.

 

Printed in my 2002 DVD-A booklet:
5.1 mix produced by Roy Thomas Baker
Co-Produced by Brian May for Queen
5.1 mix by Elliot Scheiner

 

I had no idea about any of this. I have the 2002 and it's a great mix, whoever did it!

 

Same with mine. Also, it's got a blue spine. These discussions always confuse me.

 

Yeah this one's fun.
Black spine here.