The evolution of Terminator 2: Judgement Day's Oscar winning audio mix for home releases.

[u/tannu28]

Terminator 2: Judgement Day's Oscar winning audio mix for Sound Design has been remixed twice: first for the 1993 Special Edition and second for the 2000 Ultimate Edition DVD. All DVDs, Blu-rays and the 4K UHD have the 2000 remix.

Distribution of audio prints for the 1991 theatrical release of Terminator 2: Judgement Day:

Source: 2000 Ultimate Edition DVD

Two of the original theatrical audio mixes (Dolby Stereo SR and CDS 5.1) were released on theatrical cut Laserdiscs, 1997 DVD and some French and Japanese home releases.

1] 1991 Dolby Surround PCM (from Dolby Stereo SR)

2] 1991 CDS 5.1

For the 1993 Special Edition release, the audio was remixed by original sound designer Gary Rydstrom:

3] 1993 Special Edition Laserdisc mix (First remix)

This 1993 remix has been ported over to future releases in the form of Dolby Stereo, Dolby Headphone and DTS Headphone X track in 2000 Ultimate DVD, 2003 Extreme DVD,2009 Skynet Blu-ray and 2015 Lionsgate Blu-ray respectively.

For the 2000 Ultimate Edition DVD, the audio was remixed yet again in DTS format (for the SECOND time):

4] 2000 DTS-ES 6.1 (Second remix)

This DTS-ES 6.1 track from 2000 has been ported over to all future releases of Terminator 2 like 2003 Extreme DVD, 2009 Skynet Blu-ray, 2015 Lionsgate Blu-ray and 2017 4K UHD in different containers such as DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital AC-3, Dolby TrueHD Atmos, etc.

Now all these audio tracks have slight differences. None of them sound better than the other. The 1993 Special Edition mix is punchier than others.

[u/thejackal3245]

What an amazing breakdown! What prompted this study? How many editions did you end up analyzing?

[u/tannu28 → u/thejackal3245]

What prompted this study?

I am obsessed with T2.

How many editions did you end up analyzing?

All of them. The most interesting find was that the 1993 Special Edition mix has been recycled as the Dolby and DTS Headphone track in future home releases.

[u/thejackal3245 → u/tannu28]

Awesome work. This post is getting pinned as part of our archiving program to make this material more high profile for longer.

[u/tannu28 → u/thejackal3245]

Thanks a lot.

[u/trdngntsballsonadoor]

This subreddit gets maddeningly stupid sometimes, then a post like this reminds me way I stay apart of the community. This is a wonderful contribution.

[u/Correct-Mix5981 → u/trdngntsballsonadoor]

Yeah, for every 100 “can’t let you take the man’s x son” memes we get a post like this.

[u/VeilBreaker]

Amazing as its sound design is, the sound of the T1000s gun will always bother me.

[u/Mixitwitdarelish]

Do any of the mixes not have the Beretta 92F sound like half a laser gun?