Music in 5.1/Atmos - Shakespears Sister content.

[NancyJohnson]

I'm not certain whether there's any fans of listening to audio in 5.1/Atmos - the work Steven Wilson has done for his own stuff and the Tears For Fears and XTC/Dukes of Stratosphear back catalogue is pretty spectacular.  Blu-Ray is just the perfect source for this content (if you can't cope with Blu-Ray, there's ways and means to rip the disc content and convert to a format that plays off a NAS to a receiver).

 

Just as a heads up (if this is your thing), there's a Dolby Atmos/DTS HD 5.1 version of Shakespears Sister's Hormonally Yours coming in September.  The mix has been done by Caesar Edmunds (https://www.caesaredmunds.com/) and Alan Moulder (who produced the original version).

 

If you want it, be quick; once the pre-order closes (29/7/22), that's it.  If you're interested, link here: https://www.thesdeshop.com/products/shakespears-sister-hormonally-yours-sde-exclusive-blu-ray-audio

 

[Mykesbass]

Trevor Horn did some fun stuff with the SACD mixes of the Frankie goes to Hollywood album.

[WinterMute]

I've listened to a lot of 5.1/7.1/atmos mixes, I design rooms with these formats for Universities in the UK, Steven Wilson's stuff is amongst the best, but I always find it a distracting presentation on material I previously know. 

 

I find it distracts me from listening to the song and that annoys me. However, new material is a much easier listen once I get over the "look how clever I'm mixing ma" aspect of surround.

 

I think music composed specifically for the format works much better, film soundtracks are spectacularly good in Atmos (check out the apocalyptic "holy sh*t-b*lls" chorus in the end fight of Deadpool 2 for maximum chuckles).

 

I may simply be too old to learn this specific new trick.

[NancyJohnson]

2 hours ago, WinterMute said:

I've listened to a lot of 5.1/7.1/atmos mixes, I design rooms with these formats for Universities in the UK, Steven Wilson's stuff is amongst the best, but I always find it a distracting presentation on material I previously know. 

 

I find it distracts me from listening to the song and that annoys me. However, new material is a much easier listen once I get over the "look how clever I'm mixing ma" aspect of surround.

 

I think music composed specifically for the format works much better, film soundtracks are spectacularly good in Atmos (check out the apocalyptic "holy sh*t-b*lls" chorus in the end fight of Deadpool 2 for maximum chuckles).

 

I may simply be too old to learn this specific new trick.

 

From my limited exposure to the format - I own all the available Tears For Fears and XTC/Dukes 5.1 reissues plus a smattering of others (Night At The Opera, some Dream Theater), I adore listening to the reinterpretation of the audio, with instrumentation coming at you from every direction.

 

One album I'm very familiar with is Destroyer by Kiss...Steven Wilson mixed that for 5.1, but it's not available as a standalone disc and I'm certainly not forking out 200 British pounds for a full boxset.  @cetera you bought this?

[cetera]

13 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

One album I'm very familiar with is Destroyer by Kiss...Steven Wilson mixed that for 5.1, but it's not available as a standalone disc and I'm certainly not forking out 200 British pounds for a full boxset.  @cetera you bought this?

Nope. I've cut right back on buying that sort of stuff....

[Cosmo Valdemar]

I'm not a huge fan of old albums being remixed into 5.1 - the Yes remixes from several years ago were particularly bad, relegating Chris Squire's massive bass grind to a minimal role in the centre speaker. 

 

IIRC the Queen remix from that time treated John Deacon in a similar way.

 

I have recently listened to the Japanese 5.1 remix of Tomita's Planets and it's just mind-blowing.

[nilorius]

Stereo is ok for me, but i do not denie those who create 5.1 versians. There are a lot of people who are interested and fanatic for 5.1 versians so - let it be and let it go.

[BigRedX]

For many stereo was a gimmick. Remember that for Sgt Pepper all the time was spent on the mono mixes and stereo version was dashed off in an afternoon afterwards.

 

I think that if the recording has been conceived from the outset to be mixed in 5.1 that's good, but anything else is an artifice.