Revive!
Are there any good ambient albums in surround sound? You'd think the format would we ideal for ambient music, but all I've managed to find are the surround DTS discs Pete Namlook put out on FAX in the years before his death... So any recommendations beyond the FAX stuff?
― Tuomas, Friday, 3 October 2014 11:31 (nine years ago) link
Robert Rich does stuff in surround:http://magnatune.com/artists/albums/rrich-atlasdei?song=1
― Siegbran, Friday, 3 October 2014 11:56 (nine years ago) link
Hmm seems that this is just the CD.
BT's "This Binary Universe" comes with a 5.1 DTS DVD, it's an excellent album (has nothing to do with his trance stuff, it's all IDM/Ambient).
― Siegbran, Friday, 3 October 2014 12:04 (nine years ago) link
Thanks for the BT recommendation, it sounds dope!
― Tuomas, Friday, 3 October 2014 12:17 (nine years ago) link
There are also a number of (sonically) excellent Schiller live discs, like the "Sonne Live" Blu-Ray from last year, and "Atemlos Live". Schiller's prog rock-like "big stadium ambient" is not to everyone's tastes though, I can only stomach it in small doses.
― Siegbran, Friday, 3 October 2014 12:27 (nine years ago) link
The first 5.1 audio DVD album thing I got?
Jonathan Richman - Roadrunner, the Beserkley years
― Mark G, Friday, 3 October 2014 12:48 (nine years ago) link
Another great 5.1 studio album is Tipper "Surrounded".
― Siegbran, Friday, 3 October 2014 12:52 (nine years ago) link
The two King Crimson boxes I got (Larks Tongues and Starless) have surround mixes tho I've just begun to scratch the surface of those boxes as they're massive.
I gather the Roxy Music Avalon mix is outstanding. As for ambient, I agree. John Foxx's Cathedral Oceans got the 5.1 treatment but I haven't heard it.
Would love to hear the Lips records and Crosby. Imagine stuff like "Orleans" is incredible.
Personally, I think this is a super promising medium – and can't wait for the streaming services to start carrying these things (Onkyo has some partnership in Japan to that end that hasn't really made it over here yet). Even still, I suppose I can wait – I only have four channels set up on my system (no center channel or sub yet).
― Naive Teen Idol, Monday, 26 January 2015 04:42 (nine years ago) link
Bump this, people, as I just bought a center channel.
Per the Yes thread, would love to hear Relayer in 5.1.
― Naive Teen Idol, Saturday, 21 February 2015 16:33 (nine years ago) link
I am moving house soon and will finally have the space to put together a modest surround setup for music listening (and a little movie watching), I have so many 5.1 mixes now that I've never heard and have started going back through old hard drives and digging out old decoded Quad mixes that I found online to have ready, although I'm not sure how I will play them just yet, burn them to DVD perhaps.
I get the feeling that there are not many people on here who listen to music in surround or don't think it a big enough deal for discussion and this revive might be verrry lonely but I'd like to hear any recommendations or tips/tricks.
One thing I'm not keen on is getting a subwoofer, instead, I might just try to use full range rear speakers, any help is appreciated.
― MaresNest, Monday, 12 November 2018 19:27 (five years ago) link
Are you into classical music? A lot of classical recordings in the last 10-15 years have been released as 5.1 SACDs, and there's plenty of stuff that uses the space effect you get with surround well.
― Tuomas, Monday, 12 November 2018 19:32 (five years ago) link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=L4hGaV5BA2M
― Philip Nunez, Monday, 12 November 2018 19:33 (five years ago) link
Oh, thanks! That never even occurred to me, I'd love to hear some favourite composers like Ives, Adams, Reich, Xenakis, Ligeti, Carter and so on.
I have the Kraftwerk set already, looking forward to digging into that!
― MaresNest, Monday, 12 November 2018 19:38 (five years ago) link
Since I last posted, I bought a bunch of these and like them all, really:Super Furry Animals – RATW and Phantom Power (really fun and experimental)Flaming Lips – Soft Bulletin, Yoshimi, AWWTM (all great and wacky) David Crosby – If I Could Only Remember My Name (really good) Todd Rundgren – Liars (pretty good mix for a great album)Talking Heads – Remain In Light (exceptional as evidenced by the downmixes)Kraftwerk – Minimum Maximum (unsurprisingly also exceptional)
― Naive Teen Idol, Monday, 12 November 2018 21:59 (five years ago) link
Good stuff above, add Chicago GH
― bodacious ignoramus, Tuesday, 13 November 2018 15:52 (five years ago) link
I have a friend who has Division Bell and it sounds amazing. Not my favorite PF record but it sounds like the band is playing in your living room.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 13 November 2018 16:16 (five years ago) link
Is there a way to get the Flaming Lips ones without paying crazy prices?
― Position Position, Tuesday, 13 November 2018 16:20 (five years ago) link
Crazy prices? They're all, like, $20 on Amazon. I think that's about what I paid.
― Naive Teen Idol, Tuesday, 13 November 2018 21:55 (five years ago) link
Does the daft punk interstella DVD have a true 5.1 mix, or did they just double up/reverb tracks?
― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 13 November 2018 22:06 (five years ago) link
I have that on bluray, but for some reason I've never really given it a proper listen. I'll do that once I have the time, will report back here.
― Tuomas, Monday, 26 November 2018 21:25 (five years ago) link
Okay, I listened to it, and it is genuine surround mix... Though the back channels are mostly used create a space effect, most of the action is in the front and middle channels.If you wanna hear albums that seriously use the back speakers to do some crazy things, you should get Isao Tomita's quadraphonic albums from the 70s, they've all been released on SACD in recent years. The Debussy one is k my favourite, it sounds incredible. Though the most ridiculous surround effects are probably on his version of Holst's Planets.
― Tuomas, Monday, 3 December 2018 17:53 (five years ago) link
Cool. Are there any such albums also on DVD, or are they all SACD-only?
― Philip Nunez, Monday, 3 December 2018 18:08 (five years ago) link
Perhaps a stupid question, but when you're listening to a 5.1 CD, what setting should you use on your receiver? Standard or something else? When I listen to CDs, I usually go with an all-channel stereo setting, but I doubt I'd be getting the full effect with a 5.1 mix. I don't see any specific setting on my Pioneer for a 5.1 mix for CDs.
― Jazzbo, Monday, 3 December 2018 18:18 (five years ago) link
― Tuomas, Monday, 3 December 2018 18:48 (five years ago) link
― Tuomas, Monday, 3 December 2018 19:00 (five years ago) link
Oh, sorry, I think I misunderstood you, so your receiver does have a surround option, but you're asking how to play CDs with a 5.1 sound?Well, regular CDs can't have a surround sound coded in them, it's not technically possible. Only SACDs do, and for those you need a dedicated SACD player, like the one I mentioned before. Some 5.1 receivers, like the Yamaha I have, do have an option for "fake surround", i.e. a setting that codes a stereo signal into something resembling surround that plays in all speakers. But I mostly use it with movies/TV shows that are in stereo, because IMO it emphasises the middle speaker too much, and at least in my set it's the smallest one, so I don't like having so much of the music coming through it. So for music I just use the "play stereo through all speakers" setting, which has more oomph, but obviously there's no surround effect then, not even a simulated one. But IMO there's no point of playing music mixed to stereo with the fake surround effect. It works nicer with TV shows in stereo, because it puts the dialogue into the middle speaker, which makes it easier to hear.
― Tuomas, Monday, 3 December 2018 21:06 (five years ago) link
DVD Audio discs play 5.1 as would its Blu-ray equivalent.
― bodacious ignoramus, Monday, 3 December 2018 21:16 (five years ago) link
Yeah, they do, but DVD-audio discs need a player that can decode them, and many players, such as mine, only decode DVD-video, not DVD-audio (as DVD-A discs were an audiophile thing that never really took flight). Thankfully most audio DVDs have separate DVD-A and DVD-V layer, so you can get the surround sound with even a regular DVD-V player. The bitrate will be lower, but I think you really need to have the proverbial golden ears to notice any difference.
― Tuomas, Monday, 3 December 2018 21:32 (five years ago) link
With blurays there's thankfully no such differences in decoding, as far as I know. If you have bluray player, it should be able to play any 5.1 audio bluray just fine.
― Tuomas, Monday, 3 December 2018 21:41 (five years ago) link
Yep. My Samsung BD-J6300 Blu-ray player does not call out DVD-A specifically but plays every DVD-A disc in 5.1 surround that i've put into it connected simply over a HDMI cable.
― bodacious ignoramus, Tuesday, 4 December 2018 18:38 (five years ago) link
Revive!Are there any good ambient albums in surround sound? You'd think the format would we ideal for ambient music, but all I've managed to find are the surround DTS discs Pete Namlook put out on FAX in the years before his death... So any recommendations beyond the FAX stuff?
― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 7 December 2018 04:35 (five years ago) link
My absolute favourites are the 5 Labyrinth albums (Namlook and Lorenzo Montana), which have a really crisp and chill home-listening electro sound. The 5.1 sound is used nicely to emphasise both the mood and rhythm elements of the tracks, it sounds really cool and evocative. Another big favourite are the two Elektronik (Namlook and Material Object) albums, they're the sort of gritty, experimental techno that's kinda atypical of FAX. Really excellent drum and rhythm programming, which sounds devastating in the 5.1 mix.The final 2350 Broadway album is also in surround, it has some beautifully serene, enveloping drones, probably my favourite in that series. The Namlook/Le Mar album also has some nice drones as well as techno/electro tracks with beats, one of them especially uses the 5 channels for some fun, geeky gimmicks.The Namlook/Move D albums of the 5.1 era are more varied in quality, but there are some gems among them too, especially the Raumland trilogy and Space & Time. They're kinda samey and the surround sound isn't used as noticeably as on some other releases, but there are some nice sci-fi effects on those too.Namlook's 5.1 era solo albums are of more acquired taste, he seemed to put his more experimental drives there. The Urban Meditation series is mostly grey, foreboding drones, and the Pearl series is like modern electronic classical. Iterations is a unique album that experiments with loops that change every iteration. I think it's a fascinating idea, and the surround sound supports it effectively, but again, whether you like it depends on how you find this kind of experimental electronics. The only non-experimental solo work he released in this period is Subconscious Worlds, a fun, spacey techno album, kinda in the same mold as the Move D collabs, but without the irritating stretched vocal samples. If you like "classic" early-to-mid-90s FAX, that one is well worth checking out. The final Dark Side of the Moog (XI) is also in 5.1. I'm not the biggest fan of that project, but the last album is one of the better entries in it, though I don't remember the surround sound doing much else than deepening the space drones. But if you like the DSotM series, it's certainly something you should hear.
― Tuomas, Friday, 7 December 2018 21:26 (five years ago) link
DSOTM XI ? hang on …
― mark e, Friday, 7 December 2018 22:19 (five years ago) link
I got in to downloading a bunch of 5.1 records recently and playing them back via my laptop's HDMI output. Some highlights:
No-Man Schoolyard Ghosts -- this record is gorgeous and the mix is really sumptuous and subtle, Bowness's vocals are right up front in the center channel and all the strings, flutes, guitars and keyboards float around you. Excellent stuff.Roxy Music Avalon -- per my post upthread, this one didn't disappoint.2350 Broadway IV -- this is a really nice sounding recordXTC Skylarking -- Wilson's mix on this is exceptional, there are tons of little details that don't exist in the stereo mix, background vocals and whatnot. Oranges & Lemons is a good listen as wellTears for Fears Songs from the Big Chair -- "Head Over Heels" on this is just everything you'd hope it would beMoody Blues Seventh Sojourn -- this is a quad transfer but a really interesting listen in that it doesn't put everything in the front and sonics in the back, worth checking out
The one I'm jonesing for now is Propaganda's A Secret Wish
― Naive Teen Idol, Sunday, 9 June 2019 03:49 (four years ago) link
If you're into Tomita's style of playing classical music on synths, all of his quadraphonic albums from the '70s have been released as 4.1 SACDs (they don't utilise the middle speaker because the original quadraphonic system didn't have that). They're all worth getting, but the Debussy ("Clair de lune") and Mussorgsky ("Pictures at an Exhibition") ones especially are a treat if you like this kind of synthesiser music. They all have some pretty fun surround trickery too, I guess to emphasise the novelty value of a 4-speaker system.
― Tuomas, Sunday, 9 June 2019 09:38 (four years ago) link
I’d heard Tomita in surround was pretty glorious – Ultimate Planets is the second highest rated surround disc on Quadraphonic Quad. Alas no success pulling those down online yet.
― Naive Teen Idol, Monday, 10 June 2019 16:29 (four years ago) link
I'd love to hear further thoughts on the Oranges & Lemons 5.1 mix, actually, because the stereo mix is notoriously crammed full of detail and it seems like the kind of record that would truly blossom with the addition of the extra channels.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Monday, 10 June 2019 16:35 (four years ago) link
I’d heard Tomita in surround was pretty glorious – Ultimate Planets is the second highest rated surround disc on Quadraphonic Quad.
That one probably has the most ridiculous surround effects I've ever heard on a surround album, basically just sounds jumping all across the listening field. So it definitely takes full advantage of the technology, your mileage may vary whether or not that's a good thing. :)
― Tuomas, Wednesday, 12 June 2019 13:34 (four years ago) link
Personally, my favourite surround mix is probably on Björk's Medulla. It uses the surround field to great effect, but in an organic manner, it never feels like a gimmick like on some other albums.
― Tuomas, Wednesday, 12 June 2019 13:39 (four years ago) link
haha when i was my fourteen my dad bought a 5.1 system and put all of the speakers in one place on the tv stand
― meaulnes, Wednesday, 12 June 2019 14:42 (four years ago) link
also on the subject of flaming lips 'zaireeka', once i read a story on some forum about a young lad who bought it, set up four stereos in his living room to play it back... and his parents came home, walked in on him sat on the floor surrounded by the speakers and took him for a drug test lmao
― meaulnes, Wednesday, 12 June 2019 14:47 (four years ago) link
I'd love to hear further thoughts on the /Oranges & Lemons/ 5.1 mix, actually, because the stereo mix is notoriously crammed full of detail and it seems like the kind of record that would truly blossom with the addition of the extra channels.
― Naive Teen Idol, Tuesday, 18 June 2019 03:59 (four years ago) link
FWIW, Tusk is absolutely incredible in 5.1.
― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 21 June 2019 13:52 (four years ago) link
Revive! Has anyone checked out Dolby Atmos? I just noticed that Wilson has remixed. The first three Chic records for it. I also realized that my basement TV sound bar will play it. I don’t have it set up with any rear channels or anything yet but maybe I don’t need to? I also see that Amazon music streams at least some stuff. Which is certainly easier than all the massive multi track files I have pirated onto my laptop.
― Naive Teen Idol, Wednesday, 1 March 2023 14:24 (one year ago) link
Jerry Harrison had some stuff to say in that TapeOp interview:
I just worked with Ed remixing all of the Talking Heads albums for Atmos.-You mixed everything in 5.1 before, right?That was with Eric “ET” Thorngren. [See Eric’s interview this issue.] He did the bulk of the catalog. Ed did (Talking Heads:) 77, and he did about half of More Songs About Buildings and Food, and then Eric did the other half. Because Eric and I still had the sessions from the 5.1, we had a head start on thinking about this. When we were doing the 5.1, we listened to all of these different (surround) records. There were certain people who wanted to make mixes feel like you were on stage, with the musicians around you.-Yeah, some strange placement of the listener, as if you’d joined the band.We felt that was not a very successful way to look at it. The other thing is that we realized that people would have these stereo systems, and then who knew what the rest of the speakers would be. We used the faux center of stereo, as long as it was then reinforced with the center speaker. By the time that we’ve now reached with Atmos, people have more sophisticated systems. I think that surround audio could be wonderful, but the majority of people who are going to be listening to Atmos will probably be listening to it on headphones, to begin with.
-You mixed everything in 5.1 before, right?
That was with Eric “ET” Thorngren. [See Eric’s interview this issue.] He did the bulk of the catalog. Ed did (Talking Heads:) 77, and he did about half of More Songs About Buildings and Food, and then Eric did the other half. Because Eric and I still had the sessions from the 5.1, we had a head start on thinking about this. When we were doing the 5.1, we listened to all of these different (surround) records. There were certain people who wanted to make mixes feel like you were on stage, with the musicians around you.
-Yeah, some strange placement of the listener, as if you’d joined the band.
We felt that was not a very successful way to look at it. The other thing is that we realized that people would have these stereo systems, and then who knew what the rest of the speakers would be. We used the faux center of stereo, as long as it was then reinforced with the center speaker. By the time that we’ve now reached with Atmos, people have more sophisticated systems. I think that surround audio could be wonderful, but the majority of people who are going to be listening to Atmos will probably be listening to it on headphones, to begin with.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 1 March 2023 15:48 (one year ago) link