2025 Grammy for Immersive Audio Album - Who should win?

[privateuniverse]

The 67th Grammy Awards will be held on February 2, 2025. Titles released from September 13, 2023 to August 30, 2024 are eligible. Nominees will be announced on November 8.

With that in mind I thought it might be fun to do a poll to see who everyone thinks should win the Best Immersive Audio Album Grammy. Of course, as we've seen in years past, many of the nominees are often titles that weren't even on most of our radars. But let's give it a shot and see if we come close. The poll function only allows ten choices, so I chose eight titles that scored very high in our polls plus two streaming-only titles that generated a good bit of chatter. I only allowed one entry per mixer, otherwise the choices would have been dominated by guys named Stephen/Steven.

 

[PurpleMoustache]

Lots of good contenders but I’m voting for Hans-Martin Buff’s mix of i/o as its a great example of working in the immersive space first and foremost.

Human’s Lib, Avalon, Piano Man, Fragile, 13th Star, Over-Nite Sensation, and No Parlez have existing stereo (and even some surround) mixes from the past to inform and build off of for their Atmos mixes. Where as i/o, if we believe Buff at his word, was made without listening to any of the other two stereo mixes for comparison. As a result, its an album unchained from the legacy of the past and a fresh canvas to mix with

 

[4-earredwonder]

SO many outstanding choices but if memory/history serves us well it would probably be NONE of the above but rather a classical release from Norwegian Label 2L!

 

[surroundophile]

Piano Man isn't streaming only, it's on a CD Japan SACD (Immersive includes Quad)!

 

[Dynamic Editor]

Piano Man isn't streaming only, it's on a CD Japan SACD (Immersive includes Quad)!

Pretty sure they're talking about the Atmos mix.

 

[Perp]

Out of the selection, I’ve only heard two albums. Fragile and i/o. I voted for i/o based on it being a recent recording and having so much more going on in the mix.

 

[madscot]

I voted for i/o but it was a close run thing with Big big train, both brilliant

 

[marpow]

My vote would not be for streaming only as I do not feel the quality is equal to a hard disc.

I voted for i/o. Definitely a fantastic listening experience.
That said, I almost hate to vote at all because there are so many good choices.

 

[splinter7]

Dibs on being the only one who votes for Fish

 

[JediJoker]

I'm pretty sure the Grammy for Immersive Audio Album is only awarded to albums being released for the first time in the preceding year, i.e. albums consisting of new recordings, just like the "of the Year" categories (Album, Record, Song, etc.). If I'm right, that would exclude seven of the ten albums in this poll, as they are remixes of classic albums.

 

[humprof]

I'm pretty sure the Grammy for Immersive Audio Album is only awarded to albums being released for the first time in the preceding year, i.e. albums consisting of new recordings, just like the "of the Year" categories (Album, Record, Song, etc.). If I'm right, that would exclude seven of the ten albums in this poll, as they are remixes of classic albums.

I'm not sure about that. Previous nominees have included 5.1 remixes of Avalon, ***** Chateau, and The Division Bell; previous winners have included reissues of Brothers In Arms, Layla, and Eye In the Sky. True, updated rules this year for some of the main categories exclude "updated, revised, or expanded versions of previously submitted albums," but for Immersive it's still any "original immersive mix — not electronically re-purposed — of four or more channels."

Here's this year's full rulebook:
https://naras.a.bigcontent.io/v1/static/67_Rulebook_06.26

And some relevant excerpts:
P. 9: "Recordings that are not newly recorded are only eligible in Best Historical Album, Best Compilation Soundtrack Album, Best Immersive Audio Album (if the multichannel mix is new)...."

P. 19: For Best Immersive Audio Album[:] Nominations are selected by a committee of Voting Members. To be eligible to serve on this committee, one must be a Voting Member of the Academy, in good dues standing, and must meet certain qualifications in the Engineering or Producing Fields and be approved by the Trustees. The committee consists of 20–25 members. They review all Immersive Audio Album entries in their meeting and vote individually for the final five nominees in the Category.

P. 47 (Eligible Engineer Credits): Immersive Audio Engineer: Same as engineer, but for a recording created in an immersive audio format; or, in the case of a new immersive audio mix of previously recorded material, the engineer who creates the new immersive audio mix(es).

P. 72: BEST IMMERSIVE AUDIO ALBUM FOR ALBUMS - VOCAL OR INSTRUMENTAL ALL GENRES SCREENING CRITERIA This Category recognizes excellence in multichannel immersive audio recordings. Eligible recordings must be commercially released for sale or streaming on a consumer format/configuration (DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, SACD, Blu-ray, Atmos, Auro-3D, immersive download, etc.) that provides an original immersive mix (not electronically repurposed) of four or more channels. On releases that include multiple distinct mixes, entrants will be prompted to choose which immersive mix they are entering for GRAMMY consideration. Only one mix per album will be eligible.

Of course to be nominated, you've gotta enter. And not all artists, agents, or labels, bother (or manage) to enter their eligible titles by the submission deadline.

 

[humprof]

SO many outstanding choices but if memory/history serves us well it would probably be NONE of the above but rather a classical release from Norwegian Label 2L!

Morten Lindberg's mixes are perennially nominated, but his first and only win was in 2020, for Lux. This year (according to this morning's 2L newsletter), he has submitted Borders, Mor, and Pax for consideration.

 

[Fourplay]

What, no Joni Mitchell?

 

[alansanchez86]

That's just your wishful thinking. None of those mixes will be nominated, moreso we will have Katy Perry, Peso Pluma, Beyonce,Taylor Swift nominated.

 

[privateuniverse]

What, no Joni Mitchell?

I almost put Joni on the list. But then I realized that although the physical release happened during the Grammy eligibility period, the mixes were actually streaming prior to that. So I don't think the Grammy folks would consider it eligible. But I could be wrong....

 

[humprof]

I almost put Joni on the list. But then I realized that although the physical release happened during the Grammy eligibility period, the mixes were actually streaming prior to that. So I don't think the Grammy folks would consider it eligible. But I could be wrong....

I feel like that issue came up in the discussion of last year's Grammys--but of course I can't remember the details anymore....

 

[JediJoker]

"Recordings that are not newly recorded are only eligible in Best Historical Album, Best Compilation Soundtrack Album, Best Immersive Audio Album (if the multichannel mix is new)...."

I stand corrected!

 

[key_wiz]

“Human’s Lib” if the academy had a clue what they are doing. But they don’t.

“I/O” would be a good and fair choice. New album; legacy artist; great mix.

But yeah, it very well could be some obscure classical title or something else we are not all that aware of here.

Would they choose something that is only available as streaming? That would be interesting. Has that happened yet in any category?

 

[privateuniverse]

Would they choose something that is only available as streaming? That would be interesting. Has that happened yet in any category?

I believe that three of last year's nominees were streaming only, including the winner, The Diary of Alicia Keys.

 

[humprof]

I believe that three of last year's nominees were streaming only, including the winner, The Diary of Alicia Keys.

That said: when the folks on the committee--all immersive mixers themselves, I think--get together in a room to listen to the finalists, I wonder if they're listening to the streaming versions of streaming-only mixes or to ADM (or high-res MKV) files.