Beach Boys - Pet Sounds on Blu Ray Audio

[Bill Houston]

Pet Sounds is notorious for the channel screw ups on the dvd-a 5.1 mix. I read that the mixer was crestfallen when he heard the edition that was released to the public compared with what he originally did. To me this blu ray is a mandatory buy.

Also, this would be an excellent album to promote the virtues of 5.1 to the general public, but clearly the same strike out artists behind dvd-a have moved on to ply their weak sauce marketing ineptitude with blu-ray as well. People in the witness protection program receive more attention.

 

[rtbluray]

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=16492

The Beach Boys' acclaimed 1966 album, The Beach Boys: Pet Sounds, will make its Blu-ray Audio debut on June 16. The Capitol/UMe release presents the classic album plus six bonus tracks in high resolution (192kHz/24-bit) audio in three distinct mixes, including Brian Wilson's original mix in PCM Mono, as well as Dolby True HD Stereo and exclusive new DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround mixes, both produced and mixed by Mark Linett under Wilson's supervision.

I'm confused however cause Mark Linnett is credited as Producing and Mixing the 5.1 surround mix on the DVD-A. So is it really a new mix, a remastering of the DVD-A mix, or the "corrected" DVD-A mix released for the first time? :yikes

 

[elmer]

I'm waiting on this one. My suspicions are that the marketing info is a cut and paste job from the original DVD A release (which I already own). I hope I'm wrong and look forward to placing my order when I'm completely sure.

 

[privateuniverse]

I'm waiting on this one. My suspicions are that the marketing info is a cut and paste job from the original DVD A release (which I already own). I hope I'm wrong and look forward to placing my order when I'm completely sure.

I was thinking exactly the same thing. Hopefully someone will take the risk and report back.

 

[GOS]

I was thinking exactly the same thing. Hopefully someone will take the risk and report back.

I'm taking the risk. Had it ordered for some time...not looking back...

 

[privateuniverse]

I'm taking the risk. Had it ordered for some time...not looking back...

Thank you! Looking forward to your review. Really hope they get it right this time.

:violin

 

[GOS]

Thank you! Looking forward to your review. Really hope they get it right this time.

:violin

Me too...as I love the music.....it needs to be right.

 

[notfer]

It might be a new mix.

See this from the official Beach Boys web page:
http://www.thebeachboys.com/#go_page_2600

THE BEACH BOYS’ 1966 MASTERPIECE, PET SOUNDS, DEBUTS ON BLU-RAY AUDIO ON MAY 26, WITH HIGH RESOLUTION STEREO AND MONO MIXES,

AND A NEW 5.1 SURROUND MIX FOR EXPANDED ALBUM


Los Angeles – March 31, 2015 – The Beach Boys’ acclaimed 1966 album, Pet Sounds, will make its Blu-ray Audio debut on May 26. The Capitol/UMe release presents the classic album plus six bonus tracks in high resolution (192kHz/24-bit) audio in three distinct mixes, including Brian Wilson’s original mix in PCM Mono, as well as Dolby True HD Stereo and exclusive new DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround mixes, both produced and mixed by Mark Linett under Wilson’s supervision.

The Beach Boys: Pet Sounds [Blu-ray Audio]

PCM Mono (2012 Remaster)
Dolby True HD Stereo (2012 Remaster)
DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround (2015 Master)

 

[rtbluray]

Me too...as I love the music.....it needs to be right.

Ditto, cause nothing says a great surround mix like unfiltered harmony vocals in the LFE channel... :ugham:

 

[elmer]

I managed to contact Mark Linnett via email this evening. Mark was gracious enough to confirm that the 5.1 mix is indeed the same as the 2003 mix on the DVD A - it has been remastered for the BDA. He also disputes the notion that there were channel assignment errors on the original mix. The mix is as he intended. Much appreciation to Mark for responding so quickly to my query!

 

[rtbluray]

I managed to contact Mark Linnett via email this evening. Mark was gracious enough to confirm that the 5.1 mix is indeed the same as the 2003 mix on the DVD A - it has been remastered for the BDA. He also disputes the notion that there were channel assignment errors on the original mix. The mix is as he intended. Much appreciation to Mark to respond so quickly to my query!

I do appreciate his response and your willingness to contact him!
I must admit I never immediately felt that there was something wrong with the 5.1 mix channel assignments just from listening on loudspeakers, but when I extracted "Wouldn't It Be Nice", I immediately felt that at the very least the Center and LFE channels were switched.
Cause like I said before, why would there be nothing but unfiltered harmony vocals in the LFE channel? Plus the Center was basically low drums, something that would make sense to a certain extent in the LFE.
But at least these channel levels are low enough so they don't distract from the overall mix IMO.
Now if the Front and and Surround Channels are screwed up too, then :yikes

 

[elmer]

According to Mark, the center channel is pretty much a phantom.

 

[rtbluray]

According to Mark, the center channel is pretty much a phantom.

I'd have to listen more intently for the whole song or album as I did the soloing of the various channels rather quickly.
The center did actually make sense as was, but that still doesn't explain the LFE. If that really is how he intended for the LFE to be, he's about the only mixing engineer I've ever known who would use it like that.

 

[elmer]

I have no doubt that Mark created the mix to the best of his abilities based on the availability of the multitracks that were originally recorded in 1966 - many of which were bounced down from 4 tracks to mono by Brian Wilson during the original sessions. It's all a supposition at this point. Here's a pretty detailed article from Mix Magazine on Mark and the 5.1 mix.

http://www.mixonline.com/news/profiles/pet-sounds-surround/365325

 

[rtbluray]

I have no doubt that Mark created the mix to the best of his abilities based on the availability of the multitracks that were originally recorded in 1966 - many of which were bounced down from 4 tracks to mono by Brian Wilson during the original sessions. It's all a supposition at this point. Here's a pretty detailed article from Mix Magazine on Mark and the 5.1 mix.

http://www.mixonline.com/news/profiles/pet-sounds-surround/365325

I actually just read through that article right before you posted it!
Kinda disappointed there wasn't any discussion on the LFE, but at least there was discussion on the center (or in this case, a lack thereof)

 

[blue.monk]

I have the boxed set and DVD-A. I seem to remember that subsequent releases of the stereo mix were able to restore some elements that were absent from the multis. Is this correct? If so then I may go for this. The main missing/altered bits I remember are Brian singing the bridge on "Wouldn't It Be Nice" instead of Mike, some missing vocals during coda of "God Only Knows" and "You Still Believe in Me" missing the double-tracked lead vocal. It's this last one that bothers me the most as it exposes a fairly pitchy performance by Brian.

 

[LennonCobain]

Mark Linett's essay from the DVD-Audio booklet (sorry that it is sideways):

 

[DuncanS]

Over on sa-cd.net this is down as Stereo only I'm hoping/assuming they're wrong http://www.sa-cd.net/showtitle/10595

 

[rtbluray]

Over on sa-cd.net this is down as Stereo only I'm hoping/assuming they're wrong http://www.sa-cd.net/showtitle/10595

I think sa-cd.net has been proven to not be trusted when it comes to pre-release info for Blu-Ray discs, particularly HFPA releases.

They had up for weeks (and maybe even months) that the recent Bon Jovi disc had just LPCM, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD MA stereo.
We now know that's bunk because it has LPCM stereo with Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA 5.1 (and they still haven't corrected that info on their website…)

They are also saying that the upcoming Marvin Gaye "Let's Get It On" disc is stereo only when the amazon description specifically says it has 5.1 on the disc (not to mention that a surround mix already exists for that title).

 

[LizardKing]

I think sa-cd.net has been proven to not be trusted when it comes to pre-release info for Blu-Ray discs, particularly HFPA releases.

They had up for weeks (and maybe even months) that the recent Bon Jovi disc had just LPCM, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD MA stereo.
We now know that's bunk because it has LPCM stereo with Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA 5.1 (and they still haven't corrected that info on their website…)

They are also saying that the upcoming Marvin Gaye "Let's Get It On" disc is stereo only when the amazon description specifically says it has 5.1 on the disc (not to mention that a surround mix already exists for that title).

Usually they update information when evidence is provided - I submitted a correction for the Bon Jovi , with a link to the picture.

Not sure why they haven't updated it... (and Black Sabbath 13 for that matter...)