Eolian - Division - new 5.1 album (24/96 FLAC)

[beerking]

Thanks so much for all the orders today! ...I'm doing a interview about surround soon....anyone have any specific questions I should answer?

Yes Ian,

A question I would ask you is, why use surround?

It always fascinates me as to how folk got into this niche pastime/hobby.

 

[popshop]

@edisonbaggins was nice enough to ask me some questions for his Life in Surround youtube channel. Feel free to ask more questions in the youtube comments, and download FLACs from some of my 6 (or 7) recent releases. We tried to figure it all out!

 

[edisonbaggins]

Enjoying Division FLAC 5.1 now!

 

[junh1024]

Since there are multiple Eolian threads, It's hard to know which one to reply to. I listened to the Eolian demo pack. It sounds OK-ish to me, these things could be better:

• use 48k instead of 96k for mixing & delivery, equipment & FX function better at those rates, smaller deliverables, and it's likely to be resampled to 48k anyway on playback
• For some songs, you can boost the volume of Lead Vox since it's a bit hard to hear
• Bass & percussion should almost always be @front. Using a triangle of C BL BR is a bad idea.
• Songs could be slightly more front-biased so it sounds more comfortable
• Could use more dynamic/note-based panning. When you add phaser to some parts it's a candidate for dynamic panning.
• Could route rhythmic delay to back
• You can mix an album in 1 project to save hassle when mixing many songs.

EDIT: If you want more online delivery, you can try Products Arkiv - Surround Music One

 

[popshop]

@junh1024 indeed, thanks for your critiques. I'll respectfully disagree with your thoughts on mixing though, especially for this album. It's about Division, is not meant to be comfortable, and utilizes the rear speakers heavily. One of the reasons I love surround audio is that are no rules. (The initial idea was that the album would be presented like a stage play with two sides of the street. Verses and/or songs would alternate with singers/instruments from different sides. I didn't end up placing stuff like that, but some of those ideas carried through)
I do agree about 96k though. That was an annoying experiment for me (and my interface, haha!).
Thanks for listening