HiRez Poll Jimi Hendrix Experience, The - ELECTRIC LADYLAND [Blu-Ray Audio]

[Beefalo]

there's very few songs that are as trippy and psychedelic as 1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)

You know Jimi was thinking "Surround" all the way when he recorded this.

 

[salsdali]

so in times of need, in times of desperation, I keep coming back to this mix.

Is it perfect, hell no, is it what I need, is it what I want, yes.

 

[northernsoul]

I have this open in Audacity now, a few tracks have no discrete elements whatsoever in rears. The overall sound is good though.

 

[alansanchez86]

I've listened to some Hendrix songs in my life but never an entire life, so I'm doing it the right way. Electric Ladyland 5.1 in its 52 anniversary. So far, my ears like what they're hearing.

 

[The56Kid]

I have this open in Audacity now, a few tracks have no discrete elements whatsoever in rears. The overall sound is good though.

This is exactly what bothers me so much about this surround mix of my favorite album of all time. Eddie Kramer knows this classic material better than anyone else on the planet, but his surround mixing skills leave a lot to be desired.

 

[califcab]

I only gave this an 8 because I was expecting more on the surround sound mixes of songs like All Along the Watchtower.

 

[northernsoul]

I only gave this an 8 because I was expecting more on the surround sound mixes of songs like All Along the Watchtower.

The drums sound horrible on this.

 

[ar surround]

I only gave this an 8 because I was expecting more on the surround sound mixes of songs like All Along the Watchtower.

The drums sound horrible on this.

Perhaps this set isn’t very impressive for those who are familiar with the album. But as someone who had never heard the album before, I was blown away by it.

 

[northernsoul]

Perhaps this set isn’t very impressive for those who are familiar with the album. But as someone who had never heard the album before, I was blown away by it.

I only meant AATWT. The drums are bad on that. Most tracks sound very good, although the surround is all over the place.

 

[jimfisheye]

After having this to study for a while, many of the critiques are not wrong. This is not a perfect mix that replaces the original! (Which some surround mixes are IMHO.) But this is absolutely an honest and impressive effort in the spirit of the album that hits a lot of high marks! It may not usurp the stereo original but it sure sits alongside as an addendum at worst.

In an age of shrill sounding volume war releases and stereo mixes with ambience or audience only in the rears put into surround format, this remix is pure happiness and light!

I do have to admit that I'm also a little surprised that Watchtower turns out to be one of the understated tracks on the remix though. With the weight of its history and all.

 

[staygroovy]

For reference, Electric Ladyland multitracks were in 8-track format, whereas things had jumped to 16-track a short two years later. Some elements on certain tracks are pre-mixed, and do not lend themselves to be spread out as easily as material that came later and where the source is far more discrete. When we hear material from albums like DSOTM for example, it helps to keep in mind that with sixteen discrete elements much, much more could be accomplished in that department.

 

[watsontr]

For reference, Electric Ladyland multitracks were in 8-track format

I seem to remember reading that the 4 track master from the UK was transferred to either 12 or 16 track at the Record Plant (?) for more overdubs to be added

 

[JohnA]

An 8 from me - never have been a Hendrix fan, but that should not weigh on the rating.
The energy is everywhere and the unconventional mix creates a cozy club atmosphere of sorts.
I waited until I could play it at anti-social volumes before voting. It would have been lower otherwise, and that would be unfair.
It demands ear-splitting decibels to the point of distortion.
chamber music it ain't

 

[salsdali]

so I've had this disc for a while and enjoy it a lot but I finally got around to watching the documentary included on it entitled
At Last... The Beginning - The Making of Electric Ladyland which was originally released in 2008 as a DVD and is actually in 5.1 DTS which is one of the only music docs I've seen in DTS 5.1 that actually separates tracks, instruments, voices in the segments that show the mixing which is a lot of the time.

It's really interesting in that the surround separation in the mixing segments really helped me realize just what a genius Jimi was, and I always thought he was one so it just made it more perceptible, so have a watch and a listen to the doc y'all if you glossed over it like I did for years.

Leslie speaker's in Jimi's studio for the win

 

[temporaryhuman]

I seem to remember reading that the 4 track master from the UK was transferred to either 12 or 16 track at the Record Plant (?) for more overdubs to be added

Only 2 songs were initially 4 tracks, they were then transferred to 12 tracks and all others were 12 so plenty for atmos let alone 5.1.

 

[temporaryhuman]

7 for me. Very mixed bag, and several tracks are not discrete at all.

 

[edisonbaggins]

7 for me. Very mixed bag, and several tracks are not discrete at all.

Yup...

 

[H.A.L.]

Might just be me, but I found it really, really fine to listen to (dangling participle aside). Improve that, even, and I'll buy it again. I'm a sucker, obviously.

 

[fetchmybeer]

Apart from the opener, which had a lot of crazy panning on the original, and 1983, this mix isn't doing a whole lot for me. I had hoped that the separation of the tracks would result in a better sounding recording overall, but as the phrase goes among recording engineers-- garbage in/garbage out. There has always been a rather dirty quality to the Hendrix recordings that maybe just has to do with trying to mic his dimed amps-- it's less apparent in the "cleaner" tones such as those in LIttle Wing, Axis, Castles, etc... So maybe that's nobody's fault given the recording capabilities of the time, but I still found this underwhelming. in some cases, such as with Voodoo Child (Slight Return), it seems like the ooomph is missing when those drums kick in. I listened to the stereo version on the disc and found that it too lacked the ooomph, so maybe my listening perspective has changed. Regardless, I felt like too often it was just drums (maybe overhead mics?) panned to the rears and little else, and that's not really my preferred surround experience. Even with 1983, I felt they could've been far more aggressive (and there is something weird, as has been mentioned, with the echoes on the "beyond the will of God...God...God" part that is different from my remembering). So, an 8 from me, which is still pretty high, but really probably closer to a 7.5.

 

[weekendtoy]

Content is a 10. Surround mix is a 7. Round up to 8 because it's Jimmy.