John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band Super Deluxe Edition (New 5.1 & Dolby Atmos mixes!)

[Mcallister]

Yeah the DTS almost does sound like its only up front, I listened more to the Atmos with just a couple quick swaps to DTS. I’ll do more testing this weekend.

The Atmos is like a double of the front but with a milisecond of delay so it’s weird

 

[Mcallister]

Sonics are damn good though!

 

[JonUrban]

Here's what AudioMuxer found on the BluRay:

 

[JonUrban]

And here's a look at the ripped 24-192 DTS Master Audio flac output from AudioMuxer

 

[JonUrban]

On this jpg, the AC-3 24-48 rip is on the top, the DTS-HD 24-192 is on the bottom. Visually, the AC-3 looks to be "less loud" than the DTS. In both cases, the rears are substantially lower than the fronts and center, which is probably why early reviewers are saying they are front centric mixes.

 

[JonUrban]

The first few bits of "Mother", AC-3 on top, DTS on bottom

 

[JonUrban]

One more and I'm done for now. Gotta get back to work!

Here is "Mother" from the Lennon Legend DVD (upper jpg), and from this BluRay (lower jpg)

 

[TheAbsentMind]

Listening now in Atmos. it sound like Hicks basically put the the vocal effects and room in the rear channels. The 5.1 all vocal effects are up front. It’s kind of weird, but cool in a way, not sure what to think off this first listen

Thanks. I’d dreamed it might be more than this but didn’t expect it to be more. It still sounds more promising than Giles playing the album through speakers on one end of the studio and a microphone on the other side (à la Hard Day’s Night Criterion). My feeling about Gimme Some Truth’s surround is mildly positive.

I know I’m not alone feeling that the Imagine raw mixes — particularly in surround — were that set’s absolute highlight. Since that was also a simple line up of instruments, I did hold out hope. More than once I’ve not just sat in the sweet spot to listen but have also either isolated one channel or wandered the room as if approaching members to listen more closely. ... I’m not making myself feel better!

So...

Here’s a genuine positive: when early material cited the number of mixes relative to the number of songs, I wondered (perhaps wrongly) if having 2.0, 5.1 and ATMOS might’ve hinted at lots of subpar demos not having had much attention giving. Cold comfort. Also...

Stereo-wise I grew up on the 80s CD (which I gifted and can’t compare) and quite liked the 2000 remix. I haven’t spent much time with the 2010 remaster of the 1970 mix but do suspect this will be my preferred based on Hicks’s work on Imagine. I also like Gimme Some Truth’s stereo choices overall. My understanding is that’s my if those were to be different than any album versions to try and make that collection more internally cohesive. So far I’ve only read that the levels on “Love” have been tweaked. I’ll be curious about the other overlapping material. Since I’ve let go of SH.tv, this is where I’ll be learning most until my copy arrives on 4/28.

For those interested (and who’ve somehow made it this far into the post), There will be a “Twitter Listening Party” tomorrow. It’ll be replayable in real time thereafter. Could be interesting.

Okay. No more procrastinating. I have meh tasks to get to. Look forward to everyone’s impressions, good, bad, and in between.

 

[DuncanS]

And only main album is in surround as reported in SHF, am I correct?
Until a few minutes ago I was trying to cancel my Amazon order that supposedly was going to arrive by the 30th and all of a sudden it changed status to shipped and arriving this Sunday

Yes thats correct

 

[ssully]

On this jpg, the AC-3 24-48 rip is on the top, the DTS-HD 24-192 is on the bottom. Visually, the AC-3 looks to be "less loud" than the DTS. In both cases, the rears are substantially lower than the fronts and center, which is probably why early reviewers are saying they are front centric mixes.

View attachment 66383

? Front (LCR) and LFE look essentially identical but the rear channels appear lower in level on the DTS-HD (bottom). This could be verified by comparative RMS level scans of e..g the surround left channel of each source.

 

[sjcorne]

Uhmm, I'm again using Gimme some Truth box as a reference and I've been comparing the 5.1 and Atmos mixes for God. I hear basically the same in the front and the rears, although rears look like being a bit more echoey. But I'd swear I could tell no difference in a blind testing switching back and forth from Atmos to 5.1 (apart from Atmos being a more spacious experience due to the repeated info on the heights).
I guess the multis Hicks had to work with were very limited, as the more recent songs in Gimme some Truth have much better (discreet) mixes

I certainly wasn't expecting anything demo-worthy (even the best surround mixer couldn't do anything with "Working Class Hero"), but some of this just sounds like unimaginative mixing to me. There are moments here and there where I feel like the rears could've been engaged in a non-gimmicky way: the opening bells in "Mother", the double-tracked vocals in "Isolation", the vocal delays in "God" and "Well Well Well", etc. "God" has two piano parts that could've been split front/back. The same goes for the dueling electric guitars in "Cold Turkey". I hope the Blu-Ray #2 material not being in surround ends up being an exception here and not the rule going forward for these Lennon sets.

 

[DuncanS]

Reading the book its the album was recorded on an 8 channel tape machine, and a lot of the tracks only have 2 or 4 channels used (photos of the tape boxes), so it is originally a sparse recording. In Dolby TrueHD (so Atmos) its much more immersive, and again I've jumped quickly through the tracks, the Dolby surround wise is better than the DTS. My gut feeling is that the surround could have been more 'adventurous'. Having been a child growing up in 60s and hearing the Beatles on the radio (& my Dad playing the tunes on the piano) I bought this for the music, the surround was to be the bonus. Over the weekend I'm going to give the Dolby a serious listen. The stereo does sound clean though.

 

[The56Kid]

man, all of the above is extremely discouraging to say the least.

 

[Old Quad Guy]

I’m wondering if the mixes are at least pulled forward into the room. And not like a flat sounding 3 channel stereo effect, with nothing in the back.

 

[olgitnorm]

Mine arrived today from Amazon, have already organised the return not even going to open it.

 

[DuncanS]

I’m wondering if the mixes are at least pulled forward into the room. And not like a flat sounding 3 channel stereo effect, with nothing in the back.

From my brief listen in Dolby more is happening in the rear channels (maybe just due to an upwards level shift as I can't decode Atmos)

 

[sjcorne]

I wonder if one could re-construct a decent surround mix by phase-cancelling the 5.1 with the elements mixes? "Mother" is just the isolated vocal (which is incredible!) and "Isolation" omits the piano entirely. They mostly sound like the same takes as the album to me, though "God" uses a lower-register alternate vocal.

 

[GOS]

My 20 minute listening opinion, it's a snoozer. Fidelity is great. Most likely, off to the shelf it goes.

 

[Cyber 1]

this is really bad news, man what a shame.

 

[Old Quad Guy]

Well, I still plan to buy this box set. Considering what was on the original master tapes, this was about what was to be expected, from the initial reviews I’ve read so far. Musically, this is a great album.

Let’s just hope that the other John Lennon titles get a nice release. I’m still waiting for a re-release in pristine audio of the Quadraphonic mix of “Walls and Bridges.” To me, that was one of the most important Quad mixes I owned in the 1970s.