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Blind Date Review #2!
Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band - The Gordian Knot

Blu-ray Audio Auro-3D Reviewed (Atmos, DTS HD MA and PCM Stereo also available)
Shout out to @Steve G for the great immersive mix!
@rtbluray can we get a poll for this blu-ray?


Thank you @edisonbaggins for you passion. BTW, is your dog who is snoring in your video?

I just bought it yesterday when I saw your mention in the other "listening Atmos thread". I found it "in stock" at Pureaudiorecordings.com, but my order is still "On Hold". Hope it will be pending processing and not "out of stock".
 
Thank you @edisonbaggins for you passion. BTW, is your dog who is snoring in your video?

I just bought it yesterday when I saw your mention in the other "listening Atmos thread". I found it "in stock" at Pureaudiorecordings.com, but my order is still "On Hold". Hope it will be pending processing and not "out of stock".
I hope you get it soon and enjoy it!
Yes, my snoring pooch is credited in the video description!
 
Just now picked up from the post office and celebrating first. Listening later :)

Big Phat Band - The Gordian Knot.jpg
 
Partially blocked while a copyright claim is being disputed. See what happens when I use snippets to show off cool surround moments?
The Doors in Surround

Special thanks: @Elad


Great overview of the Door's various surround permutations, Mike. And a nice touch isolating the surrounds for demo purposes. What really does strike me, that while the Doors are extremely well represented in surround on just about all formats available [except for ATMOS], hopefully Rhino will lavish the same 'respect' for its other artists who have multiple QUAD masters. Chicago/the Doobies QUADIO boxsets, even Moondance on BD~A are all primo examples of Rhino's superb remastering prowness and locating the best masters available for their endeavors.

Perhaps on another Life In Surround segment you can outline the unreleased Warner/Elektra/Atlantic/Rhino QUADS which would make superb Quadio BD~As.

And who better than Warner/Rhino to re~release them?
 
Just now picked up from the post office and celebrating first. Listening later :)

View attachment 64693
Very kind words received from Gordon Goodwin via Facebook:
Gordon Goodwin's Facebook Page said:
Mike, thank you for sending that to me, and for your generous compliments! I will pass this on to our engineers Tommy Vicari, Steve Genewick and Maurice Patist. We worked hard on the Blu-ray Disc and will hopefully raise awareness of it next year when the Grammys bring back the Immersive Audio category. Once again, thank you for reviewing it on your show. Best wishes, Gordon
 
Very kind words received from Gordon Goodwin via Facebook:

It is really a very good and immersive Atmos mix.
This is the album that make the most use of the Wides Speakers (9.1.4) of every Atmos album I have listen. Sometimes the Wides sound louder than the Fronts spreading the sound.

The mix is somehow discrete, but you don't get a particular sound or instrument in only one speaker. You get all sound spread around and really feel you are inside, not only within the band, but sometimes inside the instrument. For example, the Drums use to sound on every all 9 speakers floor level, and almost nothing from the tops. But it is not a "expanded stereo". Sometimes you feel the sound of every different drum coming from different location, as if you were inside the drum kit.

The trumpet section is at the right, but you are not overwhelmed from the right side speaker, as in other mixes with too much content on rears. Instead you feel the whole trumpet section coming from a wide area, making sound very little at the Right Front speaker, and more sound from the Wide Right and the Surround Right speakers. It seems like each trumpet is just an Atmos Object, in their specific locations, and separated. When all trumpets are sounding simultaneously you perceived the sound from that wide right area, but occasionally, when single trumpets sound alternatively, you hear each one from a slight different location.

I'm really impressed and I continue listening in Dolby Atmos. I didn't yet changed to Auro-3D to check the difference.
 
It is really a very good and immersive Atmos mix.
This is the album that make the most use of the Wides Speakers (9.1.4) of every Atmos album I have listen. Sometimes the Wides sound louder than the Fronts spreading the sound.

The mix is somehow discrete, but you don't get a particular sound or instrument in only one speaker. You get all sound spread around and really feel you are inside, not only within the band, but sometimes inside the instrument. For example, the Drums use to sound on every all 9 speakers floor level, and almost nothing from the tops. But it is not a "expanded stereo". Sometimes you feel the sound of every different drum coming from different location, as if you were inside the drum kit.

The trumpet section is at the right, but you are not overwhelmed from the right side speaker, as in other mixes with too much content on rears. Instead you feel the whole trumpet section coming from a wide area, making sound very little at the Right Front speaker, and more sound from the Wide Right and the Surround Right speakers. It seems like each trumpet is just an Atmos Object, in their specific locations, and separated. When all trumpets are sounding simultaneously you perceived the sound from that wide right area, but occasionally, when single trumpets sound alternatively, you hear each one from a slight different location.

I'm really impressed and I continue listening in Dolby Atmos. I didn't yet changed to Auro-3D to check the difference.

“Big Phat Band – The Gordian Knot”

Dolby Atmos and Auro-3D brief comparison


I did not an exhaustive comparation, but the first feeling is that I like more the Dolby Atmos mix.

Auro-3D mix is 11.1 and seems to me like a 5.1 version with very subtle reverberation or ambient on the heights. It is not so impacting like other discrete Auro-3D mixes, like Mando Diao – Aelita, Lichtmond 3 – Days of Eternity, or Ambra – Prism of Life.

Perhaps the main reason is that with Dolby Atmos I have “wides” 9.1.4 and with Auro-3D 13.1 not. With Atmos, the music sound more enveloping, more immersive and with a wider sound stage. Also, the lateral zones, like the trumpet section at the right, sound wider and with more presence, like if you were at the first row in a live concert or with the band. The sound stage in Auro-3D seems to me more narrow than in Atmos, surely due to the lack of wide speakers, that are much used in this Atmos mix.

Also, some of the top discrete content seems to be more present in Atmos than in Auro-3D.

This seems an evidence that many Atmos objects used in this mix are located at about 60º azimuth, due to the great wides speaker content I get. The wides are really useful in this mix, improving a lot the Atmos rendering. Also, the sound does not come from a single speaker, so it seems either it has been recorded live in studio with a microphone matrix like Auro-3D productions, or good mixing post-process techniques have also been used.

After this, I am convinced again that I need to buy good new speakers for wides and make the definitive installation. I am still using some old speakers with makeshift stands and the cabling on the floor for the wides. Still testing… I say to my wife.
 
I don't mean to harp or antagonize, but I feel like a greater distinction should be made between the two red book formats. Dolby Surround CDs are matrix-encoded, whereas DTS-CDs are discrete. It's like comparing quad vinyl with quad 8-track or reel-to-reel.

You're not wrong about the poor sound quality on some early DTS-CD titles, but the format itself seems to get the blame when the real cause is the mastering. For example, the HDS/Miller Nevada DTS-CD of Santana's Abraxas sounds like it was de-noised and aggressively EQ'd to the point where the bass guitar became nearly inaudible. That 'mastering' would've sounded terrible on any format.
 
I don't mean to harp or antagonize, but I feel like a greater distinction should be made between the two red book formats. Dolby Surround CDs are matrix-encoded, whereas DTS-CDs are discrete. It's like comparing quad vinyl with quad 8-track or reel-to-reel.

You're not wrong about the poor sound quality on some early DTS-CD titles, but the format itself seems to get the blame when the real cause is the mastering. For example, the HDS/Miller Nevada DTS-CD of Santana's Abraxas sounds like it was de-noised and aggressively EQ'd to the point where the bass guitar became nearly inaudible. That 'mastering' would've sounded terrible on any format.
There's no need to feel antagonistic. It isn't possible to mention every detail of a topic in an overview. That's partly the value of comments here, on YouTube, on the Facebook page, etc. You get to add your knowledge to the conversation.
 
Mike, your videos get better and better.

Fascinating titbits surrounding the various artists and how they became part of Toy Matinee.

The Icing on the cake, is the dog, happily snoring away, while you are trying to concentrate on your delivery!!

Is that snoring Lossy or lossless? :D

Has to be a regular feature now.
Great double act.
 
Toy Matinee DTS CD vs. DVD-A Shoot Out!

Another nice job Mike, (I don't own any of the three albums here) so should probably listen to some.
A couple things though; Sheryl Crow apparently has even more of a turbulent history around that time, that I didn't know about. What I had always read, was about some post Tuesday Night Music Club dust up between her and some of her cohorts of that era (and a famous duo with a one off album) David Baerwald and David Ricketts. They made this album, which I absolutely love- Boomtown.

Also, curios to know what that title is on your rack behind you- it's on the bottom row and the 4th from the left?

Puppy power 💪- even if they need frequent noisy naps :)
 
Mike, your videos get better and better.

The Icing on the cake, is the dog, happily snoring away, while you are trying to concentrate on your delivery!!

Is that snoring Lossy or lossless? :D

Has to be a regular feature now.
Great double act.
Yea I noticed that too, it made me chuckle, I was waiting for Mike to mention it and maybe apologise, but no, I was left guessing what it actually was.
 
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