Listening to in Dolby Atmos Streaming, via Tidal/Apple/Amazon

[PurpleMoustache]

In the middle of the day on Friday, Kendrick Lamar surprise released an album

At the start of the day on Monday, that album is now in Atmos

 

[alansanchez86]

In the middle of the day on Friday, Kendrick Lamar surprise released an album

At the start of the day on Monday, that album is now in Atmos

It wasn't in atmos last Friday, will check it out. Thanks!

 

[DoublePackage]

Haven’t seen this on the thread:

 

[steelydave]

Just listened to a few tracks on each album. Again, I'm not impressed by Rich Chycki's DA mixes at all. The mix sounds incredibly hollow. There's nothing demo here or noteworthy. I wish Steven Wilson would have done the Dolby Atmos. This is just a mid mix which sounds like I'm in a tin can. I know this is not the majority opinion of these new Rush mixes. Moving Pictures to me sounds neutered and so do these albums. I rarely say this but I would rather listen to my vinyl than these new mixes.

The only mix I'm digging is the 2112 suite.

I'm glad someone said this, because the cognitive dissonance between my listening experience and the previous few (overwhelmingly positive) posts made me feel like I was taking crazy pills.

I'm not even really a massive fan of these albums - I prefer the Rush of the five years following these albums - but I'm always open to the idea of a great mix helping me 'get' or reevaulate something that never really connected with previously.

I'm also no fan of Richard Chycki's surround mixing, as I've mentioned in some of the Rush poll threads, but as a cautious optimist/pragmatic pessimist I live in the hope that people can always get better at their craft, or have a 'Eureka!' moment about mixing philosophy no matter how long they've been doing the job. Look at Ryan Ulyate - his Tom Petty 5.1 mixes (Mojo, Hypnotic Eye, Damn the Torpedoes) are some of the most pedestrian "big stereo" you're ever likely to hear, whereas his recent Atmos endeavours are some of the best the format has yielded thusfar.

Sadly, with Chycki I was barking up the wrong tree because for me, they're just more of the same flat-sounding big stereo mixing that characterizes all his work. Obviously some of the elements have been pushed upward, but to no great or exciting effect. Every 5 or 10 minutes you'll get a swirly effect, or short burst of a discrete instrument, something to remind you that your rear speakers are indeed functioning, only for whatever it was to disappear again in short order - I find this incredibly frustrating because it's like he's telling you I know these speakers and placement options are available to me, but I'm not gonna use them. After I was done listening to these four albums I went back and listened to Steven Wilson's 5.1 mix of A Farewell to Kings (or snippets of it anyway) just to confirm I hadn't suffered some kind of system misconfiguration (or brain/ear malfunction) and it sounded just as I'd remembered it.

One thing I will give Chycki is that while he hasn't "seen the light" with regards to immersiveness, his attention to detail and execution of the nuances in these mixes is considerably better than his 5.1 mixes, some of which had actual mistakes (unfiltered bass guitar in the LFE channel of one) or just poor or lazy mixing choices, like elements placed in mono in the phantom position between front and rear left or front and rear right. Chycki's Atmos mixes are often wrought the same way, but it seems like more thought has been put into things room and individual instrument/element reverbs and echoes which helps things feel a little more 'alive' and three-dimensional than his older work.

Having said that, however, while I might give these one more go to make sure I wasn't just having a bad day, on first blush there was nothing compelling in them that made me want to revisit them.

 

[stereoptic]

Garage Rock Fans:
The Chesterfield Kings - We're Still All The Same

 

[Strilo]

For New Order, I see Blue Monday in Atmos. Are either True Faith or Bizarre Love Triangle in Atmos yet?

 

[sjcorne]

For New Order, I see Blue Monday in Atmos. Are either True Faith or Bizarre Love Triangle in Atmos yet?

Movement, Low-Life, and "Blue Monday" are the only New Order titles currently up in Atmos.

 

[steelydave]

Dunno if I've linked this right but an expanded version of Hans Zimmer's Interstellar soundtrack is out there.

I always hoped for this one because I love this soundtrack (and the attendant film) but never expected it to happen because Christopher Nolan (for reasons unknown) only mixes his films in 5.1 and not spatial audio of any sort.

I'm presuming that this was done to coincide with the 10th anniversary 4K Blu-Ray release next month (which still doesn't have an Atmos mix) and I guess Nolan doesn't have veto over the soundtrack release, or doesn't mind it being mixed/released separately from his picture.

Anyway, it's very well done and the epic emotional moments sound absolutely huge - don't think I'll ever go back to the stereo version after this. If you like this soundtrack, it's well worth a listen.