Listening to Mono via Dolby Atmos

[marcb]

This mono argument is hurting my head.

As I understand it, ATMOS music is a surround experience augmented with the ability to place musical objects anyplace around you, as well as above you. If the source recordings are a single mono track, you aren’t going to be able to place individual musical elements, like harmony vocals, in the rears. However, the mixer can give you the sound of the band in a “virtual room” that has spatial characteristics that are around you and above you in character.

Atmos is simply a mix technology and delivery mechanism with the capability to deliver surround audio with directional metadata. But it’s not a requirement that all channels be used or that different signals be sent to every speaker.

Thus, much as it may annoy some people, a mono atmos mix is not contradiction in terms.

In the case of Love Me Do and She Loves You, I‘m hearing the information dead center like mono (using L-R-C) although it does seem to be spread to the surrounds just a hair for some almost imperceivable all room sound.

And again, this album is not being predominantly listened to by spatial audio listeners. So even if you think the terms mono and stereo are odd, it’s really us who is odd because most people are listening to the mono and stereo mixes as indicated. Did anyone find it weird before they tagged Atmos mixes on?

 

[EricKalet]

We all hear differently, I'm not getting that mono vibe from these. Certainly not immersive either, but more than what I'd hear just from one speaker. And definitely not all channel either because the surrounds barely have any musical info in them. Maybe enough for some ambiance...

 

[Cheezmo]

And again, this album is not being predominantly listened to by spatial audio listeners. So even if you think the terms mono and stereo are odd, it’s really us who is odd because most people are listening to the mono and stereo mixes as indicated. Did anyone find it weird before they tagged Atmos mixes on?

It is odd that they are tagging the Atmos mixes on to tracks that are indicated as something else. When they were labeled what they were, of course nobody found that odd.

 

[Ephi82]

We all hear differently, I'm not getting that mono vibe from these. Certainly not immersive either, but more than what I'd hear just from one speaker. And definitely not all channel either because the surrounds barely have any musical info in them. Maybe enough for some ambiance...

I agree with you. It’s not a mono mix coming out of 5.1.2 speakers. It’s more than that.

To me, and as I said, awkwardly upthread, it sounds like a mono source/object in a “room”.

 

[marcb]

We all hear differently, I'm not getting that mono vibe from these. Certainly not immersive either, but more than what I'd hear just from one speaker. And definitely not all channel either because the surrounds barely have any musical info in them. Maybe enough for some ambiance...

Are listening in headphones?

 

[marcb]

I agree with you. It’s not a mono mix coming out of 5.1.2 speakers. It’s more than that.

To me, and as I said, awkwardly upthread, it sounds like a mono source/object in a “room”.

When you say “more than that”, what do you mean?

I hear the exact same thing (I think) coming out of all speakers, but certainly not at the same amplitude. It still sounds like 95% centered front (L-C-R) mono and 5% all channel to make it sound a hair bigger.

Kinda pointless really, but I can only imagine the complaints if they’d made an atmos mix which didn’t utilize the surround channels…

 

[EricKalet]

Are listening in headphones?

I have a pair of headphones, that I wear tops 1-2x a year on an airplane. So no.

 

[haikubass]

https://www.mixonline.com/recording...-remixing-the-beatles-in-spatial-audio-part-1https://www.mixonline.com/recording/giles-martin-on-remixing-the-beatles-in-spatial-audio-part-2

 

[marcb]

We all hear differently, I'm not getting that mono vibe from these. Certainly not immersive either, but more than what I'd hear just from one speaker. And definitely not all channel either because the surrounds barely have any musical info in them. Maybe enough for some ambiance...

I think we’re basically violently agreeing.

I listened to just the rear surrounds of the 1st three tracks yesterday. The mono tracks sound pretty much to me like it’s just the mono signal with MAYBE a hair of delay/reverb in the rears and MAYBE a bit of different EQ. Maybe a bit more was added to She Loves You than Love Me Do.

From Me To You sounded like they just summed the front channels and then maybe applied a little reverb/delay and EQ like above.

 

[EricKalet]

I think we’re basically violently agreeing.

I listened to just the rear surrounds of the 1st three tracks yesterday. The mono tracks sound pretty much to me like it’s just the mono signal with MAYBE a hair of delay/reverb in the rears and MAYBE a bit of different EQ. Maybe a bit more was added to She Loves You than Love Me Do.

From Me To You sounded like they just summed the front channels and then maybe applied a little reverb/delay and EQ like above.

not sure about the violent part

BUT we are closer on agreement about this with your assessment after more listening. Certainly the first 8 tracks or so are not demo/show off or reference material by any stretch. But you'll never see me buying or listening to Beatles "in mono" anytime, ever. I'll take this "stereo/spatial" version 10 of 10 times.

 

[marcb]

not sure about the violent part

BUT we are closer on agreement about this with your assessment after more listening. Certainly the first 8 tracks or so are not demo/show off or reference material by any stretch. But you'll never see me buying or listening to Beatles "in mono" anytime, ever. I'll take this "stereo/spatial" version 10 of 10 times.

We’re going to have to violently disagree on the Beatles in mono part…

I gave cursory listens to few more of the earlier 4 track recordings - and they really didn’t do much that I can hear. Just doubled the fronts with maybe a touch of reverb/delay. As they got to the late ‘64 and ‘65 tracks, it seemed like maybe a bit more was going on. I assume because they had a few more stems to work with.

FWIW, I also quickly compared some of the later 1 atmos mixes with their album counterparts. I could be wrong but I think they just used the Abbey Road mixes for 1…which makes sense. Same with Penny Lane. But Get Back sounded different to me. I didn’t get to any of the other LIB tracks though.