Listening to Now (In Surround) - Volume 2

[fredblue]

Early Hours/Eleanor McEvoy (Hybrid 5.1 Surround SACD)

lovely music, great voice (for the most part.. and it's fun hearing her diction and Celtic inflection on things like the word "love" in the title track!).. mastered a bit bright and bass-y for my tastes (smiley EQ'd?) and it has to be said a less than perfect surround mix.. lead vocals often come across as overloud relative to everything else since it appears they've been mixed pretty much in equal measure in all 3 channels across the front.. I thought it was mixing 101 you lower lead vocals in Front L&R or lower them in the Centre if you're going to put them in all 3 front channels, to balance things out..?

also the rears are kinda underused, not such a problem for folksy music without any whizzbangs going on but often there's just v.sparse instrumentation back there.. occasionally something more interesting happens, the odd BV here and there, keys/percussion, horns and such.. but why not pan some more stuff back there.. not just as a gimmick because "you can" but because it might actually enhance things..?

ah well it's still nice, it's genuine surround (I was dreading ambience only ) and it's readily out there cheap.. I'd say go for it (despite my gripes I'd say it's worth your while, really..! )

 

[fredblue]

New Amsterdam/Mathilde Santing (Single Layer 5.1 Surround SACD)

Been searching in earnest for this one in surround for many years.. no idea why it's been so hard to find but got one at last..! I'd been hoping with the Wisseloord connection this might've been mixed by the amazing Ronald Prent but even though the remix engineer's uncredited, I doubt it's him, or at least only some of it may be his work (a couple of tracks are more active surround than others) it's way too tame surround for my tastes (try out his Lori Liebermann Bricks Against The Glass Blu-ray Audio 5.1 for how you really take tremulous female vocals and ramp the surround excitement levels up to 11..! ).. So, in short it's a tasteful mostly subtle mix (dry lead vocal in the centre is wonderful however!) there's the odd pleasant surprise pops up in the rears ('crashing waves' sound effect in "In The Meantime"). Even though she's got one of those Marmite (love it or hate it!) voices, this record has a beautiful rendition of First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, even if you can't track down the 5.1 SACD check it out in Stereo, it's fabulous and she sings it so well imho.

 

[fredblue]

Birdsong At Morning/A Slight Departure; Expanded Edition (CD + BD-A)

Just on track 2.. Liking what I'm hearing so far.. Is this all a 4.1 mix? (i.e. No centre speaker use)

Edit: No! Some is 4.1, some is 5.1.. (Just answered my own question.. Schizoquadraphenia! ) the Centre channel sprung to life in "Mountainside"

 

[GOS]

Birdsong At Morning/A Slight Departure; Expanded Edition (CD + BD-A)

Just on track 2.. Liking what I'm hearing so far.. Is this all a 4.1 mix? (i.e. No centre speaker use)

Edit: No! Some is 4.1, some is 5.1.. (Just answered my own question.. Schizoquadraphenia! ) the Centre channel sprung to life in "Mountainside"

Adam - I just put in my copy. It's 5.1 alright...only the center is very quiet and not vocals...just some instruments here and there. Very, very odd choice of the center. Could this be a mistake?? Ok, that was on song 1. On song 2, there is NO information coming from center. Song 3...don't hear anything... Song 4 has vocals in center...man this is some odd use of center...

 

[fredblue]

Adam - I just put in my copy. It's 5.1 alright...only the center is very quiet and not vocals...just some instruments here and there. Very, very odd choice of the center. Could this be a mistake?? Ok, that was on song 1. On song 2, there is NO information coming from center. Song 3...don't hear anything... Song 4 has vocals in center...man this is some odd use of center...

Thanks for the further investigating, Genelock Holmes! :upthumb

Odd/inconsistent/****** up/creative/interesting..? Who am I to judge!? It could be none of the above, it could be all 5..!

Whatever's going on in the centre, I like the surround-y-ness of it all.. and musically it floats my boat like Kenny Loggins in a ship in Full Sail :ugham:

Is there a QQ Poll for this one yet?

 

[fredblue]

Open Circle Party "Surrounded" (DTS CD)

Well they're not kidding, it's pretty 'surround-y'..!

It's uncluttered yet layered musically, if that makes any sense?

Track 1 is largely ambient for the first 5 mins.. I was almost wondering when it was gonna "get going".. but its' moody drama builds, which I rather like.

Track 2/Part 2 is a surround standout for me.. fun and funky, various bongo/tabla type instruments pop up in different channels at different times.. to accompany the propulsive percussion, you've got handclaps, twangy funky guitar and tinkly tones which move around and about the room.. luvverly jubbly!

Track 3/Remix 1 has a kind of almost Pink Floyd-esque mood.. and Track 4/Remix 2 is more tripped out guitar and ethnic bongo world rhythm stuff with more cool handclaps in the rear etc, just so you know you've got rear speakers they really pan things back there from time to time, there's nice rise and fall kinda vibe going on, things go all "chillout" on you and then kick out again.. no nodding off with this one!

All in all, this is a fun little surround disc that gets better the more you crank it. If I had surround sound in a car this would be a winner, I think.. track 2 in particular just seems perfect driving surround music! :steering:

 

[LuvMyQuad]

Adam - I just put in my copy. It's 5.1 alright...only the center is very quiet and not vocals...just some instruments here and there. Very, very odd choice of the center. Could this be a mistake?? Ok, that was on song 1. On song 2, there is NO information coming from center. Song 3...don't hear anything... Song 4 has vocals in center...man this is some odd use of center...

I seldom pay attention to what is isolated in the center channel, but however its mixed, it all just seems to work well on this release.

 

[fredblue]

A Beautiful Curse/As It Should Be (DTS 5.1 DVD-V)

 

[fredblue]

I seldom pay attention to what is isolated in the center channel, but however its mixed, it all just seems to work well on this release.

If I may say, yours is a healthy approach, as I'd say a well-integrated centre (properly setup) in a 5.1 that's been mixed right shouldn't stick out or draw attention to itself it should work within the whole, unless/until that centre channel has been used to actively bring an effect or element to the fore and then it should purposely (purposefully?) draw attention to itself, imho!

All that said, I just can't help but analyse some of these surround discs more closely to see what the engineers have done, or at least get up off the couch and go up to each speaker in turn and see what pops up where in the surround soundfield, it's fascinating how they do what they do!

 

[fredblue]

A Beautiful Curse/As It Should Be (DTS 5.1 DVD-V)

4 songs in, this is, in a word = Stunning :yikes

 

[fredblue]

4 songs in, this is, in a word = Stunning :yikes

Some yummy looking menu art to accompany it all too..

 

[fredblue]

Riverside/Love Fear & The Time Machine (CD/DVD-A)

 

[JanBakker]

Riverside/Love Fear & The Time Machine (CD/DVD-A)

Great disc, don't you think?

 

[GOS]

4 songs in, this is, in a word = Stunning :yikes

Never heard of it...but based on your comments...found a used copy on Amazon for $1.99! In fact, last copy.....and I got it. With shipping, $5.99.

 

[fredblue]

Great disc, don't you think?

Divine! :music

 

[fredblue]

Never heard of it...but based on your comments...found a used copy on Amazon for $1.99! In fact, last copy.....and I got it. With shipping, $5.99.

Excellent! I guarantee you'll get more than $5.99 worth of surround entertainment out of it, or your money back! :upthumb

Ps. You did make sure it was the 2-disc CD/DVD version? Otherwise your purchase comes with no guarantee!

 

[GOS]

Excellent! I guarantee you'll get more than $5.99 worth of surround entertainment out of it, or your money back! :upthumb

Ps. You did make sure it was the 2-disc CD/DVD version? Otherwise your purchase comes with no guarantee!

Well, the description said 2 discs with disc 2 in surround. In fact the seller was Monster Music.


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[fredblue]

Uphollow/Jackets For The Trip (CD/5.1 DVD-V)

 

[fredblue]

Well, the description said 2 discs with disc 2 in surround. In fact the seller was Monster Music.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeay! That'll be the one! ("I'd buy that for a dollar!" and 99 cents, plus $4 shipping and manhandling!)

 

[fredblue]

Alienadin (Blu-ray Audio)