Listening to this surround UPMIX, up-remix, or remix

[humprof]

It's Planet Gong Day at my house. I just finished spinning You and Rejoice! I'm Dead!, and after hearing for myself a Tate "decode" of the supposedly stealth-SQ Shamal (seems it was an early labeling mixup that led to the speculation), I've disposed of the last shred of wishful thinking I might have had on that score. Luckily, a friend did a really convincing Penteo upmix.

I know Nick Mason produced this album, but the vibes I'm picking up are more Frippy than Floydian. (I'm also hearing a Monk quote in the middle of "Cat in Clark's Shoes.") In the end, though, it's another unique bang of the Gong...

 

[J. PUPSTER]

 

[kap'n krunch]

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oh dang Pupster!!!
you batted this out of the ballpark, man!!!
The sparse instrumentation definitely lends itself to the upmix (congas on the right rear!)
Will listen to this from now on...this is WAY better than the SACD!

What 'd you use???

 

[J. PUPSTER]

oh dang Pupster!!!
you batted this out of the ballpark, man!!!
The sparse instrumentation definitely lends itself to the upmix (congas on the right rear!)
Will listen to this from now on...this is WAY better than the SACD!

What 'd you use???

Seems a good friend here shared an early Nick Drake UK vinyl ('69 I believe) rip with me. And a great sounding one at that.

Here's some interesting wiki info on the recording-

Five Leaves Left was recorded between July 1968 and June 1969 at Sound Techniques in London, England. Engineer John Wood recalled that "[Drake] would track live, singing and playing along with the string section" without the use of any overdubbing. For the song "River Man", producer Joe Boyd described Drake playing on a stool in the centre of the studio while surrounded by a semi-circle of instruments. The studio's environment was also an important factor as it had multiple levels to it which enabled the creation of interesting sounds and atmospheres.[1][3]

Among his various backing musicians, Drake was accompanied by Richard Thompson from Fairport Convention and Danny Thompson of Pentangle. Robert Kirby, a friend of Drake's from his youth, arranged the string instruments for several tracks while Harry Robinson arranged the strings for "River Man".[4] The title of the album is a reference to the old Rizla cigarette papers packet, which used to contain a printed note near the end saying "Only five leaves left".[5]
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I really didn't have to do a ton of work on this; a fairly typical Penteo 4.1 up-mix with an iZotope RX-8 extracted vocal stem for the Center. I also like how a lot of the wonderful orchestration gets placed across the rears. And on "Saturday Sun" the vibraphone spread across the left side. And of course the conga was really discrete sounding in the right rear. Pianos appear primarily in the left rear. Richard Thompson's electric guitar in the Rear Right on "Time Has Told Me."

I was a little conflicted by the heavy bass sound, and I had to make a decision on how much to bring out in the mix. After some reading it appears to be a double bass and I believe an integral part of the overall sound/arrangement of the songs. Some of the higher notes appear in the fronts for some nice texture, but the lower notes are slightly boomy (probably just the recording quality for the time. So I decided to leave it fairly prominently present.

The live guitar work really demonstrates the marvelous talent that Drake was. And to pass from an overdose at a young age of 26 is a true tragedy.

I keep going back to listen to this almost daily, so I must think it sounds pretty neat too.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

ARRIVAL - Jóhann Jóhannsson Soundtrack

*after recently ordering this title:
https://www.discogs.com/release/331187-Jóhann-Jóhannsson-Virðulegu-Forsetar
got a wild hair and decided to try a Film Soundtrack with Penteo & RX-8, so far I believe it's going pretty well. From the 48x24 Qobuz files.

 

[humprof]

ARRIVAL - Jóhann Jóhannsson Soundtrack

*after recently ordering this title:
https://www.discogs.com/release/331187-Jóhann-Jóhannsson-Virðulegu-Forsetar
got a wild hair and decided to try a Film Soundtrack with Penteo & RX-8, so far I believe it's going pretty well. From the 48x24 Qobuz files.

View attachment 72729

Brilliant, Pup! Yeah: I've found that this one sounds great even through the Dolby Surround Upmixer.

 

[humprof]

For some reason I have two different upmixes of I, Robot by the Alan Parsons Project (and I don't even like APP that much!). The first is 4.0 and Penteo-based--from vinyl, I think (maybe even MFSL?). The other is a 5.1 SPEC+Plogue, from 24/192 FLAC. I usually favor a digital source, even if the LP has a better mastering. In this case, unfortunately, the 5.1 wound up with some boomy bass. Otherwise it's a tossup, as this album upmixes really well.

 

[humprof]

Argent, All Together Now, in what I think is a SPEC-based upmix from vinyl. Sort of an "extreme stereo wraparound" effect on some tracks, if that makes any sense. Sounds really good, though, and worth having for "Hold Your Head Up" alone. (And the closer "Pure Love," a proggy suite with bits of Bach and Keith Emerson and premonitions of Queen. The album's hard rock tracks I'm not as fond of.) A nice complement to the Dutton package.

 

[humprof]

Bill Withers, Live at Carnegie Hall, in a superb SPEC+Plogue-based upmix from MoFi vinyl. Really sweet: all the hits and then some. And for someone who so famously suffered from stage fright, Withers is a real showman and storyteller. (It's probably selfish and petty of me to wish for the same upmix sourced from the MoFi SACD.)

 

[humprof]

After spending some time with the Let It Be box this week, I thought it might be interesting to haul out the late Eye of Horus's Let It Be...Naked. Always hard to say what mysterious all-seeing charms EoH used in any given upmix--there's a lot in the center channel in this one--but on the whole it holds up pretty well.

 

[humprof]

Blood, Sweat & Tears, 3 (5.1 upmix). Not sure who's responsible for this one, or how it was done. It's really good, though. This was actually my first time hearing 3. In fact it's only since getting into surround that I've gotten to know this band at all. (Growing up, I was a Chicago fan but not a BS&T fan.) Not sure how I feel about the "Sympathy For the Devil" cover, but otherwise the album makes a good first impression, and I'm not planning to file this one away.

 

[mandrix]

For some reason I have two different upmixes of I, Robot by the Alan Parsons Project (and I don't even like APP that much!). The first is 4.0 and Penteo-based--from vinyl, I think (maybe even MFSL?). The other is a 5.1 SPEC+Plogue, from 24/192 FLAC. I usually favor a digital source, even if the LP has a better mastering. In this case, unfortunately, the 5.1 wound up with way too much bass. Otherwise it's a tossup, as this album upmixes really well.

View attachment 73471

In my experience, the album as a whole does not upmix really well. At least my own many efforts and others I have heard over the years. YMMV.

 

[humprof]

Thanks to a friend for making me a beautiful Penteo-based 4.0 upmix of Dancing In the Dragon's Jaws, possibly still my favorite album from Bruce Cockburn's long career.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

For some reason I have two different upmixes of I, Robot by the Alan Parsons Project (and I don't even like APP that much!). The first is 4.0 and Penteo-based--from vinyl, I think (maybe even MFSL?). The other is a 5.1 SPEC+Plogue, from 24/192 FLAC. I usually favor a digital source, even if the LP has a better mastering. In this case, unfortunately, the 5.1 wound up with way too much bass. Otherwise it's a tossup, as this album upmixes really well.

It does up-mix well, but the balances have to be watched carefully, I did both a SMv2 4.1 mix and a Penteo mix (but it's been awhile) from the HD DVD 96x24 files.

I don't think I want to do anymore, because I keep hoping AP will release it soon in a real deal mix

 

[humprof]

Chambers Brothers, The Time Has Come. Hard-driving, rockin' soul. (And that epic title track: one of the greatest cowbell tunes of all time, or the greatest cowbell tune of all time?) I wish I knew who to credit for an exceptional 5.1 upmix, with really good separation and balance.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Been working on this one for over 2 weeks now, and I'm still Jazzed about it, just a great rock album (thank you @GOS for the LP rip.)

I would urge anyone who likes Styx music (and there are some here who don't apparently ) to give this title a try either through Up-mix, Surround Master, DPLII etc., as you wont be disappointed I assure you!

I'd done it before in 4.1, but wanted a little more punch out of it and a dedicated center, so I did a new 5.1.

This would absolutely be a killer authentic surround title if done up correctly.

Saw these guys open for ZZ Top back in 1977 and it was a great show, I actually remember a lot of it -LOL.
It was on "The Grand Illusion" tour.

And as you can see from my ticket stub, I definitely got my money's worth on that evening

 

[humprof]

Chicago IV (Live at Carnegie Hall), in a 5.1 upmix from RBCD (not sure which version, but not one of the "expanded" ones). I don't know if the upmixer wants to be publicly identified, so I won't name names. But I think that, with SPEC & Plogue and some other tricks, he's done about as good a job with this difficult album as anyone could. A pleasure to listen to again, "kazoo"-like horns and all...

 

[mandrix]

It does up-mix well, but the balances have to be watched carefully, I did both a SMv2 4.1 mix and a Penteo mix (but it's been awhile) from the HD DVD 96x24 files.

I don't think I want to do anymore, because I keep hoping AP will release it soon in a real deal mix

I guess when I hear upmix, my mind doesn't take Penteo into account. I haven't heard a Penteo upmix of it.

 

[humprof]

I may be a Styx Hater (there! I outed myself!), but I still love @J. PUPSTER's PupMixes. For example: his Penteo+ treatment of Danny O'Keefe's Breezy Stories. Nice. Plus: it's my introduction to O'Keefe, who I like. A mashup of Boz Scaggs, Leon Redbone, Bryan Setzer, and Steve Goodman--or something like that.

 

[humprof]

Earth, Wind & Fire, a couple of excellent Penteo 4.0 upmixes of All 'N All and I Am, both from vinyl. (For greedy *******s like me, who crave a little something to round out the AF, Sony, and Dutton quads.)