Michael Jackson's Thriller in 3D & Dolby Atmos

[Biddlefry1]

The 360RA version has no center channel which isn't usually the case, unlike the subwoofer channel.

OK, I'm glad you brought this up. I'm listening to the Atmos downmixed to 5.1 and it seems only tracks 1 and 2 have anything in the centre channel. For the rest of the album, the centre is non-existent and I was beginning to wonder if my system was going mad! Anyone else finding the same? Strange mixing decision to make if my system is playing correctly.

 

[sjcorne]

The 360RA version has no center channel which isn't usually the case, unlike the subwoofer channel.

Many (most?) of the Sony Atmos mixes that originated in 360RA have no little-to-no content in the center speaker - examples include London Grammar's Californian Soil, Cheap Trick's In Color, Heart's "Barracuda", Europe's "The Final Countdown", Earth Wind & Fire's "Let's Groove", etc.

 

[himey]

Many (most?) of the Sony Atmos mixes that originated in 360RA have no little-to-no content in the center speaker - examples include London Grammar's Californian Soil, Cheap Trick's In Color, Heart's "Barracuda", Europe's "The Final Countdown", Earth Wind & Fire's "Let's Groove", etc.

Little is different than none. Not many have absolutely nothing in the center channel. Thriller has absolutely nothing in the center channel. Cheap Trick has something in the center channel throughout the entire album. I haven't listened to any of the others you mentioned. Very few have anything substantial in the center.

 

[ted_b]

I don't have Tidal nor a 360RA decoder, but if In Color (Cheap Trick) a fave of mine, is any indication of what 360RA-to-Atmos is like, I disapprove. The In Color presentation in Atmos (Apple Music) is somewhat thin (mainly low bass and some thinness in the midrange) and FM-sounding...not horrible but not worth a listen past "I had to hear it". My $.02

 

[himey]

I don't have Tidal nor a 360RA decoder, but if In Color (Cheap Trick) a fave of mine, is any indication of what 360RA-to-Atmos is like, I disapprove. The In Color presentation in Atmos (Apple Music) is somewhat thin (mainly low bass and some thinness in the midrange) and FM-sounding...not horrible but not worth a listen past "I had to hear it". My $.02

Certainly not top notch but far from terrible.

 

[LennonCobain]

Little is different than none. Not many have absolutely nothing in the center channel. Thriller has absolutely nothing in the center channel. Cheap Trick has something in the center channel throughout the entire album. I haven't listened to any of the others you mentioned. Very few have anything substantial in the center.

False. Not all tracks on Thriller (360 RA) have a silent center channel. As @sjcorne described, there just isn’t much going on.

 

[Biddlefry1]

Little is different than none. Not many have absolutely nothing in the center channel. Thriller has absolutely nothing in the center channel. Cheap Trick has something in the center channel throughout the entire album. I haven't listened to any of the others you mentioned. Very few have anything substantial in the center.

I guess what makes it even more intriguing is the fact that the first 2 tracks do have something in the centre - horns, for example. Then, presuming the tracks were mixed in album order, the mixer thought, "Nah... sod this centre channel for a lark. Can't be arsed using that! But I'll leave it in the first 2 songs. Coz nobody'll think that's weird. It's only Michael Jackson after all and possibly the most important pop album of all time. Nobody will probably even notice!"
Hilarious. Would love to have been there when that decision was made. And then you hear something like the new Weyes Blood album which sounds as if it was mixed by some kind of surroundscape genius. Honestly, I would love to meet some of these mixers and just ask them: WTF, dude?!
Rant over. Well, possibly.

 

[himey]

I guess what makes it even more intriguing is the fact that the first 2 tracks do have something in the centre - horns, for example. Then, presuming the tracks were mixed in album order, the mixer thought, "Nah... sod this centre channel for a lark. Can't be arsed using that! But I'll leave it in the first 2 songs. Coz nobody'll think that's weird. It's only Michael Jackson after all and possibly the most important pop album of all time. Nobody will probably even notice!"
Hilarious. Would love to have been there when that decision was made. And then you hear something like the new Weyes Blood album which sounds as if it was mixed by some kind of surroundscape genius. Honestly, I would love to meet some of these mixers and just ask them: WTF, dude?!
Rant over. Well, possibly.

I haven't listened to the Atmos mix but the 360 mix has absolutely nothing throughout. I loaded the 7.1.4 into Audition to confirm.

 

[himey]

False. Not all tracks on Thriller (360 RA) have a silent center channel. As @sjcorne described, there just isn’t much going on.

Audition shows nothing. Not going to argue because there is too many variables with the 360 decoding.
Edit... I will redo the first couple tracks when I get home and post back.

 

[Biddlefry1]

I haven't listened to the Atmos mix but the 360 mix has absolutely nothing throughout. I loaded the 7.1.4 into Audition to confirm.

Ahhh. Curious. Could it be the result of my receiver downmixing from Atmos to 5.1? Experts required!

 

[himey]

Ahhh. Curious. Could it be the result of my receiver downmixing from Atmos to 5.1? Experts required!

It shouldn't. I can send any of the 7.1.4 channels to any of my speakers using Audition, on the fly. The waveform looks perfectly flat, just like the subwoofer channel. I will direct the center to all the channels and see if I hear anything.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Michael Jackson's BEAT IT Restored in 4K at 60 Frames per second

Restored Michael Jackson Beat It Official Music Video 4K 60Fps

 

[Biddlefry1]

View attachment 85522

Thanks, Himey. Strange how Atmos is giving me something in the centre for Wanna Be Startin Something and Baby Be Mine. Ah well. One of life's mysteries!

 

[ziggy]

Hi all, can't believe this is out, didn't even know it was being released and it sounds awesome!

Anyone else think the 360RA version sounds better than the Atmos version? Basically, every other track/album I've compared, the 360RA version sounds better.

 

[himey]

Hi all, can't believe this is out, didn't even know it was being released and it sounds awesome!

Anyone else think the 360RA version sounds better than the Atmos version? Basically, every other track/album I've compared, the 360RA version sounds better.

I don't know. You can do direct comparisons with the new Ozzy release and a couple others that are up in both the 360 and Atmos sections. I didn't do any forensics on the two Ozzy's, but listening to both, I didn't hear much difference.

The streaming Atmos has a 5.1 bed while the Blu-ray Atmos bed is 7.1. The 360 decodes to a 7.1 bed, and if memory serves, the file sizes of the 360 tracks are slightly larger.

 

[himey]

Michael Jackson's BEAT IT Restored in 4K at 60 Frames per second

Restored Michael Jackson Beat It Official Music Video 4K 60Fps

The restored Smooth Criminal looks amazing too. I had never seen it in any form before.

 

[4-earredwonder]

The restored Smooth Criminal looks amazing too. I had never seen it in any form before.

AGREED!

 

[4-earredwonder]

Hopefully, SONY will collect all these remastered in 4K videos with restored ATMOS soundtracks and release them as a Native UHD4K set with a separate blu ray [for those NOT 4K equipped] containing the 13 minute 3D Michael Landis directed THRILLER video!

 

[himey]

AGREED!

I was looking at a different restore that was 4K, 4x3, but that one looks great too!

 

[dobyblue]

That Smooth Criminal and Beat It show very obviously their source material and the Beat It sadly the guy wanted to let you know it was him by overlaying his name throughout the entire video lol.

Wonder if they were originally shot on film, if so the Jackson estate (or whomever own them) would be able to order a real restoration. When you look at the quality of the 4K remaster of Thriller, which was clearly shot on film, the difference is beyond measure.