Pink Floyd - "Animals" 5.1 Surround Sound Mix (Blu-Ray & SACD editions out in September 2022!)

[Bill B]

I'm starting to think that Atmos has brought a new bravery and willingness to be creative with surround mixes. I believe many feared their work being labeled "gimmicky" as was so popular back in the quad and even 5.1 days.
Yes friends, there is much more mixing artistry to be expressed with surrond sound beyond a bunch of ambience channels.


wOOt, I just got an update from Amazon and mine says the same thing.
Tomorrow, tomorrow, I'll love you tomorrow, your only a day away.
"Now I know something really special is happening to get me singing that sucky cheesy song". LOL

More like....
And time goes by, so slowly.
And time can do so much.....

 

[Greg Z]

If you can cancel it, you can still get it quicker from Amazon.

I have the SACD arriving tomorrow. I'll just wait for the Blu-Ray.

 

[ctoelle]

Mine arrived today, and WOW, the wait was worth it!
Will give it a few more listens tonight, but I will most likely vote a 10. Sheep is especially phenomenal.
The only thing bad is the cheapo packaging

 

[rontoon]

Loving the 5.1 mix. Even with the noticeable changes I feel that Guthrie knocked this one outta the ballpark.

 

[zabble]

The Blu-ray arrived today. Listened to it once so far. Guthrie has gotten a bit better for the most part, but there are some things that are weird to me. I think I’m too familiar with the original sound balances to be objective. There are a lot of things that are louder than what you hear on the stereo version. I’m glad to hear them like this upon first listening. But will I feel the same tomorrow? I don’t know. The 23rd Psalm part on Sheep sounds a lot different. And so does the ending guitar on the same song. No matter how it sounds upon the second time around, I’m super-glad this exists.

 

[Sal1950]

I think I’m too familiar with the original sound balances to be objective.

You have to be open and expect it to sound different.
What would be the point of it, if it sounded exactly the same? And as much as I love Animals, it sure can use some modernizing of the FR balance.

 

[colsky]

You have to be open and expect it to sound different.
What would be the point of it, if it sounded exactly the same? And as much as I love Animals, it sure can use some modernizing of the FR balance.

That's one of the reasons why I love surround music. With these old classic albums I've played them to death and know them so well, that I hardly ever play them nowadays. When they are released in surround though, the music opens up, with differences here and there, and I find myself falling in love with the albums all over again

 

[mandrix]

So mine will not be here until Tuesday. My debit card and a CC got hacked and I had to do some shuffling around to pay. Bassards. They also signed me up on about 1000 sites judging by all the emails I've deleted. Double bassards.
Take my advice, folks, set up 2 step authentification on EVERYTHING. Once they had my debit card number they put a charge against my PayPal account, thus my bank account. Triple bassards.

Good news is I caught it quick and paypal even expedited the unauthorized charge instead of the normal 2-12 days.
....and of course I WILL NOT BE DENIED ANIMALS BD!

 

[quicksrt]

So, I'm home from work now, very tired, maybe not much concentration. But, I feel inclined to give my knee-jerk comments as I seem to be one of the few to have mine.

I am not married to mixes that are super wacko, all over the place. I do like them though. This is NOTHING like Dark Side of The Moon in terms of surround stuff here and there. But rest assured, the fidelity is a massive improvement to any version I've ever heard. That's a major win for this album. The rear channels are a bit conservative, but they work as a whole for me. As Ogrequad said, and I agree, it's big, and just turn it up and be amazed at how super impressive this will fill your listening space.

In my very limited ability to sit and listen to this intently, I love it, and I couldn't be happier. I'll be sniffing around a 9 as a vote I suspect. It's just so fun to be able to hear this iconic album with incredible fidelity and punchy bass. Wow!

The guitars have cool subtle variations in their repetition that were almost completely lost in the original stereo mix. Here those details are so much fun to hear bright as day. This clarity is striking, all instruments. And for album I'd gotten a bit worn out on this is a big deal. The massive fidelity improvement is on everything, all instrumental parts. I leaning on a 10.

 

[quicksrt]

That's one of the reasons why I love surround music. With these old classic albums I've played them to death and know them so well, that I hardly ever play them nowadays. When they are released in surround though, the music opens up, with differences here and there, and I find myself falling in love with the albums all over again

This is why I like to play the late 5.1 mixes with front L&R channels reduced dramatically and have surround (or rears) much louder than the fronts. It opens up a new album for me after years of playing a record and becoming somewhat burned out on it.

This 5.1 has very cool L&R rear channels for those that like to study an album musically, production and engineering wise after you've heard it already for so long. Strong separation and beautiful clarity back there.

 

[quicksrt]

Finally it arrived today and of course I listened to it. One of the most important albums for me.
Long awaited - finally released. So where are the liner notes that have been so difficult? Anyway, I like it as it is.

And: It's definitely a different mix to Brian's. For comparison I'll listen to the stereo mixes as well.

Some observations:

• James Guthrie uses large speakers. Subwoofer is low frequency effects. This is different to many Steven Wilson mixes. My speakers are full range, but not that large. No problem, I like much low end so I can always choose my analog downmix option that is optimized for my equipment here. If I want more ...
• A lot of details are heard now.
• Guitar soli: mighty, Dogs is incredible.
• James does not really use the center speaker. Similar to Andy Jackson I think. So it's more or less a 4.1 (quad) mix. But a good one.
• Pings on the Wing 1 (and 2) are very dry. Haven't heard the old mix a long time, but I remember there was a little room on Rogers voice. May be I'm wrong. It just sounds different to me.
• Vocoder section on Sheep is very different to original version.
• Keyboards became more interesting in this 4.1 mix.
• Drums sound different, snare drum especially.
• May be the new mixes got rid of some glitches during Dogs. My 2011 remaster CD and the old CD from 80s have those glitches. I've to check this by time when listening with headphones.

Strongly recommended BD-A. Enjoy! Have fun!

They are ever so tastefully arranged (in the mix) to come in stinging or being panned around here and there, but not overdoing it. Rick gets to shine here as he should. David's guitar parts show off his stuff like no other PF album. And here they catch a hotter spark and fire imo.

 

[beerking]

No animals were harmed in this production...

Playing it will have to wait as I'm on babysitting duties for my 11mth old grandson.

 

[StudioAndromeda]

Oh God!
I love Pigs on my humble 5.1-system...
Got the bluray delivered on the door today, normal shipping,- shipment is improving here in Norway!
(I wrongly wrote Sheep first)

 

[César]

They are ever so tastefully arranged (in the mix) to come in stinging or being panned around here and there, but not overdoing it. Rick gets to shine here as he should. David's guitar parts show off his stuff like no other PF album. And here they catch a hotter spark and fire imo.

And the bass guitar in P3DO! This may be the highlight of the mix, it sounds magnificent

 

[perzon57]

Oh God!
I love Pigs on my humble 5.1-system...
Got the bluray delivered on the door today, normal shipping,- shipment is improving here in Norway!
(I wrongly wrote Sheep first)

Shipping is not improving her I live in the north west, if I'm lucky I'll get it on Monday.

 

[stereoptic]

I just realized that I ordered this twice, one from Deep DIscount, one from Amazon! Both arriving today.

 

[rtbluray]

Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals: HiRez Poll - Pink Floyd - ANIMALS [Blu-Ray Audio/SACD]

 

[ar surround]

Shipping is not improving her I live in the north west, if I'm lucky I'll get it on Monday.

You should have had it shipped with the Pink Floyd Flying Pig service.

 

[IMachine]

So far so good.
I have to listen more before I can vote.
Two things: imho the lowend on the floor tom is too heavy. A little less I would prefer.
And the cowbell on the first break in Pigs is missing.

 

[César]

Did anyone listen or tried to extract the music that runs during the main menu? It's in 5.1 and seems to run for 32 minutes. I'm still at minute 5 and it seems a collage done with sounds from Sheep. And it's fully discreet. Check this out!