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

[ProgRules]

Just got back from the pub to find that my Blu-ray disc has arrived. But sadly I'm too inebriated to play it in a deserving fashion

I've heard it said when your drinking interferes with listening to long-awaited surround mixes, you may have a problem...

JK

 

[mrcond]

Wowza! I had to turn my subwoofer down 3dB!!
I think Mr. Guthrie got a little carried away with the LFE channel. Can’t wait too see the waveform breakdown.

You can never have too much bass...

 

[mrcond]

There are 2 or 3 places in Dogs where there is a ridiculously low and powerful bass note - not sure if it is bass guitar or synth/Moog. Anyway, I had never heard it like this before and I friggin' love it. EDIT: Apparently it is a bass pedal making that sound, according to other posts in this and the poll thread.

 

[kvsawilson]

I'm pretty sure mine is here in my house but i can't get it until my b-day next week. Sure hoping it's what my wife got me because if she got me something else I'm going to have to get a new wife. But I figure I've had this ordered for 45 years or whatever now as I had the quad 8 on order for a year back when the album first came out and I'd go down to the record store every week and every time they would tell me it would be in next week. Until finally it was dropped from the catalog and I broke down and bought the album. So I'll wait a few more days and hear what all the fuss is about.

K

 

[GOS]

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!

Figured I'd clarify my comments about this title not being as discreet as DSOTM. I was actually talking about the Quad version on the Immersion Box Set. Compared to the regular 5.1 of DSOTM, this one is much, much better. But, you all have now figured that out. This Animals is a blockbuster, IMO.

 

[Sal1950]

First listen now to the bluray and 3 initial thoughts:
- it's bloody awkward getting the disc out of the slipcase isn't it!

Yes, almost no way to get it out without fingerprints on it.
I hate leaving fingerprints !!!

I really would like to slap the designer of the slipcase !!!
Glad I'll have it ripped to my drive in a couple hours and won't handle it again.
I'd be quite pissed if I had to fingerprint it up and clean it after each use.
I might have even been pushed to cutting up the case a bit for better access.

 

[Bill B]

Very happy with everything. This will be my favorite surround mix for the next year. I can't imagine anyone saying it's too tame. I always expect a 5.1 mix of an album I know and love to be revelatory. They rarely are. This one is.

 

[Bill B]

I really would like to slap the designer of the slipcase !!!
Glad I'll have it ripped to my drive in a couple hours and won't handle it again.
I'd be quite pissed if I had to fingerprint it up and clean it after each use.
I might have even been pushed to cutting up the case a bit for better access.

Yeah it's a lot like Waters' "Amused To Death" but at least that one had a cardboard sleeve for the blu-ray (while the CD was crammed in just like the blu-ray in this Animals package)

 

[harync]

It seems like it's 5 equal loops mixed together so it's not repeating itself exactly,- interesting, but a bit disappointing..

It's 3 separate tracks. The first track is 5:03 (file name 0000.m2ts) and plays upon start-up (Screen image is a shot pulling away from the Battersea). The other 2 are each 3:58 (0008.m2ts and 0023.m2ts) and I think it just alternates between the two.

 

[Sal1950]

Yeah it's a lot like Waters' "Amused To Death" but at least that one had a cardboard sleeve for the blu-ray (while the CD was crammed in just like the blu-ray in this Animals package)

It might just be Waters I'd like to slap. LOL

 

[quicksrt]

I have a friend who is getting the SACD. So I'll compare the two masterings of the 5.1 mix before I vote. But I'm pretty sure of where I will land on the scale.

This could be 5.1 mix of the year being the material is so strong, and a mix that didn't miss the mark like so many do. Or they chicken out and go half way but are afraid to go all out or all in with the instrument placements.

 

[SomethingAnything]

For those in Oz, Am Au are selling this on two different pages with very different prices. Here's the much cheaper one: Pink Floyd - Animals (2018 Remix) | Amazon.com.au | Music

 

[fetchmybeer]

Got mine from Amazon today and promptly cancelled my order with PF's (Music Glue) website, which fortunately was pretty easy to do.

The mix is worth the wait. As all have said, it's really clear and crisp, and it is most certainly a departure from the original, but the original mix is on the BR so nobody has the right to complain. You get all the mixes on one disk! Greatness!

Apart from a few spots in Pigs during the long instrumental section where there are some phantom bass rumbles that I can't pinpoint (but are in time, so I figure it's a Roger Waters brown note), the mix is really well done. Immersive and adventuresome with the panning during some of those long sections like it should be. Definitely better than WYWH. Not quite DSOTM 5.1, which I know a lot of people find vastly inferior to the quad, but Animals is so much more of a straightforward rock record than DSOTM. I don't think the surround mix could be much better than it is.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Here's how these 'Menu Tracks' ripped for me at 5.1 48x24 PCM/WAV file about 17 min. long.

What shall we name it?

 

[César]

Here's how these 'Menu Tracks' ripped for me at 5.1 48x24 PCM/WAV file about 17 min. long.

What shall we name it?

View attachment 83559

If it really comes from Sheep, the best name I can think of would be: "Lamb Cutlets"

 

[artwwweb]

(Edit: Just realised I should have put this in the new poll thread; I've copied it across to there.)

I wrote this review before checking in here. I'm pleased to see that the basic impression we are all getting is the same.

Very occasionally the spreading out of the sounds exposes a synth being a little old and klunky or the production being a little uneven - such as when Roger's voice has different effects on it in Pigs ("You're nearly a good laugh..."). These things were masked in the stereo mix. But overwhelmingly the separation adds to the enjoyment. The recording is so complicated that giving it extra space allows all the subtleties to be appreciated:

Obviously Gilmour basically plays a 40 minute guitar solo, but you really appreciate how many different *ways* he plays his guitar.

Nick Mason doesn't just keep time, he uses his drums as an instrument. Never flashy, but constantly changing and full of interest.

Rick Wright is not a virtuoso player, but again he plays so many keyboards: synth drones, heavy piano and tinkling Rhodes.

All topped with Roger's lyrics, which are much more vicious than anything punk managed.

Example of cool surround effect: the bit where Roger's voice seamlessly segues into a synth during Sheep. It starts as Roger front centre and ends up as a squelchy synth in the rear left.

 

[artwwweb]

When the menu started playing a different version of the music I checked the time. When I saw it was over 30 mins long, I thought (hoped) it was a live bootleg version they'd slipped on as an Easter egg. That would have been nice. Still, better than nothing! They really ought to have added the 8 track POTW, even if all they could do was an upmix. It would have been nice to have Roger in front and then Snowy replying from one of the rears.

 

[warp2600]

So I walked to the brick and mortar media store near my home this morning because the webshop showed that they have the bluray in 'low stock', and the only music BD I found on the shelves was one Clapton, one George Michael and one Pink Floyd Pulse. I had to ask 3 different assistants if they really had the Animals BD and only the 3rd one checked the store room (on my suggestion) if it still lies in a box from yesterday's consignment. And there it WAS, the ONLY copy they had (I had to wait some more time until they found out the sales price) - I think this was the only copy in my hometown (p. 120,000!!!), and I had to be REALLY agile to persist until I got it in my hand and could head to checkout.
Listened to it once. Really nice surround mix. A good example of how 5 speakers can ease up and lift up a rather congested original stereo mix. I can't imagine anyone going back to the original mix after hearing this. In the middle instrumental part of Pigs I had a wide grin on my face

 

[fredblue]

So I walked to the brick and mortar media store near my home this morning because the webshop showed that they have the bluray in 'low stock', and the only music BD I found on the shelves was one Clapton, one George Michael and one Pink Floyd Pulse. I had to ask 3 different assistants if they really had the Animals BD and only the 3rd one checked the store room (on my suggestion) if it still lies in a box from yesterday's consignment. And there it WAS, the ONLY copy they had (I had to wait some more time until they found out the sales price) - I think this was the only copy in my hometown (p. 120,000!!!), and I had to be REALLY agile to persist until I got it in my hand and could head to checkout.
Listened to it once. Really nice surround mix. A good example of how 5 speakers can ease up and lift up a rather congested original stereo mix. I can't imagine anyone going back to the original mix after hearing this. In the middle instrumental part of Pigs I had a wide grin on my face

don't want to derail the conversation and i'm glad you got a copy, thanks to your perseverance!!

however, i do feel this is part of why larger physical stores selling music etc have been in decline for a while now; some of the folks working there sometimes just don't care or i should say maybe some don't care enough and many times know less about the products they're selling than the customer!

although when i think about it, this has been going on for many years as i've had the exact same experience as you, a number of times..

after the DVD-A/SACD War, where let's face it nobody really won (especially the consumer!) i always used to say "well they could only sell as many DVD-Audio's and SACDs as they made.." and while i stand by that (they clearly never made enough copies of so many of the more desirable titles that are now so hard to find for decent money) i'd now also add to that, "..and they could only sell them via informed salespeople, properly trained, who knew what they were selling".

anyway, just about to have my first listen to the new 'Animals' 5.1.. wish me luck!

 

[Guy Robinson]

Ordered it from Amazon Friday morning and received it Friday afternoon. Have yet to play it.