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

[Bill B]

While I do like the Final Cut, it is the least listened to post-70s PF album that i listen to. It's got two problems.
The most obvious is that it's pretty much a Water's solo album. With little input from the rest of the band, it is lyrically dense and musically sparse.
The second, is that too many songs sound like The Wall leftovers.

With that said, I'd pre-order the Final Cut immediately if they did the same as they did with Animals.

 

[LuvMyQuad]

F&#k all that we gotta get on with these...

 

[DuncanS]

Used to love playing that track (when it first came out) and occasionally Not Now John, the rest, meh

Snap!

 

[~dave~~wave~]

That’s true for tube amps - the output transformer will overheat if there’s no load. But solid state amps, at least class A or AB, rarely use output transformers, so they can run unloaded just fine. We rarely loaded our prototype amps at Altec when they were under development. Sure, we tested with loads, but it was never an issue about damage.

This.
When I suggested disconnecting speakers as a ripping alternative I made the assumption that since it was blu ray it would be playing via HDMI to a solid state AVR.

Always take advice from strangers on the internet with a grain of salt.

 

[Ranasakawa]

My BluRay finally arrived in the mail. The packaging & booklet are as depressing as the music but I love the sound. Hopefully there will be the same thing with the other 2 5.1 mixes completed.

 

[barfle]

Easter eggs are accessible from a menu. This isn't.

Easter eggs are pretty much any hidden feature in a presentation. I’ve seen the full-score music in the Apollo 13 DVD described as an easter egg. I’ve seen hidden features on web pages described as Easter eggs. Maybe this is one, maybe not, but the definition isn’t set in stone.

 

[barfle]

You have to be careful what you say on this forum about sensitive issues. In order of importance:

3) No politics
2) No religion, and above all...
1) Never a discouraging word when the topic is Pink Floyd.

No joke. I mentioned that I didn't like one little part of DSOTM, a release which I rated a 10. I almost got my cyber head chopped off and put on a pike. It was so bad that Urban had to intervene.

Yeah, I made note of my opinion of “The Wall” and got in a pi**ing contest with someone. Fortunately a mod caught it and deleted the thread.

 

[Owen Smith]

Agree with @albertop This is not an Easter Egg. Its just the way the 5.1 was mixed. Many releases only have low level signal in the center.

Easter eggs are accessible from a menu. This isn't.

Really? There's a complete low level mono mix in the centre channel? Well that's stupid, it's going to affect imaging and cause phase issues. So really this disc should be played with the centre speaker disconnected.

 

[sjcorne]

Really? There's a complete low level mono mix in the centre channel? Well that's stupid, it's going to affect imaging and cause phase issues. So really this disc should be played with the centre speaker disconnected.

The center speaker content is around 20 dB quieter than the fronts, I doubt it would cause any perceptible phase or imaging issues. I wouldn't recommend disconnecting it though, there's a spot midway through "Dogs" where the circling synth pans through it.

 

[ssully]

The instrumental content of the centre channel is incomplete, I mean this is not a full low-volume instrumental mix. I'm listening to the centre channel of Pigs as I type and there are no keyboard parts, for example. I don't think this can be considered an intentional Easter Egg. It's more likely to be the result of an artistic choice that excludes the centre channel for vocals and other stuff. Interesting nonetheless, as a one-time listening experience.

It's not an easter egg. It's no more an 'easter egg' than isolated vocal or bass parts in the center are. It's just a mix choice. I think the OP was being facetious.

 

[ssully]

I know - but is there a difference in the sorroundmix between SACD and bluray?
not the cover, booklet I mean difference in the music (front, rear etc)
Thanks for your Infos

No.

Except in the imaginations of QQ posters, different 5.1 mixes for the same release on SACD and DVDA and BluRay released at the same time crediting the same mix engineer are not a thing.

Multiple 5.1 mixes of albums rarely happen, period...Tommy, Brain Salad Surgery, and A Farewell to Kings are among the few. The two mixes are typically separated by time and done by different mix engineers.

 

[ssully]

Yes, and keep your filthy hands off my dessert. Missile strike is an awesome sound. Oh yeah.

Not sure a *dessert* action would merit an airstrike, but YMMV.

 

[ssully]

While I do like the Final Cut, it is the least listened to post-70s PF album that i listen to. It's got two problems.
The most obvious is that it's pretty much a Water's solo album. With little input from the rest of the band, it is lyrically dense and musically sparse.
The second, is that too many songs sound like The Wall leftovers.

With that said, I'd pre-order the Final Cut immediately if they did the same as they did with Animals.

It's got some of Gilmour's finest work.
It's recorded immaculately, and for an album of that era, had some dramatic loud/soft dynamics.
Excellent lyrics.
It was already 'holophonic' and would translate well to a good surround mix.

 

[privateuniverse]

The latest video in the new series. No commentary from the band here. Just a very short history of Battersea Power Station.

 

[Owen Smith]

The center speaker content is around 20 dB quieter than the fronts, I doubt it would cause any perceptible phase or imaging issues. I wouldn't recommend disconnecting it though, there's a spot midway through "Dogs" where the circling synth pans through it.

If the circling synth pans through the centre and isn't in front left and right to an equal degree, then the centre is not a mono mix of the entire album.

 

[Frogmort]

If the circling synth pans through the centre and isn't in front left and right to an equal degree, then the centre is not a mono mix of the entire album.

Although this album is almost a quad mix, there is at least one keyboard part that moves around the room and for a moment moves to the center channel, but other than that, the center channel seems to contain a guide track type of stripped down performance of the song, before they performed the main, big performance we hear on the album. This guide track may have possibly been mixed ever so slightly into the original album mix, maybe not. But it seems like just a basic rhythm section for them to perform over. It's not just a quieter sum of the front left & right.

Also, I think the LFE channel might contain some momentary discrete low keyboard bass, so because of the one off discrete keyboard part in the center and the different basic performance guide track in the center, and the very occasional low keyboard bass in the LFE, I don't think deleting the center and LFE is a good idea.

P.S. - When I listened to this again tonight, I turned the left and right front speakers down 1dB, and I thought it sounded great! I have 2 18" subs and the bottom end on this is spectacular!

 

[Frogmort]

Listening to just the center now, I think this is actually part of the main finished product and not an alternate guide take so much as just a part of the overall finished version without effects, etc. added in. This is really neat listening to just the center channel.

 

[Sal1950]

Some other interesting sales tidbits. Billboard reports that Animals sold 20,000 copies in the US last week:

8,500 on vinyl
6,000 on CD
4,500 on other physical formats (presumably the Blu-ray & SACD)
1,000 digital downloads

That CD number is very surprising?
As is the vinyl!
This release was all about getting the multich mix, and maybe the hirez 2ch remastering.
Why anyone spends big money today to drag a rock thru a ditch ala 1960 I have no idea.

Really? There's a complete low level mono mix in the centre channel?

It's there to help focus the front soundstage, not damage it. Same as the 3 channel stereo releases of an earlier time.
Besides adding to the surround effects.
Disabling it will only serve to alter James Guthrie's intent.
YMMV

I think what some are hearing as distortion in some bass is a purposeful added effect. Just a guess.

 

[AYanguas]

After the excitement of some, I finally extracted the center channel. It’s really interesting. You can enjoy a very good instrumental, more basic sometimes because the lack of some. The interesting thing is that a clearer sound is perceived (less instruments), clearer notes, clearer sounds and melodies specially from the bass guitar.

I have increased the amplitude by 600%. But I had to lower first a small part at about 11:30 (total album time), that was a very ‘loud’ shrill synth.

It is curious that at the end of the album, the center channel continues with the birds sounds during the whole POTW Part 2, of course at a very low level. It is curious because it is a loop with birds songs that looks almost the same as in the track “Grantchester Meadows” from Electric Moo-Studio Album. Or maybe it’s me that I hear all the birds the same.

 

[madscot]

One of my favourite bands, but...................does that apply to the Final Cut?

If the final cut is released in a big box deluxe set with 4 cd’s, blu ray, book etc for £9.99 I wouldn’t buy it, why? For me it’s one of two unlistenable PF albums, the other being Electric Moo, I have them on cd for completist purposes, surround sound can’t make sound like