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

[soesbeout]

@rontoon did the band professionally record any shows on the '77 tour (like they did in '74 & '80/'81)?

There's also a rumor that they did 2-track cassette recordings direct from the soundboard of multiple shows. Any truth to that? I would happily take those if they exist. The cassette recordings in the King Crimson box sets are enjoyable.

Obviously a moot point since there won't be any live material in these sets, but I can dream....

I was at the In the Flesh tour at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Or in 77 have very fond memories of that one, in quad and a huge screen behind the band for the animation, and can't forget the giant pig with blinking eyes above the crowd.

 

[ssully]

I'd gladly take a SACD of Atom Heart Mother if it was a new mastering that improved on the single-digit DR ratings and distortion found on the Blu-Ray.

There's no need for it to be SACD, because there's no need for SACD, period.

Nor is there single digit DR for the quad on the BluRay.

Below I show the 96/24 DTSHD title track ripped from it, in Audacity.

This is not what single digit DR looks like. Crest factors (difference between peak and RMS average leve) per channel in fact range from 21 to 27 dB . That's excellent.

(Nor do I hear any distortion that wasn't on the old vinyl too.)

Here's Audition stats for each channel, the silent channel removed

    Channel 1    Channel 2    Channel 3    Channel 4
Peak Amplitude:    -2.34 dB    -2.56 dB    -3.12 dB    -3.09 dB
True Peak Amplitude:    -2.34 dBTP    -2.56 dBTP    -3.12 dBTP    -3.08 dBTP
Maximum Sample Value:    6304485    6123153    5802101    5879763
Minimum Sample Value:    -6406131    -6247650    -5859737    -5636844
Possibly Clipped Samples:    0    0    0    0
Total RMS Amplitude:    -19.04 dB    -18.77 dB    -20.12 dB    -20.42 dB
Maximum RMS Amplitude:    -9.06 dB    -9.26 dB    -8.39 dB    -9.07 dB
Minimum RMS Amplitude:    -114.19 dB    -114.46 dB    -113.50 dB    -114.21 dB
Average RMS Amplitude:    -24.55 dB    -23.62 dB    -30.16 dB    -29.31 dB
DC Offset:    0.00 %    0.00 %    0.00 %    0.00 %
Measured Bit Depth:    24    24    24    24
Dynamic Range:    105.14 dB    105.20 dB    105.10 dB    105.15 dB
Dynamic Range Used:    57.40 dB    58.45 dB    58.10 dB    59.50 dB
Loudness (Legacy):    -15.70 dB    -15.85 dB    -15.01 dB    -15.09 dB
Perceived Loudness (Legacy):    -13.01 dB    -13.86 dB    -10.99 dB    -11.15 dB
ITU-R BS.1770-3 Loudness: -13.60 LUFS

0dB = FS Square Wave
Using RMS Window of 50.00 ms
Account for DC = true

 

[steelydave]

The Blu-Ray of the title track measures DR9 (full log here) whereas my transfer of the UK Q8 clocks in at DR12, and since it's tape you can't suggest that it's vinyl contributing to the added dynamic range.

You can clearly see that the peaks in the front channels of the Blu-Ray have had a haircut compared to the Q8:

I did a more in-depth anaylsis a few years ago that you can view here - if you can't hear any audible distortion or other limiting/compression artifacts I'm happy for you, but I can, and it's annoying. SACD isn't my preferred format when it comes to flexibility, but if it meant a second go at mastering this, I'd gladly take it.

 

[jimfisheye]

I thought the AHM bluray might have been brightened a little in mastering if I was being critical. Compared to most of the kind of mastering mistakes we see though, it's still a 10/10! There's gross sonic destruction out there! This is not that! This was an incredibly welcome upgrade to the UK Q8 that I spent WAY too much time on trying to restore. (Pleased as I was with how that come out at the time.) All the subtle ambience reverbs and delay elements in the mixes were just still obscured on that Q8 for as much as it was pulled and tugged into the right overall shape. The Q8 was a breath of fresh air with no hint of brick wall volume war anything.

It sounds like something's up with a media player or a corrupted copy or something @steelydave. I'm not saying it's perfect but it's not smashed or distorted. A little bright and a little fatiguing perhaps. The distortion and hiss on the restored Q8 is so much worse! Remember those earlier shared copies before we stepped in with that UK Q8 ten years ago? The ones where someone had what sounded like guitar Tube Screamer stomp box distortion going on from making an old crude broadband noise reduction plugin go into full distortion?

Something's messing with you.

 

[steelydave]

Nothing's wrong with my media player or copy, I ripped it myself from the BluRay to uncompressed 24/96 WAV and worked with it in Steinberg Nuendo and Izotope RX to produce the screenshots I shared in these threads. Of course the BluRay is better in terms of clarity than the UK Q8, but it's lost at least 3dB of dynamic range as a result of whatever mastering they've done to it, and they've introduced actual distortion in the process.

Just because it could be worse doesn't also mean it couldn't be better - the quad mixes of DSOTM and WYWH on the Blu-Ray sets aren't similarly affected, so I'm not sure why they chose to do this to AHM.

 

[ssully]

The Blu-Ray of the title track measures DR9 (full log here) whereas my transfer of the UK Q8 clocks in at DR12, and since it's tape you can't suggest that it's vinyl contributing to the added dynamic range.

Sorry, I don't really put much stock in the DR site measurement, except for digital 2 channel releases.
I'll stick with the Audition numbers. They indicate that for the BluRay , dynamic range is absolutely not a problem...which is what I hear too.

The rest of your analysis , old and new, is not terribly convincing either...interpreting 'wiggles' and haircuts and such. One thing you might try is a waveform display that isn't all white...i.e., one that gives pictorial indication of running RMS average (as Audacity does, the lighter blue band at the center of each channel), and then consider the different EQ of the two versions. More bass can lead to 'fatter' waveforms for example, without being more compressed.

If I normalize this track to 0.00 dbFS, in Audition, only the front left channel actually peaks there (at ~22.22.05) , once. That's old school mastering.

 

[jimfisheye]

Well, I'm not suggesting it's beyond critique. It sounded like you were really reading it the riot act and that just made me question if there isn't something going on beyond the sound as delivered. If you're just being what sounded like a little extra critical to me over a favorite or something like that, then fair enough!

I don't like to use sliding scales either, really. But here I am doing just that! I don't know... When we have examples of 0/10 fully destroyed masterings out there like we do, I guess I feel partial credit is due.

The slightly bright mastering on the Early Years set stinks! But I'm grateful that at least the whole set didn't get completely destroyed like the full album remixes in that set. (Partial credit again.) The Meddle, OBC, & Pompeii remixes are 1/10 and unlistenable. I can listen to AHM and enjoy it.

I'm a lot less offended by the sibilance issue with the original OBC and even prefer it to the "corrected" 2nd pressing and after. They apparently had a problem with that back then. So... what the heck happened, right?

Heh, what are we going to be talking about over the Animals remix and mastering?
Incoming!

 

[Shikoku]

One of the top 5 concerts in my life! Ah, a live disc would be welcomed ...even a cleaned-up version of the Oakland show Looking forward to the release!

 

[rontoon]

Well now you've given out a new holy grail to pine after, Ron! The AJ mastered Oakland show.

My request was politely declined.

 

[salsdali]

My request was politely declined.

they are polite above all else <--tea

 

[Beefalo]

I'm hoping for a Lamb Chop puppet to be included. My apologies to Shari Lewis.

Yes!
@Mesozoic Mike

 

[Electric Moo]

That Rolling Stone interview with Gilmour & Polly was good. Looking forward to the Cohen inspired stuff

Also the Syd Barrett lyric book he's been working on

At least with Roger & Dave having said their piece, we can get on with listening to the music now/soon.

I try to stay out of the R vs D fan arguments: they are both geniuses IMO

 

[Beefalo]

Sitting at my dinner table tonight.

Actually two of them are cooked and sitting on the table!

 

[LuvMyQuad]

Sitting at my dinner table tonight.
View attachment 67915
Actually two of them are cooked and sitting on the table!

I suppose you could be dining on dog..... but ummm....

 

[Beefalo]

I suppose you could be dining on dog..... but ummm....

@LuvMyQuad
My sad years working in a kitchen at Nhat Tan Street, Tây Hồ District, Hanoi taught me that they are hard to skin and too much gristle
.. Besides aren't dogs the Overlords in this tale?

 

[LuvMyQuad]

@LuvMyQuad
Hard to skin and too much gristle
.. Besides Dogs are the Overlords in this tale

I thought the Pigs were the overlords. The Dogs are the corporate powers that be.

And exactly how might you know they are too hard to skin and have too much grizzle ???

 

[Beefalo]

I thought the Pigs were the overlords. The Dogs are the corporate powers that be.

And exactly how might you know they are too hard to skin and have too much grizzle ???

 

[rtbluray]

Something very important! (I think...) Pink Floyd | The Official Site

The DG/PS RS interview (originally shared on here by @rontoon) was posted on the Pink Floyd website with this caption:

David and Polly chart their collaboration from The Division Bell through Polly's new audiobook A Theatre for Dreamers, and discuss the difficulties surrounding an upcoming Animals reissue.

Now AFAIK this is the first official acknowledgement from Pink Floyd's website concerning the "Animals" remix, so if they use the word "upcoming" that does indeed give me great hope that we will see it released very soon!

 

[surround.sound.enthusiast]

I've been away from the forum and missed this thread update. I actually just flipped through my copy of the Acoustic Sounds catalog today that mentioned the Animals 5.1 SACD coming for 2019, for the very pause of wishing about this release! This is good news, that the 5.1 mix will finally see the light of day.

So much has already been said since this thread re-activated. The release does look like basically a deluxe edition of the album, not an Immersion-style box with demos or live versions, and that's too bad. But just gimme Animals in 5.1 and I'll take it!! I forgot that there were liner notes or essays at all in some of the recent boxed sets, especially the Immersion sets. I thought they were largely picture books. The liner notes that were included in (at least the original 1999 release) "Is There Anybody Out There: The Wall Live 1980-81" were a nice inclusions. I like the comments about mini-inflatable pigs and pop-up Battersea buildings as boxed set extras.

Anyway, glad this is looking like it's finally getting released, and as another mentioned, The Wall may not be too far behind it (depending what scale you use to measure time) as I remember reading that Guthrie said a mix was completed.

 

[Starkenstein]

I was at the In the Flesh tour at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Or in 77 have very fond memories of that one, in quad and a huge screen behind the band for the animation, and can't forget the giant pig with blinking eyes above the crowd.

Likewise, I saw them during that 77 tour in Baton Rouge. If I could go back in time once, watching that concert would be at the top of my list.