Q&A: Elliot Scheiner on Madeleine Peyroux’s Let’s Walk, remixing Steely Dan in 5.1 surround sound, and more! (IAA)

[DuncanS]

if i may just be somewhat indulged for just a brief moment-ette?

my "ScheinerSurround" (*TM) Top 10 Surround Music mixes that i implore, nay beseech, nay urge, all good internet surfers of this divine QQ thread to sample, if they haven't already done so;

1.) Grover Washington Jr., "Winelight" (DVD-A, SACD)
2.) Steely Dan "Gaucho" (DTS CD, DVD-A, SACD),
3.) America "Homecoming" (DVD-A, SACD),
4.) Donald Fagen "The Nightfly" (DVD-A, DualDisc DVD-A, MVI DVD-V boxset),
5.) The Doobie Brothers "The Captain & Me" (DVD-A, SACD),
6.) Beck "Sea Change" (DVD-A, SACD, HFPA BD),
7.) Lynyrd Skynyrd "Southern Surroundings" (DVD-A, HFPA BD),
8.) Toto "IV" (2003 SACD, 2011 7" Sony Japan SACD),
9.) Boz Scaggs "Dig" (CD+DVD-A),
10.) Eagles "Hotel California" (DVD-A, SACD, BD-A in Deluxe boxset).

I have them all! They are albums I love both the music and the surround mix. The thing that hadn't really clicked with me until you pointed it out was that all the mixes were by good old ES

 

[sjcorne]

You asked damn near every question any QQ member would want to ask without coming off like a drooling fan boy (like most of us are). So professional and right to the topic.

Well, one benefit of doing these in the written format is I get to 'fix' things and make myself sound a little bit smarter after-the-fact

But seriously, thanks for the kind words and glad you enjoyed it!

 

[~dave~~wave~]

Well, one benefit of doing these in the written format is I get to 'fix' things and make myself sound a little bit smarter after-the-fact

I appreciate reading your interviews & reviews as opposed to rambling videos or podcasts from other sources.

Editing = professionalism.

 

[ssully]

Great interview; ES is one or the finest surround mixers out there. And so I had a wow moment at this (not necessarily disagreeing, just interesting to see it said out loud by a giant in the field):

The thing about Atmos, or what Dolby calls “immersive” now, is that it’s really a film system. I don’t think it’s right for music.

 

[privateuniverse]

One of my favorite bits:

I also remember hearing Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon in quad, which Alan Parsons had mixed. He played it for me in the studio and it was mind-boggling..... It’s better than the 5.1 they did later on.

Amen!

Great job as always Jonathan!

 

[4-earredwonder]

FABULOUS interview, Jonathan! And thanks for providing a list of Elliot's superb surround discography!

Any chance Madeline Peyroux's LET'S WALK will eventually be released on physical BD~A in ATMOS/Auro 3D for those of us who don't download?

Great to hear that Elliot's still in the game. He remains to this day one of our most ELITE remixing engineers .... bar NONE!

 

[sjcorne]

You'd have to ask her management, but I doubt there will be a Blu-Ray release. It's my understanding that they started an independent operation ("Just One Recording") in order to release this record, and there's a very small team involved in running it. I think their original plan was do a streaming-only release of the Atmos mix, then Darcy Proper looped me in to set up the hi-res download.

So "those of us who don't download" may want to give it a try. After all, it is the exact same audio you would get on a disc.

 

[GaryG]

Great interview Jonathan. Thanks for posting it here.
I would love to hear the immersive version of Madeleine Peyroux’s “Let’s Walk”.
Unfortunately I am not set up for immersive download playback nor would I know what to do with it once I downloaded it.
I would buy the physical release in a heartbeat.

 

[sjcorne]

Unfortunately I am not set up for immersive download playback nor would I know what to do with it once I downloaded it.

I don’t want to derail this thread too much with talk about downloads, but I see in your equipment profile you have an Oppo 203. If you were to load the Atmos MKV files onto a USB stick and plug that into the Oppo player, they should play properly (as they do on my 103).

I’d be happy to work with you over PM to figure this out, feel free to message.

 

[mrcond]

Great interview; ES is one or the finest surround mixers out there. And so I had a wow moment at this (not necessarily disagreeing, just interesting to see it said out loud by a giant in the field):

The thing about Atmos, or what Dolby calls “immersive” now, is that it’s really a film system. I don’t think it’s right for music.

He seems to be much more keen on Auro 3D than Atmos. My problem is, I don't have a way to play Auro 3D without buying new equipment, and given the relative availability of Atmos over Auro 3D, it seems mixing exclusively for Auro 3D is a losing proposition. Having never heard Auro 3D, I am not sure what makes it "better" for music.

 

[sjcorne]

He seems to be much more keen on Auro 3D than Atmos. My problem is, I don't have a way to play Auro 3D without buying new equipment, and given the relative availability of Atmos over Auro 3D, it seems mixing exclusively for Auro 3D is a losing proposition. Having never heard Auro 3D, I am not sure what makes it "better" for music.

I agree, and that's why I pushed for the TrueHD/Atmos option in addition to Auro-3D. Both Madeleine's team and Scheiner - despite his misgivings about the format - agreed with me that significantly more listeners would be able to hear the immersive mix if it was available in Atmos too.

The good news is that it's very easy to take an Auro 9.1 (5.1.4) or 11.1 (7.1.4) file, resample to 48K, and then pan the individual stems in the Dolby Renderer to create an Atmos master. So if ES wants to mix directly in 5.1.4 at 96K without any Dolby software in the signal chain - which is what he did for this album - I say let him, because it can just be put into an Atmos 'container' at the end of the process. The only downside of this workflow is that the mix will always be locked in a 5.1.4 configuration, without the ability to expand and fill larger arrays like 7.1.4, 9.1.4, or 9.1.6.

 

[humprof]

Best yet, Jonathan! I'm already excited for New York Voices and Sheryl Crow.

Disappointing to hear that there are other SD missing multis beyond the two well-known tracks from Aja. (And that the dbx problem with Katy Lied goes all the way back to the multis.) But I hope Irving Azoff eventually comes around--and I hope Elliot is wrong about UMG cooling on the idea of remixing legacy titles in Atmos.

Also: when Nigel Godrich finally heard Elliot's mix of Sea Change the way it was meant to be heard, then how in the world was that not a come-to-Jesus moment for him?!?

 

[sjcorne]

There's a high probability that New York Voices will be an IAA release

 

[Ranasakawa]

I have 7 of these on the list. Great to know I have some of the best DVD As ever produced.

 

[fredblue]

I have 7 of these on the list. Great to know I have some of the best DVD As ever produced.

big time!! imho he is the best of the best. not every mix is a perfect 10 but when he gets it right, which is more often than not, the results are sublime Surround.

 

[himey]

hmm.. to be fair, that's only one side of the story.

the "someone else" was Mick Guzauski, no less, not some no-name nobody but a truly great world-renowned engineer in his own right.

also, there's still "stuff in the back" in MG's 461 OB mix as well and i would suggest more effective use of the Centre channel than the rejected mix but i realise i'm in the minority having expressed the view already that in some ways i prefer Guzauski's mix and that going down like the proverbial lead balloon!

There is something off on the center channel of Elliott's 461 mix, compared to his other excellent ones, although I could have mis-labeled my rip. The others blend more seamlessly to the fronts. Nightfly, Gaucho, and Homecoming blend perfectly.

 

[fredblue]

There is something off on the center channel of Elliott's 461 mix, compared to his other excellent ones, although I could have mis-labeled my rip. The others blend more seamlessly to the fronts. Nightfly, Gaucho, and Homecoming blend perfectly.

461 OB's nowhere near his best work imho but then for me neither is his mix of "Layla".. although i'm not sure there's much more that can be done with that one tbh and i suspect it's another Classic album hamstrung by limitations of the original recording.

"Nightfly", "Gaucho", "Homecoming", "Winelight" are my Gold Standard by which all other Surround music mixes get judged!

 

[kenm]

Snap!!

edit: i think Guzauski may be one of the most underrated big name Surround engineers around, his more recent Atmos mix of Daft Punk's "Random Access Memories" for example is at times breathtaking.

Boy, I wish Daft Punk's, RAM had a physical Dolby Atmos disc release.

 

[Dynamic Editor]

Boy, I wish Daft Punk's, RAM had a physical Dolby Atmos disc release.

They will release the drumless version again just to spite you.

 

[fredblue]

Boy, I wish Daft Punk's, RAM had a physical Dolby Atmos disc release.

oh me too!! it's quite the experience!!