R.E.M.: Automatic for the People (ATMOS | 25th Anniversary)

[marpow]

Mine arrive today.

Shrink-wrapped sealed in a Large Amazon Box. No bent corners BUT

when I opened it every single cardboard sleeve and every disc was dislodged, sliding around.

Not happy about that but listening to now in 7.1.4

will report later

I had the same experience, post #98.

 

[Frogmort]

Listening on a 7.1 setup (non-Atmos), I thought the new surround mix was absolutely spectacular. Scheiner is God, but I thought this new mix was much cleaner, more dynamic, and even more discrete. The Scheiner mix actually seems more 'big stereo' to me than this, and I think Scheiner is God! Anyone know who did the new mix? :upthumb

 

[Perp]

Yes. Scott Litt and Clif Norrell but Scott Litt is giving Clif Norrell most of the credit. Read the Arstechnica article. It’s very good!

 

[sukothai]

Trying to understand why my first impression of this was so negative. Here's what I've got so far.

The DR looks to be a little better on ATMOS than the DVD-A. The average comes out the same:





I hope this next table make sense. I tried to isolate which channel each instrument/sound was coming from.



Table Key: 'X' = Strong presence; 'x' = Weak presence; '+' = v. weak presence; 'e' = wet (echo) presence

There are a few things I don't like, but I think what bothers me the most is the Backing Vocals and Strings being up front. The backing vocals are just a strong echo of Stipe's lead, but the should be in back.

 

[salsdali]

I only had time to listen to the first 3 songs and I agree with your table that this is indeed a VERY different mix than Elliot's 5.1 mix.

It's going to take repeated listening and A/B compares for me but your table and my ears seem to really show that the mixers had completely different "themes" they were going with this album.

This just reinforces my belief that every single album on the planet should be remixed every 10 years by a completely different mixer using completely different technology.

I mean, why not?

 

[Perp]

This is good news to me because I really prefer not to listen to echo backing vocals in the rear speakers.

 

[Perp]

Boy, I was really messed up yesterday after getting home from work and running a few errands. I could barely keep my eyes open and when I tried to visiting QQ, I ended up Posting in the wrong thread, not once, but twice. I ended up getting a couple of hours of sleep and was able to do a comparison in regular 5.1 surround on four of the songs that are on the ‘best of’ Out Of Time that are on this release since I don’t have the original album that was released On CD/DVD-A over a decade ago.

Here are the songs:

1) Man On The Moon
2) The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight
3) Everybody Hurts (soooooooooommmmmmtttiiiiiiiiiimmmmes)
4) NightSwimming

This is a tough one. I really liked how both of these sound. Each have their own strengths and weaknesses. Wait! Maybe there wasn’t any weakness with the DVD-A. A very well mixed 5.1 album but if I only had one gripe, some of the sound effects I preferred to be up front. The strength the Atmos mix had (I listen in 5.3.2 because I’m limited to a seven channel AVR for now) is Michael Stipes vocals are much clear and easier to understand. Also, it has a very gigantic soundstage that is very natural in comparison to the DVD-A song mixes. The negative of the Atmos mix is that background vocal and sound effects are mixed to low. The

 

[Perp]

To add to the above, I noticed there was a volume discrepancy between both mixes where I found myself turning the volume up on the Atmos mix between 6 or 7 dB louder over the mix off the DVD-A.

 

[rtbluray]

Price just dropped to $66.39 on amazon.com:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075K343CP/

 

[Which_One_Is_Pink]

Well what the heck decided to go ahead and get this one (allready have the DVDA), got it from Target with a cyber Monday 15% off which brought it to $59.54 shipped, should be here Friday. Yay @: <---- REM!

 

[rtbluray]

This should have been included on the Blu-ray, but nonetheless, it's still a fantastic look at the making of one of R.E.M.'s best album!
[video=youtube;OaiLpMsz2FE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaiLpMsz2FE[/video]

 

[popshop]

That was fantastic! Thanks so much for posting that. Excellent production value and editing. Quite interesting to see where they recorded some of those songs. The atmos section at the end felt a bit like a commercial - and I'm curious if dolby threw some money at the reissue - but I really liked it, and it made me understand atmos a bit more. Very cool to see Mike Mills and Scott Litt smiling listening too.

 

[Spock]

Listening now to the Atmos mix on my 7.1.4 system. Sounds fantastic, full 3D bubble with sound and discreteness. Very crisp and clear. Constand use of the ceiling channels. I love E.S mix, but this is something else..

Just excellent!!

 

[edisonbaggins]

Waitin' on that Amazon Warehouse deal...

 

[Spock]

The bonus track - Photograph (With Natalie Merchant) is excellent, mixed in awesome Atmos like the rest. Don't know if I have listened to it before, great song. Was it a b-side?

 

[edisonbaggins]

This should have been included on the Blu-ray, but nonetheless, it's still a fantastic look at the making of one of R.E.M.'s best album!
[video=youtube;OaiLpMsz2FE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaiLpMsz2FE[/video]

Ryan, I get where you're coming from. I too (like most of us) hope that as much content as possible will make it on to the BD of a release.
I can tell you though, that for promotional videos, sometimes it makes the most sense to leave it off of the BD.
Sometimes it's simply a matter of timing and sometimes it's more than that.
Take my album, Disturbing the Universe, for instance. A similar interview style video is being shot and I considered accelerating the timeline of the video to be able to include it on the BD, but chose not to in the end.
The video will turn out better once the camera crew and interviewer are familiar with the album. And, given that the video is somewhat a promotional thing, it makes sense that it is not constrained to the BD, but rather accessible from the web, via youtube, vimeo, etc.
If the video is present only on the BD, then it can not be used to promote the BD. Only those who have already bought it will see it. That makes it an extra or a "goodie" for those who already wanted the package.
I suppose such videos could be present on the BD and on the web, but that is a matter of timing and of strategy and is not always within any one person's control.
Just my $0.02.
The more I think about this release, the more I'd like to hear the Atmos, dammit. It's just that the Elliott Scheiner DVD-A is soooo damned good, it's hard to want to give another surround mix a chance...

 

[Spock]

Listened to the old E.S. mix now for comparison and the new mix is just so much better in every way, fidelty, clarity, mix, details etc - on my Atmos set up.

The new mix is what I will listen to from now on.

It's hard to listen to a 5.1/7.1 mix after a great Atmos mix like this, the soundstage sounds so small.

 

[anandchristi]

Listened to the old E.S. mix now for comparison and the new mix is just so much better in every way, fidelty, clarity, mix, details etc - on my Atmos set up.

The new mix is what I will listen to from now on.

It's hard to listen to a 5.1/7.1 mix after a great Atmos mix like this, the soundstage sounds so small.

Man you are pushing me to get the Atmos Boxset!!! Thanks for your feedback.

Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk

 

[Spock]

Man you are pushing me to get the Atmos Boxset!!! Thanks for your feedback.

Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk

Yeah, do it!! You know you need it!

Don't know if you have had the same "problem", but I was earlier somewhat let down by several atmos mixes. Then I read somewhere that you should point the ceiling speakers directly towards sweetspot - I had them firing straight down.... I got som new adjustable fittings and got them pointing in the right direction. Now it's perfect, 10 times better!! Just a tip

 

[depeche76]

I also finished listening to the Atmos mix for this title (By the way, one title that i consider myself very familiar with because i listened thousand times to the cassette, the CD and the DVD-A). My impressions are that the mix is a different beast compared to the DVD-A mix of ES. The ES mix was terrific, and it will be listened for more years to come, however, this Atmos mix is also very good; at least for me the Atmos mix is not a supernatural experience, however it definitely let me hear details that i have not heard before (or that i least i have not noticed before). In my opinion, the following songs are very benefited from this new mix: "The sidewinder sleeps tonite", "Sweetness Follows", "Monty got a raw deal" and one of my favorites, "Man on the Moon". I did not like that much the first song "Drive" as for my taste it has a lot of "echo or delay", however is enjoyable also (as i said before....different from the DVD-A).

As a record collector, and R.E.M. fan, i strongly suggest you to get this title and enjoy it.

By the way, i listened to this Disc through a home theater and also through headphones (on an xbox s) and i also found them very different between them. Listening through an xbox is very "immersive" and also very cheap (you need to buy the console and a license and connect any earphones to the control). By no way, my home theater rig is High end: i have a marantz NR1608 (50 watts per channel, very low power but very detailed sound), connected to 5 polk audio speakers, 1 polk subwoofer and 2 Onkyo "height" speakers for the Dolby Atmos effect (configuration is 5.1.2 = 5 speakers, 1 subwoofer and 2 Height speakers).

For me this is a 9.5 (rounded up to 10) :banana::banana::banana: and i will recommend to get both multichannel mixes (DVD-A and Atmos). If you dont have the necessary equipment to listen to the Atmos, you can buy the xbox console and enjoy a very fine mix that will not steal your wallet.