While I love the idea of more music in immersive formats, I fear they will take the cheap way out and do most of this "re-mixing" with algorithms not engineers on multi-tracks. I'd love to be wrong but the cost and lack of good engineers makes it unlikely they'll bite that expense off. That will produce the same DSP-style faux surround effects that suck like a turbo Dyson.
If they do turn engineers loose like they did w/ REM- Automatic for the People, it could be Nirvana (who could use a remix too).
I wonder which audience they are trying to serve w/ this, the Home Theater in a box crowd, or audiophiles who bought into the idea of surround giving great music space for all the parts to breathe. I'm firmly in the second camp and recently expanded my 7.1 music system to full Auro/Atmos capability with a
Trinnov Altitude 16 channel preamp/decoder/room magician.
If you haven't experienced one of these for room optimization, I'll just say it's brilliant. My listening room is pretty well treated and starts from a fairly flat response, but the 3-d mic and computer in this thing tighten up so many amplitude, phase and standing waves issues it's a night and day thing.
Even more so when you add the hight speakers and start doing Atmos or Auro. The Trinnov can set up and really sweeten up any configuration.There's not a lot of recorded for immersive music, but
2L and
Sono Luminus do some great stuff mostly classical and period music. Ozark Henry has a pop standards style album called
Paramount that has an Auro mix recorded in a theater that is magnificent sounding. It gives a perfect combo of discrete sounds especially his vocal, but also some of the solo instruments in the backing orchestra. But in addition a full feel of sitting in the theater hearing this with no amplification and the room in full effect. Kraftwerk 3-d is the other end of the spectrum where there is no attempt, or need, to recreate acoustic sound or room ambience, and they just have a ton of fun with the electronic coolness going all over the place.
The additional height speakers make a wonderful addition to some music, but I think a lot of band-based pop and rock will not really gain that much and there will be a danger if getting too cute with the mix. This is where I hope Steven Wilson has been thinking about jumping in because this could really use someone as dedicated to the music not the slick effects to blaze a path for producers and engineers to follow.
