WHO’S NEXT/LIFEHOUSE Box set coming in September 2023 (STEVEN WILSON DOLBY ATMOS & 5.1 MIXES CONFIRMED!!)

[cbmmm3]

Well bless those Amazon boys in Kearny, NJ because they obviously know where Bumbletopia is located...

IT'S FINALLY HERE!!!!

 

[J. PUPSTER]

View attachment 96516

I see dead birds!

Also, as to the comments on the low bass; I always felt with John’s Bass technique, he had a good ‘popping’ presence sound to his mid to higher range notes. The lower range is something that would appear more in the LFE. I know from past SW mix/mastering’s his typically bass sound is excellent. However I did notice the LFE didn’t have a lot of amplitude in the 5.1 mix.

I’m assuming folks are talking about the lower range notes then?

I need more listens to make any personal judgements as of yet.

 

[Bill B]

All hail Rarewaves!!!!
The Eagle has landed.
After taking a cursory look at the contents and liberating the blu-ray, I put all that crap back in the box and am happily listening to the album.
The only thing I can say immediately is that this baby can really be cranked.
Otherwise everything looked in great shape although there were some minor indentations where the aforementioned pins were situated. Nothing to get upset about and barely noticeable. The pins are now wrapped in a Bounty sheet triple folded.

 

[Juggsnelson]

I see dead birds!

Also, as to the comments on the low bass; I always felt with John’s Bass technique, he had a good ‘popping’ presence sound to his mid to higher range notes. The lower range is something that would appear more in the LFE. I know from past SW mix/mastering’s his typically bass sound is excellent. However I did notice the LFE didn’t have a lot of amplitude in the 5.1 mix.

I’m assuming folks are talking about the lower range notes then?

I need more listens to make any personal judgements as of yet.

An example of what I'm not hearing in great detail are the notes John plays during the verses on Won't Get Fooled Again. Even the fills he plays during the "tip my hat to the new constitution" bit lack definition for me. If it makes sense, the fills lack distinction in the notes I hear on the Japanese stereo SACD. The overall melody is there but the notes themselves run together a bit. I'm a bass player so this could just be my extreme focus on those parts lol.

 

[Juggsnelson]

I see dead birds!

Also, as to the comments on the low bass; I always felt with John’s Bass technique, he had a good ‘popping’ presence sound to his mid to higher range notes. The lower range is something that would appear more in the LFE. I know from past SW mix/mastering’s his typically bass sound is excellent. However I did notice the LFE didn’t have a lot of amplitude in the 5.1 mix.

I’m assuming folks are talking about the lower range notes then?

I need more listens to make any personal judgements as of yet.

Also I agree on Wilson's usually fantastic bass sound. The ABC, Tears For Fears, Ultravox etc discs have outstanding bass. You can hear every note brilliantly.

 

[rontoon]

Also I agree on Wilson's usually fantastic bass sound. The ABC, Tears For Fears, Ultravox etc discs have outstanding bass. You can hear every note brilliantly.

I found the bass/LFE to be a mixed bad depending on the track and original recording.

 

[H.A.L.]

I see dead birds!

Also, as to the comments on the low bass; I always felt with John’s Bass technique, he had a good ‘popping’ presence sound to his mid to higher range notes. The lower range is something that would appear more in the LFE. I know from past SW mix/mastering’s his typically bass sound is excellent. However I did notice the LFE didn’t have a lot of amplitude in the 5.1 mix.

I’m assuming folks are talking about the lower range notes then?

I need more listens to make any personal judgements as of yet.

On my 7.2.4 system I thought Entwhistle's bass really popped out -- my subwoofers are large, though, and the front and rear speakers are mains.

 

[H.A.L.]

Anyone else's memorabilia get scratched up by the buttons included?
Just like the Layla Deluxe set.
WTF

Yes, the buttons' clasps made small impressions on the "signed" publicity still included. Not very noticeable, but admittedly annoying.

 

[marpow]

I was at gym today and listened for first time, the Dolby Atmos on my Dolby Atmos wireless headphones.
Took me a couple try's to find the new Dolby Atmos release on Apple.
I can definitely sympathize with a few people on QQ that have preferred the stereo in regards to lack of bass, very noticeable on headphones.
But, I still will not listen to it on the home rig until end of month when I receive my Japanese copy.

 

[sjcorne]

But what do I know - maybe the source material doesn't allow for a more aggressive mix?

"Won't Get Fooled Again" and some of the bonus songs are 16-track, everything else is 8-track. So yes, there were definitely some limitations with regards to the source material.

 

[LennonCobain]

Has Steven Wilson made any statements regarding the approach taken with “Bargain”? I understand the issue with the missing multitracks, but surely with today’s technology he could have created a 5.1 and Atmos mix that was more discrete.

For example, the Atmos mix of “Sweet Home Alabama” is really good and those multitracks are still missing.

 

[mrcond]

Has Steven Wilson made any statements regarding the approach taken with “Bargain”? I understand the issue with the missing multitracks, but surely with today’s technology he could have created a 5.1 and Atmos mix that was more discrete.

For example, the Atmos mix of “Sweet Home Alabama” is really good and those multitracks are still missing.

Here is what it says in the book that came with the set.

Disc 11 Blu-ray: Atmos & 5.1: The Original Album & Bonus Tracks

BY STEVEN WILSON & RICHARD WHITAKER

The main challenge with creating a surround mix from a vintage album like Who's Next comes from the relatively economic fashion in which it was recoded, at least compared to today's computer based recording where there are virtually no limitations. Several tracks, including 'Won't Get Fooled Again' and some of the non-album singles, were recorded on 16-track, but most of Who's Next itself was recorded on 8-track tape using the technique of bouncing down (multiple parts recorded separately but then reduced to a single channel on the tape to free up channels for further overdubs). Sometimes the multi tracks have the drums recorded in stereo, but just as often on a single mono track. Then there might be a track of bass guitar, a couple of guitars, a lead vocal, one or two backing vocal tracks, and an extra channel with piano, synthesiser, brass, or percussion.

To make a 5.1 from these elements mainly involved keeping the core rhythm track in the front speakers, lead vocals in the centre speaker (but not exclusively), and using the rear speakers for things like backing vocals and the aforementioned extra elements. That sounded beautiful. But then we come to Atmos. My studio is based on a 7.1.4 Atmos setup so I have potentially 11 speakers to fill with sound, including four elevated speakers. How was I going to make that work?! Well, the answer lay in the further elements added in the mix - effects like reverberation on individual vocals and instruments. For example, the organ on 'Won't Get Fooled Again' is bathed in a halo of reverb, which needed to be added during the mix (it's not recorded on the tape, reverb is nearly always added during mixing). Recreating this meant I could move the organ and it's halo of reverb separately in the surround field, making for a really immersive swirl of sound. The same is true of almost all of the reverb and echo effects on the album - in recreating these I was able to control and position them separately to the source sound to make the instruments and vocals sound multi-dimensional in Atmos.

Sometimes we were lucky enough to also have an original session reel. This might have numerous run-throughs of a basic backing track the band played, before a take was selected and bounced down to a stereo pair on another reel for overdubbing. Having this reel meant that I could resynchronise it with the master reel in the computer, which in turn meant that not only were we going back an audio generation in terms of the drums, bass and rhythm guitars, but also that I had separate control over the sound and positioning of these instruments.

For me the economy inherent in the recording process of Who's Next actually makes for a really engaging surround experience. You can hear the space between all the instruments, every gesture in the music. Even the sound of the room they were recording in. Both compositionally and performance-wise nothing on Who's Next is superfluous or wasted, everything counts. It's almost a cliche with surround sound to say that it's like you're in the studio with the band, but that really is the way it feels on these iconic recordings. You can almost reach out and touch the music.

The phrase 'classic album' seems almost inadequate in the case of Who's Next. What an absolute honour then, to be able to deconstruct and reconstruct one of the most legendary and influential recordings in the whole rock canon - as well as 14 non-album tracks from the same era - and present it in this new form, which I hope is simultaneously faithful to the original while presenting it in a fresh way for people like myself that have been in thrall to it for most of our adult lives.

Steven Wilson, August 2022

Note: Unfortunately the original multitrack tape for 'Bargain' could not be located, so this track is present in upmixed form in surround. For this I used Penteo, sophisticated software which takes an original stereo master and processes it to create a pseudo surround mix. While this is obviously not the same as being able to create a properly immersive mix by positioning individual elements from a multitrack tape, it is the best possible solution given the circumstances, and at least preserves the flow of the ablum when listened to in 5.1 or Atmos.

 

[Todd 987]

Reading all the comments of one of my favorite albums and trying to justify the splurge, haven’t found it yet. The bonus tunes in multi does make it more appealing.

 

[ssully]

I have given this a few spins now on my modest setup which is 5.0; I have four full-range shelf/stand speakers and a center, but no sub. I find it sounds terrific for vintage quad mixes and I have never felt bass was lacking on those.

what is a 'full range' shelf/stand speaker?

(personally, I'm getting over the supposed allure of surround remixes , especially SW's, and often favoring good upmixes of the original stereo mixes, these days)

 

[shakti]

Specifically four Castle Durham speakers from the 80s. I like how they sound, but they’re not the most detailed speakers around.

 

[Sal1950]

BY STEVEN WILSON & RICHARD WHITAKER

I gotta hand it to Steven, for better of worse he tells the truth on the provenance.

 

[Petr Kropotkin]

I've played it once and my wife has already asked (yelled to me) to TURN IT DOWN!!!

And in the pursuit of audiophile nirvana, we see yet another marriage bite the dust.

 

[skherbeck]

Personally, I think these mixes sound great. Plenty of bass on my system. The 16 track mixes understandably sound better than the 8 track mixes. There are limited ways to use the rear channels in those 8 track mixes. I had done DIY mixes from stems of Behind Blue Eyes and Won’t Get Fooled Again years ago and SW placed the musical elements in similar locations (but his mix is far superior in terms of fidelity). I say this not to compare myself to SW, but just to point out there are limited ways to create a surround mix when tracks are limited. I’m surprised that so many are complaining about the mixes. Maybe if the Bluray was released by itself at a reasonable price there would be less grumbling? I absolutely love the bonus mixes. (My comments are based on the 5.1 mix only)

 

[ubertrout]

So, when I saw mention of the Rarewaves sale I checked and it was out of stock. Out of curiosity I checked their eBay store and there was a listing which seemed right at a price which was surely a mistake...$55.81 (with free shipping). I figured it was worth the risk so I ordered it, and it went out of stock shortly thereafter.

Today...

 

[jefe1]

Great deal
I got the Normal price at Rarewaves but it's never arrived and USPS doesn't have it still. I think it got lost
The new Quadios will take the pain away....