I've been listening to this one again tonight. Although some tracks have disappointing mixes there are several that are pretty damned good.
I agree. I think it sounds terrible.Yeah, I don’t even know where to vote on this.
Reading the interview with Neil Dorfsman explains a lot: he mixed it into 5.1 because he was hired to do so, and was purposely very conservative with it because he wasn’t even sure if the album should even have been in 2-channel stereo let alone surround!
This is one of the best albums ever released from a songwriting standpoint. It also is probably more responsible for the advent of brickwalling and the “loudness wars” than any other single release. This release does nothing to relieve my headache when listening!
As such, I’m not sure we need this album in 5.1. It does “open up” a bit in some places. The rears could have been used more to “envelope” if the intention wasn’t to have many discreet elements back there. IMO. But clearly Dorfsman thought something else needed to be done with the mix.
So judging it on its own merits? Yeah I don’t know where to go with it exactly. I’ll have to play it a couple more times. After my brickwall-headache subsides. Lol.
I agree. I think it sounds terrible.
AF could remaster it, preserving the dynamics! I am sure this is a title they could acquire the rights to. Oasis are NOT protective of their work in a way that would prevent others from remixing it. Noel does not give a sh*t.
If Mr Hoffman remastered this I would be happy.
I would love to know what Neil heard when he mixed it. Presumably on professional equipment that was capable of handling whatever was put through it.
In a similar vein I would love to know what Giles and Sam heard at Abbey Road when they worked on Sgt Pepper & the white album etc.
I suspect that amount of juice going through the circuitry in domestic equipment is enough to cause distortion through overload.
But, I for one very much love this album in 5.1.
One of the most revealing quotes from that interview: Where he says he asked how many they thought they might sell and he was told “if we sell 10,000 it will be amazing”.
Of a SACD of one of the best selling albums of all time released in 2003.
Kinda says it all.