Flaming Lips In Surround

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Hey Edison, isn't that the one where all 4 discs were supposed to be played at once. Serious! :cool:
 
Just found Zaireeka on cd, SB dvda, embryonic dvda, the video collection and the zoo concert. All pretty cheap!
(Already have Yoshimi and Mystics).

Just want to clarify: Embryonic does have a deluxe version with a DVD-A, but the DVD-A is only hi-res stereo. It is not in surround. It may be my first non-surround DVD-A.
It's like the polar opposite of Zaireeka: you can play the best version with only one disc (rather than 4), but only in 2-channel, not Octereo. Well, I guess it could have been mono...
Weird! :confused:
 
Thanks for reminding me about the Embryonic mix! I ordered the furry one last night!
 
I'm planning to take a Flaming Lips surround/hi-res trip soon. Maybe Saturday. Might have to wait a week.

Yoshimi
At War with the Mystics
Embryonic (hi-res stereo)
Soft Bulletin
Zaireeka (low-res surround)

I want to make a custom mix of Zaireeka from the 4 CDs I have. I'm thinking 4 "sides" of stereo would work.
As in, Front L&R disc 1, Rear L&R disc 2, L&L disc 3, R&R disc 4. Or it might be fun to rotate two of the discs 45 degrees, potentially creating "8 corners" of concentration.

I just gotta do some rips with EAC. Might leave the whole thing as one track or break them all up in to 8 tracks. Not sure.

Or maybe there are some good custom mixes out there, though I'm not sure to what extent we'd be allowed to discuss that here?

Potential Zaireeka mixing strategies:
zaireeka1.jpg
zaireeka2.jpg
 
I did the 4 CD player thing when Zaireeka initially came out, and I recall liking it a lot - though I had a lot of shift with the different players - which was both fascinating and annoying. They should release an interactive bluray where you can change the mix. I just searched and am very surprised FL has never released Zaireeka in 5.1.
I'm curious on what you find with your mixes. Have a safe trip! :confused:
 
I did the 4 CD player thing when Zaireeka initially came out, and I recall liking it a lot - though I had a lot of shift with the different players - which was both fascinating and annoying.

Haha - Imagine what my 4 LP attempt sounded like! Everybody's run-in grooves behaved quite differently. But, as stated in the liner notes, they encourage a chaotic experience. Leave one player in another room.
One upstairs. One outside. We chose to do eight corners of the room. It was very cool, but I am looking forward to hearing all four discs in sync. I've listened to all four individually. It's interesting to think about why certain material was chosen for each disc. How it got mixed, mastered, etc.
 
So, I thought I'd give a bit of a TFL in Surround write-up, for those curious to delve beyond Yosh and Mystics.
I'll give my ranking, in terms of overall interest and value, IMHO:

1. Yoshimi - duuuuhhh - poppy, catchy songs, polished vocals (relative to other Lips records), interesting themes, overall good fun and great, great mix
2. At War with the Mystics - just about as good as Yosh in every way, just not quite as poppy or fun - if you're in a darker mood maybe spin this one
3. UFOs at the Zoo - tremendous energy, great setlist, decent performance (some songs sound better than on their respective albums), discrete instruments, good band history
4. Soft Bulletin - pensive, moody songs, excellent and enjoyable mix at some points, very annoying mix at others - far less accessible than Yosh, but maybe it will still be interesting when one hits Yosh burn-out
5. VOID - video collection - this would be KILLER if the sound were a little crisper - I didn't mind it while watching, but then, upon hearing the same track on DVD-A I thought the sound improved some
6. Christmas on Mars - This is a really cool, but very weird movie - think Eraserhead - great sound effects and great musical moments, occasionally - there is a stand-alone DVD and a CD/DVD set available
7. Zaireeka - (4 CDs or 4 LPs) - this is for total nuts only, but is good stuff - setting up multiple players is obviously a hassle, but rewarding - there are 5.1 fan mixes out there, just sayin'... I'd rank it musically somewhere akin to Soft Bulletin
8. Embryonic - stereo only! Wtf, mate? Still, the DVD-A is the best representation - at the proper volume it is quite enveloping, though one may also wish to mess with some faux-surround - only, there is apparently an upmix out there, which is reputed to be quite good - I hope to run across it sometime

**Christmas on Mars could be #5 for me - I like it better the more I understand it - if you watch the Fearless Freaks movie it helps give some context, IMO**
 
Thanks for this rundown, edisonbaggins. You can't do a ranking like this without inviting quibbles, but in the end it's all good. I only just discovered UFOs at the Zoo--which I didn't even realize had a 5.1 option until I popped it in the player tonight!--and Christmas on Mars. (Scored both of them used last weekend.) And after reading your post, I ordered VOID and Fearless Freaks--which has a 6.1 soundtrack, right?

(The "upmix" of Embryonic is fantastic. I'm sure you've read the speculation in another thread here on QQ that it may actually be a genuine 5.1 mix leaked by Fridmann or someone else close to the band.)

So, I thought I'd give a bit of a TFL in Surround write-up, for those curious to delve beyond Yosh and Mystics.
I'll give my ranking, in terms of overall interest and value, IMHO:

1. Yoshimi - duuuuhhh - poppy, catchy songs, polished vocals (relative to other Lips records), interesting themes, overall good fun and great, great mix
2. At War with the Mystics - just about as good as Yosh in every way, just not quite as poppy or fun - if you're in a darker mood maybe spin this one
3. UFOs at the Zoo - tremendous energy, great setlist, decent performance (some songs sound better than on their respective albums), discrete instruments, good band history
4. Soft Bulletin - pensive, moody songs, excellent and enjoyable mix at some points, very annoying mix at others - far less accessible than Yosh, but maybe it will still be interesting when one hits Yosh burn-out
5. VOID - video collection - this would be KILLER if the sound were a little crisper - I didn't mind it while watching, but then, upon hearing the same track on DVD-A I thought the sound improved some
6. Christmas on Mars - This is a really cool, but very weird movie - think Eraserhead - great sound effects and great musical moments, occasionally - there is a stand-alone DVD and a CD/DVD set available
7. Zaireeka - (4 CDs or 4 LPs) - this is for total nuts only, but is good stuff - setting up multiple players is obviously a hassle, but rewarding - there are 5.1 fan mixes out there, just sayin'... I'd rank it musically somewhere akin to Soft Bulletin
8. Embryonic - stereo only! Wtf, mate? Still, the DVD-A is the best representation - at the proper volume it is quite enveloping, though one may also wish to mess with some faux-surround - only, there is apparently an upmix out there, which is reputed to be quite good - I hope to run across it sometime

**Christmas on Mars could be #5 for me - I like it better the more I understand it - if you watch the Fearless Freaks movie it helps give some context, IMO**
 
Thanks for this rundown, edisonbaggins. You can't do a ranking like this without inviting quibbles, but in the end it's all good. I only just discovered UFOs at the Zoo--which I didn't even realize had a 5.1 option until I popped it in the player tonight!--and Christmas on Mars. (Scored both of them used last weekend.) And after reading your post, I ordered VOID and Fearless Freaks--which has a 6.1 soundtrack, right?

(The "upmix" of Embryonic is fantastic. I'm sure you've read the speculation in another thread here on QQ that it may actually be a genuine 5.1 mix leaked by Fridmann or someone else close to the band.)

Hey humprof, thanks for all the info. For sure, there will be those with different opinions of TFL surround output. I just thought it would be cool to capture "one man's opinion" of everything that has been released, as most of the time I think discussion focuses on Yoshimi, Mystics and Soft Bulletin.

I had not read that there is a possible leak out there of Embryonic. I would LOVE to come across that somehow. I've only listened to Fearless Freaks in stereo. I'll pop it in my OPPO and see what is there!

I hope you enjoy the discs you found!
 
So, regarding Fearless Freaks - I don't see anywhere in the documentation that it is 6.1. Not my copy anyway.
The options are two Dolby Digital Stereo tracks - one the main soundtrack and the other commentary.
If you run the main soundtrack through DPLIIx it creates a very discrete front center. Whether the rears are all that discrete from the fronts I'm not sure, but they sound more ambient and the fronts more crisp and dominant. Not sure if my 7.1 rears were all that different from the surrounds, which, for 6.1, they would be (phantom mono rear center).
Anyway, I hope that description helps. Let me know if you experience anything different!
 
Interesting; thanks for checking. The description on Amazon may be inaccurate--or I may be misinterpreting. (It says "Language: English (DTS ES 6.1)".) Surround or no surround, though, I'm looking forward to it.

So, regarding Fearless Freaks - I don't see anywhere in the documentation that it is 6.1. Not my copy anyway.
The options are two Dolby Digital Stereo tracks - one the main soundtrack and the other commentary.
If you run the main soundtrack through DPLIIx it creates a very discrete front center. Whether the rears are all that discrete from the fronts I'm not sure, but they sound more ambient and the fronts more crisp and dominant. Not sure if my 7.1 rears were all that different from the surrounds, which, for 6.1, they would be (phantom mono rear center).
Anyway, I hope that description helps. Let me know if you experience anything different!
 
Interesting; thanks for checking. The description on Amazon may be inaccurate--or I may be misinterpreting. (It says "Language: English (DTS ES 6.1)".) Surround or no surround, though, I'm looking forward to it.

Interesting, indeed. Well, maybe with the right receiver setting 6.1 activates? Would the audio streams show anything other than Dolby Digital Stereo, I wonder?
My receiver, set to DPLIIx shows only a stereo input, but like I said, it seems to be decoding with a certain level of discreteness. I'm not sure I have a verified DTS ES 6.1 source to compare to.
 
I'm not saying one way or the other that Embryonic actually exists in discrete, hi-res 5.1... ;)
If it did...
It would sound AWESOME. Extremely discrete, yet tasteful to the music. It would be a MUST FIND for any TFL fan.
Holy hell.
 
Zaireeka - The Ultimate DVD Experience is super-well done! "Perfect Mix," "Human Error Mix," visual accompaniment and the ability to listen to the isolated CD rips if desired.
Lo-res, but very much worth tracking down, IMO.
 
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