MANSUN - Attack of the Grey Lantern boxset

[César]

Almost at the end of the record and the only negative thing I can say about the mix are the vocals, as they hide the instruments placed on the rear speakers and end up being too much distracting for my liking.
But a very enjoyable experience nonetheless

 

[César]

Dark Mavis is great fun in surround, best mixed song until now!

 

[César]

And now a poltergeist. I played a video randomly to check what type of audio stream they carry. It's LPCM stereo 48/16.
I triggered DTS Neural to see how good the upmixer worked compared to the real surround mix and, to my surprise, I only get sound from the central speaker! If I use Auromatic, the upmixer works fine.
I stopped and played a regular flac file in stereo and Neural works fine again.
Can anybody try to use the upmixer in the videos and share the behaviour?

 

[von kulper]

Thanks for the feedback on this, Cesar. I'm still waiting on mine. Sounds like this one might be a rather controversial release. I don't know what to expect, now!

 

[svengaleekie]

Just having another listen with the volume up (the neighbours are all out) it's not overly adventurous with the surround but it's not a total loss either, it has some good moments, the beginning of 'Disgusting' for instance.

 

[dobyblue]

That comment on the LEAD vocal coming through all 5 speakers makes me want to bash my head against the wall, this is the main fault with Kasper's 5.1 mix of Soundgarden's Superunknown.

Ugh, LEAD vocal through centre preferably or some form of front soundstage only, how difficult is that? For me, it's rule #1 of surround mixing.

Every surround mixer should hear Scenes From an Italian Restaurant from The Stranger before they start mixing and use that as a template.

I'm grumpy now.

 

[von kulper]

This is taking its precious time to get to me, that's for sure...

Edit: So, turns out I spoke a little soon, and this did actually show up today, and apparently our mailman found a new place to hide our packages... Now, for the moment of truth...

 

[von kulper]

And... three songs in... Am I listening to pro-logic?? What the hell is this?? There is just nothing interesting going on here, despite plenty of material that could have easily made for an interesting surround experience. Surrounds are basically just echoes of the front speakers, with a few kind of discreet moments peppered throughout. What a wasted opportunity. Why did they even bother? Might as well just put the CD in and turn on the PL.

Not only that, the sound is just... off. No punch or impact. It's like there's a hole in the soundfield. THUMBS DOWN.

This might be the lamest surround release I've heard from Kscope - which Kscope is usually a good indicator of a solid release...

 

[fredblue]

And... three songs in... Am I listening to pro-logic?? What the hell is this?? There is just nothing interesting going on here, despite plenty of material that could have easily made for an interesting surround experience. Surrounds are basically just echoes of the front speakers, with a few kind of discreet moments peppered throughout. What a wasted opportunity. Why did they even bother? Might as well just put the CD in and turn on the PL.

Not only that, the sound is just... off. No punch or impact. It's like there's a hole in the soundfield. THUMBS DOWN.

This might be the lamest surround release I've heard from Kscope - which Kscope is usually a good indicator of a solid release...

ohhh fiddlesticks
Amazon UK have screwed up delivery of my Mansun and say it's delayed.. but I don't think I want it at all if it sounds this bad!

 

[dobyblue]

Just got a mailer from Mansun Official, is it any wonder so many aren't finding the 5.1 mix impressive? Listen to this: "I've seen fans on social media delighted with the 4 disc book set remaster, with a 72 page book on the albums making by Q magazine Paul Stokes and a full outakes, demos and rarities disc to accompany the brand new 5.1 stereo surround sound mix of the album which is nothing less than stunning."

Brand new 5.1 stereo surround? WTF is stereo surround?

Nothing less than stunning?

Where are all these people? The only comments I can find on Mansun's Facebook page are negative about loudness wars and crappy surround mix, lol.

 

[dobyblue]

Well I just peppered a few comments from here and SHTV onto one of the Mansun posts, hopefully Six will benefit from them hearing our honest criticisms.

 

[von kulper]

Just got a mailer from Mansun Official, is it any wonder so many aren't finding the 5.1 mix impressive? Listen to this: "I've seen fans on social media delighted with the 4 disc book set remaster, with a 72 page book on the albums making by Q magazine Paul Stokes and a full outakes, demos and rarities disc to accompany the brand new 5.1 stereo surround sound mix of the album which is nothing less than stunning."

Brand new 5.1 stereo surround? WTF is stereo surround?

Nothing less than stunning?

Where are all these people? The only comments I can find on Mansun's Facebook page are negative about loudness wars and crappy surround mix, lol.

I just ran across this podcast https://www.mixcloud.com/MansunCast/1/ where Paul Draper says the exact same thing: "Brand new stereo surround" and that's essentially what they've created - a stereo surround mix.

This P-dub dude also speaks briefly about the surround mix, saying - and I'm paraphrasing here:

"I approach surround mixing as 'we've got five speakers; let's use them.' Reverbs and effects in the rears, vocals in the center channel..."

But that's not what ya did P-dubs! THERE'S VOCALS EVERYWHERE.

 

[von kulper]

ohhh fiddlesticks
Amazon UK have screwed up delivery of my Mansun and say it's delayed.. but I don't think I want it at all if it sounds this bad!

Well... the book sure looks nice, if that's at all reassuring

 

[Steve Schoultz]

My copy is on the way from importcds. Only cost me $40. Which is great unless you need to return the item. Amazon is much easier to return. Oh well. At least I know to return unopened to importcds. Such a shame this missed opportunity.

 

[von kulper]

I might be stretching here, but is it possible that something went awry during production of the discs? Maybe the DTS surround mix is defective and not as intended, and something went wrong during coding...

Here me out. Now, I've never heard any other mixes from Mr. P-dub, so I have nothing to compare. But he was responsible for the Bjork mixes, which I've always known to be rather highly regarded here. And looking through the Bjork polls, they're all highly rated. Bjork's Vespertine alone has fifteen "10" scores, and eight "9s". The lowest rating for it is a five, which was mainly because this individual didn't like the music (and later says "I would change my score to a 9").

To quote Neil Wilkes on Bjork's Debut; Homogenic; and Vespertine, respectively:

Pros.
The mix is superb. I have heard various upmixed versions of this album, but truly discrete production really rases the bar here to another level.
Superb sound quality throughout.

The mixes here are a showcase of what well-mixed surround can be when it's done by an engineer who cares and has some wonderfully crafted songs to work with.

Stunning.
Simply stunning.

Additionally, Adam said the Spooky Action 5.1 sounded good to him, and I've read nothing to indicate it's a poor mix, otherwise...

It would seem that P-dub is actually a rather talented surround engineer. What happened?

 

[Snood]

Snood just canceled from Amazon uk .....luckily they had not posted yet save me about 45 bux

Snood rarely do that but not digging early reviews ...,even the 1 review on amazon uk said the 5.1 sucked

 

[von kulper]

Snood just canceled from Amazon uk .....luckily they had not posted yet save me about 45 bux

Snood rarely do that but not digging early reviews ...,even the 1 review on amazon uk said the 5.1 sucked

Ya lucked out, Snood!

 

[skherbeck]

I might be stretching here, but is it possible that something went awry during production of the discs? Maybe the DTS surround mix is defective and not as intended, and something went wrong during coding...

Here me out. Now, I've never heard any other mixes from Mr. P-dub, so I have nothing to compare. But he was responsible for the Bjork mixes, which I've always known to be rather highly regarded here. And looking through the Bjork polls, they're all highly rated. Bjork's Vespertine alone has fifteen "10" scores, and eight "9s". The lowest rating for it is a five, which was mainly because this individual didn't like the music (and later says "I would change my score to a 9").

To quote Neil Wilkes on Bjork's Debut; Homogenic; and Vespertine, respectively:








Additionally, Adam said the Spooky Action 5.1 sounded good to him, and I've read nothing to indicate it's a poor mix, otherwise...

It would seem that P-dub is actually a rather talented surround engineer. What happened?

I hope you're right, because I feel the same way about the mix and sound... something must have gone wrong!

 

[beerking]

I had this on pre-order watch at Burning Shed, and didn't pull the trigger. Strange that, as I will normally order most new releases in surround. I also had no idea that it would receive such disappointing reviews. I wonder who had quality control on their brief? Big shame. As the saying goes 'Once s..t sticks its hard to shift'. I hope this is a one off oversite and not a deeper problem with the productions teams understanding of surround engineering techniques...but the use of the phrase 'stereo surround' makes me wonder...

 

[fac23]

Looks like I won't order this. Too bad, I would have loved this to be a great release. Some "silent surround" for me then.