Lightbulb Sun DVD-A Due In 2008

In the July/August 2007 issue of Sound & Vision on page 12, there is this updated reference:

"Wilson confirmed that he is committed to surround. He'll follow his current DTS 5.1 mix and forthcoming DVD-A mix of Fear (Of A Blank Planet) with a reissue next year of 2000's Lightbulb Sun."

I know everybody was looking forward to having that DVD-A before the end of this year, but Steve Wilson is pretty much working every moment of his life right now. I believe the guy deserves a little slack given that. For those of you sitting on the fence (no CD or DTS 5.1 mix) about FOABP will be stunned and amazed when that is issued this fall.

If you're still despondent over this brief delay, I recommend the following:

1. Dust off In Absentia and/or Deadwing to remind yourselves that SW isn't kidding around and his DVD-A products are worth the wait.

2. Go out and get Stupid Dream in the 2006 CD/DVD-A package and realize what a great little record that is. Even Less? C'mon... it's a classic.

3. Remind yourself there are other artists who aren't standing up on their catalog DVD-A (or SACD) releases and so we get nothing from them.

4. Think of the artists who take 5 years to slide a few faders and grumble; I'm sure you'll be more appeciative of SW's workaholic music life.

5. Also acquire Blackfield II and think about possibly both Blackfield albums on DVD-A, which should also be happening in 2008.

I think all of us who love 5.1 are more than grateful to SW.

I had this fear that the current CD and planned DVD-A of it, would push LBS to the next year. At least still supporting DVD-A, and I'm sure SW does not want to break his promise to release LBS in 5.1 sometime.
Porcupine Tree will be doing an even bigger tour (well, larger venues I think) starting in the last months of this year, after a mostly sold out tour in spring/summer.

With a leg in the U.S. in October 2007.

My hat is off to SW for all of his efforts.

I will patiently wait and then purchase. I am just thankful that there is something out there to look forward to.

Glad to read these comments; I posted as I did recalling the sour grapes on the recent FOABP special edition...

Great things are worth waiting for, especially so in this case as it is very obvious that the guy works his ass off..there's only so much time in the day and the last thing I'd want to see is for him to burn himself out.

Not too surprised or despondent about this . I really do appreciate his efforts , especially given the stupidity of the record companies and particularly the lazy , non-committal stance of many of his so called ' peers '

I have to travel over to England to see him the last couple of years and twice this year and I KNOW this guy is worth it .

If he builds it , we will come .....

~M~

Yeah, nothing to get too worked up about. You know with SW that it will happen, unlike many other promised titles.

As far as the FOABP special edition, I think everyone who got one is happy (I know I am) and most other people simply 'found' it on the internet - which seems fair considering the outrageous prices it was going for on eBay by the day after it was released. Bring on the DVD-A and we'll all have our credit cards at the ready!

Alright! I can't wait to hear Russia On Ice in 5.1

cant say Im not dissappointed its not comming out this year, i am, but at least we will get FOTBP this year.
This still puts Steve Wilson 5.1 release count this year greater than any of the major record companies.

Just to confirm the (probable) schedule here:
FOABP DVD-A is in production now - I am currently adding all the new material to the disc, such as a bonus track, and 3 animations from the live set. There may also be the promo video for FOABP track itself. As soon as I have the details, you'll get them here.
Probable content:
24/48 MLP in 2.0 & 5.1
24/48 LPCM 2.0 & DTS 5.1
2 Videos
Bonus Track in 2.0 & 5.1 MLP/LPCM/DTS
Lyrics for each track
Possible gallery
FWIW, the difference in sound quality from the already released DTS version & the MLP version is like night & day, it really is - a deaf man could tell the difference. But we all know this anyway.

Lightbulb Sun will be next year, mainly because of touring commitments from SW for the PT promotional tour.

Also coming:
1 - Bass Communion - Pacific Codex as CD/DVD-A double pack.
This one is all based on Gong Vibrations, and is really relaxing.
2 - Bass Communion Boxed Set - 3 albums. Details to follow
3 - Blackfield in CD/DVD-A. Not sure yet what title though, but this is due soon.

I knew I could count on Neil to counter my dissappointment.

looks like i still have plenty to look forward to this year from the Steve Wilson cannon of groups.

neil wilkes said:

FWIW, the difference in sound quality from the already released DTS version & the MLP version is like night & day, it really is - a deaf man could tell the difference. But we all know this anyway.

Click to expand...

I love this album in DTS. Really looking forward to the DVD-A. This will be a must order.

It's great in DTS - but in MLP, it's even greater.

neil wilkes said:

It's great in DTS - but in MLP, it's even greater.

Click to expand...

There are definitely times when the bit rate of the DTS stream seems to be lacking. During the first track when Gavin is really going for it the bass definition is lost making it almost impossible to pick out Colin in the mix. One wouldn't notice it so much except that we are used to hearing all the bits from all the players at the same time clearly on PT's other DVD-As. I just hope there are enough of us buying his DVD-As to keep him making them because they are truly outstanding!

neil wilkes said:

Just to confirm the (probable) schedule here:
FOABP DVD-A is in production now - I am currently adding all the new material to the disc, such as a bonus track, and 3 animations from the live set. There may also be the promo video for FOABP track itself. As soon as I have the details, you'll get them here.
Probable content:
24/48 MLP in 2.0 & 5.1
24/48 LPCM 2.0 & DTS 5.1
2 Videos
Bonus Track in 2.0 & 5.1 MLP/LPCM/DTS
Lyrics for each track

Click to expand...

Question: why are the PT dvd-a's always recorded at 24/48 and not 24/96? From the listener point-of-view isn't 24/96 going to sound better? Sorry if this has been covered before but it's always bugged me that my very favorite surround albums are not 24/96.

Yes! Blackfield in DVD-A! Hooray for Neil

lolbroek said:

Alright! I can't wait to hear Russia On Ice in 5.1

Click to expand...

That's the cut I'm most anxious to hear too .

wavelength said:

Question: why are the PT dvd-a's always recorded at 24/48 and not 24/96? From the listener point-of-view isn't 24/96 going to sound better? Sorry if this has been covered before but it's always bugged me that my very favorite surround albums are not 24/96.

Click to expand...

Because that is how they were done!!
IMHO, 96KHz would definitely sound better. Trouble is, you're starting to get to the place where multiple versions are needed to ensure correct playback.
24/48 is about as far as it is sensible to push a Video_TS, and even this is not actually guaranteed to play at 24 bit in all players, as older ones will truncate this to 16 bits. Okay, the Quantization ertrors caused by the truncation will all be in the LSB at -95dB and inaudible, but adding stereo 24/96 is risky.

As all were recorded at this res, it would still make sense to master at 96KHz though, as the work done would be at the higher rez & carry through.
I'll suggest it for the next album - maybe Darcy Proper can be talked into Mastering at 24/96. Authoring is straightforward enough.

neil wilkes said:

Bonus Track in 2.0 & 5.1 MLP/LPCM/DTS

Click to expand...

ohw, 1 Bonus track ... not 3 as previously mentioned (but not cast in stone). I guess this is because the band has decided to release a EP (mini-album) with 3 or 4 tracks from the FOABP sessions (somewhere in the last quarter?). Too bad for us, it would be nice to have the extra tracks in surround too. PT had some really good bonus tracks on their previous DVD-A's.

2 - Bass Communion Boxed Set - 3 albums. Details to follow

Click to expand...

I'm very curious about those details, like whether those would be in 5.1.
In fact all good news! Patiencely waiting ...

neil wilkes said:

As all were recorded at this (24/48k), it would still make sense to master at 96KHz though

Click to expand...

Logically thinking that would make only sense (to me) if at least the mixing would have been done at 96k. It is good to keep at 24 bits though, but upsampling just at the mastering stage might be too little, too late to add value.