Eric Clapton / The Definitive 24 Nights Atmos BOX SET (3 BluRay/6 CD) 6/23/2023

[J. PUPSTER]

In the latest issue of Sound & Vision magazine, Mike Mettler reviews this set. He gives the sound overall 4 out of 5 stars; however, he really doesn't say anything about the mix IIRC

 

[Guy Robinson]

I am in the process of taking every one of these tracks and redoing the audio from more of a mastering perspective as I can't really touch the mix. The mixes generally are actually pretty good on their own, it's the mastering that is mainly at fault. All channels need to be bumped up by a considerable amount including the subwoofer channel. The only problem, which is not a problem to me, is that the ATMOS is now 7.1 LPCM. I don't have ATMOS anyway. Once the new audio is remuxed back into the individual mkv files for each track it now generally sounds fantastic. I have a whole different view of this box set. Still working on the tracks on the Rock BD. Still have the other two BD's to do. If I was the mixer of this set I would be pissed at whoever mastered it. It now sounds "ballsy".

 

[Guy Robinson]

I've only watched the Rock BD so far, these are long shows.

I only have a 5.1 system (analog outs from my oppo 205 to my Marantz Receiver); the audio options are only Stereo and Atmos on the BD.

Went about half way into the first song (on the Atmos setting) and thought it had a very dispersed/undefined mix kind of sound in the un-folded 7.1 Atmos base (mixed down to 5.1 on my oppo.) Right or wrong, I always think of Atmos as 7.1 base channels with "un-folded" height speakers; in that, "un-folded" means it isn't up-folding the Atmos heights per the Metadata. It just didn't sound ballsy like a rock show should sound. Maybe a full Atmos setup will create a different aural sound field IDK. So I switched to Stereo and immediately liked it much better with a nice wide stereo mix and lots of punch.

I ripped the disc with MakeMKV and looked at a song I liked called "Tearing Us Apart" (that intro lick reminds me a little bit of The O'Jays - For The Love Of Money.) Also, if you look at the old DVD that I have of this set, it's not nearly as complete and doesn't even have that song on it.

Listening to each channel or set of channels in Audacity, I hear a lot of the same info. in the Center and the Rears with the sides being just some light ambient stuff. There is some slight weighting of some instruments to the rears, but not much. There is no LFE info. I even tried removing the side channels 5 & 6 and it sounded a little better but still not what I was looking for. I even tried running the stereo file through Penteo and I got much more satisfying results on a 4.1 mix from that.

So overall, I'll just stick to the stereo on this one.

Another thing I noticed, is in the credits, they only show the credits for one of the bands; the band with the horns (featuring guys like Lou Marini, who played with BS&T and The Blues Brothers etc.) and others weren't shown AFAIK.

There is LFE information. It is just set too low at about -50 sometimes. It has to be brought up to around 10. Then you can see the waveform.

 

[texeast]

I gave up on the atmos mix as I was really disappointed in it. However, I think the stereo mix for this is outstanding and the way to go for listening pleasure.