Prog album in 5.1 you may not know about: AINULINDALE NEVRAST! (DTS DVD-V)

[nhammond]

I'm currently listening to this album.

The 5.1 mix is very immersive, and adds a lot to the listening experience.

I'd define the music as medieval-prog-folk. Not necessarily music I will listen to very often, but the mix being effective, I will surely revisit this disc from time to time.

Oh... the DTS sounds very nice, by the way.

Nice work from Thomas and his team.

 

[LizardKing]

Thomas, thankyou for your post and welcome to QQ, as soon as you said that Pink Floyd\Steven Wilson mixes were your reference point you have me sold, I have ordered the disk.
I was surprised that on ordering it did not ask extra for shipping all the way to Canada.
Look forward to hearing this.

p.s.
As most people here that are huge surround fans I am also a huge fan of Dvda's due to that there is no extra fuss to be able to play them in the car and home and lossless surround on same disk. Hope you consider that for your next release, not that Neil Wilkes from here needs more work but he is our resident expert of all things Dvda and has authored most Steven Wilson projects that have shown up on Dvda, you might want to get in touch with him.

peter

Thomas - Glad to see you posted here!

FYI - I strongly agree with peterzach - if you do another album in surround it would be great to see it issued in full lossless hi-resolution 5.1. The easiest (and probably cheapest) way is on a DVD-Audio. If you do another album - touch base with Neil Wilkes... http://www.opusproductions.com/

Oh yeah - and looking forward to hearing the album in 5.1

 

[The Bright Side]

Welcome, Thomas, and thanks for your insights! Musical tastes differ, but I can assure you we're excited about every musician that supports Surround sound!

 

[Plan9]

It's great to have new music mixed in and for 5.1, but listening to the album on Youtube, I was pleasantly carried away by the music... until the male lead vocals appeared. I found them very off-putting in their nasal, badly pronunciated quality. Is it me or were they sometimes flat in spots?

Again listening to the stereo mix on Youtube, I find the mix sometimes a bit amateurish although the recording is likely excellent. The mastering could have spiced the mix a bit but it was apparently very hands-off (I won't pass a definitive judgement until I listen on my monitors though).

In my opinion, some very atmospheric music and an great effort -not to mention great value with its 5.1 mix- unfortunately bogged down a bit by some amateurish singing and production/composition.

 

[LizardKing]

FYI - Shipping was very quick - I got my copy yesterday...

 

[Plan9]

When you have the time please tell us how the 5.1 mix sounds !

 

[LizardKing]

When you have the time please tell us how the 5.1 mix sounds !

Unfortunately my receiver blew up the other day......

So don't hold your breath...

 

[Plan9]

Wow, sorry to hear that.

 

[Thomas Reybard]

Lizardking : Let me know your impressions on the 5.1 mix when you have the opportunity to give it a listen. Sorry about your receiver !

Plan9: I know that my voice (I'm the lead singer on this project) is often subject to controversy. I'm much more a guitar player/songwriter than a pure natural singer but my voice is also part of the identity of this project. It's definitely not a strong type of voice (I mean in a rock or operatic style), I like to think of it as another instrument in the sound palet I have. About the mix, please give the album a listen in full quality on your monitors and let me know what you would have done differently.

I always give my best when recording/mixing an album and I'm very open to external comments/analyses to improve my work. So please feel free to leave your impressions.

Peterzach (and Lizardking) thanks for the input on the lossless DVD-A, I'll definitely bear that in mind in my future recordings, actually the story behind Nevrast 5.1 is a bit special.

When I started the project I didn't have the possibility to mix in 5.1 so I recorded the album in 44.100hz 16bits. But then thanks to a new soundcard (RME Fireface 800) I had the chance to try 5.1 and trust me I did feel like some sort of pioneer around here I spent days telling people what it was about, the recurrent question being "do you think 5.1 mixes really interest anybody out there?" My answer was "well it definitely interests me and that good enough a reason to try it".

So I set up Cubase (my recording/mixing DAW) in 5.1 mode, plugged the soundcard to my Harman/Kardon amplifier and started messing around. Since the Harman/kardon system is a hifi system (I only have a 2.1 Adam monitor system in the studio) I spent a lot of time refering to Pink Floyd/Steven Wilson 5.1 mixes to make sure that my 5.1 mix was balanced.

When I finally reached an interesting and balanced 5.1 mix, I exported the 6 tracks, mastered them very lightly in Wavelab and then created an AC3 5.1 file (which is rather compressed) and a much more satisfying DTS file. The original recording being not Hi-res, DTS seemed like the best solution for me.

Well that's about the whole story, thank you all for the kind words of welcome and an extra thank you to those who ordered the album.

 

[DuncanS]

Hi Thomas,

My album has arrived, I'll listen to it in 5.1 and post.

I think as with music if you do a 5.1 mix because you want to that's a really good thing. If your heart and soul is in the music you've written, and the 5.1 mix, then that will come across, which is why I'm a fan of Steve Wilson's music & mixes.

Duncan

 

[LizardKing]

Lizardking : Let me know your impressions on the 5.1 mix when you have the opportunity to give it a listen. Sorry about your receiver !

......

I had a listen in my car to the 5.1 mix - while not the ideal listening environment, but I really enjoyed what I heard...

 

[HomerJAU]

FYI - Shipping was very quick - I got my copy yesterday...

Agreed. Mine arrive yesterday too.

I had a quick listen skipping through a few tracks on my PC 5.1 setup and sounds good to me with some nice surround effects in places. Seems quite discrete at first listen.

I will play it tonight on my full system and make some more comments over the weekend.

 

[DuncanS]

I've listened to the album, and it is very nice, it is entirely acoustic instruments. If you like (Richie) Blackmore's Night and Scheherazade style Renaissance you'll like it, folky/classically influenced rock, Prog Rock in that sense. In some ways it also reminded me of some of Alan Simon's work such as Anne De Bretagne or the Excalibur series.

The rear channels support the front in the mix, so front focussed to me, there are some really nice front to rear echo effects which work very well, and the effects in some of the choral parts really give a sense of space. IMHO the sound stage could have been widened, so slightly round the sides when the instrumentation is 'sparse', but as soon as more instruments appear the soundfield comes alive, it all fits the music. I really like the cello sound, I am a big fan of the cello! The overall sound quality and musicianship is excellent, and sounds good on full sized speakers from the 5.1 DTS stream (I have no sub).

After the 2nd track I realised I was smiling, it is a very nice album (I can see why Plan9 wasn't too keen on the vocals, but it fits), so I would recommend this. :sun

A nice album Thomas.

 

[Plan9]

Plan9: I know that my voice (I'm the lead singer on this project) is often subject to controversy. I'm much more a guitar player/songwriter than a pure natural singer but my voice is also part of the identity of this project. It's definitely not a strong type of voice (I mean in a rock or operatic style), I like to think of it as another instrument in the sound palet I have. About the mix, please give the album a listen in full quality on your monitors and let me know what you would have done differently.

I always give my best when recording/mixing an album and I'm very open to external comments/analyses to improve my work. So please feel free to leave your impressions.

Hi there Thomas, sorry about the delayed answer.

I listened to the stream on my monitors the other day and I do feel the same as before.

My impression is that the mix lacks body and depth. It is very sparse, but not in a good way. Not because of the composition but because of the sound. The balance is good but I can't help but feel the instruments and the voice might have benefitted from a bit more judicious analog compression. The guitar and voice seem pretty well recorded but not much polished in the mix and mastering, they sound flat or nasal. Also, I'm not surprised you say you recorded at 44.1kHz/16bit because it sounds like it, digital, as in a "lack of a life-like depth". I couldn't help but think the mastering should have addressed these issues with the use of tubes for instances to color the sound a bit and give it more life. I certainly would have done it this way.

As you may see on my signature I am a professional mastering engineer with audiophile sensibilities. In the future please contact me, I can do a test-mastering free of charge on one of your tracks. I like your music and would love to work with you. I also master and mix 5.1 tracks.

http://athome-mastering.com/

 

[beerking]

Come back Thomas, all is forgiven!!
Received mine today
A real delight.

Are you still writing and producing?