DVD/DTS Poll Bjork - Debut [DTS 96-24/DD DualDisc]

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Rate the DualDisc of Bjork - Debut

  • 6

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 5

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 4

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 3

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 2

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 1 Bad Mix, Bad Sonics, Bad Content

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    16
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.

Cons.
And there are a few, sad to say.
Firstly, and most importantly, the authoring really can only be described as "poor" and I am seriously surprised that Bjork approved this.
It's the onscreen display I have the trouble with.
Main Menu - all looks fine - except for the actual button highlight, which is a white rectangle that obscures the selection.
Okay. So I select DTS 5.1, and go to the playlist where I have an option for PLay All, or select a track.
Again the white rectangle.
So I select Play All. And to my surprise the screen stays exactly the same when the music starts. So Ten out of Ten for the "Buttons Over Video" approach, but lose all ten marks for NOT setting each track cell so that the blasted highlight actually tells you what track is playing. If you go in from "Play All", that stays covered up by the ghastly white rectangle throughout the entire disc.
If I go in through one of the tracks, the screen changes to have the highlight for the track I selected on display - but when it moves to the next track, the previous highlight is still displayed, leaving a casual viewer in some confusion about what track is playing, making it necessary to look at the players LED readout to find out what track number is playing.
It's shockingly bad.
Final BAD point is what can best be described as an omission - there is no DTS stream in the video tracks.
All you have is LPCM stereo and Dobly Dirgital.

That aside, the only other loss is the lack of any High Resolution content - okay, DTS 24/96 is higher resolution than 24/48 is, but I get tired of international label politics preventing a disc being released in DVD-A or SACD - and I know for a fact that all these reissues were mastered for both DVD-A and SACD, but the 2 distribution chains involved each refuse to allow the other format to be used.
Pathetic, or what?

This aside, there is not a single reason I can think of NOT to buy this album. I got the "Surrounded" boxed set (and will post reviews on all discs as soon as I find the time to sit & critically listen) for a bargain price of £50 direct from the One Little Indian website.
What I have heard so far is a stunning example of how surround should - and can - be mixed. Hats off to Mr. Paul (P>Dub) Walton for a job very well done indeed. I am hearing parts that I cannot hear at all well - if that - on the original stereo versions, and it's like hearing the album all over again as a new release.
Honestly, it's that good!

Will post back with full review when I have digested this - and the rest - of the set.
Buy - apart from the pi55 poor design of the layout, you'll love this.
 
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Her first album (Hence the title) Musically it is kind of hit and miss for me but for bjork fans I am sure it is a must have. I'm not sure if its because of the age or not but a lot of the sound feels dated and very cheesy synthesizer"ish" The sound quality and depth of this disc also doesn't sound as good as the later ones but that is probably a limitation of the master tapes and not the mixing itself. The 5.1 mix is good and the videos are a great addition.
 
I am not a big Bjork fan, but i did enjoy this title the best of the 3 i have by her. I liked the syhesizerish sound more than the more modern sound of Homogenic. The surround mix was great. A 9 for me.:)
 
I am not a big Bjork fan, but i did enjoy this title the best of the 3 i have by her. I liked the syhesizerish sound more than the more modern sound of Homogenic. The surround mix was great. A 9 for me.:)

I can't recall the song, but there is one on Debut where it sounds like she leaves the studio and all you hear is her voice, dry as a bone, with the music in the background. How did they do that part in surround? Is it effective?
 
Loved it, but my wife thought the 5.1 could have been a bit more aggressive. That may have been my fault though, as we had to move since we got Vespertine on DVD-A, and I had that room tweeked in a way that I've not been able to reach in the new listening room.

I've not picked up "Surrounded" yet, though I plan to. She even toured "Vespertine" in surround!
 
I do agree that the mix isn't as aggressive as I thought it would be. The later albums that were already mixed for dvd-a are more agressive than her the mix of her earlier albums but even so it is a good surround mix.
 
I can't recall the song, but there is one on Debut where it sounds like she leaves the studio and all you hear is her voice, dry as a bone, with the music in the background. How did they do that part in surround? Is it effective?

It's definitely effective. In the song, like most of the (_surrounded) set, Bjork's voice in monoarual. During the part where she slips into a bathroom stall (the song wasn't recorded in a studio), all the audio goes dead except for the center channel. It's a jarring moment in a fun beat-driven song. The song is called "There's More To Life Than This" and it was recorded in The Milkbar toilets where apparently many musicians preform their music.
 
I just picked this one up over the weekend. I am familiar with some of Bjork's albums, but this is the first one that I've listened to in its entirety. To my ears. it sounds "high res", even though it's not a DVD-A. The surround mix is excellent, some nice effects, and for the most part it is an intelligent well balanced mix. The techno theme does get a little tiring (maybe I should use it at the gym rather than sit and listen to it?) IMO.

I haven't watched all of the videos yet, but from what I have seen so far, they are creative and very cool!

SexyToad said:
In the song, like most of the (_surrounded) set, Bjork's voice in monoarual. During the part where she slips into a bathroom stall (the song wasn't recorded in a studio), all the audio goes dead except for the center channel.

I played the track in DTS and Dolby Digital, and on both settings that sequence plays out of the front 3 speakers, not just the center. Are you sure that it plays just out of the center on yours?
 
Final BAD point is what can best be described as an omission - there is no DTS stream in the video tracks.
All you have is LPCM stereo and Dobly Dirgital.
For the record, this may have been fixed in a later pressing - my copy has half-rate DTS on the videos (as well as DD and PCM stereo).
 
Another 9.
-1 for the GHASTLY authoring!!
I remember back when it came out, they used to play this ALL the time in "Radio 3 Pop" (the Spanish TV state radio)...and I was really pleasantly surprised at how ahead of her time she was!!!
GREAT to hear it in Surround!!!
And again, don't know if this would have gained anything if it were 96/24 since I don't think it was Hi Res to begin with (DO NOT quote me on that, it could have been recorded to analog, but since there ain't no SPARS code anywhere...)

Besides I had ALL of her CD's up until Vespertine...THEN I got the Box set, and all the available MCH versions of her stuff , SACD, and DVD-As(my favorite!)
 
It's definitely effective. In the song, like most of the (_surrounded) set, Bjork's voice in monoarual. During the part where she slips into a bathroom stall (the song wasn't recorded in a studio), all the audio goes dead except for the center channel. It's a jarring moment in a fun beat-driven song. The song is called "There's More To Life Than This" and it was recorded in The Milkbar toilets where apparently many musicians preform their music.

So the story is that she had the DJ at the Club/bar play the instrumental as she walked around the place with a handheld mic. On the begining of the second verse, she goes into the bathroom stalls. You can here the door shut and the instrumental track get quieter and more muffled. She also released a version called "non-bathroom version" which was all studio. Because of the way this song was recorded, the 5.1 is the weakest on the album, except for, of course, that part where her voice is isolated.

There are some really great separations though on this disk. On "Big Time Sensuality", the 3rd verse, I believe, takes her vocals only to the rear speakers, then on the chorus, they return to the front. That was really fun! There are more too but that one is maybe my favorite.
 
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