Listening to in Dolby Atmos Streaming, via Tidal/Apple/Amazon

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For Gainsbourg fans, this is huge--even if they turn out to be largely "ambient" mixes (or to employ spectral stem separation). Zoom meetings are hogging the household bandwidth right now, but I'm looking forward to checking these out this afternoon.

(Edit, later on: unfortunately Percussions doesn't seem to be available in the US. But if the 1959 s/t album is an indication of what the other three are like, then these are going to be a lot of fun. For the first couple of minutes of the opening track, "Le claqueur de doigts," there was virtually nothing but voice, bass and drums in the fronts, with faint reverb in the rears and overheads, and I thought "Oh well." And then the reeds kicked in on the left side--and a couple of minutes later, the brass on the right. All channels active. Playful and nicely done.)

B/t/w: Gainsbourg himself was an audiophile gearhead:
https://downhomedigital.net/blog/how-stars-listen-to-music/#serge-gainsbourg
 
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Just finished listening to this. I already liked the album (the first new release of Phair's I've bought in a long while), but the mix is really smart: it's not flashy, and I don't know that I can point to any outstanding details, but Wood clearly understands Atmos, and he knows how to keep things balanced in the two-dimensional plane while sneaking subtle things into the overheads. I wish the "average" Atmos mix on the streaming services were more like this highly proficient one. Glad to see this escape Amazon and finally show up on Apple.
 
Very excited about The Beatles complete rooftop performance finally being available. I couldn't believe they didn't include it on the Let It Be box when that came out, one of the reasons I didn't buy it (the exorbitant price being the other; so glad it's streaming in surround!). Listening to the surround mix of the concert now on Apple Music, first impression is that it's not very discreet, at least on my 5.1 system... lots of instruments in most channels. But to have the whole thing, with the multiple takes of some songs, unedited including between-song tuning and patter, and no interruptions for street interviews as in the video... I've wanted to hear it this way for decades, and I'm grateful to be able to now, regardless of the merits of the surround mix, and now I'm going to end this ridiculously run-on sentence to go listen some more!
 
Another old rocker enjoying these country releases...
Not many duff mixes with them either.

https://music.apple.com/gb/album/through-the-madness-vol-1/1599746412?ls
Perhaps the music lends itself to the Atmos engineers being able to give it the 5 star treatment.
You know if anything is going to get people to invest again in “ home hi fi listening systems” it’s going to be well recorded and mixed stuff like this. It’s not necessarily my cup of tea, but it sure sounds really good sonically.

Same for some of the classical stuff I’ve been listening to in ATMOS that was recorded in Abbey Road. I swear you can hear “ the sound of the big studio 3“ in the recording
 
For Gainsbourg fans, this is huge--even if they turn out to be largely "ambient" mixes (or to employ spectral stem separation).

Fear not Gainsbourg fans, fear not (and fans of multichannel music as a medium) this album N°2 by Serge Gainsbourg is an absolute gem.

The engineer who mixed this deserves an award -as they have smashed this mix out of the park with a truly Scheiner-esque performance- particularly given the restraints of the albums late 1950's vintage, with amazing channel separation and fidelity achieved in the Atmos treatment.

I could have added all tracks to my playlist but I will highlight a couple that stood out:

Mambo miam miam:

Repeat listening to this as I type and immediately the treatment of the percussion elements grab your attention, then the big band-esque horns kick in, and add some dynamism to the experience. Front brass then plays in the front left speakers, with playfully elements of higher frequency percussion (can't pick the source- ain't a cow bell I don't think). Then some woodwind in the left fronts as well. Really balanced, well spread mix that captures the tonal timbre of the instruments, with a song that doesn't overstay it's welcome.

Judith:

The treatment of the female vocal on this stands out as it tends to soar as a backing element, with fantastic tonality and vocal control from the vocalist. Then a sax solo kicks in, to great effect with timbre intact. Another short show stopper of a tune.


I don't consider myself to be a Gainsbourg fan, but I quite enjoyed the prior releases- with some tracks added to my playlist, but this one smashes it out of the park.. If all the albums are like this I think I will truly enter fan category.

This is truly a reference point for Atmos mixers on how to handle a vintage release. Truly amazed at the treatment, and would buy this on physical release in a heartbeat- and would go so far to boldly declare that if it did it would probably reach the top echelons of the polls.

Looking forward now to listen to the rest.

For this album I give 10/10- loved it.
 

50 years old on January 31st. (Marc Myers wrote a really nice piece about it. When I tried to read this story a couple of days ago, most of it was behind a paywall, although the robot reader got me a little farther. Today I can read the whole thing--maybe because I'm using a different browser/different device? YMMV.)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/lets-s...is-willie-mitchell-james-mitchell-11643149204
 
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Did the Liz Phair, Beatles Roof Top or Three Days Grace make it over to Tidal? Would love to hear these!
 
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