HiRez Poll Amin Bhatia - THE INTERSTELLAR SUITE [Blu-Ray Audio]

[aminbhatia]

You know Frogmort when I see such kind words like this I honestly wonder of a friend or family member has put you up to this. Thank you so much for the kind words. For an artist to know that his idea "got through" is such a joy. Here's to music and to the friendships that the love of music brings.
Amin

I'm 48 now, but I grew up listening to this on CD in the 80's when my friend played it for me. I was a drummer in high school marching band and my low brass friend Andy played this for me and I was immediately hooked. It became a major listening piece at any gatherings for our band and group of friends here in Knoxville, TN for years, and I just assumed that it was huge world-wide.

30 years later I'm re-introduced to this wonderful album via this surround mix and Oh My Freaking God! One of the absolute best surround mixes I've ever heard in my entire life!!! The guy who did the surround mix for this album is one of the best ever! The music is so beautiful and amazing, but the surround mix is equally astounding. Such a perfect pairing for this music!

To me, this recording is the musical equivalent of the best sci-fi screenplay ever written, performed completely with music!

 

[aminbhatia]

Yes the encoding was lossy because that's all we had access to for authoring. However there is a FLAC version that Triplet Records made available in both stereo and multi channel from Hi Res Audio:

https://www.highresaudio.com/en/alb...e-interstellar-suite-25th-anniversary-edition
Thanks again for all the wonderful comments and technical observations.
Amin

Mike, could've been but was probably done for licensing fee reasons. IMO, and EVERYONE knows I am LOSSY ADVERSE, this DTS sounds as good as almost anything in my collection. They could've avoided DTS MA HD, DOLBY TRUE HD licensing fees by just encoding it in LOSSLESS LPCM which does not require any licensing fees.

But as it stands, it's simply amazing.

 

[JonUrban]

Yes the encoding was lossy because that's all we had access to for authoring. However there is a FLAC version that Triplet Records made available in both stereo and multi channel from Hi Res Audio:

https://www.highresaudio.com/en/alb...e-interstellar-suite-25th-anniversary-edition
Thanks again for all the wonderful comments and technical observations.
Amin

Amin,

No Bolero on the 5.1 HiRez .flac download?

:-jon

 

[Greg Z]

Amin,

No Bolero on the 5.1 HiRez .flac download?

:-jon

I would sure like to get Bolero in lossless .flac as well. My OCD got the better of me already. I purchased the Blu-ray first. Then I found out about the lossless download from Hi Res Audio.
I ended up purchasing the stereo and 5.1 .flac files and making my own Blu-ray by syncing the lossless audio to the Blu-ray visuals. I even made a slide show out of the PDF booklet for my disc.

 

[bluelightning]

Amin,

No Bolero on the 5.1 HiRez .flac download?

:-jon

I sure would like to get the Bolero as well. I bought the 5.1 download as well. No Bolero on it.

 

[aminbhatia]

Ok this is fascinating says the artist to his fans. I'm impressed that Greg Z took the time to resync to the Blu Ray! Wow.

The reason for missing Bolero is that the hi res audio was released first and at that time we were not cleared for worldwide rights to Bolero Electronica. By the time of the DVD/Blu Ray nearly two years later that issue was solved...but of course now we have the issue of dealing with Universal on extending the Interstellar Suite copyright which right now is still in limbo for nearly two years. I have publishing rights but not master rights to that master for altering any further.

So a question - how many people would want a FLAC single of Bolero? Do you need visuals? Is there a FLAC Single distributer or service?
Looking forward to the response. Thanks so much everyone.

(By the way Greg Z my engineers and I think the blu ray is better than the FLAC. We did revisit the reverb of the stems ...since they were separate from the music and effects...so the blu-ray is an updated mastering release. Don't you agree?)

 

[edisonbaggins]

Ok this is fascinating says the artist to his fans. I'm impressed that Greg Z took the time to resync to the Blu Ray! Wow.

The reason for missing Bolero is that the hi res audio was released first and at that time we were not cleared for worldwide rights to Bolero Electronica. By the time of the DVD/Blu Ray nearly two years later that issue was solved...but of course now we have the issue of dealing with Universal on extending the Interstellar Suite copyright which right now is still in limbo for nearly two years. I have publishing rights but not master rights to that master for altering any further.

So a question - how many people would want a FLAC single of Bolero? Do you need visuals? Is there a FLAC Single distributer or service?
Looking forward to the response. Thanks so much everyone.

(By the way Greg Z my engineers and I think the blu ray is better than the FLAC. We did revisit the reverb of the stems ...since they were separate from the music and effects...so the blu-ray is an updated mastering release. Don't you agree?)

Jan at surroundmusic.one can handle FLAC singles, I'm pretty sure. @OdysseyMusik

 

[bluelightning]

Ok this is fascinating says the artist to his fans. I'm impressed that Greg Z took the time to resync to the Blu Ray! Wow.

The reason for missing Bolero is that the hi res audio was released first and at that time we were not cleared for worldwide rights to Bolero Electronica. By the time of the DVD/Blu Ray nearly two years later that issue was solved...but of course now we have the issue of dealing with Universal on extending the Interstellar Suite copyright which right now is still in limbo for nearly two years. I have publishing rights but not master rights to that master for altering any further.

So a question - how many people would want a FLAC single of Bolero? Do you need visuals? Is there a FLAC Single distributer or service?
Looking forward to the response. Thanks so much everyone.

(By the way Greg Z my engineers and I think the blu ray is better than the FLAC. We did revisit the reverb of the stems ...since they were separate from the music and effects...so the blu-ray is an updated mastering release. Don't you agree?)

This is interesting. So, are you saying that the sound on the bluray is better for the suite and Bolero due to revisiting the mastering or is it just Bolero ?

 

[skherbeck]

The sound on the bluray is friggin' awesome!!! (But I've never heard the flacs, lol)

 

[aminbhatia]

To answer the questions...we improved the reverb settings and assignments when making the Blu Ray (everything else is identical but reverb and sfx were separate stems so we could adjust) so its a slightly different (and we feel) better mix. Also since there is no FLAC of Bolero at present the Bolero on the Blu Ray is better.

 

[aminbhatia]

....And thank you for all the informed and enthusiastic comments. Reading all this very carefully.
Amin

 

[bluelightning]

....And thank you for all the informed and enthusiastic comments. Reading all this very carefully.
Amin

Thank you for responding to our queries. Now I feel like I should have gotten the blu ray instead.

 

[MrSmithers]

So a question - how many people would want a FLAC single of Bolero?

I'd happily buy the Bolero single as a download. I already got the album as FLAC. It's very good thanks!

 

[JonUrban]

WOW! I finally got my BluRay of this title and got a chance to listen to it both in my theater and on the PC (for car conversion), and I have to say I agree with everyone that this is a great release. It's more classical than anything else, reminds me of a Star Trek film soundtrack, but boy is it discrete. Huge orchestral swells envelope the listener from all around. Just amazing. The DTS soundtrack sounds great to me, sure lossless would have been better, but how much? Who the hell knows. If you're interested and don't get this because there's no lossless, then you're being foolish. It's great.

The Bolero track is very cool. After an electronic intro, you get the tune in mono, then it seamlessly turns into stereo (and excellent stereo at that!), then to 4.0 quad, then 5.0 surround, until finally it ends with a full 5.1 mix. This is pretty damn nice.

You can see the changes in the wav file screen cap below. Hey, this is a great disc and well worthy of a '10'. Remember, we're not comparing it to other releases, we're voting on how good IT is, not how it compares. To me, it's a '10'.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

WOW! I finally got my BluRay of this title and got a chance to listen to it both in my theater and on the PC (for car conversion), and I have to say I agree with everyone that this is a great release. It's more classical than anything else, reminds me of a Star Trek film soundtrack, but boy is it discrete. Huge orchestral swells envelope the listener from all around. Just amazing. The DTS soundtrack sounds great to me, sure lossless would have been better, but how much? Who the hell knows. If you're interested and don't get this because there's no lossless, then you're being foolish. It's great.

The Bolero track is very cool. After an electronic intro, you get the tune in mono, then it seamlessly turns into stereo (and excellent stereo at that!), then to 4.0 quad, then 5.0 surround, until finally it ends with a full 5.1 mix. This is pretty damn nice.

You can see the changes in the wav file screen cap below. Hey, this is a great disc and well worthy of a '10'. Remember, we're not comparing it to other releases, we're voting on how good IT is, not how it compares. To me, it's a '10'.

View attachment 40987

Jon, do you know if this is still available direct from Amin Bhatia's web site?

 

[JonUrban]

Jon, do you know if this is still available direct from Amin Bhatia's web site?

I think so. I just ordered it a couple of weeks ago. Not sure if they're running out, but if you don't have it don't wait. It's worth it. Absolutely worth it.

Here is the current link. Act quickly:

http://aminbhatia.com/is25mayday/

 

[J. PUPSTER]

I think so. I just ordered it a couple of weeks ago. Not sure if they're running out, but if you don't have it don't wait. It's worth it. Absolutely worth it.

Here is the current link. Act quickly:

http://aminbhatia.com/is25mayday/

Ordered! - Been thinking about this one for a while, and your review just gave me that extra nudge to order - Thanks.

 

[JonUrban]

Ordered! - Been thinking about this one for a while, and your review just gave me that extra nudge to order - Thanks.

I think you'll be glad you did. And if not, I am sure you could sell it later, especially if it goes out of print.

 

[rugene]

Wow! This is great music, I wish the price for the BR would be lower 45$ ouch! I will try to find a used copy somewhere...

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Wow! This is great music, I wish the price for the BR would be lower 45$ ouch! I will try to find a used copy somewhere...

Remember there is a significant difference in the US and Canadian dollar exchange rate right now, I paid only ~$34 U.S.