David Bowie upcoming boxset "Conversation Piece" Space Oddity gets a new 2019 Remix by Tony Visconti (Stereo only)
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Of the 2019 Space Oddity album mix Visconti says;
“It was so much fun to find hidden gems of musicianship with more time to mix the second time around, a guitar twiddle here, a trombone blast there, Marc Bolan’s voice in a group choir and more detail in general that we overlooked all those years ago when the label gave us a week at the most to mix this album. And in the details you will find 22 year old David Bowie, who would soon take the world by storm."
“It was so much fun to find hidden gems of musicianship with more time to mix the second time around, a guitar twiddle here, a trombone blast there, Marc Bolan’s voice in a group choir and more detail in general that we overlooked all those years ago when the label gave us a week at the most to mix this album. And in the details you will find 22 year old David Bowie, who would soon take the world by storm."
Ugh..........................................................no multichannel
To quote the late great Ian Dury "What A Waste"
many of us here have no doubt heard and/or fiddled about with the stems that have long been "out there" for the track itself by now.. here they had access to the multitrack masters for this 50th anniversary project and commissioned a remix by the legendary Tony Visconti himself, someone who actually gets surround for music and has produced good surround music mixes over the years including Bowie's music in excellent surround sound - and they do it all in Stereo only.. words fail me!
ultimately it makes me more grateful than ever, we are so so lucky to get what we actually do get in surround, nothing is a dead cert., nothing should be taken for granted (tbh i did think there was a slim hope we might just get this one in surround, i knew a 50th was on the horizon but had no idea of the contents). oh well.. what or who's next!?!?
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many of us here have no doubt heard and/or fiddled about with the stems that have long been "out there" for the track itself by now.. here they had access to the multitrack masters for this 50th anniversary project and commissioned a remix by the legendary Tony Visconti himself, someone who actually gets surround for music and has produced good surround music mixes over the years include Bowie's music in excellent surround sound - and they do it all in Stereo only.. words fail me!
ultimately it makes me more grateful than ever, we are so so lucky to get what we actually do get in surround, nothing is a dead cert., nothing should be taken for granted (tbh i did think there was a slim hope we might just get this one in surround, i knew a 50th was on the horizon but had no idea of the contents). oh well.. what or who's next!?!?
What I do find so disturbing is the amount of time/expense all these boxy sets entail spent on rummaging through endless outtakes, b sides and collating coffee sized table picture books, etc., especially at a time when even the Beatles are releasing their back catalogue in surround and feel the grievous omission of a 5.1 remix leaves us with BUPKUS!
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Don't give up hope yet. As they scavenge all things Bowie, they will at some point release everything. Then what's left? Surround mixes 
?
?
BOWIE / CLEARMOUNTAIN
https://www.discogs.com/David-Bowie-Lets-Dance/release/2082207
And why might this be significant?
https://www.discogs.com/David-Bowie-Lets-Dance/release/2082207
And why might this be significant?
...might this be the reason?
https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...rmountain-talks-surround-and-much-more.25182/
I've always wondered why they did a stereo-only SACD of that one when Ziggy, Heathen, and Reality were all multichannel.
Yes- of course this album pre-dates 2000, but we can hope Bob's got some earlier stuff stashed also.
These things usually come down to three things, money, availability of tapes, and availability of someone suitable to do the mix.
In the case of Heathen and Reality, they were both new releases when Sony (Bowie's label at the time) was supporting the format, so they probably ponied up to have the 5.1 mixes done.
With Ziggy (an EMI property) they presumably wanted to put some money in to having it done because they were supporting SACD at the time, and they were able to kill two birds with one stone since the album's original (co) producer Ken Scott was a surround sound proponent and available to do the 5.1 remix.
With Let's Dance, the answer is basically "who knows?" maybe the tapes weren't available (it was recorded right in the middle of the 'sticky shed' tape era that claimed the multis for Roxy Music's Avalon, released the year before), or maybe Nile Rodgers wasn't available/not interested in surround sound/asked for too much money, or maybe they couldn't find a suitable remix engineer, Bowie seemed to like to use original producers/staff for his surround remixes.
As for this new stereo mix of Space Oddity, it wouldn't surprise me at at if Tony Visconti did either a 5.1 or Atmos mix as well that will be revealed at a later date, or that's in the can at least. Record labels are in the business of re-selling the same thing over and over, and if you (to quote the O'Jays) "give the people what they want" right away, you won't be able to sell it to them again down the road. So you sell a vinyl version of a new stereo remix, you sell a box set that has the new stereo version, and a bunch of people buy it, and then when those sales have tapered off you sell a Blu-Ray of the 5.1/Atmos mix along with a high-rez version of the new stereo mix. That way you get all the people who would've bought that version anyway, and a percentage of the people who bought the previous CD or vinyl versions. I don't want to give UMG too much credit, but it wouldn't surprise me if they do the same with the Jackson 5 quad mix once they've milked the stereo fold-down LP for all it's worth.
I dunno if Visconti is active on social media anywhere, or has a website or anything, but maybe someone could drop him a line and maybe he'll spill the beans about what 5.1 remix work he's undertaken for Bowie. Between the unreleased Heroes 5.1, the (I'm presuming) out of print Young Americans 5.1, and (if it exists) Space Oddity 5.1, you're starting to build up a little cache of Bowie 5.1 mixes that you could make a box set out of - you'd just have to commission a few more new ones and you'd be able to do a box set that covered the entirety of his 70s output.
kap'n krunch
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
Antoniooooooo, ma che cosa faeeeeee???? Surrooundddd, capisce?
You know what really interests me about all this Ron -er I mean SD, is how these mega large music/labels corporations can sustain that sort of long term business model via multi-generational leadership in order to slowly milk music buyers with these old titles. They have to overcome changes in technology and formats and tastes in music in order to keep the milk cow producing. I guess it's just the shear size of the overall music catalog and fresh ears that feel the need to hear what's old is new again. Not too different from the tobacco companies
. And that lock-step control of the long term business model; sounds a lot like negotiating trade with a certain billion populace country. Also, we do know that all that original material is safely locked away, nice and secure in clean storage facilities for future generations to enjoy
. As to David Bowie's Lets Dance, I'm certainly not holding my breath, although a 40th Anniversary opportunity will come along in 2023!
Cheers, and lots of happy days ahead!
Not sure if it's been mentioned anywhere else, but I just stumbled on this video of Visconti talking about a "360 Reality Audio" mix of "Space Oddity."
BananaSlug
1K Club - QQ Shooting Star
Just listening to this now in Atmos on Apple Music, came looking to QQ to find why they say 2019 mix…
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