Al Stewart - Time Passages (Alan Parsons 5.1 mix out in October!)

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I just borrowed this from a friend and was surprised to find that - unlike "Year Of The Cat" - the 5.1 mix of the title song doesn't match the DTS-CD 'test mix' that leaked some years ago. This new version is considerably more discrete, with the opening keyboard line completely isolated in the rear speakers. When the electric guitars and sax play in unison at around 3:30, the sax is in the front channels and the guitars are split between the rears! That old mix had basically everything upfront, with only the strings isolated in the rears. Curiously enough, the strings are present in both front and rear on the new mix.

Old:
Time Pasages 44:16 DTS.jpg


New:
Time Passages 96:24 DTS 2021.jpg


The new mix is a definite improvement surround-wise, but I just don't understand the harsh EQ they're using on these Al Stewart releases - this one seems a bit less bright than Year Of The Cat, but I still had to back off the volume a lot.
 
I just borrowed this from a friend and was surprised to find that - unlike "Year Of The Cat" - the 5.1 mix of the title song doesn't match the DTS-CD 'test mix' that leaked some years ago. This new version is considerably more discrete, with the opening keyboard line completely isolated in the rear speakers. When the electric guitars and sax play in unison at around 3:30, the sax is in the front channels and the guitars are split between the rears! That old mix had basically everything upfront, with only the strings isolated in the rears. Curiously enough, the strings are present in both front and rear on the new mix.

Old:
View attachment 72803

New:
View attachment 72802

The new mix is a definite improvement surround-wise, but I just don't understand the harsh EQ they're using on these Al Stewart releases - this one seems a bit less bright than Year Of The Cat, but I still had to back off the volume a lot.
So, I still struggle to understand the ins and outs of creating a multi-channel mix. Why would someone choose a harsh EQ? If you had a choice, why? Seriously?
 
So, I still struggle to understand the ins and outs of creating a multi-channel mix. Why would someone choose a harsh EQ? If you had a choice, why? Seriously?
Either the person doing the mixing / mastering has lost the upper range of their hearing, or they really don’t know what they’re doing.

I see it all the time with touring engineers.

It could also be that they have over engineered their room and it is not translating to the majority of consumers equipment. I always check my mixes in different environments, which is a little harder to do with 5.1
 
Mine arrived the other day. Unfortunately without a shipping notification from Cherry Red. :(

I am really enjoying it. At this point I like it more than Year of the Cat.

Still annoyed with Esoteric. This is how I found the discs when I opened the sleeve.

View attachment 72834
Mine were the same way, same discs as yours; but other than that all was well!
 
Per our convo. with @sjcorne above, I decided to do some tinkering with "Almost Lucy"

I first took the Right Rear channel and did a Vocal Isolation in RX 8 Music Rebalance.


RX 8 MUSIC REBALANCE RR VOCALS ISOLATION.jpg


Then cleaned it up a bit in Audacity and Inverted it ...

ALMOST LUCY- RR ONLY- ISOVOX & CLEANED & INVERTED.jpg


Then Merged back into the Right Rear and replaced the original RR (some minor artifacts remained noticeable, but primarily when listening loud with isolating the Right Rear )- but definitely puts his vocals back to center and leaves mainly conga, cymbals, keyboard & guitar echo in the Right Rear ...

Almost Lucy - RR Inverted Isovox After.jpg
 
I’m still waiting for my copy. I preordered from importcds. Importcd’s site now says this title is back ordered.
Anyone know if the US release has been delayed?
 
I’m still waiting for my copy. I preordered from importcds. Importcd’s site now says this title is back ordered.
Anyone know if the US release has been delayed?
Hey Gary - I also ordered from importCD. I received my shipping confirmation from them yesterday at 8AM Central.
 
Wow, they really phoned-in the book on this one, huh? There are a bunch of updated images, which are nice, but it feels like over half of the text is exactly the same as what's in the YOTC cat book. I mean, OK, if someone only buys Time Passages you want/need to set that up properly... but the amount of content that is directly lifted from YOTC, same quotes and everything... that plus page after page of just full bleed shots of the tape boxes... that's a pretty shady way to get the page count up. Just sayin'. 😐
 
Hey Gary - I also ordered from importCD. I received my shipping confirmation from them yesterday at 8AM Central.
Same here...card was charged a couple of days ago, and ship confirmation arrived yesterday.
 
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Wow, they really phoned-in the book on this one, huh? There are a bunch of updated images, which are nice, but it feels like over half of the text is exactly the same as what's in the YOTC cat book. I mean, OK, if someone only buys Time Passages you want/need to set that up properly... but the amount of content that is directly lifted from YOTC, same quotes and everything... that plus page after page of just full bleed shots of the tape boxes... that's a pretty shady way to get the page count up. Just sayin'. 😐

Oh. That's disappointing. I was looking forward to reading the booklet. :(
 
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