Al Stewart's "Year of the Cat" (Remixed in 5.1 surround by Alan Parsons!!)

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Im getting closer on this eq wise. I had another listen last night. I think it can be tamed with EQ control.

This seems very volume dependant. If you listen at low volumes this brightness isnt irritating, but unless you boost the low end too, it sounds tinny.

Im using the PEQ option in my Emotiva pre/pro to evaluate this. For Grenville and Border, I tried a 3 dB cut at 8.1 kHz. Then I started varying the Q. It became quite audible @ Q=1 and became reasonably better @ Q=2 and i couldant percieve much change @ Q=5. But I think i need another go around with more cut.

The good news is that -3dB 8.1kHz Q=1.5 to 2 seemed to work pretty well for many of the other tracks like Hotel, Flying Sorcery, & Sand. My opinion of Hotel has changed some, as i now think its better with sone EQ. I'm leaning toward putting IIDCNLI into the ultra-overbright catagory with Border and Grenville.

And what up with the buried pecussion parts on the 5.1? First i noticed the cowbell in IIDCNLI being buried in the mix, then i notice it in On the Border with whatever makes that spanish sounding rattle type noise. It's somewhat buried too. This is easily evedent when compared to the 2.0 mix.

I do think the Hi Res 2.0 sounds pretty good, It may have just a touch of added brightness, or maybe its a more faithful copy of the original than has ever been available. But I like it as is. I kinda wish i could play the vinyl for a baseline. But that ship has sailed long ago.

I have the added complication of having to do this by not using the standard DSP room correction profile and A-B ing a non EQd presentation vs the fixed EQ. Grrrrr.
 
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Back from an all-day road trip where I played 5 recent CDs that were unheard before I threw in YOTC DVD-R (DVD-A) and listened in a different vehicle. (different speakers/amps but similar head unit & sub) 4 tracks in and it quits because the disc already has something on it to make it unplayable. (make another one)

I'm not sweating the EQ thing so much; the strongest memories of YOTC are mobile listening with Maxell II-S C90 cassettes playing undecoded Dolby B so it was always bright to me. Not a problem. What I am hearing is vocal double-tracking I never noticed in the past and overt vocal reverb where the memories are of a dry vocal sound. There before just made more obvious now or ? More specifics about the when's and where's soon. Also need to directly compare the old DTS YOTC to 5.1 mix presented here.

Relatedly, Year of the Cat is a brilliant pop song but it is not my favorite track. I always enjoy hearing it but it's not my actual favorite.
 
What I am hearing is vocal double-tracking I never noticed in the past and overt vocal reverb where the memories are of a dry vocal sound. There before just made more obvious now or ?

Yeah, there's definitely more vocal reverb on the 5.1 than the old stereo mix. "Midas Shadow" retains the original vocal sound, since it's an upmix and not a remix. I also thought AP's surround mix of Eye In The Sky had more reverb than the stereo version.
 
Never been an Al Stewart fan, but I am a fan of jazz blogger/Wall Street Journal music writer Marc Myers. So I figured you afficionados would appreciate Myers's interview with Stewart, where he talks about the sources of the "The Year of the Cat." (If you're not a WSJ subscriber and want to read the whole thing, right-click on the link below and open it in a "private" window.)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-bo...inspired-al-stewarts-rock-classic-11617810688
 
Love the new mix, but it pretty much sounds like a quad mix with a low volume center channel. I heard from a recording engineer in London once that Alan Parson's had made a quad mix and kept it to himself. Anyway, HUGE memories of this album and that time of my life, 12th grade in high school.
 
I ordered mine from amazon.uk on the 30th and it showed up yesterday.
The surround mix starts out lazy (not uncommon for some reason) and seems to get better throughout with YOTC sounding terrific! I wish Lord Grenville and On the Border could have been done a bit better.
I do find that I have to boost the surround speakers about 3dB, especially on the earlier songs. Definitely an AP mix as he doesn't like to use the center speaker.
This is one of my favorite albums of all time (I had just graduated HS when this came out) and the whole package is a treat.
And thanks for that link to the video earlier in the thread with AS talking about YOTC. He seems like a really down to earth, nice guy.
Can't wait for Time Passages!
 
nice album and sound but I can only wonder how much better this would be if they had brought the drumming more forward and pronounced. I feel if they had done this it would add some additional life...it would 'pop'.
I cant say the drumming per se, but the 5.1 percussion tracks have certainly been buried compared to any stereo version I have.
 
Never been an Al Stewart fan, but I am a fan of jazz blogger/Wall Street Journal music writer Marc Myers. So I figured you afficionados would appreciate Myers's interview with Stewart, where he talks about the sources of the "The Year of the Cat." (If you're not a WSJ subscriber and want to read the whole thing, right-click on the link below and open it in a "private" window.)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-bo...inspired-al-stewarts-rock-classic-11617810688
Thanks Humprof,
Glad you brought up this WSJ article! This was discussed last Thursday by a local radio show host, Mark Belling.
I found it pretty interesting & was going to mention it to the QQ family here but...I forgot🥴.
Unfortunately, I believe most of the article is behind a pay wall😟...
Sort of amazing what YOTC actually wind up as.....
Definitely a classic!
 
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About ready to spin the DTS 5.1 for the 1st time!
:51QQ

DRUM ROLL, PLEASE


See the source image
 
I'm still very much a novice when it comes to fine EQ moves, but that adjustment seems to push those sharp hi-hat and cymbal hits further back in the mix (closer to how they sounded in the original stereo album) without negatively affecting anything else. I certainly encourage anyone who's dissatisfied with the sound of the 5.1 to experiment and share their thoughts.
Don’t sell yourself short SJC. Some novice named Brady won his first Super Bowl, and seems to have done pretty well after that also.
 
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