Ambient Music. A general discussion on all aspects of this unique genre.

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Three Robert Rich anthology Blurays are available with 5.1 mixes done by the artist himself. Each is itself made up of three individual releases. Together, they cover many of his (mostly solo) releases from 2007-2019. Here is a link that includes them (they are the ones with the distictive cube covergraphics with three album covers each):

https://surroundmusic.one/artist/robert-rich/
The mixes are mostly very immersive ambience style 5.1, with some discrete placements and washes that move across the sound field. The music tends to keep a forward-facing stage though the side/rears have more energy than many classical 5.1 mixes to my ears. This varies somewhat from album to album. They are quite immersive.
(It would be great if someone could actually do some measurements on the relative amplitudes of the channels).

I'd appreciate some better font choices on the inserts though. They are hard to read (because of the blue plastic packaging), and kind of unprofessional looking (as opposed to RR's own (2-channel) album releases, which have pretty superb graphics and packaging). As a workaround, you can pull out the sleeve insert so you're not viewing it through the blue plastic of the case....
 
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I have released my EP today on bandcamp, at which you can find the 24 bit 5.1/2.0 flac files ;). It's an ambient album so I thought y'all might be interested. (remove the space from the link because I'm new and QQ doesnt let me post links yet lol) https:// space musicmoa.bandcamp.com/album/step

It's my first true public release so I will def improve with time.
Let me know your thoughts if you listen :)
 
I forgot to mention that I wanted to thank y'all for showing me robert rich in 5.1! I have already liked a bunch of his work in stereo but I never had any idea that he did stuff in 5.1. Now ive got another set of good ambient in surround besides async :)
 
Haha yeah that is to be expected for some! Noise music isn't everybody's cup of tea ;). Thanks for listening and I'm glad you seemed to enjoy the first and last! :)
Not that I didn't like the second track, just the high pitch tearing noise a bit loud, I was wearing headphones. It kind of remind me of the B of Hurdy Gurdy Man single by the Butthole Surfers called "Barking Dogs", which I was listening to recently through matrix decoder, glad you are making surround music.
 
Not that I didn't like the second track, just the high pitch tearing noise a bit loud, I was wearing headphones. It kind of remind me of the B of Hurdy Gurdy Man single by the Butthole Surfers called "Barking Dogs", which I was listening to recently through matrix decoder, glad you are making surround music.
Ohhhhhh I misunderstood. That's really cool haha. Yeah even if it can be a bit of a pain, I will release everything I make in 5.1. It's just another way for me to creatively express my work :). Also I've always found especially when you make music that's very atmospheric, surround sound allows you to really be inside of the music which is really cool. It's a shame there aren't many ambient surround releases as its one of my fav genre's. I can't even begin to think what it'd be like having some of Brian Eno's 80's output in 5.1! He even did stuff with multiple boom boxes in a room playing simultaneously which is basically multichannel music.

Glad to see there is at least some interest in hearing ambient in surround sound ;).
 
Ohhhhhh I misunderstood. That's really cool haha. Yeah even if it can be a bit of a pain, I will release everything I make in 5.1. It's just another way for me to creatively express my work :). Also I've always found especially when you make music that's very atmospheric, surround sound allows you to really be inside of the music which is really cool. It's a shame there aren't many ambient surround releases as its one of my fav genre's. I can't even begin to think what it'd be like having some of Brian Eno's 80's output in 5.1! He even did stuff with multiple boom boxes in a room playing simultaneously which is basically multichannel music.

Glad to see there is at least some interest in hearing ambient in surround sound ;).
Be sure to check out this thread -
https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/threads/new-album-on-https-surroundmusic-one.23523/
 
I forgot to mention that I wanted to thank y'all for showing me robert rich in 5.1! I have already liked a bunch of his work in stereo but I never had any idea that he did stuff in 5.1. Now ive got another set of good ambient in surround besides async :)

I'm a Robert Rich fan too. In an email exchange from this spring (when the news broke about the Blu-Ray 'anthology' releases), he told me he usually produces a 5.1 mix at the same time he makes the RedBook 2Channel mix, or very shortly after. I'm not sure when he started that practice, but I really like that he has made his own 5.1 mixes. I am hoping that this means that some more 5.1 mixes are in the can..

I will eventually make a review or even a poll post on these three initial blu-rays. They are worthy of more complete discussion here on the QQ Forum, I think.

PS: Glad you are also producing your work this way!
 
I'm a Robert Rich fan too. In an email exchange from this spring (when the news broke about the Blu-Ray 'anthology' releases), he told me he usually produces a 5.1 mix at the same time he makes the RedBook 2Channel mix, or very shortly after. I'm not sure when he started that practice, but I really like that he has made his own 5.1 mixes. I am hoping that this means that some more 5.1 mixes are in the can..

I will eventually make a review or even a poll post on these three initial blu-rays. They are worthy of more complete discussion here on the QQ Forum, I think.

PS: Glad you are also producing your work this way!
Haha yeah. It's very layered so i made sure everything was seperate for the surround mix later. Surround Sound is always a priority in what i make, so I like to make sure I have as much flexability to be discrete when it comes to making the surround mix. Originally I wanted everything to be bouncing around the room as my favorite surround mixes are the flaming lips ones, but it just didn't sound balanced so I settled for a bit of a less discrete mix. This actually resulted in a better mix that gave the music a more "full" and surrounding feeling which I liked better. I don't have some expensive studio so I'm sorta limited but I tried to make it as good as I could with what I had ;).

Aw crap I went on a tangent... Back to what you said about Robert Rich, I had a similar process to him. Right when I finished the 2 channel mix I got straight to making the 5.1 mix. But yeah since it's self produced and mastered by me I'm also the one making the mixes (which is nice because I can make sure it isn't affected by the loudness wars!).

I will have to listen to Robert Rich in 5.1 very soon and I'll post my thoughts here.
 
I seriously cannot find a single way to get the robert rich stuff in 5.1. Can someone give me any advice? I can't find the blu rays anywhere, and I can't find the files anywhere. I would absolutely love to hear it in 5.1, especially "tactile ground".
 
Oh wait I think I found the place (surroundmusic.one) that sells the blu ray.

Yes, that is it. If you have specific questions, they are quick to respond. I am also in California and it took about a month for the shipment - due to COVID disruptions in transportation across the Atlantic.

There are some magical moments in Tactile Ground. It will be great to hear about your impressions.
 
Yes, that is it. If you have specific questions, they are quick to respond. I am also in California and it took about a month for the shipment - due to COVID disruptions in transportation across the Atlantic.

There are some magical moments in Tactile Ground. It will be great to hear about your impressions.

I did have some problems with the first BD-R with multiple albums on it, but they responded quickly with a replacement!
 
Just gave Tactile Ground a first full listen and in 5.1. Thought I'd share some thoughts with you.

I've heard a lot of ambient music over the years and it's always been one of my favorite genre's of music. While I will say that Tactile Ground ain't quite as good as some of Robert Rich's classics like somnium, it's still quite good. Some stunningly beautiful drones and sounds all over this release. I mean, Robert Rich has been doing this stuff since the 80's so he's definitely had time to get good at what he makes. It's just really solid drone/ambient all around and I don't have many complaints, but sometimes it kinda feels slightly dull in comparison to some of his other releases such as somnium. Very transportive. I rated the music a 8.

As for the mix, the mix is fantastic. Mastered and produced flawlessly and incredibly immersive and transportive to what the music really feels like. Truly adds to the whole experience and I will definitely be giving this a few more listens. It isn't rear light or any type of "fake surround" crap, everything melds together in a surprisingly discrete way and it shows that surround sound was a priority for whoever mixed this. 9/10 on the mix.

One of my very few 10/10 music and 10/10 mix disc's (I only have 4 of these) is Ryuichi Sakamoto's async surround. And async is also a ambient album so it makes for a decent comparison. Async is tragically beautiful and abstract and a much less relaxing and active release. The mix is subtle while being extremely discrete and directional (am I detecting a shill?). Async is a better album, and has a better mix, but even though it is ambient, it's not the same type of ambient that Robert Rich's stuff is. Async is an album Sakamoto made from his near death experience of throat cancer, and is incredibly sad and devistating and makes me question many of the many things about life (yes I am detecting a shill). It isn't the type of album you put on to relax to or put on in the background, it's the album that you put on when you want a experience kind of like a movie that's incredibly intense. This Robert Rich album isn't that, it's a incredibly laid back experience that takes you somewhere beautiful and peaceful. It's meditative and highly relaxing, but also quite beautiful. Both of these albums are absolutely worth your time for different reasons.

I'll give this album a 8 for the music and a 9 for the 5.1 mix. Excellent album and mix, and yes, I am buying every single other Robert Rich album in 5.1. Glad to see that he hasn't sold out with his newer material, he's got a damn consistent discog.
 
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Loved that show when it came out Derek, but then it just got weirder and weirder as most Lynch scenes tend to do... and by the end of the show I was just wanting it all to just be over 🤪
 
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