BIA did arrive today. First, I wanted to check out the differences between the regular CD version (I have the original the one that says "Full Digital Recording" on the front of the CD cover) and the SACD version of the regular stereo track. So I put in what I thought was the regular CD version and I was totally blown away with what I was hearing. I thought well, this IS a full digital recording after all. So after listening to a little bit of the first two songs, I felt it was now time to switch to the SACD stereo track. When I ejected the disc, it was only then I discovered I had accidentally put in the SACD version first! I thought oh well, I'll just go ahead and check how the regular CD sounds now. When I put that in, the overall audio level was much lower, hence I had to turn it up. Before I get on with the rest of the story, I need to explain something.
My Sony multiformat disc player is set (I believe) to default to the multichannel version first...so I had no idea I was listening to the surround mix when I popped in the first disc. I thought I had heard some surround information, but I wasn't paying too much attention to that, as I thought I had the regular CD in it. I did later on, try to switch the SACD to the high resolution stereo version, but I could not easily do that on the fly with the remote. In fact, I never ended up doing that at all. I probably would have had to go into the disc player's menu to change that option. But that's fine, generally when I pop in a multichannel SACD, I'm going to want it to play the surround sound version anyway. Now for the rest of the story!
Overall, the regular CD I thought had mostly the same sonics as the 5.1 mix, but with more audio mixed together and at a lower level than the regular stereo version, but obviously the audio level can be easily fixed by turning up the volume. As a result of the original stereo mix-down, the delicate details which I originally heard in the surround version simply don't stand out as much, and sometimes not at all. That's not a bad thing, it's just different. I did however notice that the bass is somewhat more emphasized in the 5.1 version. I'm pretty sure that has more to do with how certain levels were set (or boosted) when making the new mix-down, rather than some hidden information the surround mix may have brought out.
What was brought out in this mix (as anyone can simply point out when stereo releases are remixed for multi-channel releases) is the clarity of all the sounds originally recorded. Not only is it easier for the audio engineer to get better results while
mixing less separate recordings (sounds) into less channels, it's also easier for the drivers in the audio system to reproduce those less demanding mixes per channel. I felt whoever worked on the remix did a really nice job with how they handled placing the instruments and vocals not only with the placement in certain speakers around the listener, but also with the audio levels for each speaker within that mix. Overall the audio felt pretty solid; as one. Maybe a better way to describe my experience is that it sounded and felt very natural.
The word stereo by the way (when describing 3-D vision) means "solid."
"stereopsis The normal ability to perceive objects as being solid."
Anyway; I felt even with all those sounds coming at me from all around, someone had to have done a very fine job of mixing the audio in a way to make it appear as if what I experienced is what one would expect to hear naturally in any recording at any time. I don't know who did the remix, but it sounds different than what Steven Wilson would have done. Which by the way does not mean it's bad in any way at all, I'm just not used to hearing a mix so well done outside of Wilson's work. I also know there's other surround mixes out there that are also very, very good; but I'm simply not used to hearing them. This is one of those discs.
There are however a couple moments throughout where I can tell the resolution of the original recording is lacking. Mainly in the voices...particularly in one of the tracks on this disc. I think the reason overall the audio is so good on this disc regardless of it's original digital sampling rate, has to do with the ones who were originally responsible with the mics and recording equipment while creating this album. For example, Alan Parsons is very well known to create excellent sounding recordings...it's science, and art mixed with a good dose of experience. I'm simply saying who ever the audio engineer was originally working on BIA knew what the hell they were doing.
