Dolby Atmos Music on Blu-ray

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. This isn't a music preference order list; more exciting use of Atmos or Auro-3D, although I'm sure it's affected by it to some extent, none-the-less.

Being a Prog Rock fan, I have now begin to like some Electronic/Beat and more poppy styles that I never thought I would enjoy, thanks to the desire to amortize the investment in the sound equipment. Wanting to hear all speakers with nice panning effects.

There are much more moments to feel the Surround/Immersion sound effects with MC/Atmos/Auro Music than with the Films.
 
I finished listening to the Kraftwerk 3D album in Dolby Atmos....

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Unlike Pure Audio Blu-Rays, this one has footage, apparently taken from a live concert with background footage for each of the songs that basically alternate between the live views and the footage that was projected behind them on the cinema screen. The blocky image on the front of the album is a representation of the 4 members standing at "stations" in front of the screen. When the lights were up, as best I could tell, only two of them had actual synthesizer keyboards on their workstations. The other two appeared to have some kind of computer kiosk type setup. I'm not sure what they were doing (selecting/adjusting screen footage and/or lighting? Or just pretending to do something in what is an otherwise computer controlled playback of the songs?) That sort of thing is a common issue among synth/pop bands (e.g. The Pet Shop Boys had a live stage show instead based more around dancing groups, props, etc. It wasn't really my thing, but at least it let them perform live). Kraftwerk does a good job of at least giving the appearance they're doing something and it does appear the vocals were at least live and perhaps some of the synth parts (lighting/angles not conducive to see what they were doing, really).

The ATMOS. The Atmos mix does a pretty good job of moving the synth sounds around the room. It starts off a bit slow in "Autobahn" but eventually you get sounds and voices pretty much all over the place including common ceiling locations (oddly orientated around actual Auro-3D speaker locations with distinct parts at "center height" and "VOG" quite often which makes me wonder if the album might have originally been mixed in Auro-3D and then converted over to Atmos or something (not that Atmos can't image in those locations with phantom images, but I do wonder since most immersive albums started with Auro-3D mixes with Atmos concentrating on movies early on and Auro concentrating their Blu-rays more on music, or at least getting more traction/releases in music). Either way, the mix doesn't lack for bouncing sounds around the room. However, their music seems to be largely based on old style analog and FM synthesis type sounds rather than a more modern type of sound so it's a little strange somehow in that often it just feels like sounds are being bounced around just for the heck of it, rather than any kind of "plan" to the music style or something (an impression that Yello's album manages to impress in that it almost sounds like it was designed with Atmos in mind even though that really wasn't the case as it was mixed for stereo and sent for an Atmos version from the stems too, but their use of rhythm, percussion and other sounds perhaps makes it at least seem more natural somehow). Still, it really hasn't gotten old here listening to sounds bounce all around the speakers in the room (since I have 17.1 speakers installed in a 11.1.6 config). Some tracks specifically seem to use Front Wides a LOT (notably Techno Pop) for those that are looking to test their front wides which often get complaints of movies not utilizing them enough.

The Music. I'm not expert on Kraftwerk. This is the first album I've ever heard from them. I did a bit of reading on their history and contributions to electronic and eventually what would become techno music, but in practice I'm not sure what to make after just one listen. Autobahn went on for over 10 minutes and the cheesy 1990s looking 3D driving footage got kind of old fast as did the song. Trans Europa Express was like the "train" version of the same concept (with odd 3D train views), but I think the song was much better on that one. Radioaktivitat seemed to be some anti-nuclear type song with mentions of various meltdown and bomb sites in the song. I felt like I was being put to sleep a bit on these tracks. But other tracks like Techno Pop, Die Roboter and even Tour De France had pretty nice layers of analog synths with some more modern techno beats and bits thrown in. I think Techno Pop was probably my favorite track offhand. It had a pretty nice layered effect and just seemed more exciting than the other tracks. The video had some old style wire forms and low polygon count renders of a robot that kept saying things like "Music non stop, Techno-pop" with Atmos placement around the room were oddly interesting, although like most of the tracks, I felt like they often went on a bit too long (sometimes less is more), but I didn't mind as much with this one. Die Roboter replaced the band members with robots on stage (or what looked like on-stage; it was hard to tell if it was just footage or they really used them from the angles). I thought I was in Disney World.... Tour de France lyrics were in French and featured lots of old looking bicycle footage from the race. It seemed oddly upbeat in a way that made me think I was watching a some 1970s promotion film. I don't know whether that's a complement or a scratch my head moment, but it was still pretty catchy, I think.

Overall, it was an interesting old school sounding 1970s type synthesizer rehash using sounds I never would have used on my own album (I tend to prefer the more Pink Floyd use of old school synths mixed with guitar), but they certainly found a way to use them fairly effectively. I can't help but be reminded of Commodore 64 music demos (many of which came from Europe) for the old SID chip, which certainly was more analog sounding than today's sampled sets, but even Apple's Logic Pro has plenty of old school synths you can patch and modify like the real things if you want to take the time to come up with your own analog or FM type sounds. Given how different the music is from modern pop, some might want to preview the tracks on YouTube or something first unless of course you're already a fan.
Thanks for the notes on the Kraftwerk. I have all the 5.1 files and have listened to the 5 albums, I like them all, I also have a 4.0 upmix of the UK vinyl, The Man Machine, BUT really wanted the 3D Atmos release and missed the boat and one of these releases that became out of print instantly. I ordered last week a unopened box from some cat in Germany, cheapest I could find but still not cheap, hopefully will get here, next week?
I was wondering if there is a link to Atmos music releases? Maybe one with video and one without, or combined?
I found this link Atmos Movies for movies, which is good, but can't seem to find one for music.
 
Thanks for the notes on the Kraftwerk. I have all the 5.1 files and have listened to the 5 albums, I like them all, I also have a 4.0 upmix of the UK vinyl, The Man Machine, BUT really wanted the 3D Atmos release and missed the boat and one of these releases that became out of print instantly. I ordered last week a unopened box from some cat in Germany, cheapest I could find but still not cheap, hopefully will get here, next week?
I was wondering if there is a link to Atmos music releases? Maybe one with video and one without, or combined?
I found this link Atmos Movies for movies, which is good, but can't seem to find one for music.

I bought my copy from jpc.de back in December. It took awhile to get here compared to Yello, but it wasn't out of print.
 
Thanks for the notes on the Kraftwerk. I have all the 5.1 files and have listened to the 5 albums, I like them all, I also have a 4.0 upmix of the UK vinyl, The Man Machine, BUT really wanted the 3D Atmos release and missed the boat and one of these releases that became out of print instantly. I ordered last week a unopened box from some cat in Germany, cheapest I could find but still not cheap, hopefully will get here, next week?
I was wondering if there is a link to Atmos music releases? Maybe one with video and one without, or combined?
I found this link Atmos Movies for movies, which is good, but can't seem to find one for music.
The best one is The Catalogue 3D.34 songs live with 3D video.Many of my favorites are not on the 3D release with only 8 songs
 
That's what I got. Sending from Germany.
Nice!I was not sure what you ment.There 's the 8 song 3D single BD and the 34 track 3D The Catalogue.I have both.I paid $120 for The 3D Catalogue from amazon.de including express delivery and Norwegian VAT,and I think it's really worth it for so much music in Atmos. :cool:
 
The best one is The Catalogue 3D.34 songs live with 3D video.Many of my favorites are not on the 3D release with only 8 songs

So it has 3D video too? Darn. I might have bought that one instead had I known (I love 3D video and have 248 titles with it so far). Do all 34 songs also have Atmos on that one or is that just the 8?
 
So it has 3D video too? Darn. I might have bought that one instead had I known (I love 3D video and have 248 titles with it so far). Do all 34 songs also have Atmos on that one or is that just the 8?
Every song has 3D and Atmos.I love it! :cool: Saw them live in Sweden some years back with 3D and surround,really cool show.
 
Every song has 3D and Atmos.I love it! :cool: Saw them live in Sweden some years back with 3D and surround,really cool show.

So I take it the shorter version is just a partial concert? I found a supplier that's not too unreasonable for the full version with an English book. I guess I was confused about what the catalogue version was. I'm ordering it now.... I want 3D and more songs! :D

Edit: Order placed. Full 3D Catalogue version on the way.... Now I just need to sell the short version to someone.... :D
 
On another note, INXS Kick 30th Anniversary set has arrived (a day late) with Dolby Atmos mixes... I might not get to listen to it fully until tomorrow, though. I've got some other Atmos testing to do and I'm not getting enough sleep lately.
 
That’s the big box, 12x12 inches and very heavy because of the book. The German version is OOP and very expensive - on a side note :)
You are correct. The German guy that I bought it from, had a sale price which I approved and bought with my Paypal, then he came back to me and asked for a little bit more as he didn't calculate the shipping weight correctly as it was over 6lbs. In the end I looked around at other sellers and I wasn't getting ripped off, just a mistake on his part, and more so when I didn't pull the trigger, in 2017 I think. Even then it was complicated because all these different versions came out and I think some people just wanted a box set with everything but they didn't sell it that way? I can't remember exactly.
 
I listened to INXS Kick in Atmos. There was a few problems. Some tracks had some "blanks" (like the audio cuts out for less than a second, almost like a skip, but not skipping so much as muting for a fraction of a second). The title track was the worst offender in this regard. It also did it on New Sensation and a couple of others briefly. I'm playing "Kick" right now on the computer in stereo from the 7.1/Atmos track and it's not doing it. The 5.1 core and stereo tracks didn't do it either, just full Atmos (I didn't try the base track by itself as I didn't realize it wouldn't skip on the same track on the computer in stereo so it might just be the meta data for Atmos, even that has an error for some reason). It does it in the exactly the same locations so it's not some weird random network thing or whatever.

I guess the next thing to do is try playing the same tracks directly off the Blu-Ray instead of the MKV dump of them and see if it's on the disc itself or somehow the Handbrake re-encode of the MKV track has the issue. I only re-encoded to add the track names and recompress the video as the video is just a still image that changes the symbol for playing next to the track that's currently playing and that saves a ton of space on the hard drive since it's not driving any video anyway, but the tracks are all uncompressed (passthrough) still.

Overall, other than the glitches, Kick sounded OK in Atmos. There was some nice bits that made use of the surround channels and what not, but overall, it's just not in the same league as Booka Shade, Yello or even Steven Wilson's album for that matter. It sounds more like an older 5.1 type remix album than an Atmos one to my ears most of the time. Some tracks were better in Atmos than others, often whether they had any superfluous extra sounds/strings or percussive bits that would get moved around while most of the main instruments and vocals were usually still up front. There's that question in the back of my mind if MSM did the Atmos remix if it would Kick more arse than it does in Atmos. Surround is only as good as the mixes for it.

The set comes with 2 extra discs of demos and remixes on top of the remastered original CD (I mostly despise remixes with sample snippets that sound almost nothing like the original song. I think remixes are better when the artists do them rather than some club DJ or whatever. I'm not sure who did these, but they're not to my liking from what I heard at a quick glance. I like the demos and live tracks much better. There's also several music videos. Mediate is separated from Need You Tonight, which is sure to upset some since the original MTV video had both combined, but the videos have the Atmos mixes on them as well as the remastered stereo ones.
 
As long as Pocket Calculator is on there, I'm good. ;)

The big box is great but there is some redundancy. The same full albums (redone) have concert footage and backing visuals. The other two blu rays are the same full albums but only the visuals.
 
So I tried out INXS's KICK straight from the Blu-Ray and it had no "mute skips" in Atmos so I'm thinking Handbrake did something to it (I used a lower video rate since it's just a still picture and sometimes I wonder if KODI doesn't like certain settings as I've seen weird behaviors like that before with altered settings. I'll try it again at my usual default video rate and see what happens (i.e. the music videos don't have that issue and they were at the usual rate). OTOH, I have no idea why it would only do it with Atmos on that album (i.e. the 5.1 and stereo tracks were fine).

Edit: I re-dumped the disc and tried again, etc. and the MKV file still skips in Atmos. I have no idea at this point. I guess I'll have to play off the disc unless I can figure something else out.
 
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