Life in Surround - Surround Music Review and Discussion YouTube Channel

[4-earredwonder]

AGREE ENTIRELY ,

There is also a 5.1 dvd "The Christmas Angel " with Olivia Newton John , Mannheim Steamroller , etc..

But I notice their on line store has ended . (and I don't have that dvd)


I will one day get Christmas Extraordinaire as I MUCHLY enjoy the dvda of Christmas Celebration
(ultra discreet !)

Christmas Extraordinaire in DVD~A was available until last year at very affordable prices and has disappeared altogether but if you have any love for the music of Disney, I highly recommend this amazing MLP DVD~A 5.1 discrete title [and only one is available used VG at a great price]: https://www.amazon.com/Mannheim-Ste...=8-4&keywords=mannheim+steamroller:+dvd+audio

Disregard some of the negative reviews: they're from buyers who couldn't somehow play them in their Acura vehicles.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

No rush .


In time , lots of time til next xmas . I will re approach this later and who knows maybe DV will pull an AF and look into the American Grammaphone catalogue .
Thanks for the link 4 ear.

 

[MIDIQ]

Hi, just wanted to say thanks for the Youtube channel. I am enjoying your reviews. Keep up the great work.

 

[edisonbaggins]

Thank you, all, for watching, for your suggestions and encouragement. Happy New Year!
2018 Surround Music in Review:

 

[windhoek]

I just watched the latest video and it occurred to me to ask what are your points of reference when it comes to reviewing mch releases? TGV of The Urban Gentry, the guy who reviews watches rather well on Youtube, uses the same 10 points of reference on each review and on each point, marks are scored out of ten. Although things like style, design and durability etc might not be the right focal points for mch releases, it would be good to know what your points of focus are all the same. If not already included, I propose including:

- degree of discreteness (ambient as per most classical or full-on boogie like DSOTM)
- cohesion of mix (how well the channels knit together)
- speaker levels (are the rears too low or too high, dropped centre or sub, etc)
- dynamic compression (is it LOUD from the off or can one give it some volume)
- superior to stereo (how much better is the mch mix compared to the regular stereo version)
- packaging (an increasingly relevant factor now that deluxe box sets are on the increase)

I'm not suggesting you introduce a scoring system - you can if you want, of course - but it would be great to know your review formula so we know what we're getting week-in and week-out and why, and perhaps list those points of reference in the video description.

 

[edisonbaggins]

Some good food for thought for the future, and I'll answer your question, regarding the present.
I mostly follow the QQ guideline: sonics, mix, musical content, package value. I tend not to follow the 3, 3, 3, 1 points system though. Each area can get 0 - 10 points. I then do a sort of mental average. You'll see me describe this in some of the videos that cover a single album.
Thanks for the suggestions and for watching!

 

[windhoek]

Ah, it looks like the things I posted above can be subsumed into the QQ review system, although perhaps not obviously so. Anyway, thanks for the videos and keep going

 

[edisonbaggins]

Ah, it looks like the things I posted above can be subsumed into the QQ review system, although perhaps not obviously so. Anyway, thanks for the videos and keep going

It is very good to be reminded of what viewers care about. I sometimes finish a video and wish I had mentioned a thing or two.
At this point, my main mission is just to get knowledge of the existence of multichannel titles out in the videosphere. Reach those folks who didn't know a favorite album can be enjoyed in surround. But I want to bring way more value than that to the table, ideally.
Thanks very much for the feedback and happy New Year!

 

[fizzywiggs41]

Thank you, all, for watching, for your suggestions and encouragement. Happy New Year!
2018 Surround Music in Review:

WOW !!

You got quite the rack Baggie .

Some rarities I see there in back .

 

[edisonbaggins]

WOW !!

You got quite the rack Baggie .

Some rarities I see there in back .

I hope to get to them all!
(Custom-built rack, back from my mixed-media design days...)

 

[windhoek]

Having given it some thought, I’ve decided on the following marking system I'll use when it comes to voting in QQ polls. The system is essentially a breakdown of what I think Sonics, Mix, Content and Packaging represent and for each sub-marker, of which there are ten in total, I’ll score marks out of ten and then convert the final score out of a hundred to marks out of ten in keeping with QQ scoring, rounding up or down where necessary.

Sonics

• dynamic range (is it LOUD from the off or can one give it some volume)
• equalisation (how balanced is the music across the frequency range - specifically looking out for too much bass or treble or lack of)

Mix

• degree of discreteness (is it ambient as per most classical releases or full-on like DSOTM)
• cohesion of mix (how well the channels knit together - does it sound like there are two systems playing music in the room or one)
• instrumentation (evaluating instrument placement and levels)

Content

• quality of music (to what extent does the music get you air-jamming, tapping your toes, singing along, crying on the inside etc)
• performance (perhaps more relevant to live and classical releases where performances of the same piece of music can vary considerably)

Packaging

• function (how well the packaging allows access to its contents and stores it securely)
• form (how nice is the packaging to feel and behold)
• value (to what extent does this release represent good value for money compared to the original retail prices - evaluating everything you get for your money against the cost)

I don't think my scoring system will require studios listening and note-taking - I'm hoping I can just play the music and make mental notes along the way to type up afterwards. We'll see. Maybe I'll have to have a pen and paper at hand. But before I do anything, I'll have to decide which mch album will be my first foray into the QQ polls...

 

[edisonbaggins]

First video of the year! Life's been crazy, but I'm alive...
2019 Forecast:

 

[edisonbaggins]

 

[edisonbaggins]

Center channel for surround discussion (kinda), 11.1 AVR setup, Atmos/Auro-3D compatibility, plus a tour of my main listening system!

 

[windhoek]

Nice one, Mike - although music matters more than hardware, without hardware there is no music (real-world music notwithstanding), so it was great to see how you hear music

 

[watsy_73]

Great channel, very informative.
I don't know of any other channel discussing surround music so kudos to you Mike.
A couple of other faves here-

 

[edisonbaggins]

In honor of the recent shows I was fortunate to see, Van Morrison's Moondance!

 

[4-earredwonder]

In honor of the recent shows I was fortunate to see, Van Morrison's Moondance!

Van the Man's Number 1 FAN. Nice overview Mike with some great shots of Vegas and the concert venue. Totally agree, it was an unexpected out of left field Warner Brother's release and in all honesty, it was priced VERY well. You can pay that much for a single Japanese QUAD SACD.

That Van was unhappy with this release, to me, was THE major disappointment as VERY doubtful he'll green light future 5.1 remasters of his vast and brilliant musical output.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Center channel for surround discussion (kinda), 11.1 AVR setup, Atmos/Auro-3D compatibility, plus a tour of my main listening system!

Another impressive presentation, Mike.

Here's a list of DTS~X movies available or announced in that codec: https://www.nextgenhometheater.com/dtsx-blu-ray-movies/

 

[edisonbaggins]

Another impressive presentation, Mike.

Here's a list of DTS~X movies available or announced in that codec: https://www.nextgenhometheater.com/dtsx-blu-ray-movies/

Thanks for the link. I'm bound to be a bit poorer soon!