Listening to in Dolby Atmos Streaming, via Tidal/Apple/Amazon

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PaulnotstPeter said:
I listened to War of The Worlds last night. I can confirm it is a new Atmos mix, not the 5.1 , 5.1 upmixed. By the sounds of it I would say from the multitracks, not stems. Some of it is marvelous, some is not so great. Overall I suggest listening and judging for yourself. I would be interested to hear the thoughts of others on this.
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That’s one I never tried in physical form, but I’ve been curious. Thanks for pointing this out!
 
sbrom said:
That’s one I never tried in physical form, but I’ve been curious. Thanks for pointing this out!
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Disc one of the double album is quite good. IMO It starts to get a bit tiresome after that. I haven't heard the Atmos mix yet, but always liked the 5.1. Enjoy.

This is an example of Prog rock being produced in the Disco era, much like PFs The Wall was. Both have quazi disco beats in a few places.
 
PaulnotstPeter said:
I listened to War of The Worlds last night. I can confirm it is a new Atmos mix, not the 5.1 , 5.1 upmixed. By the sounds of it I would say from the multitracks, not stems. Some of it is marvelous, some is not so great. Overall I suggest listening and judging for yourself. I would be interested to hear the thoughts of others on this.
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I love it!

I struggled at first, I could not get it to play in Atmos. Turns out there are two versions of Jeff Wayne’s WOTW on Apple Music. One is a stereo-only “Collectors Edition” from 1978 that includes different mixes and outtakes. The other is a 2022 Atmos release, as here:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/jeff-waynes-musical-version-of-the-war-of-the-worlds/317564400
 
The mix is mostly tame, but the music is great:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/big-time/1612533349
Hat tip to Amanda Petrusich:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/06/06/angel-olsen-sees-your-pain
A few of the songs on “Big Time” were written years earlier, such as “All the Good Times,” a loping country number with lap steel, hints of Mellotron, and a horn section that might have been airlifted out of Muscle Shoals circa 1965. Olsen considered offering “All the Good Times” to the country singer Sturgill Simpson, but her voice—gritty, sour, beautiful—carries the song. “I can’t say that I’m sorry when I don’t feel so wrong anymore,” she sings. She sounds weary yet knowing—life has once again proved her right.​
​
“Big Time” is more firmly rooted in country music than anything Olsen has done before; vocally, it nods to Dolly Parton, Nancy Sinatra, Loretta Lynn, and a “Landslide”-era Stevie Nicks, if Nicks had grown up listening to Can LPs. “Have you heard ‘A Tender Look at Love,’ by Roger Miller?” Olsen asked me. “He’s known for being a jokester in his songs, but this is really different.” She cued up “Little Green Apples” on her car stereo. “Now, this isn’t country, but it is.” Miller became famous for goofy novelty songs like “King of the Road,” from 1964, but his cover of “Little Green Apples” is sentimental, dreamy, a deeply felt treatise on true, benevolent love. “And when my self is feelin’ low / I think about her face aglow / And ease my mind,” he purrs. I suggested that the song contained vague echoes of Townes Van Zandt—its narrator is desperate for comfort, companionship, shelter. Olsen nodded emphatically: “That’s the kind of country that I like.”​
 
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Oldschoolsoundengineer said:
On Sting's The Dream of the Blue Turtles in Atmos:
https://music.apple.com/no/album/the-dream-of-the-blue-turtles/1440880757?l=nb
What a massive dissapointment! There is so much in this mix that is wrong. I don't know whether this is done in a control room with bad acoustics/monitoring or done by someone who is unexperienced, it sounds so bad. In the top end so much eq is added that it sounds really harsh and metallic even on my usually laid back B&W speakers. Way too much energy in the 5-9 kHz range make tamburine, cymbals and hi-hat sound bad. Taste is different and some like bright mixes, but if one choose to make a bright mix one should also use enough de-essing on the main vocal to compensate the overexposed esses. This scream listening fatigue before you have come half way through the first song. This mix isn't the only one to suffer from this. E.g. check out Norah Jones' Come Away With Me where someone turned this well recorded album into an unbearable bright and ugly vocal sound.

The treble area is also the part of the frequency spectrum that is hardest for compressed formats (like Atmos in Apple Music and Tidal) to reproduce without artifacts. Too much treble will much likely emphasis these limitations, often making it sound harsh and metallic. Another way to balance a bright mix work is to have a solid low end. This mix over all lacks this as well. It varies from song to song, but is never really good. Drums sound distant and bass guitar/upright bass is lacking body. The upper bass area into the low mid range which is so important for adding warmth and making the mix sound natural is almost absent in all songs. Sting's vocal is often mixed too loud distancing the rest further. And as others have said, it has not got much use of heights and backs. Not much creativity put into the immersive part either.

It is a shame that the remix of a masterpiece like this can get released with this painful quality. Even worse when you think how much money this album has brought the record label over the years. Is there no quality control envolved? If they will cut down expenses by skipping the mastering studio at least let someone with experience listen to it in another control room and give feedback/guidence during the remixing. I hope we won't get many more bad Atmos examples like this, it will destroy the reputation of music mixed in Atmos and slowly kill the format.
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agreed. in the first few seconds i knew it was not optimal. i ended up adding a bit of subwoofer boost to try and fill it out which made it just slightly more listenable. but overall a big disappointment as this is a great album worthy of better.
 
 
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