Just as I was getting into surround, I read Mike Mettler’s review of Fear of a Blank Planet in Sound+Vision magazine, and was intrigued enough to listen to a sample online, ordered the DVD-A based on that, and have been a fan ever since.
This is pretty much how it was for me as well. Almost identical. So 'No' from me.I almost feel like I've "grown up" with Porcupine Tree. I've been a fan my entire adult life. I became a fan of them in 1995 when a friend gave me a copy of The Sky Moves Sideways, and shortly after they released Signify. I loved those albums right away, and Porcupine Tree quickly became my favorite band. I was 22 year old then.
I've always been interested in hi-fi audio, but stereo only at that time. That changed in around 2000 when I bought my first 5.1 system. That is when I started to explore SACD and DVDA. So... you can imagine how excited I was when it was announced that "In Absentia" was going to be released as a DVDA! That was in 2003 I believe. I was hooked!
Since then, as everyone here knows, nearly all PT albums have been released on DVDA, and SW has become one of the most "in-demand" surround mixers. It seems that just as I was getting interested in surround music, so was SW. The timing was perfect. I love (nearly) everything he does and he is definitely my favorite active musician. His music is brilliant and his 5.1 mixes are incredible. Even is live shows are amongst the best sounding I've seen (and I've seen a lot). He can do it all...
I don't know how he finds the time to do everything he does, but I sincerely hope he can keep it going! Thanks Steven!
As it turns out, the only PT titles I own are ones that have a surround mix, I still haven't gotten around to checking out the albums that don't.
I think you'll find, the further you go back, the closer you'll get to where he is right now, style-wise. Hence, most likely why he's even covering some of that old stuff in his current (still going?) Future Bites sessions.Same here, I still haven't really checked out the pre-Stupid Dream material.