Steven Wilson Q&A: Steven Wilson on future tour plans, remixing The Grateful Dead in Dolby Atmos, and more! (IAA)

[sjcorne]

Always a pleasure to talk to the man Hope you guys find it interesting and informative!

https://immersiveaudioalbum.com/qa-...ng-the-grateful-dead-in-dolby-atmos-and-more/

 

[humprof]

Wonderfully wide-ranging interview. Nice shout-out to @PaulatSDE for showing Rhino there's still money to be made on niche physical releases. (Also: you must be flattered to know that SW checked out your 2024 predictions!)

He's mentioned this before, but I really appreciate the fact that when he's mixing in Atmos, he starts with a dedicated 5.1 mix, even if it won't be released.

Good to hear that there's progress on the XTC front, even if it's dribs and drabs. Maybe Andy Partridge will give some thought to your box-set idea.

 

[alansanchez86]

Incredible interview again. Covering so much in-depth, from technical stuff to new releases, to SW's approach on Atmos mixes.

On a separate note, I highly appreciate your vision and how you found a business opportunity on Spatial mixes that were already done, and as an outlet for those who initially the label didn't release it, or SDE's couldn't convince to release physically. I guess the costs to release digital are drastically slimmer than physical, no distribution costs, no raw material (case + blu ray) costs, etc..

I would have loved to hear about Storm Corrosion's Atmos release. Guess SW has more control on that one since it's his co-release, and it's been a while (more than a year) since he mentioned about it.

 

[sjcorne]

I would have loved to hear about Storm Corrosion's Atmos release. Guess SW has more control on that one since it's his co-release, and it's been a while (more than a year) since he mentioned about it.

Yeah, I'm curious about the status of that one as well. I think it's been done for a while and was supposed to be released in 2022 for the album's 10th anniversary.

 

[GOS]

Always a pleasure to talk to the man Hope you guys find it interesting and informative!

https://immersiveaudioalbum.com/qa-...ng-the-grateful-dead-in-dolby-atmos-and-more/

Excellent job, Jonathan. Very interesting all the way through.

 

[Sal1950]

Always a pleasure to talk to the man Hope you guys find it interesting and informative!

https://immersiveaudioalbum.com/qa-...ng-the-grateful-dead-in-dolby-atmos-and-more/

What a great interview !
Everyone wants to talk with Steven right now and as a big fan of his I've read everything I could get my hands on. This is the best so far, thanks a ton.

 

[bookofsaturdays]

Was never a huge Dead fan but I just put on Blues For Allah and much to my surprise I loved every track. I eagerly await Steven’s surround mixes and hope that Rhino will release it on a standalone Blu-ray

 

[bookofsaturdays]

Kudos @sjcorne , such an engaging read with great questions, you can really tell how happy Steven is to talk to you about immersive audio

 

[sjcorne]

Kudos @sjcorne , such an engaging read with great questions, you can really tell how happy Steven is to talk to you about immersive audio

The interview was edited down from a nearly two-hour zoom call, so he was certainly generous with his time

 

[privateuniverse]

"I’ve already remixed one more ‘80s album {Trevor Horn] produced, but that’s all I can say for now."

Please, please, please let it be Welcome to the Pleasuredome!

Great interview as always Jonathan!

 

[Monkish]

Thanks so much, Jonathan! I'm grateful to finally have a definitive answer on the state of those XTC albums -- before this interview, it hasn't been clear exactly how many of the multis have or haven't been located. It's disappointing to know that the multis are only 25-50% intact, but hey, miracles happened with The Big Express, so maybe there's indeed hope.

I'm assuming this would've been mentioned if it'd been discussed, but any talk about the status of The Cars debut?

 

[4-earredwonder]

Fantastic interview, Jonathan. Hopefully RHINO will eventually release a Grateful Dead BD~A Atmos boxset...been playing MoFi's Blues for Allah Stereo SACD lately and could only imagine it as 'reimagined' by Steve Wilson in ATMOS!

 

[Sal1950]

Always a pleasure to talk to the man Hope you guys find it interesting and informative!

"Here at IAA, an alternative release avenue we’re pursuing for spatial audio mixes is hi-res digital downloads. I know digital files don’t quite have the same collectability factor as a physical disc, but fans get to permanently own the music in Blu-Ray quality without the artist having to invest in disc production. So I’ll go looking for independent artists or labels with Atmos material out on the streaming services and propose the idea of a downloadable version, from which they get 80% of the proceeds from each sale. Even if they were to sell only ten downloads on our site priced at $25 apiece, that would be $200 in the artist’s pocket. I imagine it would take considerably longer to make that same amount solely from streaming revenue."

OH YES, please do. Atmos and our immersive enthusiast market have been badly slammed and hurt by Stereophile and others comments on the sound of the compressed files that Apple and others have been streaming. They're absolutely not "A Bleak Shadow" as Stereophile's Jim Austin has accused but not exactly representative of the pristine sound quality that lossless 24/48 MKV Atmos and such can offer. I raised quite a fuss over Jim's article a few months back in a number of places, but without the availability of lossless to the Joe Sixpack market, we are left holding the bag. I don't understand why anyone would be reluctant to the sale of lossless Atmos downloads when hard media like BluRay doesn't look to be financially self supporting. (profitable). Downloads look to be a Win-Win path to me.
Just please also include the Artwork, Scans of the artwork adds little to the required bandwidth (costs) but a ton to the desirability.
Thanks For Listening.
Sal1950
https://archimago.blogspot.com/2024/01/on-stereophiles-dolby-atmos-bleak.html

 

[fizzywiggs41]

I kinda like the idea that Mickey Hart is now going to get involved with remixing The Dead albums. That's no slight against Steven Wilson as it frees him up for other projects which I'm certain he has a large scroll of artists to do.

Meanwhile I hope we see "The Dead's- Blues For Allah" in a soon to be released 5.1/atmos hard copy.
BTW Very informative interview Jonathan , thx

 

[sjcorne]

I kinda like the idea that Mickey Hart is now going to get involved with remixing The Dead albums.

He was involved back when they did the 5.1 DVD-A releases in the early-2000s, no? I like his Atmos take on Workingman's Dead better than the old 5.1, but neither are as good as the two SW-mixed titles currently out IMO.

 

[ted_b]

Great read! Great interview, Jonathan! SW seemed impressed that you'd done your homework, as he should.

Bring on ANYTHING from XTC. A few Atmos bars of "Its Nearly Africa"!!!! Any day now now!!!

 

[fizzywiggs41]

He was involved back when they did the 5.1 DVD-A releases in the early-2000s, no? I like his Atmos Workingman's Dead better than the 5.1, but neither are as good as the two SW-mixed titles currently out IMO.

He has 3 DVDA mixes actually...Workingman's Dead , American Beauty , and his Best Of Mickey Hart -Over The Edge And Back.
I haven't heard the SW Dead mixes yet , but I'm sure they are very discreet .
Now Mickey Hart is no slouch in 5.1 mixing , I think anyway . Especially when compared to the Dead's go to guy Jeffrey Norman for all their live Concerts in surround.
So it might just be a good thing he's back at the boards.
In the meantime I really hope to see a hard copy of Steven Wilson's 5.1/atmos mix on The Grateful Dead-Blues For Allah which I gathered from that interview there is a distinct possibility ?

 

[madscot]

"I’ve already remixed one more ‘80s album {Trevor Horn] produced, but that’s all I can say for now."

Please, please, please let it be Welcome to the Pleasuredome!

Great interview as always Jonathan!

I hope it’s Yes - 90125 myself

 

[mandrix]

Good job Jonathon!

I would really love to have an Atmos lossless release of Workingman's Dead. Always loved that album.

 

[Monkish]

"I’ve already remixed one more ‘80s album {Trevor Horn] produced, but that’s all I can say for now."

Please, please, please let it be Welcome to the Pleasuredome!

Great interview as always Jonathan!

Yeah, if it's not 90125 (and Steven's answer in the interview seems to infer that it's not), then Welcome to the Pleasuredome would be the obvious choice, especially since it's the album's 40th-anniversary year. However, I'm holding out hope for Who's Afraid of the Art of Noise, which I think would be absolutely jaw-dropping in an SW surround mix.

The other couple of Horn-produced 80s albums that seem like reasonable possibilities are Grace Jones' Slave to the Rhythm and Propaganda's A Secret Wish.