HiRez Poll R.E.M. - AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE (25TH ANNIVERSARY DOLBY ATMOS MIX) [Blu-Ray Audio]

[fredblue]

I really appreciate that, Adam. Did you recallibrate afterwards? I wonder if your centre speaker was less efficient or whatever it might just have sent what was already set for that channel to the front pair? On my amp if I switch the centre out it doesn't let me control the level of the centre channel in the amp settings, so I assume it either locks out what was already set or ideally ignores previous EQ, distance, & level settings and just lets the front pair setting deal with it. That said, I'm still running a centre channel at the moment and it's not all tracks on the Atmos Automatic that I have an issue with for vocal levels/sitting in the mix. I'm wondering if there's some kind of dynamic compression issue that's not working together with other channels or maybe some kind of reverb thing on the vocals in the mix alongside the level that's not always working for me.

so sorry i somehow missed your post all this time!!

i think the lower level Centre vs higher level when rerouted to Front L&R thing may be to do with taking content designed for one speaker and when it gets redirected into two speakers having greater power and volume than one centre speaker you get those Centre channel elements plus any replication of Centre channel content already mixed into the original Front L&R more prominent in the mix?

i'm sure somebody more technical can explain it with statistics, diagrams and so on!

 

[northernsoul]

Very disapointing, front heavy mix. Nearly every song is mostly stereo. Some bits and bob in the rears at very low volume. Background vocals nearly all up front in stereo, what the F? At least put backgrounds in the background, I.E behind the listener.

 

[edisonbaggins]

Very disapointing, front heavy mix. Nearly every song is mostly stereo. Some bits and bob in the rears at very low volume. Background vocals nearly all up front in stereo, what the F? At least put backgrounds in the background, I.E behind the listener.

Just curious: what is a surround mix that you're thoroughly happy with? I've probably missed some of your posts, but I can only recall negative reviews, so far. I'd like to get a sense for your positive side.

 

[northernsoul]

Just curious: what is a surround mix that you're thoroughly happy with? I've probably missed some of your posts, but I can only recall negative reviews, so far. I'd like to get a sense for your positive side.

That is because the mixes are poor.
I have given 9 for a few titles. I might have even given DSOTM blu ray set 10.

Some steller surround mixes;

Kraftwerk Atmos
Matt Darey Atmos
Lichtmond 1,2,3 all amazing.
War Of The Worlds SACD, DTS DVD AND LIVE BLU RAY
Stickmen Prog Noir
Raven That Refused
DSOM Quad


I could list many.

Perfect mastering; Labelle SACD

If I spend lots of £$ on a set, and the ATMOS is poor, I am more inclined to voice that than comment on a thread which already has many 10 votes and lots of love.
I think I have only commented negatively on 3 ATMOS mixes recently; not a huge amount of negative feedback.

 

[edisonbaggins]

That is because the mixes are poor.
I have given 9 for a few titles. I might have even given DSOTM blu ray set 10.

Some steller surround mixes;

Kraftwerk Atmos
Matt Darey Atmos
Lichtmond 1,2,3 all amazing.
War Of The Worlds SACD, DTS DVD AND LIVE BLU RAY
Stickmen Prog Noir
Raven That Refused
DSOM Quad


I could list many.

Perfect mastering; Labelle SACD

If I spend lots of £$ on a set, and the ATMOS is poor, I am more inclined to voice that than comment on a thread which already has many 10 votes and lots of love.
I think I have only commented negatively on 3 ATMOS mixes recently; not a huge amount of negative feedback.

It's very nice to see some examples of mixes you approve of. Like I said, I could be missing your positive posts. Or maybe you're voting "9," but commenting more often when your view is negative.

The only contention I have with your choices above are the Lichtmond blu-rays. I have to turn my subs down almost all the way, like 75% or so. Maybe they got the LFE levels too high or something.

Other than, that, nice choices, generally.

 

[LuvMyQuad]

Very disapointing, front heavy mix. Nearly every song is mostly stereo. Some bits and bob in the rears at very low volume. Background vocals nearly all up front in stereo, what the F? At least put backgrounds in the background, I.E behind the listener.

This seems so odd. I only have the standard 5.1 DVD-A, and I would never say the mix was "mostly stereo". I would think the Atmos version would provide an even better discreet/immersive experience. Other commenters in the poll don't overwhelmingly share the "mostly stereo" view either.

 

[northernsoul]

This seems so odd. I only have the standard 5.1 DVD-A, and I would never say the mix was "mostly stereo". I would think the Atmos version would provide an even better discreet/immersive experience. Other commenters in the poll don't overwhelmingly share the "mostly stereo" view either.

Most of the music is in stereo or 3.1 Rears are not used that often.

 

[northernsoul]

It's very nice to see some examples of mixes you approve of. Like I said, I could be missing your positive posts. Or maybe you're voting "9," but commenting more often when your view is negative.

The only contention I have with your choices above are the Lichtmond blu-rays. I have to turn my subs down almost all the way, like 75% or so. Maybe they got the LFE levels too high or something.

Other than, that, nice choices, generally.

True. This is the case.

I do not have my sub on at the moment. They definitely could be more dynamic, but the music is very active around the whole room.

 

[edisonbaggins]

Most of the music is in stereo or 3.1 Rears are not used that often.

As with @LuvMyQuad this finding boggles my mind. I've heard the Atmos of this one multiple times and am very satisfied with the surrounds and height output. I'm running a 7.2.4 Atmos/Auro system. What about you? I noticed you don't like Kick either, and it sounds massive and pretty damn good to me.

 

[Marplot]

and this is why this is such a great forum, a polite discussion about a subjective topic and no one is getting bent out of shape.

 

[northernsoul]

As with @LuvMyQuad this finding boggles my mind. I've heard the Atmos of this one multiple times and am very satisfied with the surrounds and height output. I'm running a 7.2.4 Atmos/Auro system. What about you? I noticed you don't like Kick either, and it sounds massive and pretty damn good to me.

I have only 2 overhead. Is the music that would be in the other 2 overheads(if I had them) being put into fronts by my receiver? That would explain why I think the mixes are front heavy?

 

[edisonbaggins]

I have only 2 overhead. Is the music that would be in the other 2 overheads(if I had them) being put into fronts by my receiver? That would explain why I think the mixes are front heavy?

Not absolutely sure about that, but the Atmos algorithm has to figure out where to put that info. It's supposed to try it's best to make the object seem to come from where the engineer put it.
The more speakers you have, arrayed similarly to the enginneer's setup, I'm sure it does a better job matching the engineer's experience. It's supposed to try even if you have an Amazon Echo, a Soundbar, a 5.1 system, 7.1, etc. YMMV in a big way is what I get out of that.
I can say that I'm very happy that I have the rear heights and often hear some cool content coming from up there.

 

[himey]

I have only 2 overhead. Is the music that would be in the other 2 overheads(if I had them) being put into fronts by my receiver? That would explain why I think the mixes are front heavy?

Does the rears get more active if you turn the tops off and listen to the Atmos tracks in 5.1?

My guess would be they would stay the same?

 

[northernsoul]

Does the rears get more active if you turn the tops off and listen to the Atmos tracks in 5.1?

My guess would be they would stay the same?

I just gave the REM album a run through with center and fronts down -12db. Plenty of stuff in overheads and rears, just a lot if it is very low. Normally I would not mind with 5.1, as I would adjust as needed myself. If some of the guitars and vocals were 4-5db louder this would be great. I do think the drums on EH and MOTM are too low as well. Or maybe the vocals are just too loud in comparison to rear activity? Some of the acoustic guitars are extremely quiet in rears.

 

[drphibes]

I am thankful that this discussion has been very respectful and inquisitive. northernsoul, it looks like your setup is very different than everyone else's, and I wonder if that's the cause of your different listening experience. I don't have Atmos, so I can't gainsay what you're hearing.

Does anyone else have their subs turned off? That struck me as unique.

 

[edisonbaggins]

I am thankful that this discussion has been very respectful and inquisitive. northernsoul, it looks like your setup is very different than everyone else's, and I wonder if that's the cause of your different listening experience. I don't have Atmos, so I can't gainsay what you're hearing.

Does anyone else have their subs turned off? That struck me as unique.

Maybe his system is full-range? I don't run a sub when I'm listening to Quad on my 4 Klipsch KG towers, for instance.
But with Atmos, no sub might be an anomaly.

 

[northernsoul]

Maybe his system is full-range? I don't run a sub when I'm listening to Quad on my 4 Klipsch KG towers, for instance.
But with Atmos, no sub might be an anomaly.

Full range with no sub. My room has a ceiling less than 8ft, thus I thought(and have been told) a sub would be a nightmare.

7 PMC speakers with 2 SVS overheads pointing down.

 

[marpow]

I voted 10 a long time ago but never posted a thought based on the BD-A 5.1. Now I vote a 10 again on the ATMOS enabled. My rig, running about 85% right now is 5.1.4. I am listening from the disc itself.
This disc is a super great R.E.M music disc. I love all the songs. I liked my prevouis DVD-A also in surround.
Today I experienced this BD-A in full Atmos, so much better than the 5.1.
So far in my very limited ATMOS listening experience this music disc is really good in ATMOS, I can actually hear movement/discrete elements in the 4 heights.
I noticed there is/was some commentary about how the heights are involved.
My 3 amps all have VU meters so I have a pretty good idea how all my speakers are working, of course every track is different, but as I see it and hear it, the floor foundation is very equal, with excellent discrete moments. The heights (4) seem to do a lot, but common throughout is in more consistent musical moments, non solos or chorus, the heights are fairly equal but in other parts the two front heights (right & left) take a bulk of the work. A good example is "Nightswimming" the intro is all front, 3 floors and 2 heights, and then when the violins come in it goes all speakers, beautiful listening experience.
Listening to the ATMOS music vs my previous 5.1 listening, I am starting to understand the immersive envelope of ATMOS, while lowering my expectation of craziness in height speakers. In all cases so far I prefer the ATMOS over the 5.1. It has also given me a better appreciation of the center speaker.
Don't get me wrong, I love 4.0/2.0/Mono/3.0, I love it all but this is really like hearing for the first time.

 

[marpow]

Don't bother with this set (unless you really want the CDs) and get the DVD-A if possible. The surround is really disappointing with most everything up front. I give this a 5 and it inspires me to vote on the DVD-A. I wanted to give the DVD-A a 10 after listening to it right after this version, but realized I was probably positively influenced by having just listened to this comparatively poor surround mix. With my vote of 5 for this, the DVD-A is at least 4 points better.

I changing my vote to 7. This is based solely on the ATMOS mix. As I was listening I was using my remote changing some channel levels as I felt it was really front loaded and then I saw sukothai's post and said to my self, yeah, he is right.
I was able to improve it a little, but the Atmos mix is certainly more immersive than discrete.
But I had to find out for myself.
I now have enough ATMOS releases under my belt that my listening curve is growing and there are definite 10's in the Atmos music world and this is not one of them.
It still is a very good box set, but maybe the DVD-A is better for pure enjoyment.

 

[Beefalo]

I like aggressive mixes with plenty of discrete content coming from the surrounds.

I.M.O. this R.E.M. is a very front heavy & timid Atmos mix.
I tried it in 7.1 and it was marginally better
(a little less front heavy)
Too bad because the fidelity is very good.
Gave it a 7.