One of my favorite new Atmos mixes of 55-year-old soul music has arrived in Aretha's Rock Steady.
Available to stream on Apple in room-filling or headphone mixes.
(Tidal subscribers please chime in, especially if there is a credit for this surround mix!)
https://music.apple.com/us/album/rock-steady/934216863?i=934216885
https://music.apple.com/us/album/rock-steady/934216863
Also available in "Atmos headphone" on Amazon Music.
A three-minute track that shows off the potential of remixing and what "spatial headphone"mixes have to offer.
Apple users, a demo track to compare & contrast speaker & headphone renderings.
Amazon subscribers, an Atmos headphone mix to try out and see what it reveals for you.
Some of us are familiar with the 1973 Quad version on LP, Reel & Q8 cartridge.
Many more from the 2010 Rhino Quadio DVD-V DTS.
These quad mixes are an exclusive extended 4:19 version with the long outro that slows down (Ritardando?) to a stop rather than fading out.
(And a bookend for the exclusive extended Joe South guitar intro quad version of Chain of Fools, quite the one-two punch on the 2nd & 3rd tracks.)
The mix is a reverb-laded delight with drums, bass & vocals in all four corners, with horns blasting from the rears.
The last few seconds of the ending, with the bass walk-down and organ stabs into the last blast of reverberating percussion, are priceless.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Steady_(Aretha_Franklin_song)
Now comes the 2022 Atmos remix of the original 3:15 single and album track.
Listening in 5.1, it's a powerful alternate mix to the stereo & quad versions.
As the LFE has no content, essentially 5.0.
Front-centric, with a very wide sound field.
Aretha's voice across all three front channels.
The crack Atlantic rhythm section is guitar left, organ right, wrapping into the rears.
Drums L + R.
Background vocals from rear center, as well as the drum rolls that lead into the bridge where the horns enter @ 1:10 & 2:07.
Brass wrapping LR with soulful organ discrete RR.
But the jewel in this new mix is the center channel.
Underneath Aretha's dry close-mic vocal, so vivid you hear her draw breaths...
Chuck Rainey's classic bass line, full-range, loud & proud!
Read on for bass-nerd content.
This note by note analysis from the now bankrupt & defunct Bass Player magazine provides major insights.
It was a revelation for me, to understand why I don't sound near as good as Chuck Rainey trying to duplicate a "simple" bass part.
@kap'n krunch
https://web.archive.org/web/2009043...om/article/aretha-franklins-rock/Jul-06/22026
Another key is that Chuck patted the part to give it a weightier, broader sound.
“Patting was something I was using on many dates back then, but this being a hit record, it stood out more.
I started doing it in 1962, when I first came to New York and I was working with [legendary rock organist] Bill Doggett.
Patting was a way to simulate his left-hand pats on the Hammond organ through the Leslie speaker, on tunes like ‘Honky Tonk.’”
He continues, “I would hold my right arm straight down toward the floor and hit the heel of my hand on the top rounded edge of the bass;
my fingers would recoil and I would catch the E string with my index and middle fingers.
It was like a [drummer’s] flam—I’d feel the groove in the heel and the fingers would follow on the string an instant later.
I also used a lot of hammer-ons to give the part a gritty, grunting sound.”
Available to stream on Apple in room-filling or headphone mixes.
(Tidal subscribers please chime in, especially if there is a credit for this surround mix!)
https://music.apple.com/us/album/rock-steady/934216863?i=934216885
https://music.apple.com/us/album/rock-steady/934216863
Also available in "Atmos headphone" on Amazon Music.
A three-minute track that shows off the potential of remixing and what "spatial headphone"mixes have to offer.
Apple users, a demo track to compare & contrast speaker & headphone renderings.
Amazon subscribers, an Atmos headphone mix to try out and see what it reveals for you.
Some of us are familiar with the 1973 Quad version on LP, Reel & Q8 cartridge.
Many more from the 2010 Rhino Quadio DVD-V DTS.
These quad mixes are an exclusive extended 4:19 version with the long outro that slows down (Ritardando?) to a stop rather than fading out.
(And a bookend for the exclusive extended Joe South guitar intro quad version of Chain of Fools, quite the one-two punch on the 2nd & 3rd tracks.)
The mix is a reverb-laded delight with drums, bass & vocals in all four corners, with horns blasting from the rears.
The last few seconds of the ending, with the bass walk-down and organ stabs into the last blast of reverberating percussion, are priceless.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Steady_(Aretha_Franklin_song)
Now comes the 2022 Atmos remix of the original 3:15 single and album track.
Listening in 5.1, it's a powerful alternate mix to the stereo & quad versions.
As the LFE has no content, essentially 5.0.
Front-centric, with a very wide sound field.
Aretha's voice across all three front channels.
The crack Atlantic rhythm section is guitar left, organ right, wrapping into the rears.
Drums L + R.
- Bernard Purdie – drums
- Cornell Dupree – guitar
- Richard Tee – organ
- Robert Popwell, Dr. John – percussion
Background vocals from rear center, as well as the drum rolls that lead into the bridge where the horns enter @ 1:10 & 2:07.
Brass wrapping LR with soulful organ discrete RR.
But the jewel in this new mix is the center channel.
Underneath Aretha's dry close-mic vocal, so vivid you hear her draw breaths...
Chuck Rainey's classic bass line, full-range, loud & proud!
- Chuck Rainey – bass guitar
Read on for bass-nerd content.
This note by note analysis from the now bankrupt & defunct Bass Player magazine provides major insights.
It was a revelation for me, to understand why I don't sound near as good as Chuck Rainey trying to duplicate a "simple" bass part.
@kap'n krunch
https://web.archive.org/web/2009043...om/article/aretha-franklins-rock/Jul-06/22026
Another key is that Chuck patted the part to give it a weightier, broader sound.
“Patting was something I was using on many dates back then, but this being a hit record, it stood out more.
I started doing it in 1962, when I first came to New York and I was working with [legendary rock organist] Bill Doggett.
Patting was a way to simulate his left-hand pats on the Hammond organ through the Leslie speaker, on tunes like ‘Honky Tonk.’”
He continues, “I would hold my right arm straight down toward the floor and hit the heel of my hand on the top rounded edge of the bass;
my fingers would recoil and I would catch the E string with my index and middle fingers.
It was like a [drummer’s] flam—I’d feel the groove in the heel and the fingers would follow on the string an instant later.
I also used a lot of hammer-ons to give the part a gritty, grunting sound.”
