Steven Wilson SW Sound & Vision Interview September 2022

[sjcorne]

Not sure if anyone posted this last month, but I'm just coming across it now.
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/atmos-branchSome quotes that stood out to me:

"Everyone is doing Atmos now, but we're all still learning about it at the moment," allows Wilson. "What works? What doesn't work? Everyone has an opinion about what Atmos should be, but obviously — and you know this, from talking to me about it many times before — I like to be quite aggressive with my use of the surround field. That was always the case in 5.1, and it's only been magnified now that I'm working with 7.1.4 in my studio. There are a lot of things to consider about trying to keep a mix cohesive, whilst also making it an incredibly three-dimensional experience for the listeners."

"I'm a big fan of the side speakers," Wilson confirms. "If you don't have them in your system, you'll be hearing a phantom thing going on there, but I'm making a lot of use of those side speakers. Obviously, 5.1 seems almost simple now—the decision-making process that went on in 5.1, I mean — though it seemed quite complicated at the time. You had a choice — if you've got a stereo sound, are you gonna put it in the front speakers, or are you gonna put it in the back speakers? That was pretty much the decision you had — or somewhere between. And now, that 'somewhere between' means you can put something very discretely in these side speakers."

 

[humprof]

Thanks for that! I get regular emails from Sound and Vision and managed to miss that one. Great article, and I agree with most of his fanboy assessments. That said: I don't care who mixed them; I won't feel like I "haven't lived" if I go to my grave never having heard "Detroit Rock City" or, god forbid, "Beth" in Atmos.

I'm dying to know what other records he mixed in 5.1 over the past decade Wilson is now "revisiting," though.

 

[sjcorne]

I'm dying to know what other records he mixed in 5.1 over the past decade Wilson is now "revisiting," though.

Yeah, I've been trying to predict those myself.

From his own catalog, Storm Corrosion is definitely coming and I'd bet at least one of the solo albums will follow. He's singled out Insurgentes and Hand Cannot Erase as titles of interest in other interviews.

We also know that he's already redone at least one of the Tears For Fears 5.1 albums in Atmos. I hope it's The Seeds Of Love, if only to hear the rain in "Year Of The Knife" come out of the height channels.

You'd think the labels would jump at another opportunity to reissue evergreens like Aqualung or Close To The Edge, yet both of their 50th anniversaries have come and gone. Perhaps with the advent of streaming, the anniversary thing doesn't matter so much now?

I'd love to see some of the later XTC titles get done (can you imagine Skylarking or O&L in Atmos?), but Ape House has very little presence on the streaming services - none of SW's XTC stereo remixes are available to stream anywhere - and the "Surround Sound Series" reissues are so comprehensive that it's hard to see them as anything other than a final word on those albums.

 

[humprof]

Yeah, I've been trying to predict those myself.

From his own catalog, Storm Corrosion is definitely coming and I'd bet at least one of the solo albums will follow. He's singled out Insurgentes and Hand Cannot Erase as titles of interest in other interviews.

We also know that he's already redone at least one of the Tears For Fears 5.1 albums in Atmos. I hope it's The Seeds Of Love, if only to hear the rain in "Year Of The Knife" come out of the height channels.

You'd think the labels would jump at another opportunity to reissue evergreens like Aqualung or Close To The Edge, yet both of their 50th anniversaries have come and gone. Perhaps with the advent of streaming, the anniversary thing doesn't matter so much now?

I'd love to see some of the later XTC titles get done (can you imagine Skylarking or O&L in Atmos?), but Ape House has very little presence on the streaming services - none of SW's XTC stereo remixes are available to stream anywhere - and the "Surround Sound Series" reissues are so comprehensive that it's hard to see them as anything other than a final word on those albums.

Yeah...XTC in Atmos...wouldn't that be something. Same for CTEE. I donno what's up with Andy Partridge these days; seems like he's been on radio silence since the Apple Venus remix went pear-shaped. Music writer David Yaffe was hinting darkly on a recent Substack post that people have been "worried" about Partridge lately, but I have no idea what that means.

Edit: here's some news about Partridge. New EP on October 21.
https://www.loudersound.com/news/andy-partridge-announces-new-christmas-ep