Watershed surround mix.

[Cyrosis]

For anyone curious about the surround mix.

Its in Dolby Digital 5.0 at 384Kbps, and DTS 5.0 at 768Kbps.

The bonus tracks sadly are only in stereo sitting at 224kbps in Dolby Digital 2.0, although it gets the job done alright.

The surround mix is quite well done, and uses all five channels to a great degree, with the DTS mix really rounding out the sound, much better then the Dolby Digital, so get your DTS decoders ready. My only real qualm with it is quite minor, and its that the drums are from the audience perspective, obviously just a preference, but drums from the player perspective just always sound better to me, especially in surround discs.

 

[hibernal_dream]

384? Why so low?

 

[The Seeker]

Thanks for the info and review of the surround sound mix!

My only real qualm with it is quite minor, and its that the drums are from the audience perspective, obviously just a preference, but drums from the player perspective just always sound better to me, especially in surround discs.

Interesting you bring this up. I just noticed this the other day when a friend of mine asked for me to give him a few examples of player perspective/audience perspective drum mixes for a music class he's taking.

As far as I know, all of the Lopez albums are from the player's perspective, including Ghost Reveries, so I doubt it was an engineering decision. It would be interesting to know whether or not this is Axe's preference.

 

[Thonolan]

A priori I'd also prefer to hear the drums from the player's perspective, but I won't be able to judge it until I get the album next week. Glad to read that the surround mix is fine anyway.

 

[Cyrosis]

Thanks for the info and review of the surround sound mix!



Interesting you bring this up. I just noticed this the other day when a friend of mine asked for me to give him a few examples of player perspective/audience perspective drum mixes for a music class he's taking.

As far as I know, all of the Lopez albums are from the player's perspective, including Ghost Reveries, so I doubt it was an engineering decision. It would be interesting to know whether or not this is Axe's preference.

Deliverance is from the audience perspective as well, and while I'm sure the band would have the choice they wanted, I bet its something most musicians without engineering experience just never think about.

Regardless, as I said, I'm very pleased with the mix, and to be honest, its probably my favorite metal mix, although I normally dislike the way metal is engineered, so I suppose it wasn't too hard to shoot up to the top of that list.

 

[narcoleptic haze]

5.0 again? just like the SL suround. does this mean it's light on the bass?

 

[Cyrosis]

5.0 again? just like the SL suround. does this mean it's light on the bass?

Do I need to explain this again? not worth the time.

NO!!!!!!

 

[narcoleptic haze]

regardless of endless technical explination the fact remains that my ears dont lie.

 

[Cyrosis]

regardless of endless technical explination the fact remains that my ears dont lie.

All your ears know, is you subjectively don't hear enough bass, they have no idea why. The only real plausible and likely explanation is that the engineer simply mixed it without much bass, enough said.

 

[narcoleptic haze]

not sure what your point is though... perhaps someone who actually has it can give me an answer.

 

[Cyrosis]

not sure what your point is though... perhaps someone who actually has it can give me an answer.

My point is that the LFE isn't to blame for the lack bass, the same point I had been making in the other thread. Watershed should be a testament to this, as its DTS mix with no LFE channel has plenty of bass, if anything, more then the CD.

 

[narcoleptic haze]

well thats good news. thanks. i was just curious.

 

[Thonolan]

Well, I think the surround mix is amazing. Well done Jens! Songs like "The Lotus Eater" and "Hessian Peel" sound truly impressive. Huge sound! Actually, the mix brings the whole album to a new dimension. I was somewhat skeptical due to the highly dissapointing Ghost Reveries 5.1 mix, despite the obvious improvement showed with the reissue of Still Life, but now I'm just delighted! Love how the drums sound, despite being recorded from the audience perspective. Great dynamics.

 

[liquidcow]

When you say they're recorded from the audience perspective, are you just referring to the direction of the toms - i.e. high to low being right to left? I kind of gather that most of the time the drums are individually mic'd, and the kick and snare tend to be centered, and the toms being right-to-left or left-to-right is a matter of taste. Or is it something to do with the general character of the sound that you're referring to?

 

[Thonolan]

When you say they're recorded from the audience perspective, are you just referring to the direction of the toms - i.e. high to low being right to left?

Yeah.

 

[ingenkommentar]

I think that the panning of hi-hat and ride cymbal has the biggest impact on "from where" you hear the drums.

 

[aprez27]

I heard he played lefty for the surround mix...

 

[Ninfix]

I heard he played lefty for the surround mix...

Don't make fun of lefties

It's coolest to play lefty, although very irritating when performing with other bands...

Wow, I actually never payed any attention to how the drums where mixed, now I notice. It's kind of a cool discovery 8D

Axe plays from audience perspective on the album. See? I'm getting good at this =D

 

[Mr. Leviathan]

Is there a reason why, on the 5.1 mix of Watershed, that the start of Heir Apparent is at the end of Coil?

 

[Thonolan]

I don't understand it either. It's not a big problem, though.