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By the time stereo as a consumer recording technique became viable, anything Blumlein had patented about it had expired.
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An audio engineer explains why Dolby Atmos Music is “definitely going to supersede stereo”
- Thread starter AdamG
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Waxx
Major Contributor
I personally don't like Dolby Atmos or those other multichannel formats, it sounds artificial. And i don't know people who like it but for movies. Apple is pushing it, but most i know who use apple streaming switch it off and just want stereo.
Maybe it's because we used to stereo, maybe because it's bad, i don't know. But i have only stereo speakers (i don't watch often tv or movies) and i'm not planning to change that anytime soon.
And on streaming, artists get peanuts. Most see it as a way to get attention so they can sell tickets for their shows or sell vinyl or cd's. Not as main source of income. I know an artist who has millions of streams, but only earn a few hundreds per year from that, while selling 500 vinyl copies earns more... But the streams made her worldfamous in her musicgenre so now she's touring all over Europe and earns more money per show than she will ever earn with streaming per year. And it's that far, that a lot of underground music that is very popular is not even on streamig platforms, it's only availeble trough bandcamp and maybe on vinyl.
Maybe it's because we used to stereo, maybe because it's bad, i don't know. But i have only stereo speakers (i don't watch often tv or movies) and i'm not planning to change that anytime soon.
And on streaming, artists get peanuts. Most see it as a way to get attention so they can sell tickets for their shows or sell vinyl or cd's. Not as main source of income. I know an artist who has millions of streams, but only earn a few hundreds per year from that, while selling 500 vinyl copies earns more... But the streams made her worldfamous in her musicgenre so now she's touring all over Europe and earns more money per show than she will ever earn with streaming per year. And it's that far, that a lot of underground music that is very popular is not even on streamig platforms, it's only availeble trough bandcamp and maybe on vinyl.
I heard a rumor at AXPONA that Capitol Records is planning to use work experience college students to remaster 180 thousand albums in Atmos...
Regardless of any one individual's skill, I can't imagine time constraints will allow for the best results.
Regardless of any one individual's skill, I can't imagine time constraints will allow for the best results.
Wow That's a huge number of albums. almost unbelievable even considering renting an Atmos certified studio is not in anyway cheap.
That's pretty much my reaction too. I don't really want to give names in case it turns out to be wrong, but a speaker engineer I was talking to said he heard it from a friend who works at Capitol.
Honestly i'm 90% interested in Atmos remixes so i can hear the music of my youth at -18 LUFS instead of -6 to -8.
Mixing on Atmos is also easier than Stereo (Once you pay the money and have the studio .etc), so someone with experience can push out albums faster in that sense. Lets see how it works out.
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Out of curiosity what makes mixing Atmos easier than stereo?
You have way more precision with regards to 3D positioning and you don't have to heavily control how your mix sounds on different setups.
Also you provide the distribuitors one file, this is not a big deal for music but it's huge for something like Netflix
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Given that most people don’t have Atmos currently, do Atmos masters mix down to stereo elegantly? Do the compensate automatically for the device being used?
OP
- Thread Starter
- #250
Atmos codec scales to the number of speakers and configuration reported on the device doing the decoding. Iirc.
Pure FUDD
AKA = The spreading of, Fear Uncertainty Doubt and Disinformation
As already being seen here, the "stereo only" like the "ears only" guys are afraid they're getting overrun by multich concerns.
Neither make it easier to do a quality master.
It does in fact make it harder and more time demanding.
Ask a master mixer like Steven Wilson.
Just more FUDD
It's not really about the quality of the results.... it's just about selling the same music over and over again and Atmos is yet another chance.
Soundmixer
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Aren't their hidden costs when buying groceries? How about ordering next day with Amazon Prime? There are hidden costs everywhere, so I think this is a red herring.
This sounds to me like your system is not set up properly. I have mastered and encoded hundreds of mixes for disc and streaming and watched thousands of movies, and I have never heard of a mis-pan that was this bad, and I have never heard a door sound like a lightning strike.
My home was built in 1942. I didn't have any issues with installing a 7.1.2 system in what used to be a bedroom. At 10x13x9, it is a closet compared to the rooms in my family home in Southern California, but I had no problem getting 7 mini-monitors, a 15" sub, and two in-ceiling speakers in there. I was even able to arrange the speakers on the ground so they were equidistant from the MLP.
You do need a symmetrical room, but it does not have to be fairly large. You have to scale your system to the room. As you can see from my comment above, I had no issues with installing an immersive system in a small room.
mhardy6647
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Somewhat interesting (to me, at any rate) chatter @ AA today on an Atmos demo -- full disclosure: the issue may be far more related the equipment & venue (Focal loudspeakers, @AXPONA), as opposed to Atmos per se. Still... an interesting datapoint (no more, no less).
Got my first taste of Dolby Atmos at Axpona in the Focal room - Analog Scott - General Asylum
Got my first taste of Dolby Atmos at Axpona in the Focal room - Analog Scott - General Asylum
www.audioasylum.com
An obvious BS rant from Mr Analog Scott
His online handle should begin to tell you something.
Everything he could possibly think of to attack in that room he did.
You would think the presenters were complete morons with no idea how to set up a system with quality gear.
He just needs to go back home and listen to his rice krispies.
Last night I re-joined iTunes to try out the Atmos mixed music since I currently have a 5.1 system running. I've got it set up with all 5 speakers across the front, with the two rear surround channels out way to the sides instead of behind me. The center and left/right speakers are identical sony ss cs 5, with the two outboard speakers being different - some old Athena bookshelf models. I have to say I like Atmos music A LOT, at least on the better mixes. I haven't heard it wreck anything yet, although sometimes it doesn't add a whole lot. I'm starting to better understand the typical sound character of 2 channel stereo mixes, and to my ear it's two channel that typically sounds more artificial. The fewer instruments and simpler the music, the better 2 channel can do. Big orchestral stuff or other complex sound fields benefits much from more channels, or from crosstalk elimination. Both create a similar improvement to me. The Atmos mixes can sound "dryer" in the sense that they're missing some of the immediate crosstalk and doubling up of room reflections that's inherent with 2 channels creating a center phantom image - but with Atmos it's an open, spacious and more realistic "dry" sound that really pleases me. It reminds me more of the feel of being in the concert hall. 2 channel stereo without crosstalk elimination tends to sound too thick and wet in comparison. That's my initial impression after one night of staying up way too late listening to various tracks.
I'm a bit confused by what your actually doing? Do you have an Atmos capable receiver?
My understanding is the Spatial audio Atmos tracks on iTunes is designed for headphone listening?
Tom C
Major Contributor
I think it scales to whatever you have, from two channel on up.
What? No.
As long as you have an Apple TV connected via HDMI to an ATMOS capable thing you get the 16 channel Dolby Atmos mixes.
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