Dolby Atmos Music

MagnumXL

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It seems like there should be a thread for Dolby Atmos music discussion and reviews so I'll start with a review of Yello's new 2020 album POINT that was released with a limited edition mixed in Dolby Atmos in December of 2020.

I just listened to Yello's POINT album in Dolby Atmos like 3 times and used the track Way Down to try out Dolby Digital EX 6.1 + Surround Modes and PCM 24-bit 2.0 stereo from 2.0 to 17.1 with the surround modes.

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A few technical points, first. This album, unlike most previous "immersion" albums I've tried has more bass in the Dolby Atmos (and DD EX) tracks than the PCM stereo tracks. Booka Shade's Dear Future Self album, for example had far more kick drum in the stereo mix so I was a bit surprised to find that the stereo mix almost sounded like they forgot to move the LFE track to the 2.0 mix or something. Having said that, Wow! The mere 2.0 stereo mix when expanded to Neural X had more surround effects in it than many newer (admittedly worse examples of) Atmos movies. The stereo track has a lot of width and some surround phase notes, but nowhere near as much as some Q-Sound and similar stereo albums I have, but turn on Neural X and you'd be forgiven for thinking it was in Atmos mode (at least until you hear the actual Atmos track). As usual DSU is somewhere in-between.

Next, I kicked in the Dolby Digital 6.1 EX track (I don't know about on a BD player if it can even select the DD EX track as it's a fallback "core" seeing I don't usually use an actual BD player here; I ripped to MKV and use KODI to select the audio tracks and it's happy to let me play the core EX 6.1 track, which isn't 6.1 discrete, but has steering logic to use the rear speakers as one big mono channel). Wow! Once again, it kicks it a step up. All that Neural X goodness from 2.0 becomes discrete sounds all over the place and now, if you didn't think you were in Atmos, you'd certainly think so blindfolded. But it's not Atmos...not yet. Admittedly, the switch to Atmos from 6.1 Neural X isn't as shocking as from plain Stereo to Atmos, but now everything is discrete and you know it's placed exactly where it's meant to be (Neural X usually guesses well, though, a credit to DTS's upmixer for sure).

So how's the Atmos? In a word? AWESOME! I think I enjoyed this album MORE than Booka Shade's two albums I have in Atmos (Galvany Street and Dear Future Self), probably because the music is closer to what I actually like to listen to when not trying to find anything, just anything music-wise in Dolby Atmos. Yello is hard to describe because they're all over the place. Some tracks are very techno-orientated and others are more bluesy (Big Boys Blues) or pop-rock sounding (Way Down) while others (Hello Waba Duba!) are just bizarre. The album is about 50 minutes long so it didn't take as long to get through it, leaving me going back to try some songs in other seats/rows in the room (with all my home theater's bizarre lighting tricks going from my movie prop displays and other mood lights).

It usually takes me a few listens to like an album, but I was grooving right along to Basic Avenue (bring back the BASS!) and Out of Sight. In fact, I think the first half of the album was really great. A few of the latter songs (Hot Pan, Siren Singing and even the short, but odd Zephyr Calling) weren't quite as interesting musically, but the great thing about Atmos is, even when the songs aren't drawing you in, the music moving around the room keeps your brain occupied and this album moves sounds around the room like a snowflake in a blizzard! It's every bit as interesting surround-wise, IMO as Dear Future Self. There's sounds behind you constantly, floating around you and across the ceiling. It was quite as well balanced for the back rows, however, as it uses more fill and other effects at times than having "copies" of the stuff going on up front, which is to say in a 24' long room, Dear Future Self probably sounded better mixed for the back row (as the front isn't as loud back there and the back is louder), but from the front and even the middle, it's excellent.

Waba Duba is supposedly the first single track from the album with a wacky music video out there to go with it, but it's really not that great a song, IMO. The Vanishing of Peter Strong has a great background fill, but oddly it's more of a narrative story-telling track (I did something similar on my own album from 2012 so I can't complain). Way Down is where the fun really begins and it's a nice relatively short 3:19 track so that's where I concentrated on the different tracks and surround modes. I think Auro-3D (well it's upmixer Auromatic presented itself as an outlier mode in that I was surprised to find that there was surround beyond just a "hall effect" in the surround speakers even with the 2.0 mix, but it was more subdued than DSU and Neural X, but far more ambient than plain stereo. Overall, I'd stick with Atmos on an Atmos system.

So how was Atmos? I read comments by at least one person that the album is "anemic" sounding. I didn't get that impression at all. I did have to raise the volume level to -4.5 compared to -8 for Dear Future Self to get a similar volume level, but that's still 4.5dB below Dolby reference. Big Boy's Blues seemed to be at a lower overall level compared to the other tracks except for the vocals, but I think it was meant to be that way, which lead me to crank it to -4.5 at which point I realized the whole album sounded much better at that setting so I can imagine if Tidal's DialNorm setting is 14dB down in volume (I think that's what someone said), it might be an issue getting some systems up to the proper volume. But I can tell you there's nothing "missing" from the signal. It's not as constantly bass heavy as Dear Future Self, for instance, but it's not a "house mix" type album. It has room shaking bass in several places, but has more pop/rock level bass on average rather than trance or hip-hop. I didn't find it the least bit "anemic" sounding in the slightest. Dieter Meier's voice is VERY low in the bass register (as far as human voices go) and I thought he sounded great. I don't know if I'd call that singing in the traditional sense (kind of a deeper version of what you might expect from say the Pet Shop Boys in "singing" terms), but it works.

Overall, I thought the sound quality was excellent. The use of Atmos was fantastic and brought my 12'x24' room to life front-to-back in a way most Atmos movies fail to do in the rear of the room (for some odd reason, most (not all) movies don't use rear surround speakers anywhere near as much as the side surrounds and overheads). I could plainly hear sounds in the back of the room nearly 14 feet behind me. The room just feels larger with music that uses the rear surrounds discretely almost as much as the mains. If anything, I think some of these Atmos music albums tend to use the rear speakers more than the side surround speakers (as a single location anyway; when mixed sounds move along the entire length of the room on the side walls or in-between). A few tracks had sounds that circled the room to give you a sense of size and how even the sound's timbre is.

Anyway, it's hard to describe the actual music. Either you like Yello or you don't, I suppose. I ended up liking it a lot more than I expected. I may have to go buy some more Yello albums I missed over the years to check out. But those of you on the fence about buying this album, all I can say is get off the fence and go for it.
 
I think it's probably safe to say that the John Williams - Live in Vienna - Dolby Atmos 2-disc (1 CD + 1 Blu-Ray) set sounds pretty great.


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The Blu-Ray includes Dolby Atmos (with subset TrueHD 7.1), DTS-HD MA 2.0 (Stereo) and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mixes on it. I found the presentation almost seemed to vary by seating location in the hall in Vienna depending on the mix and settings I used. For instance, using Neural X with the 2.0 mix sounded like I was right up front near the pit. Atmos sounded mid-back with very noticeable ambience and the room sounded much larger than my mere 12'x24' room should. Engaging Neural X with the TrueHD 7.1 base layer resulted in oddly similar to Atmos imaging. Using Neural X with the DTS-HD MA 5.1 track resulted in a massive image that kind of sounded like the roof jumped by 50 feet or more higher in the air.

Dolby Atmos probably sounded a bit more natural, but I couldn't help but be impressed by that Neural X image off the 5.1 track. It wasn't quite so big with Neural X off the TrueHD 7.1 base track, IMO so I'm not sure if they miked the 5.1 mix separately from the Atmos/7.1 mix or what, but they seemed somewhat different in size/image/space. I concentrated the mode changes on one track (Star Wars Imperial March off the AUDIO ONLY section). All three mixes had plenty of bass and high quality recording, although my ear/sinuses have been a bit wonky the past week or thereabouts (with a recurring 56Hz vibration in my right ear on/off at times almost like that "world hum" thing I've seen described, but I think it's most likely wax against the ear drum or something) so I wouldn't entirely trust my absolute sense of sound quality right now, but it still sounded pretty darn good. I gotta love Star Wars and Indiana Jones themes played live.

The Blu-Ray contains both a full live concert with video footage and 6 more tracks than the CD or Audio Only section of the Blu-Ray (19 songs versus 13). The audio only tracks don't have any applause/audience in them and are in a different order so I wonder if they were possibly recorded separately from the main show? I'm not sure I agree with all the specific tracks they chose from some of the movies (I mean Jaws without the main shark attack theme?), but still it's a great set.
 
I listened to the Atmos portion of Schiller - Morgenstund. Sadly, it's not really my cup of tea musically speaking. To be honest I was bored even with the improved spread of Atmos as it's just kind of bland electronic music without a real beat half the time. It starts out with some nice circular sounds around the room, but eventually seems to hang out more in the front overall than Booka Shade. Maybe it will get better with a couple more listens, but I wouldn't bet on it. I watched some of the videos and the "Berlin Tehran" one was excellent. The same track in Atmos was boring. I don't know. I was disappointed.

Afterward, I put on Roger Waters - THE WALL ©2014 in Atmos at ~3AM on Christmas Day intending to just listen to a few bits to see how it sounded and HOLY CRAP BATMAN! Now THAT sounded AWESOME in Atmos. I ended up watching the entire thing (5:20 AM here with a snow storm dumping a mess outside). I would have preferred they offered a branched full uninterrupted concert with the film footage separate, but even so, it was a great concert, MUCH better than that Live In Berlin one with all the guest vocalists that crapped all over it. Some bits brought tears to my eyes just watching the reactions on people's faces that were clearly having the time of their lives at the concert. Now I wish I had scheduled leave to go see it live back then. In any case, I highly recommend this concert in Dolby Atmos, especially if you're a Pink Floyd fan.
 
I listened to Booka Shade - Galvany Street in Dolby ATMOS in its Atmos retrofit.

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I think I like it better than their newer album Dear Future Self. The tracks didn't flow into each other as well and I think there's considerably less deep bass, but the tracks themselves were much more musical sounding to my ears overall whereas many of the tracks on Dear Future Self were a lot of hypnotic trance-like sound effects to beats and rhythmic chords. Here there's a lot more vocals going with a bit more structure. It's not the Pet Shop Boys from the '90s musical (hell even they are doing trance/techno stuff now) and I have this yearning to hear Domino Dancing or even Staying Alive in Atmos as I'm convinced Disco would be awesome in Atmos, but I guess this will have to do for now. Even with a bit more structure, the songs do not lack for sounds and instruments moving all over the room.

If there's any difference in terms of imaging usage, I'd say Dear Future Self is a bit more evenly spread out where this album at times seems to do a lot of front-back stuff towards the middle of the album with the sides taking a break at times or with less prominence, only to come back later again all around. This made the rear speakers that much more noticeable (something uncommon in most Atmos movies) and I felt like I was in this giant hallway (well it is a 12'x'24' room, but a lot of material makes it feel shorter at times due to lack of distinct rear usage). The same can be said for ceiling material. It starts strong all over the ceiling and then seems more focused and eventually comes around to moving all over the place and even sounds appearing in 'pillars' right in front of me or even coming down from right above me to just above my head that were just strange to hear in that location (I assume it's a combination of a spot on the ceiling directly above to a point in the ear level speakers in the same place which tends to hover just above my head when sounds are placed there in the middle of the room. Freaky to say the least.

Whether it would do this quite the same way with other Atmos arrangements/seating locations, I can't rightly say as my room is rather Auro-3D orientated with Top Middle lined up with Side Surround as "Surround Height" in the middle and Rear and Front Heights lined up with the front/rear mains (Rear Height/Surround Height duplicated in Auro-3D mode) so sounds tend to focus in alignment vertically in a way I'm not sure would happen with top middle placed asymmetrically as some of Dolby's diagrams seem to suggest with fewer speakers (I'm using a 17.1 configuration as 11.1.6).

In any case, for a retrofit Atmos album, you'd never guess it. It seems just as natural in Atmos as Dear Future Self, IMO. It also includes a binaural (they call it "headphone mix") track just like Dear Future Self as well as a traditional stereo track. I highly recommend Galvany Street in Atmos in addition to Dear Future Self.
 
I have Booka Shade - Dear Future Self in Dolby Atmos and it's jaw dropping in terms of imaging. I'd personally prefer more of a song than conventional techno/house (ala Delerium) , but the crazy good imaging makes it infinitely more interesting than it would have been in stereo or even 5.1.

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Sounds literally come from every nook and cranny in my 12'x25' room using 17.1 speakers (essentially 7.1.6 plus two sets of matrixed and arrayed speakers for three rows of seating, giving three different perspectives in a 11.1.6 configuration).

That's basically 7.1 with front wides and surround#1 added (former on side wall in front of the first row ~20% into room (ideal would be 25%, but seating interferes) and latter between side surround and rear surround ~75% into the room. Overhead speakers consist of front and rear heights mounted at or on the ceiling at 0% and 100% into the room with top middle at 50% into the room. This gives edge to edge coverage above and below.

I have Lichtmond 4 - The Journey in 3D visuals + Dolby Atmos and it's almost as impressive in imaging terms with instruments and vocals that surround you and even move in circles around the room at times like a clock (Lichtmond 3 - Days of Eternity also does this with Auro-3D instead like the clocks you see on screen). Their music is a bit like Enigma or Delerium meets Pink Floyd.

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Clearly, Atmos is ideal for all forms of electronica types of music or something like Pink Floyd, being able to literally surround you with sounds. However, even classical and jazz can benefit from room reflection ambience recorded with something like the dual quad microphones used by the Auro-3D music recordings. You really feel like you're at the actual venue rather than in your home theater room (I think a deadened room works best as it lets the speakers better recreate the original venue instead of mixing it with your own room acoustics). I really felt like I was in the church with the Toccata and Fugue demo, for example (comes with Auro's first demo disc; There's an abridged version on streaming demos you can find online).
 
Good shout on starting this thread. I love anything atmos.

I picked up John Williams in Vienna after being , literally, blown away by the Hans Zimmer in Prague, also in atmos,. I am a movie heathen as I have no love for Star Wars or Indiana Jones so John Williams would always be a runner up for me anyway.

I always find myself putting on an atmos music disc and I will almost always listen/watch the whole disc. It's so captivating and engaging that I don't usually want it to end.

Inxs Live Baby Live 4K disc is great in atmos, if not the most technical. The audio track really fits the stadium concert setting. Helped by it being a great gig anyway.

Also Inxs Kick 30th Anninversary set includes a BD with the album in atmos, a classic album that sounds great in so many ways. What-hifi worded it well when they said it
We’ve found ‘better or worse’ a difficult parameter to use with these Atmos mixes – they are almost separate from the original – but this particular album’s character, and the way it has been interpreted by Martin, certainly plays into the hands of Atmos’s talents

My favourite non movie atmos disc is probably REM Automatic for the People, just an amazing listening experience in my opinion. I was always a bit grumpy that your couldn't buy the atmos disc on it's own, I had to buy the Limited Edition set for something like £80 at the time, but I've listened to the disc so many times I've had my money's worth.
 
Good shout on starting this thread. I love anything atmos.

I picked up John Williams in Vienna after being , literally, blown away by the Hans Zimmer in Prague, also in atmos,. I am a movie heathen as I have no love for Star Wars or Indiana Jones so John Williams would always be a runner up for me anyway.

I always find myself putting on an atmos music disc and I will almost always listen/watch the whole disc. It's so captivating and engaging that I don't usually want it to end.

Inxs Live Baby Live 4K disc is great in atmos, if not the most technical. The audio track really fits the stadium concert setting. Helped by it being a great gig anyway.

Also Inxs Kick 30th Anninversary set includes a BD with the album in atmos, a classic album that sounds great in so many ways. What-hifi worded it well when they said it
We’ve found ‘better or worse’ a difficult parameter to use with these Atmos mixes – they are almost separate from the original – but this particular album’s character, and the way it has been interpreted by Martin, certainly plays into the hands of Atmos’s talents

My favourite non movie atmos disc is probably REM Automatic for the People, just an amazing listening experience in my opinion. I was always a bit grumpy that your couldn't buy the atmos disc on it's own, I had to buy the Limited Edition set for something like £80 at the time, but I've listened to the disc so many times I've had my money's worth.

I've been reading the reviews of the INXS Kick 30th Anniversary set and a few reviews concerned me about the loudness of the included CDs being pushed up to the nth degree (i.e. compressed). I already own the original CD so it looks a bit expensive just to get the Dolby Atmos Blu-Ray with it. I wish they sold it separately. I might pick it up anyway when my next Amazon rewards bonus comes in (let that pay for it). I'd love some songs off "X" in Atmos as well. I think overall I liked that album better even if Kick had better singles.

I've been thinking about that Hans Zimmer Blu-Ray as well.... OK, I thought about it and just ordered it (and the Dolby Surround version of the Das Boot soundtrack while I was at it by Klaus Doldinger)

I'd love to see a Basil Poledouris concert or Atmos mixes of say the two Conan soundtracks he did. I still listen to those a lot to this day on CD (well my rips of the CDs anyway; I don't normally play CDs or BDs directly anymore, but put them on my whole house server storage for in-house streaming).
 
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What I think I'd really like to see converted to Atmos is something like The Pet Shop Boys' Introspective album from clear back in 1988. Domino Dancing in Atmos could be amazing, I think. Maybe the Discography set for that matter. I'm not so crazy about their newer albums (sounds too much like what everyone else is doing).

Delerium & Enigma would be great in Atmos too.
 
I've been thinking about that Hans Zimmer Blu-Ray as well.... OK, I thought about it and just ordered it..
Good call, for me it's worth it for the Gladiator and Batman tracks but again it's one I put on for a few tracks and always end up watching it all.
Look forward to hearing your impressions.
 
I've been thinking about that Hans Zimmer Blu-Ray as well.... OK, I thought about it and just ordered it
You'll not be disappointed as it is a ride and a half with Atmos.:smashin:

The only other Atmos disc I've got is Mumford and Sons Dust and Thunder yet the overall soundtrack is not as good as their Road to Redrocks which has a stand out DTS-HD MA 5.1 and sounds great with Neural:X bringing in the Atmos speakers.
 
Listened to Booka Shade for the first time yesterday (....future self) in Atmos on Tidal. Absolutely stunning. But Point by Yello on the same medium is out of this world, sonically. Basic Avenue has a phenomenal 'sub-sweep' about 2 minutes in :)
 
I think Yello's Point is probably the best Atmos music album I've heard yet and also probably the best demo for Atmos in general (movies don't use the available speakers anywhere close to some of these music albums).
 
I think Yello's Point is probably the best Atmos music album I've heard yet and also probably the best demo for Atmos in general (movies don't use the available speakers anywhere close to some of these music albums).
I'm really tempted to give it a whirl but it's a pretty tough call to spend around £35 on it (cheapest I can find). I may have a listen through Amazon/Tidal first but unfortunately neither support Atmos through HEOS on my Marantz Amp so I'll listen to the regular album anyway and have a ponder.
 
....and as if by magic (gotta love tech) I find that my TV suppirts Atmos with my Tidal trial and my amp supports eArc and I found Point so off to have a listen :)
 
I got my BD from jpc.de and the removal of the VAT they did almost covered the shipping cost to the USA. It cost me around $32 USD total shipped. Most Bluray Pure Music discs are right around that price for whatever reason.

Just make sure you account for the dialnorm setting on Tidal as I think it's around 14dB lower than normal for some reason (I've been told all Atmos on there is) and I already have to turn Point up to the -4 to -2dB range to get a really satisfying audio level. I don't use Tidal so I can't comment o the accuracy of what I was told, but at least one person on the AVS forums thought it sounded "anemic" when they first heard it and I think that was purely a volume issue. It's not even slightly anemic once cranked up here with huge bass drops and a nice full sound.
 
I've spent the last week or so listening to a lot of the atmos tracks/albums on Tidal and whilst it's been pretty fun, it pushed me to ordering Point (from Amazon.de) because I've really enjoyed it and it will get plenty of repeat plays and demo sessions in years to come but also because of the inconsistencies with Tidal. A lot of the atmos offerings seem thrown together, I've not looked into how they are processed, and vary from very good to very bad. I won't be keeping Tidal once my trial runs out. I'll stick to buying discs.
 
..and not long after posting this my disc arrived. Ordered from Amazon.de on Mondayand delivered Thursday.
The disc is head and shoulders above Tidal in every respect. After just 30 seconds of the first track I was hearing things that just didn't seem to be there with Tidal.

Point by Yello -Fantastic recommendation @MagnumXL
 
I finished listening to the Kraftwerk 3D album on Blu-Ray in Dolby Atmos....

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Unlike Pure Audio Blu-Rays, this one has footage, apparently taken from a live concert with background footage for each of the songs that basically alternate between the live views and the footage that was projected behind them on the cinema screen. The blocky image on the front of the album is a representation of the 4 members standing at "stations" in front of the screen. When the lights were up, as best I could tell, only two of them had actual synthesizer keyboards on their workstations. The other two appeared to have some kind of computer kiosk type setup. I'm not sure what they were doing (selecting/adjusting screen footage and/or lighting? Or just pretending to do something in what is an otherwise computer controlled playback of the songs?) That sort of thing is a common issue among synth/pop bands (e.g. The Pet Shop Boys had a live stage show instead based more around dancing groups, props, etc. It wasn't really my thing, but at least it let them perform live). Kraftwerk does a good job of at least giving the appearance they're doing something and it does appear the vocals were at least live and perhaps some of the synth parts (lighting/angles not conducive to see what they were doing, really).

The ATMOS. The Atmos mix does a pretty good job of moving the synth sounds around the room. It starts off a bit slow in "Autobahn" but eventually you get sounds and voices pretty much all over the place including common ceiling locations (oddly orientated around actual Auro-3D speaker locations with distinct parts at "center height" and "VOG" quite often which makes me wonder if the album might have originally been mixed in Auro-3D and then converted over to Atmos or something (not that Atmos can't image in those locations with phantom images, but I do wonder since most immersive albums started with Auro-3D mixes with Atmos concentrating on movies early on and Auro concentrating their Blu-rays more on music, or at least getting more traction/releases in music). Either way, the mix doesn't lack for bouncing sounds around the room. However, their music seems to be largely based on old style analog and FM synthesis type sounds rather than a more modern type of sound so it's a little strange somehow in that often it just feels like sounds are being bounced around just for the heck of it, rather than any kind of "plan" to the music style or something (an impression that Yello's album manages to impress in that it almost sounds like it was designed with Atmos in mind even though that really wasn't the case as it was mixed for stereo and sent for an Atmos version from the stems too, but their use of rhythm, percussion and other sounds perhaps makes it at least seem more natural somehow). Still, it really hasn't gotten old here listening to sounds bounce all around the speakers in the room (since I have 17.1 speakers installed in a 11.1.6 config). Some tracks specifically seem to use Front Wides a LOT (notably Techno Pop) for those that are looking to test their front wides which often get complaints of movies not utilizing them enough.

The Music. I'm not expert on Kraftwerk. This is the first album I've ever heard from them. I did a bit of reading on their history and contributions to electronic and eventually what would become techno music, but in practice I'm not sure what to make after just one listen. Autobahn went on for over 10 minutes and the cheesy 1990s looking 3D driving footage got kind of old fast as did the song. Trans Europa Express was like the "train" version of the same concept (with odd 3D train views), but I think the song was much better on that one. Radioaktivitat seemed to be some anti-nuclear type song with mentions of various meltdown and bomb sites in the song. I felt like I was being put to sleep a bit on these tracks. But other tracks like Techno Pop, Die Roboter and even Tour De France had pretty nice layers of analog synths with some more modern techno beats and bits thrown in. I think Techno Pop was probably my favorite track offhand. It had a pretty nice layered effect and just seemed more exciting than the other tracks. The video had some old style wire forms and low polygon count renders of a robot that kept saying things like "Music non stop, Techno-pop" with Atmos placement around the room were oddly interesting, although like most of the tracks, I felt like they often went on a bit too long (sometimes less is more), but I didn't mind as much with this one. Die Roboter replaced the band members with robots on stage (or what looked like on-stage; it was hard to tell if it was just footage or they really used them from the angles). I thought I was in Disney World.... Tour de France lyrics were in French and featured lots of old looking bicycle footage from the race. It seemed oddly upbeat in a way that made me think I was watching a some 1970s promotion film. I don't know whether that's a complement or a scratch my head moment, but it was still pretty catchy, I think.

Overall, it was an interesting old school sounding 1970s type synthesizer rehash using sounds I never would have used on my own album (I tend to prefer the more Pink Floyd use of old school synths mixed with guitar), but they certainly found a way to use them fairly effectively. I can't help but be reminded of Commodore 64 music demos (many of which came from Europe) for the old SID chip, which certainly was more analog sounding than today's sampled sets, but even Apple's Logic Pro has plenty of old school synths you can patch and modify like the real things if you want to take the time to come up with your own analog or FM type sounds. Given how different the music is from modern pop, some might want to preview the tracks on YouTube or something first unless of course you're already a fan.
 
I went ahead and bought Kraftwerk's full 3D Catalogue box set (4 Blurays and a book). It includes Atmos versions of all their albums and is ten minutes short of five hours long and has 69 music tracks (70th track are end credits) on two discs.
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The songs are repeated on the other set of two Blurays (one set is the concert luve and the other just shows the 3D footage that appears on the screen behind them during the concert) and unlike the other bluray, it's also in 3D video (e.g. Musical notes will come out of the screen and smack you right in the face!)

With the 3D Atmos sound, it's pretty trippy. The computer generated graphics definitely look better in 3D video.

Songs that weren't on the other Bluray like Pocket Calculator have pretty amazing Atmos placement locations like in the are between my chair and the front speakers but not just off to the sides. I wasn't sure if Atmos could believably image in some of those locations,but apparently it can.

This set is getting hard to find, which is a shame. It's pretty pricey at this point as well, but five hours of music and their entire catalogue including remixes is a lot of material. It also includes 5.1, hires stereo and headphone binaural tracks.
 
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I did comparisons on two tracks from Gordon Goodwin's The Gordian Knot, namely T.O.P Adjacent and Kneel Before Zod between Stereo, 5.1, Auro-3D and Atmos including some upmixers.

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The album is 7.1+4 in Auro-3D which my Auro decoder doesn't support with rear surrounds except in Auro-2D mode, which I tried as well to verify what the rear surrounds were doing.

The bottom line is this. The only thing noticeably different at the MLP between Atmos and Auro was the lack of rears in Auro (which 2D mode verified is there for those with V2.0 Auro decoders and/or Auro 13.1).

I'm sure some Atmos systems would get even better support with more speakers than 7.4.1 compared to Auro, but overall hey sounded otherwise pretty similar. I'm sure they use the same master and convert. Surround 5.1 and 7.1 sounded slightly less airy (upmixers helped but Neural X put much of the band parts on the ceiling...too much. Sometimes Neural X is awesome with 5.1 surround music and sometimes there's too much up high). But it appears to be mostly reverb/room cues up high, at least on those two tracks (No crazy Yello synths up there). Frankly, 5.1 with DSU sounded almost as good as Atmos or Auro.

Even what is discrete in the rear surrounds is limited and a judgment call whether it sounded better closer by with a true 5.1 bed (e.g. My Auro presentation) as the room almost seemed too big (mine is 24' long) to have instruments back there and still pretend to be a live circle (The surround versions present like you're standing in the middle of the group arranged more or less as a circular pattern by the sounds of it).

Overall, the sound quality is fantastic and I like the music selections more than straight jazz. It has more of a somewhat modernized 1930s style big band (some strings, synth, electric and bass guitar thrown in that gives more of a modern take, but still has a big band sound more than a jazz ensemble, but then I'm hardly an expert on that style of music, but I do watch a lot of movies from the 1920s, '30s and '40s, which often feature big bands.
 
Exciting news from Apple for Atmos fans.
Apple Music will be adding high resolution and spatial (Atmos) audio for their Apple Music subscribers at no extra charge. Sometime in June. Reports say that all of Apple's headphones that have the H1 or W1 chip will support Atmos (which is everything released in the last three or four years. However, high resolution audio won't be compatible with any of the present headphones from Apple ATM.

Apple Announcement
 
I listened to Booka Shade's Movements album in Atmos yesterday, having apparently gotten the album before its release date in most countries. This actually their 2nd album, newly released in Dolby Atmos from the same guy that mixed/mastered Dear Future Self and Galvany Street into Atmos (Fritz Hilpert of Kraftwerk).

It's definitely different from Galvany Street (more pop-like) and Dear Future Self (some combination of this one and Galvany Street in a stylistic way with a few new things thrown in). I'm not used to the songs yet after just a couple of listens so I don't really want to comment on what's surely subjective taste anyway.

I think rhythms were heavier on Dear Future Self, but these are still clearly club-minded and sound a bit odd at lower volume, having more of a retro-70s analog synth vibe albeit without the heavy pop angle of something like Daft Punk's RAM album.

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As for the Atmos mix, it's definitely placing sounds all over the place with a lot of emphasis on direct overhead sounds early-on (as in hovering right above my head). In other words, I can't fault the mix for not using the room space around me as sounds were appearing on the walls, corners, ceiling and 14 feet directly behind me. So if you're mostly looking for Atmos effects everywhere, I think this one has you covered.

Still, the album is an adjustment from the previous two (newer) albums. If you listened to this first and then those two albums you'd hear a progression of sound to more complexity, I think, but clearly the album was popular on its own terms, at least in Germany, if not much of Europe. Only time will tell if I grow to like the songs on it as they are definitely not my usual cup of Irish Breakfast tea so-to-speak, but I'm a big fan of Kraftwerk now and Dwar Future Self gets a lot of playback so I think I'll likely adapt.
 

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