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    The Computer Audiophile

    A Little Immersive Audio For Everybody - Genius, Lizzy, Ziggy, and More

     

     

        

        Audio: Listen to this article.

     

     

     

    Immersive Audio continues to gain steam, adding to the current streaming catalog of 25,000+ albums, with more enjoyable releases available for purchase. In the last month or so I’ve added TrueHD Dolby Atmos albums from artists that I know well and artists in which I previously had little interest. In all cases, the fact remains that immersive audio has brought me more musical enjoyment than any other technology or format I can remember.

     

    ray ray.jpgThis week the nine time Grammy winning album Genius Loves Company from Ray Charles was made available for purchase at Immersive Audio Album. The TrueHD Dolby Atmos download was co-mixed by Eric Schilling and Michael Romanowski, and mastered by Romanowski at Coast Mastering in Berkeley.

     

    I loved this album when it was released in stereo in 2004, never really listened to the 5.1 mix back in the day, and now I’m enthralled with the immersive mix twenty years later. Of course everything starts with the world’s best artists joining the genius Ray Charles and original engineering by the best people in the business (Al Schmitt, Doug Sax, etc…). Eric Schilling and Michael Romanowski took the aforementioned ingredients and baked an immersive masterpiece. The new mix serves this wonderful music perfectly.

     

    It doesn’t matter where one starts listening, all the tracks on this immersive release are superb. As I write this, I feel like I’m sitting in the studio with Elton John and Ray Charles, with a string section enveloping my listening chair. It’s just beautiful. A big tip of the cap to Eric Schilling and Michael Romanowski.

     

    Genius Loves Company is available as a TrueHD Dolby Atmos download at IAA for $24.99 (link). I hate to say it, but I’d pay twice that price for an album this good. If there are more albums waiting in the wings, please pre-add them to my cart or start a subscription for me :~)

     

    Here are details for each track, including the standard Dolby Atmos high dynamic range.

     

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    Immersive audio has a way of pulling listeners into the music, even if they’ve heard it thousands of times in stereo and even if they’ve previously written off the artist, album, or even complete genre. The first example of this, for me, is Thin Lizzy’s 1976 : Jailbreak and Johnny The Fox. I’ve heard Jailbreak on the radio a million times and have never been thrilled. I tapped play in JRiver Media Center on the extracted TrueHD Dolby Atmos release and didn’t stop listening until all nineteen tracks were finished.

     

    lizzy.jpg.jpegI was so drawn into the music that I started the album again and while listening I researched the band. I had no clue these guys were Irish and knew nothing about one of my new favorite musicians, bass guitarist, lead vocalist and principal songwriter Phil Lynott.

     

    That’s the power of great music and a great immersive mix. Music created a year after I was born, that has been played-out on FM radio for decades, now has a new fan and I’m discovering deep cuts I love much more than the hits. I could listen to Romeo and the Lonely Girl all day long!

     

    Thin Lizzy 1976 Jailbreak - Johnny The Fox was available from Super Deluxe Edition (link) on Blu-ray Disc with a Dolby Atmos mix, 5.1 mix, and new stereo mix for 25 GBP, but is now sold out. I REALLY wish these sold out physical releases would then be sold as downloads via Immersive Audio Album. It’s hard for a label to make money after a physical release no longer exists and it’s impossible for fans to enjoy something unobtainable. In other words, please take our money by offering this as a download.

     

    Here are details for each track, including the standard Dolby Atmos high dynamic range.

     

    1976.png

     

     

     

    Along the same lines as Thin Lizzy, in terms of my fandom, is David Bowie and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars. Neither Bowie nor this album were on my list of favorites. After getting the TrueHD Dolby Atmos version of the album, I’m all-in on Bowie and Ziggy. After watching Ken Scott, the original co-producer of the album (and many others from Bowie), as well as Dolby Atmos mix engineer, Emre Ramazanoglu talk about the album and mixing process, I have a newfound respect for Bowie, the engineers involved, and this album.

     

    stardust.jpgThe music on its own, in TrueHD Dolby Atmos, is really neat. The quality of the mix is what takes it to another level for me. Scott and Ramazanoglu did a masterful job, changing some details from the original and bringing this album into 2024 and to a new generation of Bowie fans, myself included.

     

    To be honest, I’d likely have gone the rest of my life without listening to this album. To my detriment of course, but it’s the truth. However, the Atmos version sounds so good it enables me to get into the music and actually feel it on an emotional level. In stereo, this album was too out there for me and left me distant. In Atmos, I feel a connection to the musicians and the story being told. Listening to Bowie literally in tears at the end of Five Years, is an experience I won’t soon forget. It’s hard to explain much better than that. In a way I’m at a loss for words. Everyone should experience this first hand.

     

    The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars is available direct from David Bowie’s website for $24.98 (link) as a physical Blu-ray Disc with TrueHD Dolby Atmos, 2024 stereo mix (24/96), 1972 stereo mix remaster (24/192 and 24/48).

     

    I encourage everyone to watch this video produced by Dolby, with Ken Scott and Emre Ramazanoglu.

     

     

     

     

    Here are details for each track, including the standard Dolby Atmos high dynamic range.

     

    Ziggy.png

     

     

     

    Some other TrueHD Dolby Atmos releases in my library this month include:

     

    Frank Zappa - Apostrophe (link)

    Tori Amos - Unrepentant Geraldines (link)

    David Gilmour - Luck and Strange (link)

    Carly Simon - No Secrets (link)

    Chicago - IX Greatest Hits (link)

    Seal - Seal I (link)

    Trio Medieval - Yule (link)

     

     

     

     

     

    About the author - https://audiophile.style/about
    Author's Complete Audio System Details with Measurements - https://audiophile.style/system

     

     

     

     




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    Watched the whole Ken Scott & Emre Ramazanoglu video. Thanks for posting. Most engaging, educational, informative. I can see why you recommended it as suitable viewing for all.

     

    I was just thinking about a synoptic thought/remark - whilst struck that it is fortunate for Atmos listeners that Ken Scott is around still - and had all his cognitive marbles etc - to undertake this Ziggy project ... and then ... at 41:35 Ken himself says something alone lines of: David [Bowie] told him that if ever there were further work done on his material, it should be done by people involved in the first place. Totally get this - the lending/blending of history and authenticity in to new productions. Without first hand witnesses, surely any creation would be that much drier - indeed lacking in "soul".

     

    Trivia: I remember - being aware of Leslie Crowther from "Crackerjack" on UK Childrens' TV - all the teenage chatter in the late 1970s about how Leslie disapproved of his daughter, Caroline, hooking up with Phil Lynott. I guess in those days parents were generally more conservative - and their disapproval could be a little frightening. Sadly Phil Lynott was yet another (in Rock 'n' Roll history) who went the way of early death - at 36 from addiction after his marriage to Caroline, broke down. Ironic in that Crowther, like his own father, was an alcoholic. Having stopped drinking 7 years earlier, Crowther suffered brain injury crashing his Rolls Royce - 4 years before his own death.

     

    Barely touching on the trials and tribulations of Ray Charles - nice (if it may be put that way) amalgam of "humanity" in this post!

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    11 minutes ago, Iving said:

    Watched the whole Ken Scott & Emre Ramazanoglu video. Thanks for posting. Most engaging, educational, informative. I can see why you recommended it as suitable viewing for all.

     

    I was just thinking about a synoptic thought/remark - whilst struck that it is fortunate for Atmos listeners that Ken Scott is around still - and had all his cognitive marbles etc - to undertake this Ziggy project ... and then ... at 41:35 Ken himself says something alone lines of: David [Bowie] told him that if ever there were further work done on his material, it should be done by people involved in the first place. Totally get this - the lending/blending of history and authenticity in to new productions. Without first hand witnesses, surely any creation would be that much drier - indeed lacking in "soul".

     

    Trivia: I remember - being aware of Leslie Crowther from "Crackerjack" on UK Childrens' TV - all the teenage chatter in the late 1970s about how Leslie disapproved of his daughter, Caroline, hooking up with Phil Lynott. I guess in those days parents were generally more conservative - and their disapproval could be a little frightening. Sadly Phil Lynott was yet another (in Rock 'n' Roll history) who went the way of early death - at 36 from addiction after his marriage to Caroline, broke down. Ironic in that Crowther, like his own father, was an alcoholic. Having stopped drinking 7 years earlier, Crowther suffered brain injury crashing his Rolls Royce - 4 years before his own death.

     

    Nice (if it may be put that way) amalgam of "humanity" in this post!

     

    I'm happy you liked the video. I usually lose interest within a couple minutes, but this one grabbed me for the entire time. The comment about Bowie and further work needing to be done by someone who was around for the original production, also caught my attention. At first blush, I was totally onboard with it and thought, "yeah, that's right!" However, there are more needs and wants to be met than just that of those who want perfect lineage and continuity. In my perfect world, there could be two or more mixes. One by those originally involved and one or more by those a bit further from the inside circle, with a fresh look at it. 

     

    I respect Bowie's wishes, if those were truly his wishes. It's his art after all. Or wait, is it the art of the company for which he worked? I error on the side of the artist :~)

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    55 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

     

    I'm happy you liked the video. I usually lose interest within a couple minutes, but this one grabbed me for the entire time. The comment about Bowie and further work needing to be done by someone who was around for the original production, also caught my attention. At first blush, I was totally onboard with it and thought, "yeah, that's right!" However, there are more needs and wants to be met than just that of those who want perfect lineage and continuity. In my perfect world, there could be two or more mixes. One by those originally involved and one or more by those a bit further from the inside circle, with a fresh look at it. 

     

    I respect Bowie's wishes, if those were truly his wishes. It's his art after all. Or wait, is it the art of the company for which he worked? I error on the side of the artist :~)

     

    I guess in the end the market will care about what it cares about - and get what it wants (as long as there are engineers and producers available to step up).

     

    Most people seem to have little or no trouble recognising that Bowie was the driver and team leader behind everything that emanated from him. Having re-viewed the video at 41:35, Ken says David Bowie said "has to be" (original person/people involved in future work). Sounds peremptory from the Horse's Mouth - but also a bit He Said She Said. It was also interesting and possibly relevant how Ken talked about the David Bowie Estate. Plenty of people think that Bowie mistreated the Spiders including recompense. I wonder if the Estate is similarly "rigorous". I know people who adore Bowie - I'm not one of them. But I'm unashamedly ardent about Mick Ronson as an Artist/Guitarist.

     

    Studio version of "The Width Of A Circle" is on the Album 'The Man Who Sold The World'. This Live recording was afaik not long before Spiders' last performance 1973 (controversial as Bowie "sacked" them on stage):

     

     

    Also here's "Five Years" from BBC 'Old Grey Whistle Test' 1972 - Mick Ronson on piano this time.

     

     

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