I Am the Walrus surround mix from Anthology

I mentioned to a friend that they had managed to remix I Am the Walrus in surround sound, all the way to the end, even with the radio stuff. His immediate response was to suggest that they found a transcription of the radio broadcast and used that to "fake" the ending.

I got the Anthology for my birthday (yay), and I've just listened to the new mix for the first time, and I think he's right. The radio noises don't sound quite "right", and I don't think the Shakspearean voices enter at precisely the right spots.

It's an interesting listen, and quite nice, but I miss the pronounced ADT effect on John's lead vocal and a few other things. (The intro, for instance!)


(BTW, I'm having the devil of a time getting to the dts surround track. The only way I can figure out to do it is to wait until the program is actually playing, then go into my player's setup menu and switch from ENGLISH3, which it defaults to (PCM stereo) to ENGLISH1, which appears to be dts surround. Is there a better way? I couldn't find it in the main menus on the disks.)


Now, back to the "media room".

 

I don't think they faked it. That sounds like a whole mess of work for nothing. I just think they managed to isolate it better, maybe by means of EQ or filtering or something....but fake it? Nah.......


OK, I can't believe how difficult they made the audio menu on Anthology......

I'm at work so I have to do this by memory......

Look at the menu screen........on the right side, near the bottom, you will see 3 or 4 small lines....almost like a zebra stripe....THIS is you're audio menu!!! You have to use your remote to cursor over to it, it should light up in red......it's almost impossible to find on the first look! I just kept cursoring till I found it. IIRC you're choices are Stereo PCM, DD, DTS.
Hope that helps

 

Sounds like a mixture of both, to me.

 

The radio sounds are not original, but very well duplicated by once again tuning through the mw (AM) band in between stations for the superheterodyne sound. I believe the radio broadcast segments are original mono mix.

 

Yes, that is what I thought too.

Why so? Since the date of the broadcast is known, and the BBC probably have it archived, it seems like it would actually be easier to insert the broadcast bits from a transcription. Especially so since some of the voices are *much* louder than they were in the original mix. I find it hard to believe they could achieve that much separation (isolation) working with the original mix.

I'm planning to copy the tracks from the DVD to the computer and attempt a stereo remix from them, just for fun. Perhaps I'll learn more about this along the way.

 

I believe it to be so because that part of the mix doesn't travel through the surround image, it is centered in the center channel (how's that for no pun intended?). I have yet to do a headphone listen to individual channels, so you maybe way ahead of me.

 

Keep us posted Steve.

 

Hmmmm.... I haven't heard the DD mix (or even the PCM mix, which is the default mix), but I believe on the dts 5.1 mix the radio broadcast comes from the rears and pans RL to RR. I will double check later on.

 

Pay close attention to the spots when the heterodyne is on top of the voices. Those sound to me like the original flown in.

 

OK: to chooes the audio tracks on these discs, on the lower right hand side of the menu are 2 options - SUBTITLES and AUDIO. The print is fairly small. Choosing "AUDIO" we discover the choices LPCM Stereo - this is the default track, DD 5.1 and dts 5.1 must be selected from the menu, or you are hearing the stereo track.

In dts and DD 5.1, the Shakespeare track is VERY directional. It discreetly swirls around your head, utilizing the FL, FR, RL and RR channels (it may pass thru the center, but if it does, it passes quickly). The strings, horns, guitars, and lead vocal stay pretty much fixed in the same soundfield they are in for most of the song. Additional "goofy" background vocals also swirl, though not necessarily with the broadcast track. If you listen to the stereo (default) track through a ProLogic decoder, the soundfield collapses significantly. The broadcast stays mainly in the center, with brief spots of FL to FR panning. The track never enters the rear channels.

If you can't find the AUDIO menu, hit the audio button on your remote during play, as this disc allows audio switching on the fly.

 

You may very well be right. Looking at my notes from when I did my first listen, it just says that the broadcast is "centered" among the radio sounds. I do now think it is in the rear speakers. I'll have to listen to it again (no great burden).

 

Thanks for the notes on finding the audio menu. I did eventually find it - it's really well disguised! My comments so far were based on the dts track. More to come.

 

I actually did this using the 1st half of the original version from the MMT CD and then the remainder from the Anthology mix.

In PCM stereo, the second half of the track to my ears *is* true stereo. I believe they went back and remixed the radio broadcast as well as the original backing track.

The stereo backing track stills exists for this track since it not only appears on Anthology II (although faded early), but it has been bootlegged several times over. So it would not be impossible to make a new stereo mix of the song.

The mix came out alright although the 2nd half is obviously much brighter than the first half (and also no-noised! - but not by me! ). I then tried to edit the ending back on starting with the phrase "servicable villian" from the original mono mix but the pitch and sound are a little off. It sticks out to me, but it's decent enough for now until I get enough to truly focus on it and also make good EQ adjustments.

I could try to find a way to post it with anyone is interested. Surely not a piece of audiophile work, but I had fun putting it together for myself.

 

Boy, I guess my wife is right...I SHOULD wear my glasses all the time.....I had no idea that said AUDIO....I thought it was a bunch of lines! i had to go about 3 feet from the tv to read it!
Thanks
Uncle Al