"ELVIS #1 Hits" DVD-A, article on how they made 5:1 from mono. How does it sound?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Angel, Feb 1, 2003.

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  1. Angel

    Angel New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hollywood, Ca.
  2. lennonfan

    lennonfan New Member

    Location:
    baltimore maryland
    I found his comment about complaints interesting. So many people whine to get something new and when they do they do nothing but bitch. I like the DVD-A of Elvis. It apparently is very successful in it's small production run. I'm also glad there are engineers and producers excited by surround. I hope they ignore the naysayers that wish to deprive others of new experiences. I like mono and stereo but I'll take well done surround over either any day of the week.
     
  3. Claviusb

    Claviusb A Serious Man

    That's pretty innovative. Ask Dave Dexter, Jr.
     
  4. mudbone

    mudbone Gort Annaologist

    Location:
    Canada, O!
    Is there a Dave Dexter, III?

    mud-
     
  5. Ed Bishop

    Ed Bishop Incredibly, I'm still here

    Angel,

    While the mono 5.1 'mix'--if that's what you call this sort of bowdlerization--
    isn't horrendously 'rechanneled' in the manner of Chace movie surround soundtracks taken from mono sources, the attempt to create 'ambience' is simply distracting. But this pales against the insistence on *refining* and *cleaning* the sound to the point where there isn't just a lack of 'breath of life': the sound is, in effect, embalmed. This doesn't seem to bother the handful of advocates of this particular DVD-A release, but it sure bugs the hell out of me, and not just because I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Hoffmanite. The work done to the stereo CD was warning enough: suck the life out of the sound to a level so clinical it matches a photograph of a Playboy Playmate that's been so retouched you'd never know she'd ever had a freckle or cracked cuticle, it's that *perfect*.

    Short form: the sound of the whole thing's a fraud from beginning to end, the only saving grace being a handful of tracks that, if you can ignore the NR and other pointless tweaking, can be fun to listen to. They come at the beginning of this DVD-A since that's where the multis come in, and as they reversed the order relative to the original redbook disc, it just keeps sliding downhill as there's less room to move in a 5.1 soundfield.

    Praise Mr. Hoffman for 24 KARAT HITS, among other honest attempts to keep it all real.

    ED:cool:
     
  6. lv70smusic

    lv70smusic Senior Member

    Location:
    San Francisco, CA
    The mono "5.1 mix" isn't as bad as I expected, but 24 Karat Hits is much better.

    As to the real multichannel mixes, some of them are truly disappointing and none of them got me really excited. The worst has to be "Suspicious Minds," which just sounds WRONG.

    The saving grace to this dvd-a, apart from a few interesting 5.1 mixes, is that Elvis' voice sounds pretty good. Not as good as on the DCC discs, obviously, but much better than I expected given all of the complaints about the cd issue of "30 #1 Hits."
     
  7. Jamie Tate

    Jamie Tate New Member

    Location:
    Nashville
    This is a great disc. Nice 5.1 re-mixes. Very well done. I'm usually startled at least once but some rogue guitar or extreme amount of reverb on these 5.1 discs but I think they took their time and got these mixes to the point where all the others should be.
     
  8. Ed Bishop

    Ed Bishop Incredibly, I'm still here

    Jamie, are you talking about the multi 5.1 mixes exclusively, or also the 'mono' mixes as well? Just wondering.

    ED:cool:
     
  9. Jamie Tate

    Jamie Tate New Member

    Location:
    Nashville
    The 5.1 mixes. I say let mono be mono. Adding reverb to mono and spreading it out doesn't excite me.
     
  10. Ed Bishop

    Ed Bishop Incredibly, I'm still here

    Same here. I still wish they had put them in the L/R front and left it at that.

    ED:cool:
     
  11. Jamie Tate

    Jamie Tate New Member

    Location:
    Nashville
    I'm with you.

    Hey, how are all those compilation DVD-As with the 60's stuff on it? The company is called Silver Platter... Silver Spoon... Silver#$&@*. I even saw a disc that had Telstar on it!?!? Now I KNOW that wasn't remixed. Is this more cheesy fake spread like Hard Day's Night?
     
  12. JohnT

    JohnT Senior Member

    Location:
    PA & FL gulf coast
    Say Ed, isn't that what 'they' said about this guy back in 56' :)?

    I'm glad the boomers saw beyond that FUD!

    The 5.1 works for me but I wish the DCC was available for comparison.
     
  13. Johnny C.

    Johnny C. Ringo's Biggest Fan

    Location:
    Brooklyn, USA
    Re: "ELVIS #1 Hits" DVD-A, how they made 5:1 from mono

    Either way it sure sounds interesting.
     
  14. Gary Freed

    Gary Freed Forum Resident

    For me it's akin to taking a classic B&W movie and colorizing it.

    Let it remain true to the original recording:)
     
  15. Ed Bishop

    Ed Bishop Incredibly, I'm still here

    Nope. Grand Ol 'Opry said that. The rest of the world felt different. You know the rest.

    ED:cool:
     
  16. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    It is an interesting way to do surround with the mono tracks. I have not heard the DVD, but it seems to me that one could do the same things with digital processing on their reccievers. But the stereo mixes? Oh GOD NO!
     
  17. Angel

    Angel New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hollywood, Ca.
    I think the guys who worked on the Elvis project probably never heard most of the recordings before. Therefore it didn't bother them at all to add surround ambiance to original mono recordings. It probably sounds fine to them, but to someone who has listened to "Don't Be Cruel" all of their lives might have a different story to tell.

    This just proves that BMG was targeting a new young audience with Elvis. It's a bit depressing, but certainly understandable.
     
  18. Ed Bishop

    Ed Bishop Incredibly, I'm still here

    Well, the Searchers' Silverline comp is all '5.1 mono' except for one solitary stereo cut, despite the fact that a certain Mr. Hoffman consulted on Rhino's old Searchers comp, and somehow that one is loaded with all the stereo that could be found. The Foundations comp has some stereo, but they missed more than a few. In fact, Silverline is just putting out any old thing and spreading it to five speakers, with the occasional real 5.1 exception. From those two I have noted above, they aren't hellbent on making a 5.1 'ambient' track so much as just making 5.1 mono. Jeez, I can do that with my setup if I wanted to, I don't need their help doing it!

    ANGEL has it right about the Elvis, I think, although a lot of older buyers--thanks to WalMart's lowballing the disc at one point for under $10--bought into it, I would guess. I do think they picked people to do the dirty work who had no concerns about *improving* the sound. However faulty, I don't mind the stereo remixes so much as the feeble and pointless attempt to scrape some 'ambiance' out of mono recordings never meant to be heard other than in basic, flat form. True, the sound is not the old 'duophonic' mess by any means, but after 24K HITS and even the older import CD comps from the mid-'80s--to say nothing of original vinyl, which seems like an alien concept these days--I can't imagine any seasoned listener not being taken aback by what has been perpetrated here. And why is "Love Me Tender" in '5.1 ambient mono'? The binaural master take had been released before--and Steve used it for 24K--but these guys use the mono master as a source for a 5.1 release?:confused: :confused:

    At this point I'd better go take a 'stress pill' right out of 2001....

    ED:cool:
     
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