charlieclouser
Senior Member
I think I know what studio and console that is.... The "FIX" console, right? Very cool thing.Oh man, yeah, the height channels are amazing. Its incredible how much space there is. True full range. I loved hearing the difference without them. The studio I was just working at has 26 PMC speakers and is a 9.1.6 set up. Its quite a thing. There's also a one of a kind analogue mixing console designed by Paul Wolff that allows audio to be panned into any speaker without software (there's also no pan law with the panners). Where a typical EQ section is in a mixing console, its actually a Panner section. Custom designed frame to hold all the upper plane and surround speakers. Its also been designed to instantly switch between Atmos, Auro3D, Sony360 and everything Surround and below which is why there are so many speakers. They are all in their exact positions for each format. Everything has been calibrated by Dolby.
Its basically all completely ruined audio for me, in the sense that I no longer lust after speakers. I realise I will never be able to afford some PMC XBDA QB1s ($200k each... They have 5 (2 x Left 1 Centre 2 x Right) although when buying at this end "family" discounts are likely ) so I now just pretend what I have is good. Except for my LCDX headphones. They are truly great.
I want that Sony thing. Is it a zillion dollars?The best thing I experienced was Sony360. It was literally the best thing I have experienced sonically. I had an amazing time with someone called Gus Skinas and he stuck some tiny microphones in my ears to take a measurement/snapshot of my inner ears and he measured the room and he basically played a mix of a track that was massively exaggerated with panning (you know, Bass Guitar in far rears, drum kit hard right, stuff that the human ear isn't really used to) just so everyone could hear where everything was (if you're not used to listening to music like this its definitely an interesting experience to start with and some people hate it). The test was to listen to the track through this monitoring environment and then Gus handed me some headphones and there is literally no difference between the monitors and the headphones. And when you remove your headphones, because you are in complete disbelief that a pair of shitty headphones could sound identical (not a little bit like, or something is slightly different) but EXACTLY the same, there is no audio coming from the monitors and you suddenly realise the audio is just the headphones.
Greg started just remixing Elton's catalog for him but when the labels heard the results they basically just opened the vaults and said, "Start at Abba and let us know when you get to ZZ Top". So the entire Sony and Capitol back catalogs are in his inbox right now! They've been grinding on it for three years and there's no end in sight. He loves it too, it's just him and his son in two huge rooms in an industrial park in Ojai - no artists knocking over mic stands, no label bigwigs dropping by. Sounds like heaven actually.... Interestingly, their rooms are almost completely untreated. Both are just huge cubes of truss work with speakers and absorptive panels hanging from them, but outside the cubes it's just a huge concrete warehouse. All Dynaudio speakers.As for the mix of Rocket Man, I'd have to check with the engineers. At the time it was very much a "Jono, get the fuck over here and listen to this. And this. And then half a day of guinea pigging someone (me) that had never experienced immersive audio like that before and I just forgot to even ask. I'm not surprised that Greg Penny has been booked up for the next 2 years. Covid has literally held back Atmos so badly. I knew Apple were going to launch Atmos on all their devices (which is incredibly clever) about a year before it happened and Apple were also going to release a subscription service "Atmos Music" (songs/classic tracks - not Atmos for Cinema) which has now finally been launched but its free (obviously I am only saying stuff that is all public knowledge now as I don't want to be hunted down with a pack of dogs ). And for good reason. Atmos will be a total failure if the public don't get behind it and the only way the public are going to get behind it is if they can at least try it. And the public are not gonna be buying anything just to try it, so Headphones and a free service (on the tech they already own but didn't realise they already had Atmos capability) was a smart move.
I heard the PMC Atmos demo at NAMM and I did not like the speakers (too "clanky"), but that was in one of those temporary listening rooms the throw up at the trade shows so I can't really blame PMC. Their big skinny stacks that Tommy Lee has sound god-like, but at $80k per stereo pair they'd better! But the Genelec Atmos demo at NAMM was in free-field and sounded beautiful using all "The Ones" speakers. 8351b across the LCR, 8341's for all the immersive, and a pair of 7380 subs. Wow do they sound great. That demo is what's got me looking in the direction of The Ones.