 |
| Still image from the official "Rocket Man" video. |
For those who have attended multichannel demos over the years, you've probably come across Elton John's "Rocket Man" as a good track to listen to especially if it's the first time experiencing Atmos.
[Other multichannel demo tracks you'll run into may include Pink Floyd material from Dark Side, Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue, Roger Waters' Amused To Death, Beatles Abbey Road, even Madonna's Immaculate Collection all are pretty cool.]
You might be surprised to learn that this track was remixed by Greg Penny in 2013. Recall that Atmos was first shown in theaters in 2012 with the Disney-Pixar movie Brave. So even though we typically associate multichannel audio and Atmos with movies, realize that music mixing in this format should not be seen as an after-thought that came many years later! Of course, we've had many multichannel music releases since the early 2000's on SACD and DVD-A but without the height dimension, potentially with audio objects, available now in Atmos, DTS-X, Sony 360 RealityAudio (MPEG-H 3D Audio) and Auro-3D content.
As Greg Penny discusses in this video (also see article), his concept for "Rocket Man" was to "unfold" the music across the length of the song and convey movement - I think it worked out pretty well.
There is an obvious beauty in the simplicity of this early mix. The first time you hear the background harmonic vocal chorus soaring in the height channels enveloping the listening space, the reverb slide guitar giving a sense of the take-off with movements overhead font-to-back or side-to-side, and that distinctive '70s ARP Odyssey synth suspended in the air, you'll quickly appreciate the added dimensionality of this technology available to artists and the potential experiential impacts.
Apparently, this worked so well that after hearing it, Elton John wanted to have his albums be remixed/remastered through the Atmos system. (Culminating in lucky audiophiles getting their hands on the limited edition Diamonds SDE Blu-ray last year. ☺️)
So without further ado - here's a brief YouTube video visualizing the Dolby Atmos version of "Rocket Man" - enjoy:
Hi Archimago! Thanks for sharing this video, I have not heard about Cavern software before. I have seen a similar visualization of Atmos objects on a Trinnov AVR, however that one is expensive. Looking at the video—I must say, I did not have heard this song on a multichannel system—it seems that stereo and binaural Atmos renderers lack something for achieving a convincing reproduction of those voices flying overhead. When I'm listening to these renders (I tried both a stereo system and EarPods Pro in HT mode), they are perceived as being located somewhere up above, but the movement is not perceived well (by me at least). I'm comparing this with the perception of the sound of a rocket launch from Pink Floyd's "Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert" which is engineered in plain stereo and can be perceived very realistic even over stereo speakers—especially if you take older CD releases with higher dynamic range.
ReplyDeleteHey there Mikhail,
DeleteJust to be clear, this video wasn't created with any kind of binaural processing so I don't really expect the 2-channel output to sound specially positional. I mainly wanted to show the 3D visualization of the height channel levels and the flying balls (sonic objects) used in this mix.
This way, hopefully when listeners check out the song in an actual Atmos system, one can have a mental image of what to listen for as the song plays.
Yup there are certainly some excellent 2-channel music processed for good 3D effect when sitting in the sweet spot. That "Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert" track (The Final Cut) sounds excellent and a highlight for dynamic range!
Some very good-sounding 2-channel positional QSound stuff out there. The other night I was listening to Michael Jackson's Dangerous like the start to "Black or White".
Sure, I understand that the sound track for the video is not binaural or anything. What I meant is that after watching it, I tried listening to the Atmos version of the song from Apple Music via their stereo and binaural renderers.
DeleteAgree, QSound was a great technology! It's a pity it wasn't used on many albums, maybe it was ahead of its time and was not well understood by producers.
I get you Mikhail,
DeleteI find it very hit or miss with the binaural renders depending on the headphones. It can sound pretty good sometimes (like years ago using my Sennheiser HD800 with RedScape) but often I find myself disappointed which is why I'm more of a surround sound speakers system kinda guy. :-)
I downloaded Cavernize. However, neither the portable version, nor the regular one cannot be launched on my computer. I have Win 10, I installed .NET 8 Desktop Runtime. When I click the icon, nothing happens.
DeleteHey there fgk,
DeleteLet me see if I can put up the version I used in these videos later tonight if I can find the ZIP file. :-)
Guys this version worked for me. You still might need to install .NET.
DeleteThank, Archi! I am able to start your version. Do I need this program (Cavern) to convert a multichannel (e.g., 5.1) audio file to a 2.0 binaural file for headphone listening? I thought I needed Cavernize for that.
DeleteHej Arch
ReplyDeleteImpressive visualization software. I have a deep connection to Rocket man as this was one of the first songs that I learned to play on the guitar and Honkey Chateau was also the first album that I remember buying with my own money. There have of course been innumerable covers of the song but the one that I recommend listening to for its originality and presentation is by Iron Horse.
https://youtu.be/WdAyO1_0noM?si=EaKki9gefwGMH8HW
I was intrigued by the Cavern software and the accompanying Quick EQ and in preparation of trying the software I found this thread where the creator of the Cavern software participates.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/cavern-quickeq-basic-how-to.32770/
Thanks, Arch, for this. I am continuously impressed by your ability to provide an almost weekly detailed and enjoyable content that deepens my understanding of audio in all its aspects.
Cheers
Mike
Thanks for the link to the forum post! Great stuff Mike.
DeleteMight have to give Quick EQ a try at some point. Looks like interesting software.
Yeah, I'll publish what I can when there's interesting information to post and things to try out. At some point of course, it just comes down to enjoying the music with good hi-fi gear. ☺️
Thanks for the suggestion of Iron Horse's "Rocket Man", I see it's on The Bluegrass Tribute to Classic Rock. Will give it a listen!
Hey Arch, great post, as it happens I have started to dip my toe into the Dolby Atmos world. With a little hesitation and trepidation though, since the mix quality varies wildly. In last week's post you mentioned Bryan Adams' Atmos mixes being bad - you're so right. While it's a lot better now, I remember the first Atmos mix of Reckless on Apple Music being atrocious - Bryan's hoarse raspy voice sounded warbled, low-bitrate almost, I guess the mixing algorithm couldn't cope with his rather unique voice. I was very dismayed when I heard it in the early days of Spatial Audio, and steered clear from the whole thing for a long while.
ReplyDeleteHowever, now what has made me a believer again was the best Atmos mix I've ever heard, and probably the best kept secret on Apple Music - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and their "Damn the Torpedoes" album. Secret because it's not marked as Spatial Audio since not all its tracks are available in Spatial Audio. But the few that are (the big hits) sound stunning, dare I say a step up from the already excellent stereo mixes. I highly recommend you give it a listen. I certainly will not be one of the doubters now, after having heard it!
Nice Mr. MB,
DeleteIt's great to see Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers have a good number of tracks that have been converted to Spatial scattered around comprising their hits including on Tom's solo Full Moon Fever.
There's a significant learning curve for engineers crafting these mixes along with maturation of the computer tools. Already I've seen some major pop acts like Ariana Grande, Dua Lipa and The Weeknd having improved versions of their Atmos mixes released - remixes of remixes based on what I've seen discussed among Atmos aficionados who keep track of these things!
Hey Arch,
ReplyDeleteI don't have a multichannel but I do listen to Atmos mixes provided through Airpods. It's pretty hit-and-miss, but the Allman Bros' "Eat a Peach" is unbelievable, especially the live cuts. It's such a natural job, and puts you right at the show.
One of the downsides of streaming is the complete lack of metadata. I did some Google searching but couldn't find who did the multichannel mixing. I really like the job he did and want to hear more!