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Comment by goosinmouse | Hacker News Reader

I'm an audio engineer who has dabbled in atmos when it started getting popular and most of what he says i completely agree with. On a personal level, i have never found any spatial mix of any song or recording over the original mix.

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I enjoyed the quad mix of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. I found that separating some of the sounds over 4 speakers helped clarify them. This works because there's so much going on in that album, so many sampled sounds throughout the album like the snippets of conversations. The clocks at the start of Time were great. I listened to the whole thing sitting in the middle of my living room with my eyes closed. It was extremely absorbing and enjoyable.

99% of the time I listen to the regular mix though. I love music but I don't want to sit motionless in the dead center of an array of speakers. Music is a soundtrack to chopping onions, relaxing with a book, fixing my bike etc.

I have that SACD too, but the fact that they didn't ask Alan Parsons to do it seriously undermines its legitimacy. I mean... WTF?

I heard a rumor that there is in fact a Parsons-mastered surround mix in existence.

It's on YouTube. Not sure if it's genuine, but that's the one I'm talking about.

Although I'm not sure I agree with you. Other human beings on planet earth are capable of remixing an album.

Yes, I should simply say that it made me less excited about it.

Meanwhile, I enjoy Steven Wilson's surround mix of XTC's Nonsuch (except the first track, in which the vocals are oddly messed up).

Oh, I'll have to listen to that!

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