Post by AudioHTIT on Jun 2, 2018 19:11:43 GMT -5
A little over a year ago there was a post from Emotiva on their Facebook page, it invited us to see if we were close to a theatre participating in a listening party for the Atmos mix of the 50th Anniversary remastering of “Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band”. The event was on June 2nd 2017, the 50th anniversary of the US release SPLHCB. I was planning on being in LA that day and figured there would probably be a theatre showing it, and sure enough the AMC in Santa Monica was. I followed the link and picked up a couple of free tickets. I was going to be staying with one of my long time friends and music collaborators, so I invited him to go along.
We got to the theatre about an hour early which was a good thing, there was already a good size line. Typically old guys like me, some gals too, probably a mix of Beatles fans and audiophiles, or like me both. This was a multiplex type place, we were led to the AMC Dolby Theatre, a medium sized room with a reasonably large screen, stadium seating, and recliners. We found two seats two rows from the rear slightly right of center. The room was covered with lighted red dots which I quickly realized were speakers, each dot was part of a line array of six or eight 10" or 12" drivers, the sides and back of the theatre each had eight of these arrays covering the walls. There were two left / right lines of these speakers evenly spaced on the ceiling from front to back, maybe another eight or ten. It appeared that these were 'full range' speakers as separate tweeters were not evident, but they could have been there in a coaxial configuration. There were also what appeared to be four large subwoofer cabinets evenly spaced and mounted on the ceiling.
Finally the lights dimmed a bit and a local DJ announced what we would see, a five minute video describing the project by Giles Martin (son of George Martin the original producer). Giles is also known for his work on The Beatles “Love” soundtrack for the Cirque Du Soleil show. When the video began Giles first announced that what we were about to hear would never be heard again, of that I’m doubtful but it was dramatic; his intention was that this mix would not be released commercially and there were no plans to do other events like this one. He went on to describe his ideas for the Atmos mix which I won’t try to repeat, but he wanted to bring something new, while retaining the original qualities of the album.
Then the lights dimmed more and 100 or so of us did what many of us here do often, sit in a dark room and listened to a great album. I’m one of those who think Sgt Pepper is a great album, I’m even ok calling it the best Beatles album, but that’s mostly for the ‘concept’ (I’m a big fan of concept albums). From the opening notes of the orchestra tuning to the last chord in “A Day In The Life”, the music was as engaging as ever and the Atmos mix / theatre sound allowed us to hear the album as we never had before. The music was the same but we were closer to it, instruments and parts were very distinct, and like Atmos movies we were enveloped and immersed in the sound.
As a Beatles fan from the beginning, and for someone who credits “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” with changing the landscape of music, the evening was a real treat. I found it enthralling, my friend enjoyed it too, but he’s become somewhat staid over the years and seemed to feel that a bunch of people sitting in the dark listening to music was a little weird (long time friends grow in different directions, but they’re still friends).
Well, I meant to post this a year ago, but forgot about it, then when someone announced the album’s anniversary again I remembered. It made me wonder if other albums would get an Atmos treatment (another way to get us to buy DSOTM again
). So a big shout out to Emotiva (Nick?) for the FB post on the show, thank you!
Did anyone else happen to catch this event? Have you seen other events like this, or Atmos music releases?
— Bruce
We got to the theatre about an hour early which was a good thing, there was already a good size line. Typically old guys like me, some gals too, probably a mix of Beatles fans and audiophiles, or like me both. This was a multiplex type place, we were led to the AMC Dolby Theatre, a medium sized room with a reasonably large screen, stadium seating, and recliners. We found two seats two rows from the rear slightly right of center. The room was covered with lighted red dots which I quickly realized were speakers, each dot was part of a line array of six or eight 10" or 12" drivers, the sides and back of the theatre each had eight of these arrays covering the walls. There were two left / right lines of these speakers evenly spaced on the ceiling from front to back, maybe another eight or ten. It appeared that these were 'full range' speakers as separate tweeters were not evident, but they could have been there in a coaxial configuration. There were also what appeared to be four large subwoofer cabinets evenly spaced and mounted on the ceiling.
Finally the lights dimmed a bit and a local DJ announced what we would see, a five minute video describing the project by Giles Martin (son of George Martin the original producer). Giles is also known for his work on The Beatles “Love” soundtrack for the Cirque Du Soleil show. When the video began Giles first announced that what we were about to hear would never be heard again, of that I’m doubtful but it was dramatic; his intention was that this mix would not be released commercially and there were no plans to do other events like this one. He went on to describe his ideas for the Atmos mix which I won’t try to repeat, but he wanted to bring something new, while retaining the original qualities of the album.
Then the lights dimmed more and 100 or so of us did what many of us here do often, sit in a dark room and listened to a great album. I’m one of those who think Sgt Pepper is a great album, I’m even ok calling it the best Beatles album, but that’s mostly for the ‘concept’ (I’m a big fan of concept albums). From the opening notes of the orchestra tuning to the last chord in “A Day In The Life”, the music was as engaging as ever and the Atmos mix / theatre sound allowed us to hear the album as we never had before. The music was the same but we were closer to it, instruments and parts were very distinct, and like Atmos movies we were enveloped and immersed in the sound.
As a Beatles fan from the beginning, and for someone who credits “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” with changing the landscape of music, the evening was a real treat. I found it enthralling, my friend enjoyed it too, but he’s become somewhat staid over the years and seemed to feel that a bunch of people sitting in the dark listening to music was a little weird (long time friends grow in different directions, but they’re still friends).
Well, I meant to post this a year ago, but forgot about it, then when someone announced the album’s anniversary again I remembered. It made me wonder if other albums would get an Atmos treatment (another way to get us to buy DSOTM again
). So a big shout out to Emotiva (Nick?) for the FB post on the show, thank you!Did anyone else happen to catch this event? Have you seen other events like this, or Atmos music releases?
— Bruce
