Surround Sound Music Albums
About five years ago, I interviewed a husband-and-wife duo called Dubtribe Sound System, which composed and spun an ethereal sort of house music that was popular in the 1990s. During this interview, Sunshine (the husband) was musing about creating an album in surround sound. I hadn't really heard of surround-sound music albums, so I dismissed what he said as too-forward thinking. And so it went for a long time.
Surround Sound Music Louder Than Voices
Surround Music. 5.1 Streaming & Sales – Surround Sound Production, Research & Development. Albums Showing 1–12 of 36 results. 1; 2; 3 → Against “Nature. Important instructions for playing these surround music files: If you have a 7.1 surround setup or even more speakers than that, please switch your speaker configuration to 5.1 before you play these files. The files are made for 5.1 audio and if your speaker configuration is set to 7.1 or anything else, they will not sound like they are meant to.
However, I recently received a surround-sound music album called DE9: Transitions, released by another forward-thinking artist, Richie Hawtin. Also known as Plastikman, Hawtin is the DJ that other DJs revere. I put the DVD in the DVD player, sat in the middle of our household's home-theater setup, and listened. It sounded great--subdued beats and rhythms swirling around me expertly.
Despite that DVD, I still haven't heard too much about surround-sound audio albums. There is no lack of places to play them: luxury cars, satellite-radio players, home theaters. The same people snapping up Lord of the Rings DVD box sets and home-theater equipment are still happily buying standard music CDs. The reason, I think, is a chicken-and-egg argument surrounding the way technology and people's buying preferences affect each other.
The majority of surround-sound albums come in one of two formats: SACD or DualDisc. (There is another format called DVDA, or DVD Audio, but it's hard to find.)
SACD, or Super Audio CD, was created by Sony and Philips Electronics and launched in 1999. SACD is a type of CD that contains very-high-quality audio that sounds great. It can contain true 5.1-channel audio, but isn't required to.
According to Sony BMG, SACD is most popular for jazz and classical-music fans. 'The classical consumer and jazz consumers are a slightly older demographic,' says Leslie C. Cohen, senior vice president of new formats and business development at Sony BMG Music Entertainment. 'They have higher demands in terms of quality.'
They also have more money, which you'll need to fully take advantage of SACD. The SACDs themselves aren't expensive, costing only one or two dollars more than standard audio CDs. It's the player. To take advantage of the high-resolution audio, you have to listen to an SACD on an SACD-supported player. A quick scan of DVD players that support SACD audio ran from $300 to $600. The newer format of SACD will also play in a standard CD player but only at CD quality.
Many think SACD is on the way out, to be replaced by DualDisc, which officially launched in February 2005. DualDiscs contain CD audio on one side and DVD audio content--which can be created in 5.1 surround sound--on the other side, so both standard CD and DVD players support them. Sony BMG says that for the titles it releases on both CD and DualDisc, 30 percent to 50 percent of sales are on DualDisc. Artists include more-mainstream picks such as Jennifer Lopez and Dave Matthews.
It's Not About the Music
Resident evil 7 download. John Trickett is CEO of 5.1 Entertainment Group, which is a production and publishing company that produces albums exclusively on DualDisc. According to him, the reason people are buying DualDisc isn't the great audio quality.
'Most consumers don't care about having higher-resolution audio,' says Trickett, which is an odd comment from a man who produces only that. 'What we learned from DualDisc and SACD--both are great-sounding formats--is that a very small segment really cares about better sound. People are quite happy with CD sound. It's all about the content.'
That content is the extras such as videos, interviews, and outtakes--the special features that you'd find on a movie DVD. In fact, when 5.1 Entertainment Group records new artists for its Immergent and Silverline record labels, it takes high-definition video of recording and song-writing sessions right from the get-go. 'You can get the surround sound and an array of bonus features that really do add the value to the consumer,' says Trickett.
One telling sign of market demand is Immergent Records' Beyond Warped Live Performance series. This series of DualDiscs contains high-definition audio and video of primarily pop and punk bands that played in the Vans Warped Tour. Garage-band punk isn't naturally conducive to super-high-quality audio the way classical or jazz would be; however, the listeners of garage-band punk--teens and people in their 20s--have come to expect extras packed onto their movies, and now their music.So, it would appear that marketing bonuses are carrying the high-quality audio and not the other way around. The reason is another audiotechnology: MP3. Its popularity has trained most to listen tolower-than-CD-quality audio and like it. 'Now that super-high-quality audio is readily available--and, thanks to desktop audio software like Digidesign Pro Tools and Apple Logic Pro, is getting cheaper to make--most people don't even really want it.
I hope that we, as a group, can learn to crave surround-sound music albums the way we crave HD movies and TV shows. The technology is there, but unless the public asks for it, there's no impetus for the record labels to consider it anything more than value-added content.
| Grammy Award for Best Surround Sound Album | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | quality albums recorded and/or mixed in surround sound (classical and non-classical) |
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences |
| First awarded | 2005 |
| Website | Grammy.com |
The Grammy Award for Best Immersive Audio Album (until 2018: Best Surround Sound Album) was first awarded in 2005, as the first category in a new 'Surround Sound' field.
This field currently holds the Best Immersive Audio Album award as its sole category.
It is one of a few categories which are open to both classical and non-classical recordings, new or re-issued. To qualify for this category, the recording must be in surround quality (with a minimum of four channels). The recordings must be commercially available on either DVD-Audio, DVD-Video, Blu-ray, SACD, surround download or a streaming-only copy. The award goes to the surround engineer(s), the surround mastering engineer(s) (if any) and the surround sound producer(s) (if any). Performing artists do not receive the award, except if they are also the surround (mastering) engineer or the surround sound producer.
The category was renamed Best Immersive Audio Album for the 2019 Grammy season. [1] According to NARAS, 'driven by the technological side of music evolution, the Best Surround Sound Album category [was] renamed Best Immersive Audio Album. The same goes for the Field to which it belongs. The change reflects evolving technology, new formats, and current industry trends, practices, and language.'
Winners & Nominees[edit]
Legend: * = Surround Mix Engineer / ** = Surround Mastering Engineer / *** = Surround Producer. Performing artists in brackets.
| Year | Winner(s) | Title | Performing artist(s) | Nominees | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Al Schmitt*, Robert Hadley & Doug Sax**, John Burk, Phil Ramone & Herbert Walf*** | Genius Loves Company | Ray Charles & Various Artists |
| [2] |
| 2006 | Chuck Ainlay*, Bob Ludwig**, Chuck Ainlay & Mark Knopfler*** | Brothers In Arms - 20th Anniversary Edition | Dire Straits |
| [3] |
| 2007 | Elliot Scheiner*, Darcy Proper**, Donald Fagen*** | Morph The Cat | Donald Fagen |
| [4] |
| 2008 | Paul Hicks*, Tim Young**, George Martin & Giles Martin*** | Love | The Beatles |
| [5] |
| 2009 | Michael Bishop*/**, Robert Woods*** | Mussorgsky: Pictures At An Exhibition; Night On Bald Mountain; Prelude To Khovanshchina | Paavo Järvi & Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra |
| [6] |
| 2010 | Michael Bishop*/**, Elaine Martone*** | Transmigration | Robert Spano & The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Choruses |
| [7] |
| 2011 | Keith O. Johnson*/**, David Frost*** | Britten's Orchestra | Michael Stern & Kansas City Symphony |
| [8] |
| 2012 | Elliot Scheiner*, Bob Ludwig**, Bill Levenson & Elliot Scheiner*** | Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (Super Deluxe Edition) | Derek & The Dominos |
| [9] |
| 2013 | Jim Anderson*, Darcy Proper**, Michael Friedman*** | Modern Cool | Patricia Barber |
| [10] |
| 2014 | Al Schmitt* & Tommy LiPuma*** | Live Kisses | Paul McCartney |
| [11] |
| 2015 | Elliot Scheiner(*), Tom Coyne(**), Beyoncé Knowles(***) | Beyoncé | Beyoncé |
| [12] |
| 2016 | James Guthrie (*/**/***) & Joel Plante (**) | Amused To Death | Roger Waters |
| [13] |
| 2017 | Alexander Lipay*, Dmitriy Lipay*/**/*** | Dutilleux: Sur le Même Accord; Les Citations; Mystères de l'Instant & Timbres, Espace, Mouvement | Ludovic Morlot & the Seattle Symphony |
| [14] |
| 2018 | Jim Anderson*/Darcy Proper**/Jim Anderson & Jane Ira Bloom*** | Early Americans | Jane Ira Bloom |
| [15] |
| 2019 | Alan Parsons */**/***, Dave Donnelly**, P.J. Olsson** | Eye in the Sky - 35th Anniversary Edition | Alan Parsons Project |
| [16] |
Surround Sound Music Albums
Legend: * = Surround Mix Engineer / ** = Surround Mastering Engineer / *** = Surround Producer
References[edit]
- ^'What's New For The 61st GRAMMY Awards?'. GRAMMY.com. 26 June 2018.
- ^'47th Annual Grammy Awards Winners'. Billboard. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
- ^Sun, Baltimore. 'Complete list of 2006 Grammy winners'. baltimoresun.com. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
- ^'49th Annual Grammy Awards Nominee List'. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
- ^'List of Winners at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards'. Fox News. February 10, 2008. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
- ^'Complete List of Nominees for the 51st Annual Grammy Awards'. E! Online. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
- ^'Complete List of Nominees for the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards'. E! Online. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
- ^'Grammy Awards 2011: Winners and nominees for 53rd Grammy Awards'. Los Angeles Times. ISSN0458-3035. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
- ^'Grammy Awards 2012: Complete Winners And Nominees List'. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
- ^'Grammys 2013: Complete list of nominees and winners'. Los Angeles Times. February 10, 2013. ISSN0458-3035. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
- ^'Grammys 2014: The complete list of nominees and winners'. Los Angeles Times. January 26, 2014. ISSN0458-3035. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
- ^'Complete List Of The 57th Annual Grammy Award Winners/Nominees'. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
- ^Staff, Variety (February 15, 2016). 'Grammy Awards: Complete Winners List'. Variety. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
- ^'59th Annual GRAMMY Awards Winners & Nominees'. GRAMMY.com. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
- ^{Grammy.com, 28 November 2017
- ^'61st Annual GRAMMY Awards'. GRAMMY.com. 6 December 2018.
