Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

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AngusWolfe
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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by AngusWolfe »

My DVD/BR/CDs arrived today, and the audio in stereo on the DVD is a fair bit better than the Spotify upload. A hell of a lot more Brian for a start, the Orchestra still not as high as I'd like, but the woodwind/brass/percussion was actually audible instead of just the strings. It was awesome to relive that show, a really special night for me, and it seems the band as well. The BTS part talking about the fans followed by Myles getting amongst the crowd during Broken Wings got me a little teary. This band means a lot to me, and a lot of other people. It really felt like a celebration of the band, their songs, and a massive thank you to the fans. I've been a bit negative on a few bits, but watching the show again made me remember how I felt that night, and how it made me realise how much I love this band, it's music and it's community. So many of these songs have memories for me, and the ones that didn't, now have this show as a memory. Perfect? no. Special? Absolutely.

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TenaciousBe
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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by TenaciousBe »

After further review... I got to watch some of the Blu Ray this weekend at home on my TV with my soundbar (which isn't 5.1 but still better than cheap headphones), and the sound is immensely better. I used to have a surround sound system and ended up selling it off cause I had moved into a smaller house where there just wasn't really room for it, but I may just have to re-invest in a new system here one of these days. Especially for shows like this.
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fix
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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by fix »

Anyone else notice that the orchestra seems higher in the mix on Ties That Bind, at least for the audio only (iTunes) mix? Or is it just me? Sounds awesome...

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Mr. Slash
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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by Mr. Slash »

Btw, did someone already mention that they once again messed up one song title on the CD? At least my media player read out "The End is Near" for track nr. 13. :D

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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by gbruin »

Mr. Slash wrote:Btw, did someone already mention that they once again messed up one song title on the CD? At least my media player read out "The End is Near" for track nr. 13. :D
Yup. Had to manually edit that one title, and then edit every track from Alternative to Hard Rock.
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welshsteve
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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by welshsteve »

gbruin wrote: Yup. Had to manually edit that one title, and then edit every track from Alternative to Hard Rock.
I ddn't notice that on mine, but I always edit the tags anyway so I may have overwritten it. Mine does say Here not Near
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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by Kreuger »

When I listened to the songs on Spotify with my headphones, it's not bad. Put the cd on in my car and it's definitely a drop in quality. Blu Ray is ok from my tv. I don't have a high end sound system.
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welshsteve
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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by welshsteve »

I don't have a high end sound system, but the bluray gives you the option to play in stereo or 5.1 surround, so I choose stereo. It sounds amazing, and I loved every minute of it. Mark's guitar is lower in the mix than I think it should be though, although on certain songs it's bang on. I've never understood why the can't just have all the sound coming out of all the speakers so regardless of the system you get the whole experience.

It is really good though, I'm very happy with it.
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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by MuffinMcFluffin »

welshsteve wrote:I don't have a high end sound system, but the bluray gives you the option to play in stereo or 5.1 surround, so I choose stereo. It sounds amazing, and I loved every minute of it. Mark's guitar is lower in the mix than I think it should be though, although on certain songs it's bang on. I've never understood why the can't just have all the sound coming out of all the speakers so regardless of the system you get the whole experience.

It is really good though, I'm very happy with it.
I'm confusing what you're stating. They give you the option to do it, and you declined it. Why would a mix bring it through all of the speakers when it is clearly intended for two of them if you made your choice?

That being said, stereos can bypass that and you can probably change to that kind of mix on your own. I don't understand your confusion though.

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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by MrsPog »

MuffinMcFluffin wrote:
welshsteve wrote:I don't have a high end sound system, but the bluray gives you the option to play in stereo or 5.1 surround, so I choose stereo. It sounds amazing, and I loved every minute of it. Mark's guitar is lower in the mix than I think it should be though, although on certain songs it's bang on. I've never understood why the can't just have all the sound coming out of all the speakers so regardless of the system you get the whole experience.

It is really good though, I'm very happy with it.
I'm confusing what you're stating. They give you the option to do it, and you declined it. Why would a mix bring it through all of the speakers when it is clearly intended for two of them if you made your choice?

That being said, stereos can bypass that and you can probably change to that kind of mix on your own. I don't understand your confusion though.
Call me old fashioned, naïve or plain uneducated but why should we (the customer) need to have some high-end music sound system to hear a decent sound? Didn't have sound bars or 5.1 when I was growing up but you could crank up the cassette playing in your car stereo and hear the component parts of a song. Over production has killed music for me.
Welsh Steve has enjoyed his first listen - fair play Steve. Back to basics :)

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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by MrsPog »

welshsteve wrote:I don't have a high end sound system, but the bluray gives you the option to play in stereo or 5.1 surround, so I choose stereo. It sounds amazing, and I loved every minute of it. Mark's guitar is lower in the mix than I think it should be though, although on certain songs it's bang on. I've never understood why the can't just have all the sound coming out of all the speakers so regardless of the system you get the whole experience.

It is really good though, I'm very happy with it.
Glad you enjoyed it Steve. It was a great night... or two!

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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by Andy92 »

MrsPog wrote:
MuffinMcFluffin wrote:
welshsteve wrote:I don't have a high end sound system, but the bluray gives you the option to play in stereo or 5.1 surround, so I choose stereo. It sounds amazing, and I loved every minute of it. Mark's guitar is lower in the mix than I think it should be though, although on certain songs it's bang on. I've never understood why the can't just have all the sound coming out of all the speakers so regardless of the system you get the whole experience.

It is really good though, I'm very happy with it.
I'm confusing what you're stating. They give you the option to do it, and you declined it. Why would a mix bring it through all of the speakers when it is clearly intended for two of them if you made your choice?

That being said, stereos can bypass that and you can probably change to that kind of mix on your own. I don't understand your confusion though.
Call me old fashioned, naïve or plain uneducated but why should we (the customer) need to have some high-end music sound system to hear a decent sound? Didn't have sound bars or 5.1 when I was growing up but you could crank up the cassette playing in your car stereo and hear the component parts of a song. Over production has killed music for me.
Welsh Steve has enjoyed his first listen - fair play Steve. Back to basics :)
Because your cassette didn’t contain songs with 55 instruments fighting for the same frequency space...a 5.1 system separates your low end, mids, and high ends across 6 different speakers. This is pretty vital when you have such a large magnitude of instruments across all spectrum of frequencies from 20 Hz to 20 kHz.
anguyen92 wrote:Oh well. Deal with it.

AngusWolfe
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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by AngusWolfe »

Andy92 wrote:
MrsPog wrote:
MuffinMcFluffin wrote:
welshsteve wrote:I don't have a high end sound system, but the bluray gives you the option to play in stereo or 5.1 surround, so I choose stereo. It sounds amazing, and I loved every minute of it. Mark's guitar is lower in the mix than I think it should be though, although on certain songs it's bang on. I've never understood why the can't just have all the sound coming out of all the speakers so regardless of the system you get the whole experience.

It is really good though, I'm very happy with it.
I'm confusing what you're stating. They give you the option to do it, and you declined it. Why would a mix bring it through all of the speakers when it is clearly intended for two of them if you made your choice?

That being said, stereos can bypass that and you can probably change to that kind of mix on your own. I don't understand your confusion though.
Call me old fashioned, naïve or plain uneducated but why should we (the customer) need to have some high-end music sound system to hear a decent sound? Didn't have sound bars or 5.1 when I was growing up but you could crank up the cassette playing in your car stereo and hear the component parts of a song. Over production has killed music for me.
Welsh Steve has enjoyed his first listen - fair play Steve. Back to basics :)
Because your cassette didn’t contain songs with 55 instruments fighting for the same frequency space...a 5.1 system separates your low end, mids, and high ends across 6 different speakers. This is pretty vital when you have such a large magnitude of instruments across all spectrum of frequencies from 20 Hz to 20 kHz.
While the separation and crossover of 5.1 does make audio a lot better, it shouldn't be essential. People have been listening to Classical music in stereo for years with no issue. I've only ever heard S&M or the Scorpions Orchestral gigs in stereo and they have a perfectly good mix.

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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by Andy92 »

Classical music where all of the instruments are acoustic without the massive sound of electric guitars and a drum kit piled on top of them isn’t quite as comparable. I personally think the orchestra sounds kinda quiet in some of the heavier S&M songs too because of the nature of electric instruments, but to each their own I suppose.

I’m not trying to say RAH has a perfect mix here...but this particular release will sounds its best with good equipment.
anguyen92 wrote:Oh well. Deal with it.

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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by Jaded Rescue »

I think the biggest issue here is that AB didn't adjust their guitar tones for playing with an orchestra at all. Mark especially plays with a lot of gain these days, which makes things muddy. When you pair two gain-heavy guitars with an orchestra, it's going to be difficult for that orchestra to cut through. Metallica's tone is a bit easier to understand than AB's, in my opinion, which is why you can hear past it to the orchestra.

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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by Timotheus »

It just isn't loud enough. There really isn't an excuse in 2018. A good mixer knows how to properly EQ an arrangement like that. Use in addition some simple side chaining and it would've been perfectly possible to make the orchestra louder without overpowering the band.
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anguyen92 wrote:
Oh well. Deal with it.

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Mr. Slash
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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by Mr. Slash »

Timotheus wrote:It just isn't loud enough. There really isn't an excuse in 2018. A good mixer knows how to properly EQ an arrangement like that. Use in addition some simple side chaining and it would've been perfectly possible to make the orchestra louder without overpowering the band.
Yup. Alter Bridge has some bad luck with their live albums. Or they make the wrong decisions.
Every live recording despite Amsterdam has same serious flaws.

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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by MuffinMcFluffin »

MrsPog wrote:[Call me old fashioned, naïve or plain uneducated but why should we (the customer) need to have some high-end music sound system to hear a decent sound? Didn't have sound bars or 5.1 when I was growing up but you could crank up the cassette playing in your car stereo and hear the component parts of a song. Over production has killed music for me.
Welsh Steve has enjoyed his first listen - fair play Steve. Back to basics :)
You shouldn't have to, but when it is mastered that way that is how it is intended to be heard. That's how it was "heard" when mixed in post-production.

If I spend time color-grading a film and you decide to play it on a black-and-white television, and state that you couldn't tell blue-eyed Joe from brown-eyed Jim because they were twins, that is not a problem set by the people who made the film intending for it to be watched on a color set.

That being said, they do have a 2.0 mix and I haven't heard it yet... but I wouldn't bother listening to the 5.1 mix on a 2.0 set. I would then just choose the 2.0 option. The 5.1 is intended for somebody with five channels and a subwoofer. Now, did they do it perfectly? Not even close; the low-frequency effects are absent and the sound itself is not the clearest, but the separation is there and it helps much more than the CD version, that much I can say. I even ripped them to my computer and can make better sounding 2.0 versions than the CD one if you want to hear a sample.

But yeah man, they mix it with a certain intent and that is something for you to follow. We can't hark on them for something like that unless you have the system to do it with. You can however hark on their 2.0 setup, so if you hear that and it's not up to snuff then you have a valid point. I would however excuse them slightly because of how much instrumentation is going on. There is just too much data at too many clashing frequencies; sometimes it will simply just sound like noise and two channels just might not be enough for it.

Anyway, those are my two cents.

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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by Jaded Rescue »

Timotheus wrote:It just isn't loud enough. There really isn't an excuse in 2018. A good mixer knows how to properly EQ an arrangement like that. Use in addition some simple side chaining and it would've been perfectly possible to make the orchestra louder without overpowering the band.
This. It could have just been much louder.

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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by gbruin »

MuffinMcFluffin wrote: That being said, they do have a 2.0 mix and I haven't heard it yet... but I wouldn't bother listening to the 5.1 mix on a 2.0 set. I would then just choose the 2.0 option. The 5.1 is intended for somebody with five channels and a subwoofer. Now, did they do it perfectly? Not even close; the low-frequency effects are absent and the sound itself is not the clearest, but the separation is there and it helps much more than the CD version, that much I can say. I even ripped them to my computer and can make better sounding 2.0 versions than the CD one if you want to hear a sample.
Yeah, I'd love to hear a sample, and what you used to rip the BluRay to mp3. :bow
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