I think the more movies you try in ATMOS the more differences you will hear. Same thing for ATMOS music. Everyone is mixing these a little differently. Music especially, ATMOS mixes are all over the place. Mastering for ATMOS is in its infancy and there has been ATMOS mixes released that is not even re-mastered- just remixed by some person who probably wasn’t part of the original work. This will get better.
Almost all new music that’s coming the labels (Universal, Warner) are asking for an ATMOS version along with 2 channel. This new music version will most likely be done by the same mix engineers as the 2 channel. So I think we can glean from this that the older lesser known titles, now being done in ATMOS, may not always be great. The older recordings that were major records like (Prince Purple Rain for example) will be remixed to ATMOS by the best of the best and may even have some artist input. Since the labels own many of these records, paid to get them made, (not the artists) they can do what they want. But its a new world with ATMOS, a 3 dimensional world, and everyone is figuring it out. Its like Dolby gave us this format, Universal, Warner and Apple agreed to support it and the artists as well as us are figuring out what that means. It will mean different things to different people I guess. I hear people complain about it but its tough to justify why we wouldn't want music in 3 dimensions, other than its hard to do on both ends- creation and playback.
I know the Petty Family was very much a part of the ATMOS remix for Wallflowers. It had all the same people involved in his music from a much earlier time so it is consistent with previous purely 2 channel work. If you haven’t heard it, go get a blu ray copy of "Wallflowers and all the rest"-its a total class act effort at ATMOS and shows what the format can do. So is Abbey Road, remixed for ATMOS by Giles Martin, son of the original mixer. Very impressive ATMOS mix. Both of these are state of the art in ATMOS right now and are not gimmicky or tacky.
Brad
