Santana's Supernatural DVD comments. (1 Viewer)

[ken thompson]

This would have been one fantastic concert to see live. The DVD transfers a great image but the audio, while I've heard worse, was not that impressive. Did I get a bum disc or do ya'll feel the same way? Both the 5.1 and DTS versions seem to collapse into the center channel too much.

 

[John GB]

I thought the DTS track was superb! It seems there are two kinds of mixes out there, the ones that place you in the front row and the ones that place you on stage. I prefer the front row. Nothing worse than horns and background vocals coming from the surrounds.
This is basically my beef with Steely Dan's "Two Against Nature" and James Taylor's "Live at the Beacon Theater". Great performances with really clean sound, but the mixes place you on stage somewhere. For concert footage, surrounds should be used for ambience. They should make you feel the size of the hall and place you "in" the audience during applause.
As for Santana, I didn't notice any "collapsing into center" as you say you heard.
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"Hey now, all you sinners...turn your lights on..."
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[Ken_McAlinden]

This is basically my beef with Steely Dan's "Two Against Nature" and James Taylor's "Live at the Beacon Theater".

The James Taylor Live at the Beacon Theater 5.1 mix has very little going on in the surrounds apart from fairly natural sounding ambience. That being said, the 2.0 stereo 24 bit linear PCM track is still superior to the 5.1, IMHO anyway.
Regards,
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Ken McAlinden
Livonia, MI USA

 

[John GB]

Live at the Beacon Theater 5.1 mix has very little going on in the surrounds apart from fairly natural sounding ambience

It depends on the track. Some songs clearly have background vocals coming from the surrounds. It's my only beef with the 5.1 track.
Do you listen to the PCM track in Stereo, DPL or some other soundfield processing?
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[Ken_McAlinden]

Glorious 2.0 stereo with no surround processing.
Regards,
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Ken McAlinden
Livonia, MI USA