The heart beats around us, coins fall from above, voices surround us. We saw a preview the new spatial audio mix from The Dark Side of the Moon. The effects are sublime. They rain down on us from all directions, they attack us from the sides, they insert us from the front and leave us (a sublime) no escape. Clare Torry’s lengthy vocal solo then in The Great Gig in the Sky it’s grand, clear and engaging.
What is spatial audio?
But what is meant by spatial audio? Spaziale doesn’t mean “great” in this case, but it’s a technology you can use to simulate a three-dimensional audio environment via headphones or a single speaker (if there are multiple speakers inside). So not only left and right channel as in stereo audio, but also high and low.
New emotions for Pink Floyd
To mark the 50th anniversary of this music milestone (The Dark Side of the Moon was released on March 1, 1973), Warner commissioned a new “spatial” mix, specifically in Dolby Atmos.
Thus was born the material recorded between 1972 and 1973 at Emi Studios in London, made famous by the Beatles (later Abbey Road Studios). offer new emotions even for those who have put down that pen or pressed that game non-stop for the last half century. Time is a clock rain flooding the ears, The Great Gig in the Sky takes us to seventh heaven, Money’s cash registers seem to be standing next to us and the coins at the ready. And then there are the echoes and reverbs that left an indelible mark on these ten tracks. Instruments and voices, however, are less spectacular: Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Richard Wright and Nick Mason and their fellow adventurers come across as a bit soft, not exactly crystal clear.
The miracle box
It must be said that we heard it in a cinema (the Astra dell’Anteo with its 38 speakers) and it will be interesting to see how the album sounds at home or on the go. For the physical copy we have to Wait for Friday March 24th when the new “Space” mix will be available Warner 50th Anniversary Maxi Box Set from The Dark Side of The Moon, a surprise cover for audiophiles who for 300 euros really has it all, two CDs of James Guthrie’s 2023 Remaster and Live at Wembley Empire Pool from 1974, two LPs, one Audio DVD and two Blu-Ray Audio. And here, in addition to the 24-bit/96kHz surround and stereo mixes and the Dts-Hd master audio, we also find the Dolby Atmos mix.
The first two tracks are already being streamed
Then, if we want, we can digitally open the prism designed by George Hardie. Also from Friday 24 Apple Music however, will offer the disc in spatial audio to its subscribers (equipped with Dolby Atmos-compatible headphones or speakers). you can already listen to the new version on the platform from The great gig in the sky and Breathe. Knowing if we’re playing the spatial mix is easy: the words “Dolby Atmos” appear under the song’s name.
The spatial audio of the 70s
Coming back to The Dark Side of the Moon, this isn’t the first “spatial” treatment the record has undergone. In addition to musical experimenters, Pink Floyd were sound researchers, a group who looked at their engravings with obsessive attention (Today many still use their vinyls for audio testing of systems) and it was open to new avenues. Prior to the album’s release, the band equipped themselves with a 28-channel mixer with four quadraphonic outputs, a technology that uses four channels (and as many speakers) placed around the listener to flood them with sound encase. A spatial audio ante litteram, so to speak. and not by accident Alan Parsons, the legendary Pink Floyd producer, undertook a new quadraphonic mix, released in the same year 1973, designed precisely to become an emblematic example of the possibilities of this technology. The band never approved the work and stuff we have to wait until 2003 for an official quadraphonic version. It was released on Super Audio CD for the 30th anniversary of The Dark Side of the Moon but signed by James Guthrie, producer of The Wall. One final gem, did you know you can listen to The Dark Side of the Moon by dubbing it with the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz? Pink Floyd have always opposed this practice but it works, try it.