The Planets 2003

Just listened to The Planets 2003 in DVD-Audio mode for the first time, which means
4.1 channels of uncompressed, fully-quality audio. So detailed and bright (though not
harsh) sounding that i picked up on details I didn't even get the first time around -
i.e. in lower quality DVD-Video, Dolby Digital mode!

If you get the chance, listen to this recording the way it was meant to be heard.
Despite my relatively cheap surround sound speaker/amp set up it must be pretty
close to the way that Tomita himself heard it during mixing. To me, that fact alone
makes it worth supporting surround sound formats.

Incidentally, the disc player I have is the Pioneer DVD-656A, which I paid less than
US$200 for and which plays a wide variety of discs, including CD, CD-R, DVD-Video,
DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD (aka SACD - current celebrated release: Dark Side Of
The Moon by Pink Floyd, just superb in six channels of 96KHz, 24-bit sound, and one
of Tomita's favourite recordings apparently!)

Ben

 

Thanks Ben,
You just gave the answer to my "what to listen to tonight" question.

BTW, did you happen to notice any missing parts of the mix in the hi
res mode?

Andrew

--- In isaotomita at yahoogroups.com, "Ben Ward" <baward at b...> wrote:
> Just listened to The Planets 2003 in DVD-Audio mode for the first
time, which means
> 4.1 channels of uncompressed, fully-quality audio. So detailed and
bright (though not
> harsh) sounding that i picked up on details I didn't even get the
first time around -
> i.e. in lower quality DVD-Video, Dolby Digital mode!
>
> If you get the chance, listen to this recording the way it was meant
to be heard.
> Despite my relatively cheap surround sound speaker/amp set up it
must be pretty
> close to the way that Tomita himself heard it during mixing. To me,
that fact alone
> makes it worth supporting surround sound formats.
>
> Incidentally, the disc player I have is the Pioneer DVD-656A, which
I paid less than
> US$200 for and which plays a wide variety of discs, including CD,
CD-R, DVD-Video,
> DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD (aka SACD - current celebrated release:
Dark Side Of
> The Moon by Pink Floyd, just superb in six channels of 96KHz, 24-bit
sound, and one
> of Tomita's favourite recordings apparently!)
>
> Ben

 

"synthasaurus"wrote:

> BTW, did you happen to notice any missing parts of the mix in the
hi res mode?

Ah.. I just checked the archives, and it was the Dolby Digital track
that had the missing parts. I did hear some pops and ticks in the hi
rez track though:

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/isaotomita/message/520

Andrew
PS So Yahoo Groups is now "Launch Groups"?

 

Hi Andrew,

Uh, kind of hard to tell when something is not there! The 2003
version is definitely different though.

Ben

--- In isaotomita at yahoogroups.com, "synthasaurus" <ixqy at a...> wrote:
>
> Thanks Ben,
> You just gave the answer to my "what to listen to tonight"
question.
>
> BTW, did you happen to notice any missing parts of the mix in the
hi
> res mode?
>
> Andrew
>
> --- In isaotomita at yahoogroups.com, "Ben Ward" <baward at b...> wrote:
> > Just listened to The Planets 2003 in DVD-Audio mode for the first
> time, which means
> > 4.1 channels of uncompressed, fully-quality audio. So detailed and
> bright (though not
> > harsh) sounding that i picked up on details I didn't even get the
> first time around -
> > i.e. in lower quality DVD-Video, Dolby Digital mode!
> >
> > If you get the chance, listen to this recording the way it was
meant
> to be heard.
> > Despite my relatively cheap surround sound speaker/amp set up it
> must be pretty
> > close to the way that Tomita himself heard it during mixing. To
me,
> that fact alone
> > makes it worth supporting surround sound formats.
> >
> > Incidentally, the disc player I have is the Pioneer DVD-656A,
which
> I paid less than
> > US$200 for and which plays a wide variety of discs, including CD,
> CD-R, DVD-Video,
> > DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD (aka SACD - current celebrated
release:
> Dark Side Of
> > The Moon by Pink Floyd, just superb in six channels of 96KHz, 24-
bit
> sound, and one
> > of Tomita's favourite recordings apparently!)
> >
> > Ben

 

Hello!

I know the Tomita - Planets very well, but not the Planets-2003. What
is the difference musicalwise? I don't like Tomita's works after 1984 on.
This Planets contains new versions of the Holst suite? Or remixed of the
original 1976 release? For me, who don't like his later works, it's worth
having this album? Thank you very much: Tibor

 

Hi,
In a nutshell (and in my humble opinion), the Planets DVD-Audio disc is
worth buying, AND investing in a surround sound setup just to hear it as it was
intended (surround!). Of course, you have to be a Tomita fan though to make it
worth your while. ;-)

You can listen to the Dolby Digital version on any DVD-Video surround sound
system (the same type of system that is used to watch movies in surround). If
you want the "full effect" of the high resolution 5.1 surround tracks, you'll
need a DVD-Audio player. I think it was Ben that pointed out one for ~$200.

To answer the other question, yes, it's the same Tomita Planets that was
released in the 1970's. It's just remixed for 4.1 channel surround, and the
increase in the sound quality of the high resolution of DVD-Audio is stunning.

If you check this mailing list's archives at Yahoogroups, there is a quite a
bit of talk about this disc and how to order it from Japan. Now all we need
is for them the release Pictures at an Exhibition, Firebird, etc..

Andrew Sanchez



In a message dated 2/12/04 3:43:44 PM Central Standard Time,
supersurrexit at freemail.hu writes:

> I know the Tomita - Planets very well, but not the Planets-2003. What
> is the difference musicalwise? I don't like Tomita's works after 1984 on.
> This Planets contains new versions of the Holst suite? Or remixed of the
> original 1976 release? For me, who don't like his later works, it's worth
> having this album? Thank you very much: Tibor

 

A Tonal Diktatur wrote:
>
> Hello!
>
> I know the Tomita - Planets very well, but not the Planets-2003. What
> is the difference musicalwise? I don't like Tomita's works after 1984 on.
> This Planets contains new versions of the Holst suite? Or remixed of the
> original 1976 release? For me, who don't like his later works, it's worth
> having this album? Thank you very much: Tibor

Tomita made a revised version that sounds nearly the same - but it's in
real 4.1 channel surround mixed himself. He's using the same main sounds
and the same arrangements but details have been added and reworked for
the change in format. You get 2 versions of the same thing on the disc,
You get the album in DVD-Audio format and as standard DVD video with
dolby encoded 4.1 tracks like a movie (Movies are usually 5.1 with the
fifth channel for the screen centered sound like onscreen dialog). The
disc is region 2 NTSC and the video is just a menu of tracks with a
hubble telescope picture. There is no moving video, it's just an audio release.

I tried to buy it from www.cdjapan.co.jp but I got an e-mail back that
it was sold out. I then ordered it from www.amazon.co.jp. They delivered
it in a month (got it mid June last year). So that was like a 3 business
week backorder and a typical couple day EMS travel time. Be aware that
since it's region 2 NTSC and has DVD audio content your own DVD player
may not play it.

It's very enjoyable (provided you manage to play it, it took me a
while). It's the sounds and arrangements you are familar with, but clear
and doing things on all 4 speakers that I suspect Tomita always wanted
to do and most importantly he did it himself (not farmed out to someone
else to make decisions about).





Interesting in multichannel comparison. The U.S. label Matador released
an item billed as "Five Point One by Cornelius + PM by Humans". I was
pleasantly surprised by my local CD shop's price of US$14. The release
contains "Five Pint One" where Cornelius (who writes songs combining
electronica, guitar pop and Brian Wilson influences) took his CD album
"Point" and remixed it in DTS 5.1 with a video for each song. And then
you get "PM" which most likely stands for "Point Mixes" which are the
results of a remix contest. Probably for legal reasons the cover is
stickered that it's a CD or remixes with a *free* DVD of videos (rather
than no explanation or the other way around). You also get the original
stereo mix (2.0) and a headphone "3D" mix (but no dolby 5.1). I haven't
bothered to check the region encoding since it was a U.S. release and
thats where I am.

Finally I should mention a new no region NTSC Stereo DVD, Susumu
Hirasawa's "Limbo-54". It's an Ineractive Live Show which means the
audience can decide details of the content and plot though, for the DVD,
you just watch it. The plot involving science and mythology is very
elaborate. The disc contains English subtitles that yours truly helped write.

http://www.s-hirasawa.com/hirasawa/e/index.htm
http://www.s-hirasawa.com/teslakite/e/index_dvd.htm



nick
http://www.artskool.biz/jem/ndkent/