Tomita The Planets 2003

My copy of Planets 2003 on DVD-A arrived today - or rather I had the honour
of going to the local sorting office to pay ~£5 duty to Her Majesty's
Customs & Excise and £4 to Royal Mail (for the dubious service of collecting
aforementioned ~£5) before they would hand over the amazon.co.jp parcel.

It was well worth the wait. Ever since I ordered this DVD-A I wasn't exactly
sure it would play on my fairly cheap combined DVD player/home cinema
system, but I needn't have worried. The album far exceeds my expectations.
The sound is superb, and it is a sheer delight to hear wing'd Mercury
flitting ... err, mercurially around the four corners of my living room.

Now I'm looking forward to the release at the end of May of the re-recorded
Tubular Bells, which will include a DVD-A mix of extracts of the piece.

-Paul

 

paul.mundy at ntlworld.com writes:

> My copy of Planets 2003 on DVD-A arrived today -

I keep meaning to write the list about this. Has anyone noticed a couple of
things missing from the mix on this disc? On my system, I seem to be missing
one of the "singing" voices in the left rear channel. It's only missing for
part of the "space voice" communications. I think the same sound is also
missing later in the disc as well.

Also at the beginning of the disc is a low bass note/drone that's mixed in
way too loud (IMO). I just about rattled my fillings out with that one.

Has anyone noticed the same thing?

Thanks,
Andrew

 

In a message dated 5/14/03 8:21:01 PM Central Daylight Time, ixqy at aol.com
writes:

> It's only missing for
> part of the "space voice" communications. I think the same sound is also
> missing later in the disc as well.

Forgot to mention...I was referring to the intro part of "Mars", and the
missing voice is only on the Dolby Digital mix (DVD-a seems fine). It's the
lower pitched vocal harmony.

Another part that is missing is the "mouth harp" sound in "Jupiter". As it
pans around the room, the front left speaker is missing. The same thing
happens with the (very imposing) morse code sound as it pans around. It too
disappears in my front left channel.

Another thing is that I hear some pops and ticks throught the disc while
playing the DVD-a tracks. I think it was also there on the Dolby Digital mix.

Andrew

 

> From: ixqy at aol.com [mailto:ixqy at aol.com]
>
> Forgot to mention...I was referring to the intro part of
> "Mars", and the
> missing voice is only on the Dolby Digital mix (DVD-a seems
> fine). It's the
> lower pitched vocal harmony.
>
> Another part that is missing is the "mouth harp" sound in
> "Jupiter". As it
> pans around the room, the front left speaker is missing. The
> same thing
> happens with the (very imposing) morse code sound as it pans
> around. It too
> disappears in my front left channel.
>
> Another thing is that I hear some pops and ticks throught
> the disc while
> playing the DVD-a tracks. I think it was also there on the
> Dolby Digital mix.

Yes I hear some of the pops and ticks too. They're 'acceptable'
I think although I would rather hear it without them.
I definitely hear stuff that isn't on the regular CD as well,
like the female voice on Venus and quite a few others sounds
as well. Thank god they are all from the original (I think)
period and not played on top with newer synths.
Also with some of the typical Tomita lead sounds (vibrato ahs and
ohs) you hear a slight distortion.
The disc is not perfect but I like it very much anyway and have
listened to it quite a few times now.

Marcel
http://home.wanadoo.nl/mengels
mengels at wanadoo.nl

 

In a message dated 5/15/03 1:20:08 PM Central Daylight Time,
mengels at wanadoo.nl writes:

> Yes I hear some of the pops and ticks too. They're 'acceptable'
> I think although I would rather hear it without them.
> I definitely hear stuff that isn't on the regular CD as well,
> like the female voice on Venus and quite a few others sounds
> as well. Thank god they are all from the original (I think)
> period and not played on top with newer synths.
> Also with some of the typical Tomita lead sounds (vibrato ahs and
> ohs) you hear a slight distortion.
> The disc is not perfect but I like it very much anyway and have
> listened to it quite a few times now.


Hi Marcel,
Did you happen to notice the missing vocal as well in the Dolby Digital Mars
track?

I agree that even with these somewhat minor flaws the disc is still a great
one. I would replace mine in a heartbeat if it ever got lost.

Regarding some of the newly added parts, there is a shimmering/descending
type of sound in the middle part of Jupiter that was also added. It's right
where the vocals come back into the mix. To me it sounds like a sound from
Bermuda Triangle (?).

Andrew