Mike Mettler

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Music and Soundtrack Features
High Fidelity First Class
Mike Mettler  |  Jul 05, 2023  |  5 comments
Fifty years on, Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon remains one of the most important recordings of the rock era. Here’s why it will continue to endure, long after we’ve all gone on to join the great gig in the sky.
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Spatial Audio File
Giles Martin on Mixing The Beach Boys’ Seminal Pet Sounds in Atmos
Mike Mettler  |  Jun 30, 2023  |  0 comments

After scoring big last year with his stellar Atmos mix of The Beatles’ seminal August 1966 album Revolver, producer Giles Martin was more recently tasked with giving the Atmos treatment to The Beach Boys’ benchmark May 1966 release, Pet Sounds. Martin got on Zoom with music editor Mike Mettler from across the Pond to discuss how he made sure his Pet Sounds Atmos mix stayed true to the music’s “real” intent, what his approach to dealing with all those infamous Beach Boys vocal stacks entailed, and how he made sure “God Only Knows” comes across as being nothing short of heavenly in its Atmos incarnation. Read on to glean all the immersive details accordingly. . .

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Music Disc Reviews
Intrique — Steven Wilson Presents: Progressive Sounds in UK Alternative Music 1979-89
Mike Mettler  |  Jun 09, 2023  |  0 comments
Performances
Sound
Steven Wilson has long been a man with a mission to push musical boundaries and stretch the limits of our listening expectations with his own music. He also has a passion for championing releases from other artists who have been underexposed or overlooked entirely, so is it really any wonder Wilson is behind a new and quite, well, intriguing import-only box set compilation Intrigue — Steven Wilson Presents: Progressive Sounds in UK Alternative Music 1979-89? All told, Intrigue presents 58 tracks spread across 5-plus listening hours on a 4CD set from Edsel Records.
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Music Disc Reviews
Remaster Class – The Doobie Brothers: The Captain and Me
Mike Mettler  |  May 15, 2023  |  0 comments
The Doobie Brothers are the consummate 1970s band. Their Northern California-bred sound consists of a harmonious amalgamation of rock, R&B, soul, and blues — a veritable melting-pot musical blend that continues to galvanize audiences the world over five-plus decades later, especially given The Doobies are currently on the road all summer long in continuation of their pandemically delayed 50th anniversary tour.
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Spatial Audio File
New World Man: Richard Chycki on Mixing Rush’s Signals in Atmos
Mike Mettler  |  Apr 28, 2023  |  1 comments

Rush’s September 1982 album Signals celebrates the release of its 40th anniversary Super Deluxe Edition today, April 28, 2023—and it’s a spatially inclined box set that contains a stunning new Atmos mix of the core album by longtime Rush confidante and noted producer/engineer Richard Chycki on Blu-ray. In a recent Zoom interview, Chycki and music editor Mike Mettler discuss the esteemed producer’s overall Atmos mixing M.O. for Signals, the one specific request from Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson that was honored in “Subdivisions,” and why “Countdown” truly lifts off into the stratosphere in Atmos. Read on to decipher all the fine immersive signals accordingly. . .

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Music Disc Reviews
Bob Dylan: Fragments – Time Out of Mind Sessions Deluxe Edition Box Set
Mike Mettler  |  Apr 04, 2023  |  Published: Apr 05, 2023  |  0 comments
Performances
Sound
Bob Dylan hit a bit of a rough patch as the freewheelin’ 1980s gave way to the dour 1990s. Dylan ended the MTV decade on a high note with September 1989’s Oh Mercy—a visceral, smoky triumph produced by Daniel Lanois—but he stumbled out of the new-decade gate with the half-hearted mish-mosh sheen of September 1990’s Under the Red Sky.
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Spatial Audio File
State of Love and Trust: Josh Evans on Mixing Pearl Jam in Atmos
Mike Mettler  |  Mar 31, 2023  |  0 comments

Producer/engineer Josh Evans has been tasked with bringing Pearl Jam’s storied catalog into the Atmos universe, and he’s already spearheaded a number of great immersive mixes for various catalog entries of theirs ranging from the band’s explosive 1991 debut Ten to the broader strokes of 2020’s Gigaton. Recently, Evans got on Zoom with music editor Mike Mettler from the friendly confines of his studio HQ in Seattle to discuss why Pearl Jam trusts his Atmos instincts, the rigorous multitrack tape-to-digital transfer process he follows, and why it’s important to sometimes just let the music breathe. Read on to immerse yourself accordingly. . .

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Music Disc Reviews
Remaster Class - XTC: Nonsuch
Mike Mettler  |  Mar 27, 2023  |  4 comments
Any Kind of Love Is Alright

XTC was indeed riding high following the both-sides-of-the-Pond success of February 1989’s psychedelically fulfilling Oranges & Lemons, but far be it from Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding, and David Gregory to even think of doing the same thing twice.

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Music Disc Reviews
John Cougar Mellencamp: Scarecrow – Super Deluxe Edition Box Set
Mike Mettler  |  Mar 13, 2023  |  0 comments
Performances
Sound
John Mellencamp was making waves. Unfortunately saddled with the stage name “John Cougar” when he came onto the scene in the late-1970s, once he began climbing the singles and sales charts, he asserted his artistic identity much more forcefully by crediting his hit October 1983 LP Uh-Huh to John Cougar Mellencamp. He did so again on his full-artistic breakthrough album, August 1985’s Scarecrow, before dropping the Cougar moniker entirely when the ’90s rolled around.
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Spatial Audio File
Joe Satriani on the Spacious New Atmos Mix of His Career-Defining 1987 Album, Surfing With the Alien
Mike Mettler  |  Feb 24, 2023  |  1 comments

Guitar maestro Joe Satriani has been making strange beautiful music for well over four decades and counting. Given his penchant for exploring the very concept of space itself and all of its dimensions, it should come as no surprise that Satch has wholly embraced the concept of having his music mixed in Dolby Atmos. Recently, Satriani and I got on Zoom together to discuss just how cosmically cool his benchmark October 1987 instrumental album Surfing With the Alien sounds in Atmos, which specific track benefits the most from its Atmos mix, and what earlier surround mix from his storied catalog he considers to be “the most beautiful thing ever.” Read on to discover all the Satch-in-Atmos answers that await. . .

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