Mike Mettler

Spatial Audio File
Youth on Mixing The Orb and David Gilmour’s Metallic Spheres in Colour in Atmos
Mike Mettler  |  Sep 29, 2023

When The Orb and David Gilmour came together over a decade ago to produce the two-part, 49-minute ambient soundscape dubbed Metallic Spheres, there almost seemed to be a bit of unfinished business attached to what we were hearing—and now we know why. To take its music to the next level, original Metallic Spheres producer Youth has just recast it in Dolby Atmos as a more concise 40-minute edition duly renamed Metallic Spheres in Colour. Recently, Youth and music editor Mike Mettler got on Zoom to discuss how Metallic Spheres morphed into its current full-bodied Atmos Colour and shape, what notable Orb song seems ready-made for an immersive remix, and what else he’d like to mix in Atmos next. . .

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Music Reviews
Eric Clapton: The Definitive 24 Nights Box Set
Mike Mettler  |  Sep 21, 2023
Performances
Sound
I hesitate using trendy acronyms when writing reviews — but in this case, saying I had a clear-cut case of FOMO when Eric Clapton’s slightly misnamed 24 Nights 2 CD clamshell collection first came out in October 1991 actually might be an understatement. The 15 tracks on that release — five culled from E.C.’s 18-night 1990 Royal Albert Hall residency in London, and the remainder from his 24-night 1991 stretch there — seemed more like a tease. Hence, I resigned myself to being somewhat content at the time. But now, E.C.’s 1990-91 live largesse at “The Hall” has gotten considerably fuller on The Definitive 24 Nights.
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Spatial Audio File
Martin Fry on the Deep Affection He Has for the Dolby Atmos Mix of ABC’s The Lexicon of Love
Mike Mettler  |  Aug 25, 2023

ABC didn’t exactly fit into the expected early-1980s new-wave mold—and that was just fine with the band’s co-founding lead vocalist and chief songwriter, Martin Fry. To that end, ABC’s debut album, June 1982’s The Lexicon of Love, cut a wide compositional swath that deployed a mixture of broadstroke keyboard flourishes, grand orchestral swells, and call-and-response vocal passages—and now, it sounds even fuller in its just-released 40th anniversary Dolby Atmos mix on Blu-ray. During a recent Zoom call with S&V music editor Mike Mettler, Fry discusses producer Trevor Horn’s and ABC’s original intentions for how The Lexicon of Love ended up sounding, why he feels listening to it in Atmos is akin to “climbing inside a crystal kingdom,” and what he likes best about how Steven Wilson mixed it for Atmos playback. . .

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Music Reviews
Remaster Class – Tears for Fear: Songs From The Big Chair
Mike Mettler  |  Aug 15, 2023
Tears For Fears vaulted into the international big leagues with the take-no-prisoners layered-sound approach to their February 1985 sophomore album, Songs From The Big Chair. It was a calculated production leap from the aural cocoon of their more minimalistic, electronic-leaning debut, March 1982’s The Hurting — and it was a move that paid off handsomely with multi-platinum sales and upper-echelon chart domination around the globe.
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Spatial Audio File
The Divine Secrets Behind Mixing Stewart Copeland and Ricky Kej’s Grammy-Winning Best Immersive Audio Album Divine Tides in 360 Reality Audio
Mike Mettler  |  Jul 30, 2023  |  Published: Jul 31, 2023

It’s no surprise that Stewart Copeland and Ricky Kej’s collaborative effort Divine Tides won a Grammy Award in February 2023 for Best Immersive Audio Album for the 360 Reality Audio version of it done by the ace surround-sound mixing team of producer Herbert Waltl and mixer Eric Schilling. Here, Waltl and Schilling discuss how they created that richly expansive 360RA mix, as well as the key differences between stereo mixes and immersive mixes, how to best tap into emotional responses in a spatial audio setting, and how they strive for their mixes to get you to experience hearing certain mix elements both well above and well below your ear height. . .

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Music Reviews
Remaster Class – R.E.M: Out of Time
Mike Mettler  |  Jul 17, 2023
No one could have predicted how a guitar band from Athens, Georgia would turn into the biggest international alt-rock darlings of the 1990s — and yet, that’s exactly what R.E.M. did. The lo-fi genius of their eternally mumbly/jangly first single, “Radio Free Europe” essentially reset the song-arrangement table for what became known as college rock. Year by year, R.E.M. planted more than enough sonic seeds about where the latest crop of DIY U.S. bands was heading on each of their ensuing mid-1980s LP releases on the indie I.R.S. Records label until they jumped to the majors with their November 1988 effort on Warner Bros., Green. Though Green’s expansive sound palette took full advantage of a much-bigger recording budget, R.E.M.’s world domination vision instead came to fruition on their more refined, more stripped-down second Warner Bros. release, the unequivocal worldwide smash hit, March 1991’s Out of Time.
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Music and Soundtrack Features
High Fidelity First Class
Mike Mettler  |  Jul 05, 2023
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

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 Reviews
Intrique — Steven Wilson Presents: Progressive Sounds in UK Alternative Music 1979-89
Mike Mettler  |  Jun 09, 2023
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 Reviews
Remaster Class – The Doobie Brothers: The Captain and Me
Mike Mettler  |  May 15, 2023
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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