Hi Folks,
I am a little bit confused with the new release Don´t think. I bought the DVD+CD. Saw the film 3times now and it is excellent in picture and audio.
But today I put the CD on my iPOD and listened to it over and over. I can not loose the feeling that it is not stereo audio ! First I thought there was something wrong with my iPOD or the headphones. So I listened to it on other CD players and speakers, used a second headphone. Finally I sampled a few tracks just to see the wave file and listen to the channels seperatly.

It is definitely not true stereo. I am really confused and listened to older live recordings of the brothers, but never found such a bad quality.
I am true fan of their music and I have every release, so I don´t want to blame anybody. But maybe it is possible that the audio on the CD is damaged and other buyers have the same problem ?

Maybe someone can help? Maybe someone forwards this matter to Tom and Ed and they have a listen to the CD.
Can be a production problem of the CD itself.
Thanx for any reply.
Ralf from Germany

The audio is incredible quality, but you do have a bit of a point there. I didn't believe you at first, but I compared the footage of Saturate / Believe on Don't Think to the footage from BBC Proms in Camden, 2007, and there are a truckload of stereo effects going on in that recording that aren't present at all in Don't Think. Going back to DT... the crowd is definitely in stereo, I can hear things in the left and right, however, the actual music footage seems to be in mono (mostly, there are some unique sounds going on in the fringes with panning).

There's a technique, mainly used to remove center panned vocals in songs, that works by reversing the polarity of one of the channels and placing it over the other. This cancels out anything present in both channels, i.e. anything that's mono, and isolates anything in stereo. I did this to Saturate, and it almost perfectly isolated the crowd noise. Here's a short sample of it (shouldn't qualify as a leak, tine music is hardly there):
http://www.mediafire...gu5581ezcqr7dtb

So, yes. The music on the CD seems to be very much center-panned. It definitely isn't mono, but the only audio in stereo is the crowd noise and some symetrical ambiance from the music. It's not a problem with the pressing / production, I suppose it's just how the The Chemical Brothers chose to present the recording.

I think it sounds perfect no matter what, though I wonder about the 7.1 thing...

I haven't listened to the CD yet (but now I am curious as to the sound).

But I have watched the DVD twice now. Once in PCM and again with the 7.1 option.

I do not have 7.1. My home theater is wired for 5.1 only

The difference between PCM and what I heard out of my 5.1 set up was quite significant. PCM sounded great of course but felt a bit.... I don't know. It felt a bit flat to me. I think this might have been because what I was seeing on screen was so immersive but audio wise, everything was happening up front and center,

5.1 on the other hand rocked my socks, for sure it was the more ideal viewing/listening choice of the 2. I think my head might explode if I had the ability to unleash this beast in all its 7.1 glory in my living room. Someday, someday.

Anyway, maybe what's heard on the CD is the result of what happens when you go from 7.1 to stereo. But I really don't know much about these things.

I've listened the CD. Compared with Alive 2007 of Daft Punk, Don't Think have a very bad audio.

I watched the dvd last night. I don't have a 7.1 option on the dvd only PCM 2.0 en dolby digital 5.1.
What I did experience is that the sound is sometimes turned down and then cranked up again, just like the Alive 2007 cd. Sometimes it's done for the effect of the music but sometimes it sounds like the volume is turned down cause it's just too loud.

I've been hearing bits of the cd in my car and it rocks! I haven't got my original yet (yes i downloaded this since I couldn't wait - 256kbps) - so I haven't heard the whole thing through but whatever I've heard just rocks!
Maybe it's because of years of hearing the live bootlegs, finally something live at this quality is just amazing!

Its certainly higher quality than the bootlegs we've been listening to but not as much bass as I hoped compared to the sydney bootleg recording.

It sounds like a HQ bootleg to me, nothing more. The audio quality is quite poor, I mean I was expecting something better since the sound has been recorded from the mixing desk. Plus the way the audio has been mixed is quite weird. I'd say the cd doesn't really describe what you hear when you are experiencing the brothers live.

I haven't heard the CD yet, but maybe it just feels different to a live expirience because it is played via home entertainment speakers and not via a huge PA system?

So, the Brothers have stalled for years in releasing a live CD, worried about losing the presentation. They finally agree and then the final product is poorly mixed???

What a bad blow for Tom and Ed.

-----

Mine should arrive in the next day or two. I'm still excited despite this news.

i don't think so. i think the audio rocks. i don't have a very high audio system - an expensive hi-fi and it sounds amazing on it. maybe u guys are spoilt for 7.1 and i've got dumbed down the last few years hearing mp3s. will make a verdict when i hear the full audio back to back on receiving my official cd on April 3rd.
Right now I can't spinning the audio - love love it.

If you remember, the Further DVD quality was piss poor in places too.

Im going to have to (respectfully) disagree with a lot of the stuff being criticized here. I concur the the sound has very subtle stereo, but it's a live show mind you and stereo doesn't make sense in a live setting on a PA being played at 11. The audience wont notice if a sound is slightly panned like an album and they weren't using ping-pong delays and hard panning, which sounds odd in an audience. You can hear stereo in the audience but its not too extreme. I think the CD sounds great and not like a bootleg, unless you're listening to it on those crappy iPod headphones which are only good at picking up mid and upper frequencies, which most HQ bootlegs get somewhat right. The quality is much better than other bootlegs IMHO for these reasons:
1. It's not over compressed like the radio rips. When they broadcast recordings in the radio, the station compresses it so that you can hear a pin drop even if you're listening to it with a screaming baby in the room. To a lot of people over compression sounds good, but also compromises the recording character (see bullet 5). This also means you should play the CD louder and on good headphones or speakers. The benefit to it not being too compressed is it doesn't sound flat. Listen to the Santiago bootleg, it sounds funny for this reason. The drums in the live show should stand out which they don't when the levels are messed up via compression.
2. There is a good balance of audience noise. This isn't a major accomplishment, but the sound of the audience isn't consistent nor does it sound forced (ie it's super loud cheering and suddenly sounds like the entire audience stops at once), good fading.
3. EQ is balanced. There isn't hissing if high frequencies like the Santiago recording or a lot of the bootlegs. The bass is balanced so that the kick on Swoon doesn't sound odd (it seems to have a very narrow higher low frequency sound that makes it really stick out but causes it to sound too boomy on some recordings like the Hollywood Bowl one). The thing that most audience recordings fail to get is a balanced eq so that the bass and high frequencies sound good on all songs, not so Saturate sounds good but Believe sounds poor. It's consistent.
4. Not too much reverb! Listen to the Glastonbury 2011 recording, now listen now listen to the same song on Don't Think. The reason the Glastonbury set sounds more stereo is there is a fuck-ton of reverb because the recording mixes too much of the outside/PA sound into the mix. It also weakens the sound a makes it a bit muddy and has a similar effect to messing with the dynamics.
5. Dynamic are awesome. This is the other side of it not being over compressed, is things stick out better. Do an A/B comparison of Don't Think and another recording of the same song. The broadcast ones (which I was comparing) lack punch. When they do have punch, there's too much reverb and it sounds odd/more flat. The drums on the live album have really really good attack and are punch, which is essential  for capturing the essence of their live shows. I don't think any other recording makes the live set sounds this good across all songs.

These are all somewhat subtle things, but nevertheless make a notable difference when combined and cannot be appreciated unless you listen to it on decent speakers at a good level.

linux, on 29 March 2012 - 9:52 AM, said:

true story

iguanapunk, on 29 March 2012 - 8:45 PM, said:

i never understand why they didn't released it in hd

I blasted the crap out of the cd in my car to and from work today (and on my lunch break). The soundsysem in my econobox-on-wheels is stock stereo, nothing special. The audio sounds fine to me, even on my not-so-awesome car stereo. There's no weird, startling drops in levels that I noticed. Then again I contend with a lot of interfering noise (engine, road, other traffic especially if I have the windows down.) I will listen on decent headphones when I get some alone time.

I've listened on headphones. No weird drops. No problems. It sounds like a fully mastered Chemical Brothers album, but live.

Better then Alive 2007, I think, the panning on Alive was weird to me (the percussion was panned left).

Thank God, I was doubting my ears after all these years. I've been hearing the audio on my old Sony workhorse and in my car system and it sounds fabulous both the places. I hardly get time to hear it being weekdays but that 1 spin at the end of the day.. I look forward to it all day -- never been happier having a live show at this quality before! N I still haven't seen the film! I cannot wait.
Thank you Tom n Ed again. (I am actually way happier than I was on Further's release).

My only problem with the cd is that to fit the show on they had to edit a bit out. Maybe the best bit. therefore I will be refering to the dvd. Remembing that this is as much Adam Smith's baby as it is the chemical brothers my guess is that they want us to favor the dvd over the cd.

Mine arrived yesterday while i was at work. I arrived home to find that my wife was going out and would not be back till later. Got the kids to bed sharp. Sank some beer and got stuck into my 420 that arrived an hour pervious. lights down, volume up. OOFFFTTT.

I had to laugh. Its so freaking good.

People who think this mix has no bass are crazy. I'm blasting the CD on my 25000 watt 12 yr old Sony hifi - every window n door in my house is buzzzzzzzzzzzing!!! WHOAAAAAA :-)

I watched the DVD yesterday when I got it and it gave me goosebumps JUST LIKE I HAD GOTTEN IN THE THEATRE! the DVD is INCREDIBLE!!

The audio CD is great as well, excellent quality! I AM STILL WAITING FOR THE ALBUM VERSION OF SUPERFLASH THOUGH, NOT A LIVE VERSION! hahahaha

but I hope everyone is enjoying the material as much as I am. The book was a great touch too (I got the limited edition book+dvd+cd).

I can't wait until they're back in the states!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Tom and Ed - THANK YOU FOR YOUR INCREDIBLE WORK THROUGHOUT THE YEARS. Your music is the soundtrack to my life on a daily basis and without out, I don't think I would be where I am today.

Cheers from Times Square, NYC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!