Queen A Night at the Opera DVD-Audio: Scheiner vs. May surround mix

You typed all this?! You are the undisputed hero of this thread.

But wouldn't have this link worked?

http://web.archive.org/web/20020815051436/www.dvdangle.com/reviews/review.php?Id=2097

Here is another one for the first release.

http://web.archive.org/web/20020522122635/http://www.dvdangle.com/dvd_audio/original_ANATO.html


They can be found on a thread on quadraphonicquad.com.

http://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10453&highlight=queen
I wanted to post that link earlier, but felt it would only add to the confusion.

 

Yes, it took me some time...Thanks Wolfram, Iused Webarchive, but it can be flaky at times. But your links work so thanks for that!

 

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showpost.php?p=1527977&postcount=189

Sound&Vision Feb./March 2006
Queen's two-disc A Night At The Opera 30th
Indeed includes a third stab at a multichannel version, Brian May says "some improvements" were made to the last mix (which was done by Baker, May, and Elliot Scheiner); a Hollywood Records rep told ICE that Kris Fredriksson "tweaked throughout." But I was hard-pressed to notice anything other than at times, less dramatic bass-and-drum support in the center channel. And any multichannel Opera will remain merely good until the choral vocals surround you, instead of being relegated mostly to the rear.
The other disc here does provide the best-yet remastering of the stereo album on CD.
But the DVD's extras are underwhelming, with rarely song-specific commentary by May and Roger Taylor (plus tapes of Freddie Mercury and John Deacon) and 10 "new videos" that are just awkward edits of old footage and photos. And a "restored" version of the real "Bohemian Rhapsody" clip is more shimmery than the one on DTS's DVD-Audio disc. It's also the wrong cut. (Check out the dumb flames!)-Ken Richardson

In my opinion I found the 2005 dts version to be less bright, my wife agreed.
Pioneer 563A - Harman Kardon - Infinity

 

No kidding! I have the 2002 disc and it is one of the better sounding 5.1 discs that I own. The 2002 disc is out of print as well.

 

I have the European version of this DVD-Audio any my inlay artwork varies slightly from what is shown at:
http://en.queenvision.com/index.php?content=dvdanato

The variation is found on the right spine (the side along the bubble "Press" button on the Super Jewel Case). My copy does not have the catalog number and the DTS Entertainment logo. Also "QUEEN" is moved more to the left and "A NIGHT AT THE OPERA" is moved more to the right.

 

Another variation? Thanks for mentioning that. Is it possible for you to upload a picture of your version?

 

Here is a scan as requested. Just for reference, the disc matrix is EMI5398309/1.2 and EMI5398309/2.2.

 

Amazing that so many great classic rock albums can't get released in 5.1 but this one has been done 3X!!.

And when will A Day At The Races get this treatment or News Of The World?

 

Could someone who has the U.S. Hollywood issue with light blue spines post a scan of one of the spines? Thanks!

 

Yes please. I still doubt their existence.

 

I believe BoRhap might have been altered too.

 

Well, I still recall seeing a copy in a store years ago. At least I think I did. Also, a couple people here said that their copies have light blue spines. On the other hand, there has been some misunderstanding as to what a spine is.

(Kidding, wolfram. )

I'm a bit surprised that the Queenvision site does not show the blue-spine insert. However, that site does not even explain the different surround mixes. Maybe they aren't aware of them. As some folks here noted, the 2001 disc with the Scheiner mix is so rare, few people know about it. That could even include Queen fans.

 

Just wond'ring aloud. Could this be a promo with the hole punch?

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Queen-Night-At-T...kparmsZalgo=SI&its=I%2BC&itu=UCI&otn=10&ps=63

 

By promo, do you mean the original 2001 disc? It's possible. My 2001 disc has a hole punched through the barcode.

 

Yes, that's what I was wond'ring . For anyone who might be interested.

 

As I got intrigued by this release(s), I did some google-search. You might find something interesting in the following:

http://www.avrev.com/music-disc-reviews/dvd-audio/queen-a-night-at-the-opera.html

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Jun02/articles/queensurround.asp

http://web.archive.org/web/20020607220034/http://www.swissonic.com/news/news1.html

And another snippet from Swiss sonic about the first presentation (December 2001) of Bohemian Rhapsody in 5.1:

Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody 5.1 Surround premiere at 111th AES Convention

Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody 5.1 Surround premiere at 111th AES Convention, 1st December, 2001
Elliot Scheiner to talk about the transfer and remix process using 12 Swissonic converters

The 5.1 remix on DVD-A of Queen's Night of the Opera album, featuring the seminal "Bohemian Rhapsody" and the even more epic "Prophet Song", which has been done by 5.1 Surround specialist Elliot Scheiner (who already has DTS surround mixes of The Eagles Hotel California, Van Morrison's Moondance and The Doobie Brother's Long Train Running under his belt) together with original Queen producer Roy Thomas Baker and Steinberg North America's Rob Hill for Surround specialists DTS hits American stores on Nov 20th. The transfers from the original fragile 24-track master tapes to the digital domain were carried out at London's Abbey Road using Steinberg Nuendo and 6 AD96s by Swissonic's Paul Wiffen and then FedEx'd to Glenn Fry's Hollywood Studio for Elliot and Roy to work their magic on, with 6 DA96s being used there to playback all 24 tracks at the highest fidelity from a custom Nuendo PC system built by Rob. A G4 733mHz machine with RAID array kindly supplied by LaCie had been found to be fast enough at Abbey Road to handle the huge amount of data produced by simultaneously digitizing 24 tracks of 24-bit/96kHz. As a result of seeing these transfers in action, Queen's engineers now plan to use Swissonic converters to transfer the rest of the Queen back catalogue into digital.

US Release date for the 5.1 remix of Night at the Opera has been put back to mid December. However, attendees at the rescheduled 111th AES Convention at New York's Javitz Centre on Saturday 1st December will be able to hear the first public US Surround Sound playbacks of Bohemian Rhapsody and other tracks from the album at a special talk on Surround mixing using the AD96 and DA96 converters by producer Elliot Scheiner, who is also on the recording Academy's Roundtable discussion on the same day. [...]

 

That looks exactly like the one I own. I bought mine the minute it came out (can't remember what store).
I always assumed that it was the Scheiner mix. It does sound different than the later 2005 Brian May mix.

 

I think the earlier reply with pictures of the various version showed a 2002 version with a hole as well, so I wouldn't necessarily use that as a gauge of whether it's the 2001 version.

 

I have the 2001 disc. It looks like the one pictured earlier. Hole in the bar code on the back; Black spine w/ no bar code; all light blue interior background, so the "front" view of the "spine" appears light blue -- with a hole punch in it. Mine also has a J card that slips over the top of the disc -- it seems like just a generic DTS DVD-A card except it has the same bar code as the disc, so it obviously came with the disc originally.

 

http://en.queenvision.com/index.php?content=dvdanato

I have yet another variant (on what appears to be the Brian May 2002 release) - both are sealed (bought in Canada) so I don't want to open them. No bar code on the side panel. The front booklet font (and rear insert font) is also slightly different for the words 'DVD AUDIO DISC' compared to the Second US 2002 release (which I have an open copy of).

 

I didn't read through the thread but I was wondering which is better, the DVD-Audio version or the 30th anniversary cd/dvd dts version?

 

Well, at least with the DVD-Audio, you have the Advanced Resolution (lossless) audio which is unavailable on the 30th Anniversary DVD version.

With respect to the DTS audio tracks, I am not sure if the same mix was used on both discs.

 

I figured as much. I have a buddy who has the DVD-A version of the album and is willing to trade that with me for the 30th anniversary version. I'm gonna take him up on that offer being that the DVD-A is out of print and goes for quite a bit of money already. I can always re-buy the 30th anniversary version being that it's readily available. Thanks.

 

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showpost.php?p=4997146&postcount=53
Like both, own both, but I prefer the 2005 dts version.

 

I just acquired the Parlophone version from a friend of mine who was willing to trade me for the 30th anniversary edition. It does say Scheiner inside.