It’s like listening to a kaleidoscope.
Anyone following Steven Wilson’s career, either via his work with Porcupine Tree or solo, has at least a tertiary understanding of his work as a remixer. He has done remixes of back catalogs for absolute legends like King Crimson, YES, XTC, ELP, and Jethro Tull, not to mention one-offs of bands like Black Sabbath, Opeth, Caravan, Chicago; the list goes on. He has spoken in interviews stressing the difference between a remix and a remaster and how much more work goes into remixing. Surround sound is nothing exactly new in this day and age. Still, technology has advanced over the years since 5.1 gave way to 7.1, which gave way to Dolby Atmos – the current standard for theatrical surround sound – allowing for all sorts of experimentation as home sound systems have been catching up.
So how does Steven Wilson fit into all this, you might ask? Aside from his pioneering advancement of the aforementioned surround remixes, he has spent some time working with audio company L-Acoustics, one of the standards for large concert sound setups, utilizing their spatial audio mixing software L-ISA (pronounced el~ee~za) to record an entire solo album called The Harmony Codex.
While the album is slated for release somewhere in the Autumn of this year, Wilson and L-Acoustics have held special immersive listening events at their studio in London and Westlake Village (Los Angeles). Luckily, I was invited to experience the LA album listening event, which was limited to about 30 people per event. I was told by one of the L-Acoustics reps that over 10,000 people tried to RSVP between London and LA and had to cull down the list to 100 per event in London and only 30 per event in LA, which means that as of my writing, roughly 260 people have experienced The Harmony Codex in it’s intended listening format of 18.2.1 Spatial Audio Mix.
Now, I am the last person to call myself an audiophile, but I have a pretty good grasp of differences in audio clarity and spatial mixing. That said, The Harmony Codex spatial mix was one of the most incredible experiences I have ever had the pleasure of being a part of. In the listening studio, we sat in some ultra comfy soft chairs where we were greeted with a short message from Steven Wilson about the album, the mix, and his use of L-ISA. Lying back in the chairs we then proceeded to listen to the album from start to finish in darkness.
The album is like his master thesis on “The Art of the Album,” designed beautifully and meticulously to take the listener not only on a journey through Wilson’s artistic sensibilities but to create an entirely new way of listening to music. The overall stylistic theme continues to explore his experimentation with ambient electronic soundscapes while also incorporating his history of progressive rock and roll songwriting. It features a lot of incredible vocal expressions mixed into the overall percussion structure. By the time the event concluded, most of us were simply dazed by the whole experience. It was as though we were listening to a kaleidoscope, which is already kind of hard to imagine if you haven’t done it, but I have no other idea how to explain it.
I’m not sure what it would take to install a home audio space to have this experience. Still, perhaps if it takes off –I truly hope it does– we will see a new kind of business set up for immersive listening events similar to things like escape rooms and VR immersive theater. The possibilities seem endless, and it truly makes one excited for the future of this technology and artistry.
