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Dolby Atmos Remixes of all albums to be released

mjfp

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I think I mentioned that all albums from Off The Wall to Xscape were remixed in Dolby Atmos around 2 yeaes ago and will release around the biopic…


Off The Wall (released on February 20, 2026): https://music.apple.com/album/off-the-wall/186166282?l=en-GB

Thriller (released on November 18, 2022): https://music.apple.com/album/thriller/269572838?l=en-GB

Bad (released on February 20, 2026): https://music.apple.com/album/bad/559334659?l=en-GB



Mixing Engineers: Serban Ghenea (Mix), John Hanes (Dolby Atmos Mix)




Note: When y‘all listen to it, make sure not to listen via iPhone, due to compression added via recent updates.
 
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Been working on Dolby Atmos remixes of Jackson 5 and The Jacksons tracks myself recently and will share them in the near future
 
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Smooth Criminal sounds very different, and not in a good way. The snare is incredibly pronounced (sounds way louder than it should be) and they've not got the breathing sounds at the start.

I really don't like these things being changed.

Leave Me Alone isn't very good either. They've brought the shuffle forward in the mix, and it loses a lot of punch even the 2001 remaster had.
 
The mixes only really work on the ambient songs like Man In The Mirror, I Just Can‘t Stop Loving You, Dirty Diana and kinda Liberian Girl (it sounds a bit lackluster to me, unused vocals left in, mic bleed left in, vocals to loud and dry). The more hard-hitting tracks really lack the punch and some like Smooth Criminal are completely different than their original mix. The album could achieve so much more in the Dolby Atmos format.
 
Amazing how they could waste an occasion like this, it just looks like a AI split mix, comparing to Thriller work this reminds me to a fan amateur re-mix of it. what a waste.
 
So when you say "released", do you actually mean "released"? Like, I can go and get a copy?

If so, it's the biggest moment since he died. If not, then who cares?

mjfp said:
As Thriller, the Dolby Atmos Remix of Bad includes some unused instrument and vocal elements
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Oh, they've been changed? Oh well, forget it. It goes without saying that it should only be repanned, and a downmix of any Atmos version should always sound indistinguishable from the original stereo version.

What a waste.

They're basically only doing this so they get a bigger % of the royalties.
 
R1chard said:
So when you say "released", do you actually mean "released"? Like, I can go and get a copy?

If so, it's the biggest moment since he died. If not, then who cares?
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Apple Music only sadly. Queen does release their mixes on Blu-ray as well, The Beatles stopped doing that after Let It Be (although that was also only included in the Super Deluxe CD set for $200).
R1chard said:
Oh, they've been changed? Oh well, forget it. It goes without saying that it should only be repanned, and a downmix of any Atmos version should always sound indistinguishable from the original stereo version.
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True, some slight changes can be expected but it should be as close to the original as possible, just expanded and making use of the multichannel format. They are all close to the original yes, but some have slight changes or mixing decisions I don‘t really agree with.

The most true to the original are:
Bad, Another Part Of Me, Man In The Mirror, I Just Can‘t Stop Loving You, Dirty Diana

Slight changes but good:
Speed Demon, Smooth Criminal

Sounds mid:
The Way You Make Me Feel, Leave Me Alone
 
When y‘all listen to it, make sure not to listen via iPhone, due to compression added via recent updates
 
mjfp said:
When y‘all listen to it, make sure not to listen via iPhone, due to compression added via recent updates
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I'm listening via MacBook Pro, that would be ok I think?

I'm really not a fan of this mix, when I heard Dolby Atmos I thought it could be great but it's very poor and loses a lot of the original essence of the songs.
 
dam2040 said:
I'm listening via MacBook Pro, that would be ok I think?

I'm really not a fan of this mix, when I heard Dolby Atmos I thought it could be great but it's very poor and loses a lot of the original essence of the songs.
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Yes, MacBook should be fine. Some songs are indeed slightly different but I would also say that it isn‘t very suitable for headphone listening. It‘s a whole different experience in a Dolby Atmos speaker set up. It‘s a definite improvement over Thriller. There are minor things that should be changed, like the bleed at the beginning of Liberian Girl. The Dolby Atmos Remixes should be released on Blu-ray for a true lossless listening experience
 
Listening to Don‘t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough, this is horrible. The snare sounds like a 64kbit/s mp3. The 2nd main vocal take, incl the intro and „oh power… etc.“ lines is also mixed to the right.

The rest of the album is very different from the original. While Bad stayed mostly true to the original, Off The Wall is much more „vibrant“ and tries to be immersive with unused or buried elements pushed further than on the original. The snare isn‘t quite right on the title track as well.

Girlfriend has a very strong reverb.

I Can‘t Help It was made for Dolby Atmos. It literally is the falling in love.

I think Serban Ghenea / John Hanes simply doesn‘t know how to properly mix 70s/early 80s music. For the MJ albums, Serban Ghenea mixes the multi-tracks and John Hanes does the Dolby Atmos mixes based on his mixes.
 
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Just my 2 Cents on these kind of mixes:
Those songs, classics as they are, were meant to be Stereo mixes. Always were always have been.
Nothing will ever come close to what they were supposed to be in the first place.

And imho music is always best enjoyed in stereo. There may be some exceptions, but in general, STEREO is the way.
Especially when it wasn’t imagined & conceived as a multi channel mix from the get go!
 
Inthestudiowithmj said:
Will they release dangerous-invincible as well?
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Everything from Off The Wall to Xscape, and from what I‘ve heard like 2-3 years ago: The Original Versions of Xscape were also remixed. At least, I have heard Blue Gangsta being played some time ago.
 
MJJuniorSinceMW said:
Just my 2 Cents on these kind of mixes:
Those songs, classics as they are, were meant to be Stereo mixes. Always were always have been.
Nothing will ever come close to what they were supposed to be in the first place.

And imho music is always best enjoyed in stereo. There may be some exceptions, but in general, STEREO is the way.
Especially when it wasn’t imagined & conceived as a multi channel mix from the get go!
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There was a reason why MJ didn't approve a Thriller 5.1 mix in late 90s.
 
webslinger said:
where the hell are y’all that you can listen to these, i’m dying to hear em 😭
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it‘s not available everywhere for some reason. It is here in Germany, but for example not in the Netherlands
 
I've always been a huge advocate of music in surround. When you look at my DVD/BD collection, music outnumbers movies by at least 3:1.

For the last couple of years, I've always said I would never buy any more MJ music that wasn't in at least 5.1.

mjfp said:
Apple Music only sadly. Queen does release their mixes on Blu-ray as well, The Beatles stopped doing that after Let It Be (although that was also only included in the Super Deluxe CD set for $200).
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Yeah, releasing 10 copies of an overpriced box set worldwide is nearly as bad. It's like if nobody is in the forest when a tree falls down, does it actually make a sound?

Basically, these mixes were never created with the intention of being heard by the public. They're simply to ensure Sony gets paid more streaming royalties.

mjfp said:
True, some slight changes can be expected but it should be as close to the original as possible, just expanded and making use of the multichannel format. They are all close to the original yes, but some have slight changes or mixing decisions I don‘t really agree with.
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In most cases, with other artists, I guess minimal changes would be ok. But knowing how meticulous MJ was, and knowing that he rejected a previous 5.1 mix of Thriller, I would definitely not be ok with even the smallest change.

mjfp said:
The most true to the original are:
Bad, Another Part Of Me, Man In The Mirror, I Just Can‘t Stop Loving You, Dirty Diana
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I guess APOM and Speed Demon would both have the potential to be great for effects. Maybe TWYMMF as well. MITM could be really atmospheric if done right, spreading the choir around etc.

mjfp said:
When y‘all listen to it, make sure not to listen via iPhone, due to compression added via recent updates
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Probably no point in saying this. Anybody who's even contemplating using a phone simply doesn't understand what Atmos is.

dam2040 said:
I'm listening via MacBook Pro, that would be ok I think?
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One of my older MacBooks used to have a 3.5mm headphone jack that doubled as a digital optical output. Too bad they did away with that on the newer models.

mjfp said:
The Dolby Atmos Remixes should be released on Blu-ray for a true lossless listening experience
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Like, I'm their prime target audience, but they've completely blown it. I will never listen to any music via streaming, so the whole project is wasted effort.

Albion said:
Off The Wall is also Dolby Atmos on iTunes in the UK.
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You'd think disco music would be perfect for Dolby Atmos. One if the first times I heard of the format was when they fitted equipment to a big dance club in London.

MJJuniorSinceMW said:
Those songs, classics as they are, were meant to be Stereo mixes.
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I think MJ was always embracing new technology. Wasn't Black Or White and RTT the first music videos to be made in Dolby Surround? He wanted TII to be in 3D, etc. the movie was released with SDDS 7.1 and sounds great.

2000 Watts!

Inthestudiowithmj said:
Will they release dangerous-invincible as well?
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Thinking about it, all of Dangerous has great potential as well. But given the comments in this thread, I'm just gonna forget the whole thing.
 
threepea11 said:
Its on sharemania, idk if its against the rules to link the download here
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I saw one on sharemania, but it was a fanmade upconverted mix. Been getting harassed and threatened by people who‘ve only listened to that upmix, while reading my comments of the Dolby Atmos version being a new remix from the multi-tracks
 
mjfp said:
I saw one on sharemania, but it was a fanmade upconverted mix. Been getting harassed and threatened by people who‘ve only listened to that upmix, while reading my comments of the Dolby Atmos version being a new remix from the multi-tracks
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you mean the ones uploaded by glomatico?
 
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