Mono recordings of influential African American music of the 1950s and 1960s have gradually been abandoned by music consumers over time, in relation to the rise of high-fidelity stereo recordings, and more recently to the advent of immersive audio. This study aims at investigating to what extent remixing those recordings in immersive audio can make sense today with regard to the music itself and cultural heritage, and if this approach meets a wish from music consumers. A first experiment investigated how 24 participants considered, listened to, and remixed in immersive audio, three original mono masters from this repertoire. Based on the main findings, one of these songs (B-A-B-Y by Carla Thomas) was remixed in immersive audio. It was then introduced in a second experiment, where eight expert professionals from the phonographic industry and 45 music consumers perceptually compared it with the mono master. The findings from both experiments were positive. In particular, the professionals deemed that B-A-B-Ys immersive master respected the music, highlighting the instrumental arrangement, and could be marketed. The consumers preferred this version and would like to listen to other labels songs in similar conditions.
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https://aes2.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=22528
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