When you think of surround sound, you probably associate it with movies. That’s only natural: DIY home theaters with surround sound systems have become more common, so movies often get the most hype for their immersive soundtracks, but surround sound has become commonplace in TV and gaming as well. In video games, it can directly impact gameplay, as it allows you to hear what’s behind you, which can be invaluable in stealth games.
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Those aren’t the only genres with a wealth of surround-sound content: There’s a history of multichannel music being made commercially, as well. If anything, music has the longest history of being sold in multichannel formats thanks to the brief rise of four-channel quadraphonic records in the 1970s. After quad faded away, multichannel music largely disappeared for a generation or two, reemerging in large part thanks to the arrival of DVD as an optical disc format and the various multimedia standards that use it: DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, and Super Audio CD (SACD).
In addition to the higher-resolution audio on the latter two formats, surround-sound mixes were another major feature of the music released therein. The same applies to music on Blu-ray and later streaming once internet connections were sufficient. There are some amazing surround mixes that far too few people have heard, so let’s take a look at a few of the best.
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