amon tobin in 7.1

Picture borrowed from Alex Bok Bok

Saturday I was lucky enough to catch one of Amon Tobin’s few surround sound shows at the Gramercy Theatre in Manhattan. There was 1 center channel, 3 PA speakers along each side, and likely a sub somewhere, effectively making it a 7.1 setup. It sounded MASSIVE. Using the digital DJ setup Final Scratch, he morphed together everything from his own work (old and new – including LOTS of the original sounds he recorded for Foley Room ) to tracks by Autechre, Plaid, Deiselboy and many, many more. The sound was fantastic and the surround element was very noticeable, although either due to the set stretching on for more that 90 minutes or too many cocktails, the integration seemed to diminish near the end of the show.

His sets are always great fun, so even if he isn’t doing a surround set in your area you should check it out – but definitely don’t miss it if he IS doing a surround show near you (I’m looking at you San Fran).