Albums That Were Recorded FOR Quadraphonic Sound.

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by paulisdead, Feb 4, 2014.

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  2. jeffreybh

    jeffreybh Gunter Gleiben Glauchen Globen

    Location:
    Texas
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  3. kevin

    kevin Senior Member

    Location:
    Evanston IL
    The Grateful Dead's Steal Your Face live LP was only done in quad there is no real stereo mix[the cd is a fold down btw]
     
  4. EasterEverywhere

    EasterEverywhere Forum Resident

    Location:
    Albuquerque
    I have a bunch of these.You forgot the Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship,Pearl,A Space In Time,Bill Wyman's Monkey Grip among others I have as quadraphonic.But most were not unique quad mixes if I recall,the way the Pink Floyd and Seastones were.One of the few bands,besides PF,that I think recorded with quadraphonic in mind,was Jethro Tull,for Aqualung and War Child.
    http://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/showthread.php?15133-Jethro-Tull-AQUALUNG-Blu-Ray


    There were tapes too,but I have only found the LPs.

    [​IMG]
     
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  5. paulisdead

    paulisdead fast and bulbous Thread Starter



    Maybe a little of topic, but here's a great interview with Emil Torick (CBS Labs) talking about the devolopmemt of SQ and giving his reasons why the format failed.
     
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  6. Vernoona

    Vernoona Well-Known Member

    we're not really talking about albums intended for quad now anymore...... just naming albums that were pressed that way.
     
  7. paulisdead

    paulisdead fast and bulbous Thread Starter

    I recently bought an SQ decoder (an old Radio Shack - nothing special) and I'm now running some of my SQ LP's through it for the the first time. After only hearing these SQ mixes in stereo I'm discovering a few surprises.

    Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd (Aussie pressing) - one thing I always read about SQ is how it didn't separate well. Well even on this so-called, cheapy decoder from the 70's, I can hear the backing vocals on 'Us and Them' in the rear speakers and the lead guitar move around the room fine (ok it's a bit washy - but not too muddy). The other thing I noticed is the bass - it's nice and fat! Much more than when I play it back in Stereo (and in Pro Logic II - which, BTW, that trick doesn't really work). This makes sense, I guess, as phase tricks are used to create matrixed quad.

    Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd (Aussie pressing) - one down side I've also noticed to matrix quad is the ticks and crackle are more pronounced than they were on the stereo fold down (again - I'm guessing these are canceled out when playing back in stereo). This one is more front focused with some ambeance in the rears. In "Welcome To The Machine" the synth solo will pan and wash over you from front to rear. "Have A Cigar" decoded the best for me. The drums and vocals at the front and the organ coming out of all 4 speakers. Of course the close "swooshing effect" comes from the rear to front. On the down side - the overall sound is very muted and lacks the air and top end of the others.

    They Only Come Out At Night - Edgar Winter Group (US pressing) - wow! From the opening track, the guitars in the rear sound discrete. The guitars are panned back with the rest of the band in the front speakers
    . A few neat things on "Frankenstien" like having each tom on the drums panned from front to back. Also the cool synth laser circles the room. A nice quad mix!

    Abraxas - Santana (Japanese pressing) - beautifully clean and crisp sounding. Nice separation between channels (I would have sworn it WAS a discreet source, if I didn't know better). "Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen" has a nice speard of percussion around the 4 speakers with a short delay on the vocals between the front and rear. The same can be said of "Oye Como Va". And keep in mind, I'm listen to this on a cheap amp. Imagine this on a Tate II! This one's a reference disc for SQ.

    Imagine - John Lennon (Aussie Pressing). Not as bad as I've read on the net - in fact quite good. The title track has the strings spread to the rear with piano ambience. Over all the album tries to give a 3D effect with the sound. In other words: it more centre with a few odd instruments in separate speakers than front to back. Spector's Wall of Sound was almost made for quad (and yes - I'm aware of the irony of that coming from a guy who wanted to go Back To Mono) "I Don't Wanna Be a Soilder" sounds great and has an alternate synth modulation at the end which moves front to back to front. On the down side - there's no audience at the start of "How Do You Sleep".

    Atom Heart Mother - Pink Floyd (Aussie Pressing) - For an early quad album, the separation on this one is really good. The instruments are nice and clear in the rear channels (which mainly feature organ, choir and ambience) . The effects on "Father's Shout" are separated from front and rear. Side 1 is a nice mix that sounds very natural - like you're in a concert hall. "If" is very much in the from speakers with reverb in the rear speakers. The synth on "if I go insane.." swooshes around to the rear (of course). "Summer '68" starts off very much in the front then speards out throughout the 4 channels on the songs change. The bells on "Fat Old Sun" stay at the front but the slide guitar slowly driffs to the rear. The voice at the start of "Alan's Psychedellic Breakfast" moves slowly around the room. This one, as you would expect, has the most panning between the four channels. Overall, I hope they officially release this one on BluRay.
     
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  8. Folknik

    Folknik Forum Resident

    Wendy (Walter) Carlos' groundbreaking ambient masterwork Sonic Seasonings was recorded with quad in mind. The liner notes even refer to a process in which they attempted to make the stereo version "almost quad."
     
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  9. BIG ED

    BIG ED Forum Resident

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  10. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    What the best Quad player?
     
  11. overdrivethree

    overdrivethree Forum Resident

    Pete Townshend has said that Quadrophenia was conceived with a quad mix in mind, but that the encoding standards were still so up in the air, and they already had a tour to do, that they could only really put together a rushed stereo mix anyway. So it never happened for the album where it conceptually crying out for it :(
     
  12. Sheik Yerbouti

    Sheik Yerbouti Senior Member

    Location:
    Germany
    There's a different quad mix of "Tubular Bells" that had been issued some time before "Boxed" ...
     
  13. Say It Right

    Say It Right Not for the Hearing Impaired

    Location:
    Niagara Falls
    IIRC, the SACD included the original quad mix in 4.0. It doesn't come cheaply on the 2ndary market now either.
     
  14. paulisdead

    paulisdead fast and bulbous Thread Starter

    I've got that mix too but I don't have a RM/QS decoder.

    Mike+Oldfield+-+Tubular+Bells+-+Quadraphonic+-+LP+RECORD-122421.jpg
     
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  15. paulisdead

    paulisdead fast and bulbous Thread Starter

    Maybe HDTracks could start releasing these Quad mixes on FLAC 5.1?
     
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  16. Larry Geller

    Larry Geller Surround sound lunatic

    Location:
    Bayside, NY
    No such thing exists.
     
  17. paulisdead

    paulisdead fast and bulbous Thread Starter

    Like all things; it's subjective.

    You're better off getting something that has both an SQ and RM/QS decoder on board. That way you'll be able to decode at least 90% of matrix Quad LP's out there.

    The receivers I've seen Quad fans like are:

    Sansui QRX-9001 (QS with 4 channel discrete inputs)
    Marantz 4415 (SQ with 4 channel discrete inputs)
    Pioneer QX-747 (Will decode SQ, QS/RM AND has a CD-4 demodulator BUILT IN!!!)

    If you want to go discrete - then it's a bit of a stuff around. You can either get a:

    • 4 channel 8-track cartridge player (not that rare but the lesser of the three options as far as audio quality goes).
    • 4 channel reel-to-reel (best audio, but tapes are rare and expensive on eBay).

      OR

    • CD-4 Demodulator with a CD-4 compatible cartridge and a Shibata tip stylus (see below) to play CD-4/Quadradiscs (Expensive gear but reasonably priced LP's).
    $T2eC16JHJGUFFh28Fu8CBSUBEq7bZQ~~60_35.JPG 640177844_tp.jpg

    Quad.jpg

    One bonus is - all of these discrete options can be connected to a modern AV receiver with analogue 5.1 inputs RCA. There are also SQ and QS decoders on out there as well.
     
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  18. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    Thank you !!!
     
  19. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    Thank you !!!
     
  20. charlie W

    charlie W EMA Level 10

    Location:
    Area Code 254
    Many of the 1st generation Sony single layer SACD's had the multi-channel audio based on the album's original quad mix.
     
  21. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    Ed Bishop was a big Quad fan if i recall.
     
  22. Lord Hawthorne

    Lord Hawthorne Currently Untitled

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
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  23. paulisdead

    paulisdead fast and bulbous Thread Starter

    No problem.

    One of the biggest failings of Quadraphonic in the market place was there was no one standard. On top of that - each standard was exclusive to a different group of record companies. If you wanted to listen to Alice Cooper in Quad, you needed to own a CD-4 system because Warner supported CD-4. But then if you liked Pink Floyd then you needed to be able to play SQ because EMI and CBS supported the SQ format. But then if you liked say Steely Dan then your receiver better have a QS/RM decoder on board as well, because their label ABC supported QS/RM. The same mistake would be repeated in the 2000's with DVD-A vs. SACD (or Warner Records vs. Sony Records). If you thought consumers in the early 2000's were confused with SACD and DVD-A, imagine how they would have felt in the 1970's! Heck, it's confusing in the 2010's and we're used to the idea 50 different software formats.

    That aside. If you want to go down the quad path there are two ways of doing it:

    1) Old school authentic - get a decent amp that will play the two major matrix formats. How you go discrete is up to you.

    2) New school - use a modern AV Home Theater receiver. Play Quad mixes available on BluRay and DTS CD. There are also 5.1 FLAC rips out there of tapes and LP's done by Quad fans. You can use a BluRay player that will playback FLAC 5.1 (like the Oppo BluRay players) or there are media players on the market that will also do it.

    3) Both - 70's receiver with matrix settings to playback your matrix LP's with a BluRay player/media player/PC with analogue 5.1 outputs. Most 70's Quad receivers will have a "4 channel discrete input" with RCA plugs. You can plug modern equipment with analogue 5.1 output in to these fine. Just plug in the Front L - R and the Surround L - R and in the menu options on your player, turn off the centre and sub speakers.
     
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  24. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    Sansui QRX 7500 is a great Quad receiver. It has QS, SQ, and CD-4 built in as standard. And the best Sansui Vario-Matrix decoders. It's very recommended and available for reasonable prices.
     
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  25. paulisdead

    paulisdead fast and bulbous Thread Starter



    img2747a.jpg

    Nice!
     
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