Could use some input

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Bill Brent

300 Club - QQ All-Star
Joined
Apr 13, 2004
Messages
354
I'm up to week 10 of my LP show - I wanted to (where possible) play LPs that contain material or mixes
that couldn't be found anywhere but on that LP. Considering my life long devotion to quad - this gave me the
opportunity to both expose the 8k (or so) listeners to my regular show - to this passion .and. by playing QS or
SQ records - I'd be keeping faith with the original concept of playing mixes only available on the LP.
Yes, of course, you can get the true quad mixes of, say, Dark Side of the Moon on Q8, or even newer digital
releases. but it's not exactly the same.
Well I wrote all that, to ask you this; When I come to the CD-4 releases - many ARE slightly different from their
stereo counterparts - but being only able to play stereo over the air - any discussion of the quad capabilities
of these LPs would be lost (or confusing).
At least with the phase shifting matrix recordings, headphones offer an interesting illusion of surround sound, and
if the listener can pump the output through a surround system - all the better.
So what to do with CD-4 LPs?
What I tried with my last show was to demodulate the LP, then encode the results using the QS system.
I've rationalized doing this by telling myself - "self; the only way to get the results I'm playing is if you
had the original LP!" - but we can convince ourselves of anything if we try.
My request - what would be your thinking. Play the LP's straight or demod/encode them?

Thanks
 
Tough call. There are some CD-4 LPs that have different mixes and vocal tracks than their stereo counterparts. As I recall, James Taylor's "One Man Dog" is one, Jackson Browne's "Late for the Sky" is another. I think one of the Zappa/Mothers has differences as well.

In these cases you could just play the album in stereo and let the audience here the differing versions and mixes.



Might I suggest an odd concept? I always found it very entertaining to take a quad album that I knew very well and had a discrete mix and then only listen to the rear channels. Sometimes the lead vocal is not there, sometimes it is.

You could take a group of quad tunes that have exceptionally revealing surround mixes and play the stereo rears, identifying each song before it plays. You will be giving the listeners something they would probably never hear anywhere, and as long as you did it song by song and not by an entire album, you could keep it interesting.

For example, if you take a track from say "Gorilla" (did I mention anywhere that this is my favorite WEA quad mix?) and if you played the rears from "Lighthouse" you would hear the Crosby-Nash harmonies exposed, or the Top 40 "How Sweet It Is (to be loved by you)", the Carly Simon and other backgrounds are revealed as well.

Just a thought. You could call it "Back Tracks"! :)
 
Tough call. There are some CD-4 LPs that have different mixes and vocal tracks than their stereo counterparts. As I recall, James Taylor's "One Man Dog" is one, Jackson Browne's "Late for the Sky" is another. I think one of the Zappa/Mothers has differences as well.

Off the top of my head:
JT- One Man Dog
Alice Cooper- Billion Dollar Babies
Jethro Tull- Aqualung
Various Japanese Motown titles: Supremes' Greatest Hits, Jackson Five's Greatest Hits, etc

I didn't know of any differences in Late For The Sky...you sure about that one?

Some SQ and QS mixes also have wrong takes and/or missing instruments. Here's a few I can think of:
Billy Joel- Turnstiles
Steely Dan- Can't Buy A Thrill & Countdown To Ecstasy
Chicago- II
Rick Derringer- All American Boy

Might I suggest an odd concept? I always found it very entertaining to take a quad album that I knew very well and had a discrete mix and then only listen to the rear channels. Sometimes the lead vocal is not there, sometimes it is.

LOVE this idea, but you're probably better off using a discrete source for the quad mix as SQ definitely will have vocal bleed in the rears and CD-4 will also but to a much less extent (depending on how well the carrier and separation controls on your demodulator are set). Rear channel isolation is always a blast with a Columbia Q8 :)

Another interesting idea could be send fronts to left and rears to right for the broadcast. I do this on audacity sometimes and it's fun if you have a really well balanced quad mix with extreme separation.

My request - what would be your thinking. Play the LP's straight or demod/encode them?

I would demodulate then re-encode to matrix. At least listeners will have the option of getting some quad effect.
 
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Sometimes also the front pair alone can be thrilling... try Billy Paul Me and Mrs. Jones, it is a different vocal take (and it's quite clear in one spot) but going front-only... dreamy.
 
Tough call.
Just a thought. You could call it "Back Tracks"! :)

Now THAT is an interesting idea - I recall the back tracks to the Doors revealing how good Jim Morrison really was, -
the Dixie Hummingbirds on Loves me Like a Rock, and of course you really only hear Mick Jagger on you're so vein
by turning off the front channels.

not sure I'd play an entire LP or even a single side that way - but I could see playing a single stereo track - then the entire side
in QS - then just the back channels to that same track -

I'm likin' it - thanks
 
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