Unreleased quad mix of Madman Across The Water

[fredblue]

It was the SQ decode.

Yes, I'm still not sure what this is, just that it sounded better turned one step to the left.

i imagine that'll be due to SQ's 90-degree phase shift?

 

[fredblue]

without getting into a big spiel, QS is generally a better synthesizer of (non-encoded) Stereo material than SQ, although in some instances SQ can appear to give a better faux decode.. QS and Mono's a no-no, whereas SQ can handle Mono somewhat.. and these are to all intents and purposes Mono files..

hmm.. i really don't think these are matrix-encoded you know.. there's no Stereo going on for QS to at least try to get something "surround-y" out of it the way you would running straight Stereo thru ProLogic II, etc.

i will try these tracks thru the Surround Master soon but I think the best one could hope for from these tracks (if the way the channels have been stacked/summed in L & R, as i suspect?) is to split the L into 2 channels and assign those as Rear L&R and split the R into 2 channels and make them Front L&R, to get a crude kind of "Mono Quad"!

 

[fredblue]

not sure if i mentioned it already, disc 2's tracks are referred to as "Mono" mixes, which they sort of are as they are mono and not Stereo..

but they are not dedicated mono mixes they are just the L&R of disc 1's "whatever they are" mixes summed to create a mono "mix" with the same content in each L and R of the "mono" tracks on disc 2 (so it's not "Dual Mono" with something unique going on in each channel,like The Beatles mono mixes, or something..). take any of the "mono" tracks on disc 2, invert the phase on one of the channels and sum both down to one channel, as they are identical they will cancel each other out.. and you'll get the sound of silence

 

[fredblue]

HOLD THE PHONE...!!!

just ran some tracks from my old WG-pressed DJM CD (pre-Gus' remaster) of Madman thru the computer and did some out of phase cancellation on the Stereo and 'lo and behold' achieved a strikingly similar result to the reverb-laden Left hand channel of these "Quad" mixes.

so.. it's just some 'OOPS' fake job after all and these are just the regular Stereo mucked about with! now that's what i call a BOOT!

however, it is very interesting (to me) how effective the out of phase cancellation is on those tracks (like really effective!).. hmm... like so good you might think it was a stealth Quad.. hmm.. was 1971 too early for Gus to have been screwing around with something like that?

edit: i should add, track timings are exactly the same on the WG DJM CD as the "Quad" mixes on the boot. seals the deal for me that they are out of phase cancellation separation concoctions, sadly, rather than unreleased genuine Quad mixes. oh well.. at least I can stop looking for this one and the similar Caribou boot with purported Quad!! wah wah wah!

 

[Neb-Maat-Re]

track timings are exactly the same on the WG DJM CD as the "Quad" mixes on the boot

It sounds like you've found the answer there.

At least we won't die wondering.

 

[fredblue]

It sounds like you've found the answer there.

At least we won't die wondering.

it would appear so.

indeed and for the opportunity i am eternally grateful