EV4 revisited

There were a number of threads in the past in which at least some of the discussion had to do with the best way to decode EV4 (or Stereo-4) records. Some of this discussion included possible ways that AA scripts might be involved. Many concluded that the QS script would probably work best, and this may be true. But tonight, it occurred to me that we might over-thinking this.

Today, I purchased the EV4 album "Multiple Guitars" by Les Thatcher. I tried running the AA 1.5 QS script on it, and it was OK (I wasn't expecting discrete separation). But I decided to look again at the description of the Electro-Voice system in Len Feldman's book "Four Channel Sound." He gave the decoding equations as:

LF = LT + .2RT
RF = RT + .2LT
LB = .76 LT-.608 RT
RB = .76 RT-.608 LT

Looking at this, it occurred to me that the AA "Channel Mixer" effect (found under the "Amplitude" selections in 1.5, under "Stereo Imagery" in 3.0) could do this without having to resort to a script, right from the multitrack view (duplicating the audio on two tracks for fronts and rears). And sure enough, setting the channel mixer effect with the following values worked (to the degree that the original EV decoders worked):

FRONTS
New Left Channel:
L = 100
R = 20
New Right Channel:
L = 20
R = 100

REARS
New Left Channel:
L = 76
R = -60.8
New Right Channel:
L = -60.8
R = 76

I'm still not sure why the front separation is supposed to be lessened this way, but that's what it says in the book.

There is one more step that I found to be useful. On my system at least, records seem to have a lot of ticks and pops that are contained on both the left and right channel, but are out of phase with each other so they're not heard. I suggest rendering the rear channel with the "channel mixer" effect described above and then run a declicker on the new file, as the process reveals all of those out of phase clicks. Replace the original rear channel file with this new file in the multitrack view before exporting the surround mix.

J. D.

I've been doing some work on getting the best out of EV-4, and there's one thing i can say straight at the start, it is NOT QS compatible.

Before attempting to decode it, you need to appreciate how it's encoded:

Lt = (Lf + 0.3 Rf) + (Lb + -0.5 Rb)
Rt = (Rf + 0.3 Lf) + (Rb + -0.5 Lb)

Now, because it's not a 'phase' matrix, like SQ and QS, you'll never get the performance that is possible with those two systems, but just a 'surround' effect. I've been working on a full script set to get the maximum possible out of it. Discrete it won't be, but a reasonable surround effect is more than possible


OD

Would love to play the couple EV4 Beach Boys albums properly. I'm running "Carl and the Passions" through my SQD-2020 now on SQ mode. It's doing something... what that something is I couldn't tell you, but judging by the needles, the SQ gives more a difference between the four speakers than QS. Using QS/R-MTX, the front and back needles follow the same pattern.

Me too, I'd like to hear those albums properly. I've been wondering are they EV4 or DY, and is there a difference between those two? Another record on Brother records by the same engineer Steve Desper came with a sheet showing how to hook up your speakers in the Hafler mode. I haven't tried it because for one thing, I want to back them up to disc to hear in the car.

Another question is just which BB recordings are quad. I've seen references to Carl and the Passions and Surf's Up, but aren't at least a few songs on Sunflower also in that format?

Supposedly "Cool, Cool Water" and "Got to Know the Woman" are in quad on Sunflower. I just looked on the quad discography. You're right. They're in DY. I read on some other forum that the Sunflower quad mixes were the first ever released songs mastered in quad.

The two systems are very very close, to the point that playing a DY encoded album through the original EV-4 decoder gives very satisfactory results, bearing in mind that it's not quad as SQ & QS are.

I have now decoded two EV-4 albums, which are out on test, and the resuls so far are very positive. Just waiting on one person to give his views.

If all is well, i will start releasing EV-4 , then DY, decoded albums via the blog.

As to the Beach Boys DY encoded material, There aretwo encoded tracks on "Sunflower", tnd The "Surf's Up" and "Carl & The Passion" albums

Keep an eye on the blog....................................

Cool Cool Water in any kind of surround would be, well, cool!

Glad to see some other Beach Boys fans here. I think there was also an official DVD-A version of Surf's Up that was planned. I read somewhere that it was all mastered and ready to go, but they pulled the plug on the project for some reason.

The first Beach Boys 5.1 surround tracks were released as bonus tracks on the DVD-V Endless Harmony: the Beach Boys Story. The tracks are:
California Girls
Kiss Me Baby
God Only Knows
Surf's Up
Long Promised Road
Sail On Sailor
Do It Again

I played the beach boys LPs
last night
The LP Sunflower
With cool water the DY track there is a big surround effect
after the the break with a water sound in rear channels
but there are other tracks that have a big surround effect as well
I wonder if they only did 1 track in DY they may have done the lot?
Carl & Passions also in DY
Has a lot of surround and rear channel effects
much more than I expected

Don't forget to play the "Surf's Up" album, too. I wonder who was behind the quad mixes. Brian Wilson was a studio master, but he was also deaf in one ear and tended to master his stuff in mono. He wasn't as involved with these albums. They were more group efforts. I can't imagine Mike Love giving two squats about quad (or anything else, for that matter).

Stephen W. Desper engineer and Carl Wilson producer. Desper likes to talk about the limitations of stereo, and some quad related things (as well as sharing cool behind the scenes stuff), you can find some interviews or forum posts with a search. I hope he's doing OK, haven't found recent posts by him. He described recording water sounds at musical intervals onto a Chamberlin to play for Cool Cool Water!

I played
Surf's Up
I think that it is DY encoded
The sound is mostly blended front and back
But now and then a solo comes from the rear
but there a number of times that the chorus comes from both rear channels
I don't get most of the tracks
but
Disney Girls is very good .and a good surround mix
Load of your feet. and prety good surround mix
Don't go near the water. """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Student Demonstration. ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
over all as a surround disc 6/10
The EV4 LPs that I have you can get a solo in the rear channels
very clearly but DY tend to smear into both rear channels

It IS DY encoded.