Firesign Theatre's "Everything You Know Is Wrong" quad mix to be included on new set

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I'm hoping TFT put out this TV Radio play on dvd-surroundo. (y):D

Nick Danger-The Case Of The Missing Yolk


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kinda curious what they decoded the record with.. the SQ LP (which I had a tough time tracking down, it's a scarce one) decoded pretty well thru the Surround Master I thought.. I wonder if any QQ members were involved/consulted?

The guy on Facebook whom I was communicating with never got back to me with an answer as to how the album was decoded. Hopefully the liner notes will reveal this information.

When I first suggested (via e-mail) to Phil Proctor that the FT quad albums should be released in some surround sound disc format, I remember him responding that he had been in touch with the Quadraphonic Preservation Society about it (or they had been in touch with him). But this was a long time ago and I no longer have access to any e-mails from that time to verify what I'm remembering.

J. D.
 
My local library offers 5 free MP3 downloads per week from the "Freegal" online service and among their many obscure offerings are the classic firesign albums on Columbia. Plus most everything else released by Columbia.

Since most of their albums were one long track per LP side, you can get 2.5 albums per week if your library offers Freegal. Not quad, but for those like GOS who know them not, it provides an introduction. For a first taste I'd suggest "The Further Adventures of Nick Danger, Third Eye", their private eye surrealist radio play from, IIRC, How Can You Be In Two Places At Once. Good stuff.
 
So I had a chance to listen to the quad mix on the DVD set tonight, and...nope. A big "nope", in fact. None of the channel placement of sounds comes close to what's on the quad 8-track. Ah well, at least the film looks good, the material is still great and the commentary track (recorded before Bergman and Austin died) is amusing.
 
So I had a chance to listen to the quad mix on the DVD set tonight, and...nope. A big "nope", in fact. None of the channel placement of sounds comes close to what's on the quad 8-track. Ah well, at least the film looks good, the material is still great and the commentary track (recorded before Bergman and Austin died) is amusing.

Aw sh!+. Missed chance, but OK, sounds worth it for the commentary.
 
Well, not the Q8, but is anything semi discrete to the rear speakers? Could you tell that you were hearing a matrix quad release at least? Just curious....I will probably get it anyway as a fan but some lines popping from the rears would be a plus. John
 
So I had a chance to listen to the quad mix on the DVD set tonight, and...nope. A big "nope", in fact. None of the channel placement of sounds comes close to what's on the quad 8-track. Ah well, at least the film looks good, the material is still great and the commentary track (recorded before Bergman and Austin died) is amusing.

So the DVD is quad ?? Just a different quad mix then?? And what format ?? DD ?
 
For those who have no clue about Firesign Theater, it's best advised to proceed with caution as if you start with the wrong album you will walk away thinking "WTF?", and this is crap. You won't get it.

You have to place yourself back in the late '60s/early '70s. No internet or other media other than the 3 networks (CBS, NBC, ABC) on TV and your local radio and FM station (which had a lot of media power back then). The comedy album as still important (Carlin, Cosby, etc), and Firesign was for the youngsters, the smart ones. It was way deeper than a stand up comedy LP.

Anyway, as others have said, start with "How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all" and listen to the side with "Nick Danger, Third Eye". It's a parody of an old time mystery radio show (think CBS Radio Mystery Theater or even older) and you're not listening to the LP, you are listening to the LP as a listener listening to a radio show. If you're a Beatles fan, listen closely and try to identify all of the Beatles White Album references. (Don't cheat and Google them)

If and when you warm up to that piece and you find that you appreciate the humor, try the album "Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers". This one really needs headphones. Now instead of listening to an LP, you are a guy sitting home alone with the TV on. It's late night, very late night, and there's nothing really on but you're clicking through the channels. There's religious stuff and there's a movie playing called "High School Madness", among other things. Remember, this was broadcast TV, so you're going back and forth between the few things that were on at that time of night. Anyway, you have to be in the right frame of mind*, but it's classic.

From there, Bozo's is a good choice, then the rest.

Put in perspective, their core albums are classics, but there are some of their albums that are not that good. The early Columbia stuff is what made them famous on the college and high school campuses, but they also were a product of their time.

Your results may vary
 
So the DVD is quad ?? Just a different quad mix then?? And what format ?? DD ?

The DVD is poorly decoded SQ quad. There is a moment near the beginning ("Dogs flew spaceships!...") where the voices come should come from the four corners and they come from somewhat random positions mostly towards the front. And yes, it's Dolby Digital (which would have been fine since this is a comedy album and not a music album).

J. D.
 
The DVD is poorly decoded SQ quad. There is a moment near the beginning ("Dogs flew spaceships!...") where the voices come should come from the four corners and they come from somewhat random positions mostly towards the front. And yes, it's Dolby Digital (which would have been fine since this is a comedy album and not a music album).

J. D.

wonder what they decoded it with, listening to the SQ LP thru the Surround Master right now and its a Quad riot! voices and sound effects (clattering typewriters, ringing telephones, baying animals.. :yikes ) are popping up all over the place, with as good a sensation of different sounds coming from all 4 corners as you could ever hope from SQ matrix encoded material. I don't know wtf is going on (humour-wise!) but its very Quaddy, stuff is literally moving around the room the whole time.. good job I was blotto before I put the record on its bloody bonkers.. haha! :ugham:
 
wonder what they decoded it with, listening to the SQ LP thru the Surround Master right now and its a Quad riot! voices and sound effects (clattering typewriters, ringing telephones, baying animals.. :yikes ) are popping up all over the place, with as good a sensation of different sounds coming from all 4 corners as you could ever hope from SQ matrix encoded material. I don't know wtf is going on (humour-wise!) but its very Quaddy, stuff is literally moving around the room the whole time.. good job I was blotto before I put the record on its bloody bonkers.. haha! :ugham:

You got that right, good buddy.

That quad mix would challenge anything Steven Wilson or Elliot Scheiner ever did.
And that includes the Flaming Lips-Yoshimi disc !!!


:upthumb
 
When I first suggested (via e-mail) to Phil Proctor that the FT quad albums should be released in some surround sound disc format, I remember him responding that he had been in touch with the Quadraphonic Preservation Society about it (or they had been in touch with him). But this was a long time ago and I no longer have access to any e-mails from that time to verify what I'm remembering.

Hey! I found the e-mail from Phil Proctor that I remember! It was from February 2006. Here is what it said:

----------------------------

Dear JD:

hers' the response I got after forwarding your inquiry to our tech guru...

Well... actually... I've already been dealing with
the Quadraphonic Restoration Society, and the two
quadraphonic Firesign albums have already been
extracted from the originals and re-mixed into 5.1
surround format so that we can re-issue them
as DVD-Audio discs, or more likely, as DualDiscs.

The work has already been done, and I've been
putting together a presentation for you guys.
This was something that came up when I met the
audio engineers at the awards ceremony for the
Surround Sound conference.

I remember how much fun it was to mix BOZOS and EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IS WRONG down at the CBS studios at Gower! Thanks for asking ~

------------------------

So it's possible that the quad mix conversion on the new DVD was done in the mid 2000s. And it wasn't Phil but his tech guru (whoever that was) who worked with the QPS.

J. D.
 
The DVD is poorly decoded SQ quad. There is a moment near the beginning ("Dogs flew spaceships!...") where the voices come should come from the four corners and they come from somewhat random positions mostly towards the front. And yes, it's Dolby Digital (which would have been fine since this is a comedy album and not a music album).

J. D.

Guess i will pass on this, maybe someday we will get the quad from the masters. Til then i will enjoy the Q8, descrete quad. Thanks for the info.
 
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