Syntonic Research Environments Series: Finally, some more information!!!

QuadraphonicQuad

Help Support QuadraphonicQuad:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Q8

1K Club - QQ Shooting Star
Joined
Aug 30, 2012
Messages
1,751
Location
Ohio
So I have wanted to see if I could track down more info about the Syntonic Research "Environments" series of Quadraphonic LP's. In my research, I located a website about the man behind Syntonic Research, the late Irv Teibel!

http://www.irvteibel.com
It is a great site with a ton of great info about Irv, the Environments series, his other recording work and his photography! :cool:

I used the contact form to open a conversation to the site to find that it is curated by his daughter Jennifer. She has given permission to quote from our email correspondence.

Unfortunately she has yet to find any documents as to what encoding process he used, but she will keep her eye open. She is quite fascinated about how quad fit into her father's work.

Here is a quote from Irv from a letter to an executive at a Japanese record label in 1975:

“Our master tapes are available in ½” four channel configurations, although many corrections are performed when transferring to vinyl. We can assure you that our 4-channel originals will perform perfectly in CD-4 reproduction, although we believe complete isolation of channel information is psychoacoustically unnecessary.”

I had expressed that I was starting to doubt that the first three albums had any quadraphonic encoding as they were releaser in 1969, 1970 and 1971 respectively but she had this to say:

"With regard to your question about whether the first three releases included quadraphonic capabilities, I found another excerpt from an interview that discussed the process for making the first release, The Psychologically Ultimate Seashore, originally released in 1969, and it mentions that this might have been one of the first commercial releases that utilized quadraphonic sound:

“The Psychologically Ultimate Seashore had to be synthesized from a three-minute tape. The problem inspired him (Teibel), with the collaboration with a psychoacoustician at Bell Labs, to develop digital recording techniques and to experiment with quadraphonic sound. The record was one of the first-ever quad releases.”

So I think it is definitely possible that the first three releases were available as quadraphonic vinyl recordings"

I also finally figured out the release order with the various labels. The original Environments Disc 1 was released under the Syntonic Research label first, then was re-released by Atlantic. Disc 2 and Disc 3 were released under the Atlantic label only. Which would explain why even if they were quad, they were not listed as such as we all know Atlantic was dedicated to CD-4, and Irv was definitely using some Matrix system, possibly of his own invention. The remainder of the series, 4-11 were released on the SR label only. And from what I can tell from my collection, there were two issues of many of the mid 70's ones, the first release, then a re-release around 1979. She also let me know some of the equipment he was using for his recording and mixing, unfortunately none of the equipment she listed could be definitely linked to the quad encoding, although I have a hunch some of it was done with the IBM 360 computer as there is other documentation that seems to show that he did mixing and effects on it. Here is the incomplete list of equipment he used:

"Unfortunately, I don’t know his official encoding process. I am just now learning about the specific equipment he used to make the recordings and his editing process. Some of the equipment he used included a Stellavox sp-7, Schoeps condenser microphone, Sony C-22 condenser microphone, EML synthesizer, 3m 16-track recorder, Studer transfer machine, Neuman lathe with ortophon cartridge, IBM 360 computer and DBX noise reduction system. Maybe some of this equipment was used for encoding…would love to know if anything jumps out at you! I do know that he had special recorders made to his specifications and that he did probably make some custom equipment in order to fulfill functions that were not available with commercial equipment at the time. "

Also she let me know that all of his original tapes have already been digitally preserved, including, presumably the 4 channel masters! She is going to check with the recording engineer to make sure they have the 4 channel masters preserved! :cool::cool::51banana:

She is also planning on making digital download releases of the encoded masters. After speaking with me she would be interested in releasing them in high resolution multi channel!! :banana::banana::51banana:

Let me know what your thoughts are on what format they should be released in and what service provider she should use to sell them. I plan on providing as much help to her as I can to help see this actually happen!

Also, one last note on the website. All the Environments series records are for sale there!!! She is selling off the vinyl record stock they still have to fund the site and future projects. I have already ordered a couple of them to replace used discs I have that are damaged! Get your new old stock Environments records while you still can!
 
Also it should be noted that Syntonic Research released another Quadraphonic LP "The Erickson Tapes". A record by expert harpsichordist Raymond Erickson. Half of the record is synthesizer, the other side is harpsichord. I just grabbed a sealed copy of the LP. A music release may help figure out the native encoding format.
 
he's f-in' right imho, complete isolation of channel information is psychoacoustically unnecessary when you've got a Surround Master! LOL..!! :D

“Our master tapes are available in ½” four channel configurations, although many corrections are performed when transferring to vinyl. We can assure you that our 4-channel originals will perform perfectly in CD-4 reproduction, although we believe complete isolation of channel information is psychoacoustically unnecessary.”
 
All of my Syntonic Research Environments records Vol 4 through 11 have a MQ after the stereo notation. Not sure if that means anything.

Yes, 4-11 are Definitely all quad as it gets. All copies of 4-11 are marked MQ and they say Stereo/Q on the spine. In the liner notes or inner sleeve it explains that they are quadraphonic, and claims all Environments series releases, even if not marked as such are quad.
 
he's f-in' right imho, complete isolation of channel information is psychoacoustically unnecessary when you've got a Surround Master! LOL..!! :D

“Our master tapes are available in ½” four channel configurations, although many corrections are performed when transferring to vinyl. We can assure you that our 4-channel originals will perform perfectly in CD-4 reproduction, although we believe complete isolation of channel information is psychoacoustically unnecessary.”

That is true! I was listening to the Wood Masted Sail Boat one Last night with the SQ setting. It was so realistic sounding, I swear I started to get slightly seasick. I'm not joking. I could almost feel the movement of the ship. I don't even know how he mixed field recordings to the level of realism that these records present, especially in quad.
 
I used the contact form to open a conversation to the site to find that it is curated by his daughter Jennifer. She has given permission to quote from our email correspondence.

Congratulations! I tried to start a similar communication years ago and got no response. Your timing must be impeccable.
 
Just showing off. Here is my Syntonic Research collection including the whole Environments series and "The Erickson Tapes".

IMG_20170413_002639.jpg
 
That is true! I was listening to the Wood Masted Sail Boat one Last night with the SQ setting. It was so realistic sounding, I swear I started to get slightly seasick. I'm not joking. I could almost feel the movement of the ship. I don't even know how he mixed field recordings to the level of realism that these records present, especially in quad.

I suppose a good SQ decoder should give you something with their matrix , but back in the day (70's), the matrix which closely resembled the encoding process was believed to be DY-4D .
So any decent QS decoder should yield satisfactory results .
 
Back
Top