Hendrix Quad Dreams

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Fourplay

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I was recently reviewing an issue of Billboard Magazine from October 2, 1971, and lookee what I found:

Billboard 1971-10-02 p QS-12.jpg

So it seems Mr Kramer was at one time excited to mix Hendrix in quad, although according to this post he is no longer enthusiastic about it:

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/index.php?threads/jimi-hendrix-1st-two-lps.6825/post-65148

If anyone round these parts has a line into the Hendrix camp, please forward this image to them as a friendly reminder.

Many have said all over the board that Hendrix records decode well as they are now. I was just hoping for some real McCoy discrete surround mixing on the material.
 
Last edited:
I was recently reviewing an issue of Billboard Magazine from October 2, 1971, and lookee what I found:

View attachment 30127

So it seems Mr Kramer was at one time excited to mix Hendrix in quad, although according to this post he is no longer enthusiastic about it:

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...drix-1st-two-LPs&p=65148&viewfull=1#post65148

If anyone round these parts has a line into the Hendrix camp, please forward this image to them as a friendly reminder.

Many have said all over the board that Hendrix records decode well as they are now. I was just hoping for some real McCoy discrete surround mixing on the material.

I have never understood why there is very little surround music of Jimi Hendrix

If there was ever a musician who deserves this it's Jimi Hendrix.

Imagine listening to one of his fiery guitar solos flying around 4 or 5 speakers?

Eddie Kramer has mixed some Hendrix concerts into 5.1 but there is very little discreet panning going on around the speakers sadly.

There are fan made upmixes of the first 3 albums on DVD-A with Electric Ladyland the pick of the bunch.

I can only hope one day they decide to remix some of the best Hendrix material in 5.1 bringing out Jimi's majestic solos.
 
Electric Ladyland Studios was one of the first big "Quad " mix facilities on the East Coast and was utilized for mixes in quad both Discrete and matrix, and you can thank the artist for this.
Jimmy wanted the latest and greatest for his studio , but may never have gotten the chance to hear the quad mixing , because of his demise.


There was even a series of live quad broadcasts (QS I believe ) in the early seventies which included notable rock groups such as the Guess Who .There were others .


As to a quad mix of Hendrix :

"Jimi Hendrix-Crash Landing " was one of the approximately 20 CD-4 lps announced/and likely readied for release in 75/76 by his then label Reprise . Warner of course cancelled their quad program in 76 .
So this disc may now be sitting in some dusty vault , but label changes could be a factor if it's lost or forgotten.


Eddie Kramer may know about this release , but he may have been an anti-quad engineer . He was very involved with the aforementioned studio and also some 4 or 5 Led Zeppelin albums--none released in quad though . Led Zep IV was one of his Swansongs , missed opportunity ---maybe .


Oh Well .:rolleyes:
 
Just a mini addition to this thread.

It would seem WQIV NY and Electric Ladyland Studios program were co-operative in Quad Broadcasts.

So besides Kinky Friedman, The Guess Who , and Rush , (and others of course) being broadcast live in the studio, it would seem as per this link their first QS QUAD Broadcast was with THE SENSATIONAL ALEX HARVEY BAND.


https://books.google.ca/books?id=lR...KEwiEwciU8qXVAhWM34MKHYl4ABQQ6AEIJTAD[/url ]
 
More Hendrix quad dreams. This is excerpted from Eye Magazine, published in July of 1968:

1968-07 Eye Hendrix Surround - FP4 p 107 qq.jpg

Please note the language:

"Stereo speakers in the back of the auditorium..."

By this time word of the use of surround sound at the Games For May Pink Floyd concert on 5/12/67 must have reached his ears. Interestingly, Are You Experienced? was released in the UK on 5/12/67. Hendrix performed in London on this date and went "clubbing" afterwards with among others Lennon, McCartney, Brian Jones, Eric Burdon and members of the Bee Gees. Also, Hendrix toured with Pink Floyd in December of 1967, so he may have heard of their experiment directly from the band or roadies.

In any case, it seems clear to me that they were kicking the idea "around."

By the by, I got this scan from a collection of Hendrix cuttings called Foxy Papers if anyone is into Hendrix:

http://www.picturesofjimi.com/styled-11/index.html
 
More Hendrix quad dreams. This is excerpted from Eye Magazine, published in July of 1968:

View attachment 30530

Please note the language:

"Stereo speakers in the back of the auditorium..."

By this time word of the use of surround sound at the Games For May Pink Floyd concert on 5/12/67 must have reached his ears. Interestingly, Are You Experienced? was released in the UK on 5/12/67. Hendrix performed in London on this date and went "clubbing" afterwards with among others Lennon, McCartney, Brian Jones, Eric Burdon and members of the Bee Gees. Also, Hendrix toured with Pink Floyd in December of 1967, so he may have heard of their experiment directly from the band or roadies.

In any case, it seems clear to me that they were kicking the idea "around."

By the by, I got this scan from a collection of Hendrix cuttings called Foxy Papers if anyone is into Hendrix:

http://www.picturesofjimi.com/styled-11/index.html[/QUOTE

Quite Possible....but sounds like Double Stereo to me!
It was, after all just a three piece band!
 

Quite Possible....but sounds like Double Stereo to me!
It was, after all just a three piece band!

In our day of modern experience with surround sound, the term "double stereo" is understood for what it is. In Hendrix' time even the term "stereo" was essentially brand new. The Beatles themselves paid greater attention to the mono mix of Sgt Pepper, with the stereo mix being an afterthought which they did not even preview before it was released.

I am quite sure that by this time Jimi WAS previewing his stereo mixes, but to assume he is referring to a duplicate of the main mix in the back of the hall (which frankly would have been a vast improvement in most of the spaces he ever played) is still perhaps a rash assumption. They had played alot with phasing for the two LPs, so he had the idea of a swirling moving sound. With the possibilities that Pink Floyd had opened up, I would be surprised if a simple duplication would have been the case. Of course this is 100% speculation for which there will probably never be an answer, unless some further information crops up in another interview. I will be watching, and will post here if anything else turns up.

Either way, the opportunity for this exploration was lost to Jimi with his death in 1970. No matter how many times I read his story, it always ends the same.
 
In our day of modern experience with surround sound, the term "double stereo" is understood for what it is. In Hendrix' time even the term "stereo" was essentially brand new. The Beatles themselves paid greater attention to the mono mix of Sgt Pepper, with the stereo mix being an afterthought which they did not even preview before it was released.

I am quite sure that by this time Jimi WAS previewing his stereo mixes, but to assume he is referring to a duplicate of the main mix in the back of the hall (which frankly would have been a vast improvement in most of the spaces he ever played) is still perhaps a rash assumption. They had played alot with phasing for the two LPs, so he had the idea of a swirling moving sound. With the possibilities that Pink Floyd had opened up, I would be surprised if a simple duplication would have been the case. Of course this is 100% speculation for which there will probably never be an answer, unless some further information crops up in another interview. I will be watching, and will post here if anything else turns up.

Either way, the opportunity for this exploration was lost to Jimi with his death in 1970. No matter how many times I read his story, it always ends the same.

Actually, fourplay, the recently remastered SONY Hendrix catalogue [RBCD/DVD] from the original analogue masters sounds GREAT in DSP [faux surround] mode and IMO, the closest we'll ever get to achieving somewhat of a surround perspective. Jimi's guitar sound was SO massive and recorded so out of phase that it does translate well in the rears without smearing or obfuscating Hendrix's brilliance.

Could modern digital technology translate these Hendrix masters into discrete Quadraphonic sound? Quite possibly but somehow, I prefer to hear his genius in its present form. Just turn the volume up to 11 or 12 and you'll hear what I mean!

OT, when the Hollywood studios tried to modernize Gone With The Wind by expanding the original Full screen negative into CinemaScope, film purists jeered at the results.

My point: Leave well enough alone.

But it would be nice if SONY released those remasters in hi res SACD [on physical disc]. Now, that would be special!
 
Well it is 18 months since I started this thread, and we now have a surround mix of Electric Ladyland in hand, with Axis on SACD in hand and AYE supposedly coming. Seems Eddie Kramer WAS still interested in surround Hendrix! And I am guessing Axis sounds that much better in DSP [faux surround] mode from the SACD, though I have not been able to try that myself. Anyway, Electric Ladyland is awesome! Glad he finally "got around to it!"
 
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