"Eat a Peach" SACD ?

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4 1/2 of five stars*.

After a very long wait on this one, today was the day for more Allman Bros. I'll try not to gush too much but this is my cup of tea.

Sweet, clear separation and a "headphones only" type of recording. The center is there for the vocals but the soundstage of the L/R makes it blend in so much, as to be invisible. The rears are mostly for ambience effect (however cymbols seems to reside there throughout the disc).

Butch Trucks (yup, he was with the band then) does a nice, understated drum solo on "Mountain Jam", as does Berry Oakley on Bass. Duane Allman and Dickey Betts alternate L/R channels, I'm never sure who is where - when (although his slide guitar anchors the left speaker on "One Way Out").

This is the first release after Duane's passing, so he is missing on the first three tracks.

The reason I always favor the Allman Bros is not that they shine as individuals, it is because they fit together as a group, and the music just flows through / over / around you, like a wave.

Think "Blue Sky".

Reference 5.1 Hi-rez, perhaps not. Reference music - oh yeah!

* Why not five? well as the Olympic Judges are want to do, I need to leave some room for the next performer .. :banana:

Which I hope is the 8/24 release of "Live at Fillmore East"

I hope

I hope

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Hi,
This is my first message on quadraphonic quad.
I agree. Fillmore East and Eat A Peach are still in the top-5 of my quad listening 'albums'. I got the DTS "Fillmore East" but not the SACD "Eat A Peach" yet. I hear you comparing the SACD EAP with the CD-4. How does the SACD compare to the quad reel-to-reel?
deak
 
It's an interesting mix for what it is, but for those of us so used to the original Quad, well....it seems to be too 'active' if that's the word, not enough isolation for my tastes. Even so, it is lively, so I can live with it, but not what I expected, really.

ED:)
 
narcopolo said:
Best Buy is just a waste of time lately.

Whaddya mean, LATELY?

I spent YEARS of wasted trips to BB on release date before learning all BB's in my area get new hi-rez stuff MONTHS after anyone else. I always end up going to Tower Records -- which always has it, often still unpacked -- at list price, sometimes list price plus. What fun!

Esp too bad since I have several thousand $$$ of BB gift cards, plus they have the Rewards prog.
 
eggplant said:
Whaddya mean, LATELY?

I spent YEARS of wasted trips to BB on release date before learning all BB's in my area get new hi-rez stuff MONTHS after anyone else. I always end up going to Tower Records -- which always has it, often still unpacked -- at list price, sometimes list price plus. What fun!

Esp too bad since I have several thousand $$$ of BB gift cards, plus they have the Rewards prog.

It must vary by area. Here in Silicon Valley, the nearby Best Buys often get and put out the new Universal and Sony Music SACDs on the release date. I always look there first.

On the Allman Brothers, I was a bit surprised when the local Borders store had the best deal on Allman Brothers Band at Fillmore SACD - $18.99 for the 2 Disc SACD set! I guess you never know where the deals will be.
 
bmoura said:
It must vary by area.

Guess so. Right now, I've checked BB's in Las Vegas, San Bernardino, and Orange County. None has even one of the new pop releases.

In years past, new titles weren't even listed in the store's inventory as an existing or upcoming release.
 
The local Borders will get this mainstream a title in stock, but you usually gotta look in the acts' section, rather than the special multichannel area they have. Can't make up their minds where to stock anything, but they did have the Allmans' titles, both on time.

ED:)
 
Ed Bishop said:
The local Borders will get this mainstream a title in stock, but you usually gotta look in the acts' section, rather than the special multichannel area they have. Can't make up their minds where to stock anything, but they did have the Allmans' titles, both on time.

ED:)

True, although none of the Borders in this area have the special multichannel section you refer to. So all of the SACDs are mixed in with the regular CDs.
 
Thanks Cal! I'm looking for a copy of Quad Eat A Peach in either CD-4 or RTR tape, any thoughts on where I might find either one? I was the remix engineer for the quad version so I appreciate your kind comments! I recall that it sounded pretty good in the control room but that was 40 years ago and under ideal conditions. I have a CD-4 system but primarily for the strain gauge cartridge qualities but I could decode the quad LP if I could find one. Sure would like to hear it again before I leave here...
Best,
 
Thanks Cal! I'm looking for a copy of Quad Eat A Peach in either CD-4 or RTR tape, any thoughts on where I might find either one? I was the remix engineer for the quad version so I appreciate your kind comments! I recall that it sounded pretty good in the control room but that was 40 years ago and under ideal conditions. I have a CD-4 system but primarily for the strain gauge cartridge qualities but I could decode the quad LP if I could find one. Sure would like to hear it again before I leave here...
Best,

Welcome to the forum. Could you give some insight on just how that mix went with the equipment that was used back then?
 
Thanks Cal! I'm looking for a copy of Quad Eat A Peach in either CD-4 or RTR tape, any thoughts on where I might find either one? I was the remix engineer for the quad version so I appreciate your kind comments! I recall that it sounded pretty good in the control room but that was 40 years ago and under ideal conditions. I have a CD-4 system but primarily for the strain gauge cartridge qualities but I could decode the quad LP if I could find one. Sure would like to hear it again before I leave here...
Best,

Welcome to the forum! Ebay will always be your best bet for finding original CD-4 or quad reel tapes. It's just a matter of being patient and crossing your fingers that you are the highest bidder. :)

Here's a Buy It Now offer for the album on Ebay now. Not the most reasonable price, but depends on how patient you want to be. http://www.ebay.com/itm/THE-ALLMAN-BROTHERS-BAND-Eat-a-Peach-Quadraphonic-Double-Vinyl-LP-1975-VG-/291168037089?pt=Music_on_Vinyl&hash=item43caf7a8e1
 
Thanks Cal! I'm looking for a copy of Quad Eat A Peach in either CD-4 or RTR tape, any thoughts on where I might find either one? I was the remix engineer for the quad version so I appreciate your kind comments! I recall that it sounded pretty good in the control room but that was 40 years ago and under ideal conditions. I have a CD-4 system but primarily for the strain gauge cartridge qualities but I could decode the quad LP if I could find one. Sure would like to hear it again before I leave here...
Best,
Look upstairs when you thank Cai. He passed away a couple of years ago.
 
Thanks Cal! I'm looking for a copy of Quad Eat A Peach in either CD-4 or RTR tape, any thoughts on where I might find either one? I was the remix engineer for the quad version so I appreciate your kind comments! I recall that it sounded pretty good in the control room but that was 40 years ago and under ideal conditions. I have a CD-4 system but primarily for the strain gauge cartridge qualities but I could decode the quad LP if I could find one. Sure would like to hear it again before I leave here...
Best,

I also wanted to welcome you to the forum. The quad mix of Eat A Peach is rightly regarded as one of the better ones in the format, and the 5.1 SACD doesn't hold a candle to it. The quad reel regularly goes for hundreds of dollars when it shows up on eBay, and with good reason in my opinion.

I'm sure there are lots of people here (myself included) that would love to pick your brain about your experiences mixing Eat A Peach. I'd love to hear your general reminiscinces about mixing the album, but I also have lots of questions as well, if I'm not being too presumptuous:

Were you given a brief by the original producer, record label, or band about instrument placement for the quad mix?

Was the mix influenced at all by the technical limitations of the delivery formats (CD-4, Quad 8-Track)? I know that Columbia engineers, for example, were told not to mix anything center-rear because SQ encoders couldn't handle it. Were there any similar constraints you had to work under?

Did you have the original stereo mix to hand when you were doing the quad mix? If so, how much did you refer to it? Was there a conscious effort to try to recreate things like EQ choices, reverbs, etc. from the original stereo mix? This seems de rigeur for modern digital mixes where you can have your original stereo mix lined up with the multitracks so you can A/B between your surround mix and the stereo mix but I'm not sure if a similar facility existed during analog days. The reason I ask is there are many quad mixes (Eat A Peach not included) that are so different they sound like the quad remix engineer never had the original stereo mix to refer to.

Did you work on any other quad mixes? A mastering engineer who visited here briefly said there was an unreleased quad mix of The Allmans' Brothers And Sisters album in the vault, did you have any involvement with this or any other unreleased mixes?

I hope this isn't too much, too soon but we're genuinely interested in things like this here...I hope you'll stick around and contribute!
 
Thanks Cal! I'm looking for a copy of Quad Eat A Peach in either CD-4 or RTR tape, any thoughts on where I might find either one? I was the remix engineer for the quad version so I appreciate your kind comments! I recall that it sounded pretty good in the control room but that was 40 years ago and under ideal conditions. I have a CD-4 system but primarily for the strain gauge cartridge qualities but I could decode the quad LP if I could find one. Sure would like to hear it again before I leave here...
Best,
Since the mixes are the same for the live cuts on EAP & Fillmore East, I assume you also mixed that, true?
 
I am sure that someone here can get you a copy of the CD-4 or Q4 converted to DVD-A or DTS. (For hobby use only, of course)
 
To Everyone:

Thanks for the comments and questions regarding the Eat A Peach mix! Appreciate it very much. I've been swamped at work for the last couple weeks and haven't had time to even check the forum again until now. At my age 12 to 14 hour days take quite a toll - used to be able to take them (and longer) in stride but not anymore.

Anyway, I'm at work now but will definitely respond to all of you as time allows. Bizarrely, there are virtually no pictures of the CR online that I could find and I doubt if any that I took back then are still in my possession now (suffered at least two major burglaries in those days, one of which was nearly total, including my clothes!)

Best,
 
Clint, Steelydave, Larry - So sorry to hear that Cai has passed on! (I'm likely not far behind him at this point)

Finally have a few minutes to respond to some of your questions. First, here's an incomplete list of the equipment we had at Capricorn when I mixed Eat A Peach: Automated Processes console (API) (don't remember the model # for sure, think it was a 3288, but it was identical to several that Record Plant, NYC, had in their studios & despite the company's name it was not "automated" in any way!); Studer A-80 Mk II 24 track (w/ Dolby A NR); Studer A-80 Mk II 1/2" 4 track mastering machine; 2 x EMT plate reverb; EMT 250 Digital Reverb (online says it was first available in 1976 but that's not true because we had one in '74); several Eventide Clockworks delays & such; Kepex noise gates; EMT PDM 156 stereo compressor; DBX 160 compressors; a few assorted UREI 1176LN limiter/compressors & LA-3A levelers; Pultec EQP-1A & MEQ-5 EQs; ITI Parametric EQ (later by GML); and a couple of British "channel" processors, one was called a "Vocal Stressor" if I remember correctly.

For monitoring we used Tom Hidley's custom 3-way monitors (JBL components) as the entire control room was his design, and it was built as a quad mixing room from the ground up in 1972 or 73. Crown DC300 power amps with Altec 1/3 octave filters for tuning though we may have swapped those out for others by the time Eat A Peach was mixed in quad.

I'm sure I'm leaving out some important gear but this was the main compliment as best my now senile memory can do.

I did NOT mix the original stereo LP though I was involved, minimally, in the Filmore East live recording sessions, which were done by Aaron Baron's Location Recoders. And I didn't reference the stereo mix when doing the quad version - didn't need to as we were all so very familiar with the ABB "sound" by that time. Also, I had done a bit of live mixing in their 1973 tour due to a new PA system that Johnny Sandlin, Tom Hidley, and I had designed that required some on-the-job training for their normal live crew to set up and operate.

Steelydave - we used CD-4, the JVC discrete format, so there weren't really any technical limits on instrument placement or other mix values either. Only the normal limitations that vinyl always had associated with it. And this was my first and only quad mix - I had nothing to do with any others that Capricorn may have released as they also "released" me in late 1975 (something to do with an executive's mistresses I later found out - strange times, foggy times).

Also, though I was an engineer on Brothers & Sisters there was no quad mix that I know of, but that doesn't mean there isn't one because it would have been done after I was gone. Final note, the quad mix of Filmore East was also released in 1974 but I didn't mix it and don't know who did. I was at the Sausalito Record Plant for several months working on a different project (my last for Capricorn) and didn't know Filmore East was being mixed in quad.

If I remember anymore I'll add it later guys. Brings back memories of a pretty good time of my life...we had more fun than we knew at the time!
 
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Is that at the Capricorn studio location on Broadway Street (Now MLK) in Macon, Ga? I work across the street from there at WGXA TV, where the Brown House Hotel used to be. I once visited the Capricorn studio. I went inside and walked up to the studio door and decided to look in the porthole window. I was very much surprised to find out that the round window was actually a crystal ball, into which I bumped my face. It went by the name of Walden studios then and has since shut down. Some guy built a shortwave radio station nearby with a huge yagi antenna on top of the building and I hear that every time he fired up that transmitter, it would bleed into the electronics at Capricorn, forcing it to close down. At the time I thought it was odd that we didn't have any problems with interference at WGXA. Walden has since died, as well as the shortwave station owner. The transmitter is gone but the yagi still stands. Capricorn has been stripped of it's equipment, but the building still stands. The wooden Capricorn artwork over the front door is gone. I have a CD-4 copy of Eat a Peach. It's some smooth listening. It would be fun knowing that it was mixed there, if it was.
 
Thanks for the detailed info @epaladin - Perhaps one day there will be a Blu-ray release with your quad mix (which I would love to experience) along with the more recent 5.1 SACD mix. It's interesting that as first-time quad mixers both you and Andy Jackson (Pink Floyd's Division Bell) earned high respect here at QuadQuad with your "visions" for the soundfields.
 
Hi epaladin, You engineered one of my favourite albums "Brothers & Sisters", thanks :worthy, its one I'd love to hear it in surround :D.
 
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