Beatles Sgt. Pepper Quad Test Reel

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Q-Eight

2K Club - QQ Super Nova
Since 2002/2003
Joined
Sep 30, 2003
Messages
3,699
Location
Castlegar, BC, Canada
Stories of this magical tape have been running around for years. Steve Hoffman has apparently heard it, though I'm calling BS because he refuses to discuss it or even describe what the mix sound like.

Mark, what's your take on the subject?
 
We're never going to know how many albums were in the 'test' stages before the plug was pulled on quad...and how many were considered but ultimately rejected for whatever reasons. Yet while PEPPER would have seemed a logical choice, I'd say ABBEY ROAD was even more logical and probably, at the time, would have done excellent business.

ED :)
 
A surround "Sgt. Pepper" today might work, since they can sync up all of the pre-bounce four-track tapes. But a quad "Sgt. Pepper" in the 70s would have been made from the final four-track master, which wouldn't have left a lot of choices for panning. I doubt it would have sounded that good.

J. D.
 
We're never going to know how many albums were in the 'test' stages before the plug was pulled on quad...and how many were considered but ultimately rejected for whatever reasons. Yet while PEPPER would have seemed a logical choice, I'd say ABBEY ROAD was even more logical and probably, at the time, would have done excellent business.

ED :)
I don't have my Lewishon with me, but didn't he mention that "Abbey Road" was at least logged as having had a quad mix made of it at one point? I agree, that one seems like it would have been a great choice; I'd like to hear that even more than "Pepper"...
 
Oh, and I read in "The 910" magazine some years back that, IIRC, an actual purported mockup of a quad "Pepper" complete with finished tape was given away by a Capitol executive years ago and is now in the shadowy realm of collectorland. If any of you guys have it, 'fess up!
 
Pepper is there, done for a test years ago. I know someone who heard it. It was in the possesion of one of the guys who developed quad, just can't place the name(begins with an R) now. it was a SQ recording, an lp. I could tell ya who heard it, he is an pioneer in the biz, but that's kinda silly. he is still in biz in so cal. It is in some collection, but i never thought we would hear it and i still don't. Look at all the stuff we know some of our members have, like Rusty!!! We Still never see those reels, and this one will probably never show, cause the owner probably cares less about quad.
 
It just amazes me that every Beatles song has been dissected in countless bootlegs on any format, analog or digital, documenting every stage from early demo to final master mono and stereo - most of the solo works too -, and that quad reel never showed anywhere on a boot. Heck, at least the SQ could be recorded as a ordinary stereo file!
 
It just amazes me that every Beatles song has been dissected in countless bootlegs on any format, analog or digital, documenting every stage from early demo to final master mono and stereo - most of the solo works too -, and that quad reel never showed anywhere on a boot. Heck, at least the SQ could be recorded as a ordinary stereo file!

My point exactly!! If this so-called Quad test has been out in the public, why is it easier to get a hold of stuff that is held in studios in vaults behind lock and key??

I'm sure someone over the years may have made a homemade pseudo-quad tape of Sgt Pepper. But as for there being a true, studio mix of it.... I think it's the biggest dumptruck full of BS until proven otherwise.
 
The MFSL lps had a photo of the original tape box for Sgt Pepper, and it showed that master being pulled for a quad version. My thought is it is a fake quad made from the stereo master. Others have said that the stereo master was pulled for reference, but why pull the master just to reference? I call BS on a truly discrete quad Pepper.
 
Hi Gang,

I had never heard the rumors that this mix existed until this forum came about.

I agree with the statement that JDMACK made that it would be feasible now to do a good mix.

Considering that it was recorded on a 4-track does not allow any good mixing and would simply be like the first four stereo albums that were recorded on a 2-track.

At the same time I do not doubt the statement that quadtrade makes. He has done a lot of research over the years
 
When I was "involved" in the Steve Hoffman Forum, Steve did confirm that he did indeed hear the Sgt Pepper SQ LP. He did not remember the type of decoder that was used for playback.

There would be no reason for him not to speak the truth. That, along with Tad Bartel's verification, makes me believe that this was indeed created. Considering the state of Capitol when it came to quad it's very possible that they never released it because they never came to an agreement with Columbia to release SQ LPs.
 
There was a fake quad SQ tape made for Q8 production from the stereo master reel. If you have the MFSL Beatles box set, look at the photo of the inner cover of the reel box, in 1973 it was taken from the tape library for "quad remix". Never issued, but LP test pressings in SQ were presumably made.
Steve Hoffman talked of hearing a real quad tape in a studio playback, and as the details were not shared publicly, I'm left with nothing to add.
 
Well then why all the cloak and dagger mischief surrounding it? If it exists, cough it up. Yes, I'm calling them out. I say it's time to put up or shut up. :D
 
Well then why all the cloak and dagger mischief surrounding it? If it exists, cough it up. Yes, I'm calling them out. I say it's time to put up or shut up. :D

The problem is that Capitol/Apple/EMI don't feel a need to prove they have it. Their opinion is that we don't need to know what they have.
 
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