Quad Movies Question

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John Svensson

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Seeing as Mark Anderson's list on our Links is the closest thing to a definitive listing of quad materials I was wondering if it made any sense to compile a list of movies that were released with quad/quint-aphonic soundtracks in theaters? I guess there are a few obvious ones like Floyd's Live At Pompei/ Zeppelin's Song Remains, etc., but I know there must be many I'm not aware of. Maybe this would be a useless exercise if the soundtrack was never subsequently released in a surround format or maybe folks would find it useful?? Hopefully Mark is still actually updating the lists as new information becomes available.

Off that topic, for those who have them...how are the quad mixes on the various Kornyfone boots on the list? Any particularly stand out as good and discrete, more than just crowd and reverb? I've never heard one myself, but they have to be a bit more common than having the actual radio broadcast tapes. John S.
 
Seeing as Mark Anderson's list on our Links is the closest thing to a definitive listing of quad materials I was wondering if it made any sense to compile a list of movies that were released with quad/quint-aphonic soundtracks in theaters? I guess there are a few obvious ones like Floyd's Live At Pompei/ Zeppelin's Song Remains, etc., but I know there must be many I'm not aware of.

The thing to look out for is that many (most? all?) "quadraphonic" movies really weren't. From the advent of CinemaScope onward, "4-track stereo" meant left-center-right behind the screen plus mono surround. I can say with great assurance that the titles you mention above were originally mixed with that layout in mind.

It's possible that at least some titles were mixed and released with the intent of "four corner" presentation, but that would have been the exception. And would also have required the theaters to perform modifications to their standard setups.
 
John:

I don't know about a list of movies with quad soundtracks; however, I did find an interesting article on the first multichannel movie: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasound. At the end of the article are links to more technical discussions by one of the audio engineers involved with the production of the movie - fascinating reading.

Justin
 
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There's a list, but it's a short one.

Most of the films advertised as "quadraphonic" were merely standard CDRS 4-track stereo. This includes Song Remains the Same, Woodstock and even the horror stinker Beyond the Door.

So let's call it "quad" if it has at least four discrete channels that include L, R, LS, and RS -- and released prior to true 5.1 soundtracks (e.g., Jurassic Park).

AFAIK, here is the complete list:

Tommy 1975 (Qunitaphonic, 5.0)
Damnation Alley 1977 (Sound 360, magnetic 4-track)
Apocalypse Now 1979 (70mm prints, first to use stereo surround track)

I might have forgotten one or two, but that's it.
 
The Grateful Dead Movie, 1977, was a Quad mix done at The Burbank Studios. It used DBX noise reduction, and a non-standard track alignment on the film, as it used the quad speaker placement with no center channel. I installed and aligned the DBX system in the projection booth at the Wilshire Blvd. theater for the Los Angeles premier as the RCA theater technicians had never seen such a thing and wouldn't touch it.
 
In the 70's there was (after the 50's) a second wave of 3-D movies. One was called "Dynasty" (a battle between princes in old China). On the poster for the movie was printed "in quadraphonic sound". But it may be in the end the usual 3/1 surround sound.
 
The 3 music titles that come to mind are the 3 done in sq. They are all on laserdisc. Dolly Parton, Kenny Loggins and David Bowie.
 
Hello Bidcat, at the time I was writing I have had not the original Movie Poster (I own) at hand. So I have spoken by remembering from the usual term "quadraphonic sound". In the meantime I have seen direct to the poster and of course there is printed "in Super 3-D and quadrophonic sound. In the english spoken world usual it is called quadra..., but in Europe and especially in Germany it was named Quadro(phonie). I have also the original poster of Jaws in 3-D, but without the print of Quadro - Quadra, so I think, its was the usual 3/1 surround-sound.
Dietrich
 
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