Guys, stop readjusting your systems over this. It's just a typical mixing problem. This is one of the reasons that 5.1 is really better than 4.0, you can keep the lead vocals localized & loud in the center. Some quad mixes resolve a phantom center so perfectly that you would swear that the center was active (Full Sail or Can't Buy A Thrill, for example). On many quad mixes (especially Chicago VIII, for instance), the front vocals get a little lost. The entire The Hoople Q8 suffers from this, the lead vocals are almost inaudible, and it's much worse on the SQ LP. There is nothing you can do to adjust for this, just live with it. Happy Man suffers from this also.
The 5.1 mix of America - Homecoming is amazing and I wouldn't change anything about it...then you have Hearts in quad that is also exceptional. Steven Wilson does his thing in 5.1 and then you have Andy Jackson that does his in 4.0. To me it isn't the amount of speakers but what you do with what you use.
If you do quad you have to have perfect stereo imaging, something I do not have in my asymmetrical room. Center speaker vocals are a God send to me.
Guys, stop readjusting your systems over this. It's just a typical mixing problem. This is one of the reasons that 5.1 is really better than 4.0, you can keep the lead vocals localized & loud in the center. Some quad mixes resolve a phantom center so perfectly that you would swear that the center was active (Full Sail or Can't Buy A Thrill, for example). On many quad mixes (especially Chicago VIII, for instance), the front vocals get a little lost. The entire The Hoople Q8 suffers from this, the lead vocals are almost inaudible, and it's much worse on the SQ LP. There is nothing you can do to adjust for this, just live with it. Happy Man suffers from this also.
I have that awesome Best Of DL DVD-A that is "out there". Happy Man is the same there, many other tracks have the lowered vocals. It is what it is. I love it anyway.Larry, I don't have an issue with the vocal on Happy Man, even in the car. Did you make a DVD-A from the BluRay to play in the car and experience the lower vocal?
I have that awesome Best Of DL DVD-A that is "out there". Happy Man is the same there, many other tracks have the lowered vocals. It is what it is. I love it anyway.
I'm an idiot. I just realized I'm talking about Call On Me, not Happy Man. You do hear what I'm talking about with The Hoople, however?
The backup vocals in the rears seemed to be mixed louder than the lead vocals in the front...I wouldn't blame the quad format however, it is the way it was mixed. Plenty of quad releases don't get mixed like that and it has nothing to do with a lack of center speaker.
Exactly.
Nilsson Schmilsson, as much as I like that mix, has a bit of this going on too.
I sometimes run a phantom center when listening to 5.1 mixes and the vocals rarely ever get recessed like they do in some of the quad mixes. That leads me to believe it was a mixing choice and not a flaw of the quad, four corners, layout.
That should be handled automatically by whatever panning law your mixer is using.The reason center channel information sounds louder when you switch the center channel to 'off' and the sound is routed to the front left and right channels is because what's mixed to the center channel is designed to be heard from one speaker, so when that information is route to two speakers, the loudness is doubled! That's why when you're creating a down mix of a 5.1 mix, you're supposed to lower the center channel by 3 dB so the level is the same.
The reason center channel information sounds louder when you switch the center channel to 'off' and the sound is routed to the front left and right channels is because what's mixed to the center channel is designed to be heard from one speaker, so when that information is route to two speakers, the loudness is doubled! That's why when you're creating a down mix of a 5.1 mix, you're supposed to lower the center channel by 3 dB so the level is the same.
Billy Joel's You're My Home has recessed lead vocals in quad. Don't know why, but it's a shame.
Do they sing the songs with an Australian accent?The best of Mountain in Quad has to be the worst I have heard.
I'm still trying to source a box set of this Chicago Quads in Australia. Seems impossible to find anyone who sells it.
Do they sing the songs with an Australian accent?
That should be handled automatically by whatever panning law your mixer is using.
What's wrong with it? I was just listening to it in the car yesterday, and it sounds light years better than the horribly-mixed stereo LP, the best this material has ever sounded.The best of Mountain in Quad has to be the worst I have heard.