4 more Quadio titles coming in May 2024!

[steelydave]

If I was to nitpick I would say that the vocals were too buried in the mix. It sounds very much like Jefferson Airplane from which it is descended from, but no Grace Slick. Otherwise a great mix!

I think the lack of more dominant/distinctive vocals is what makes Hot Tuna for me rather forgettable.

Thinking about Jefferson Airplane (on Grunt) makes me wish that "Long John Silver" had also been done in Quad!

A lot of the RCA quad titles that were mixed in-house at their own studios (which is the majority of the early ones) need considerable EQ work to sound "right." I can't remember the exact type of monitoring speakers used in their studios (my memory wants to say "horn loaded driver?") but Steve Hoffman mentioned it when AF's Best of the Guess Who quad SACD came out as he did a lot of work to the stereo mix to make it sound as it should. Effectively, RCA's studios had speakers with a really pronounced top end, so the master tapes (transferred flat) are dull sounding because trebly speakers + dull mix = balanced-sounding end result going in your ear 'oles.

I haven't heard Burgers yet but complaints of 'muffled vocals are a telltale sign of a rolled-off upper-midrange/top end frequency response, which is exactly what I'd expect from an RCA quad master tape of this era transferred flat. So complaints about the vocals being muffled are entirely valid and shouldn't be discounted, and it's worth noting that these are defects of an EQ issue and not a (too low in the) mix issue.

If you listen to how much hiss there is in the intro of the stereo mix of These Eyes on the AF SACD it'll give you some idea of the kind of upper midrange/treble boost that Hoffman had to apply. Similarly, compare the quad mixes of the other tracks on this compilation (aside from the ones sourced from the Share the Land album, which sound decent) which weren't mastered by Hoffman but instead 'transferred by Gus Skinas' - which I think we can infer are basically a flat transfer or close to it - to the equivalent songs on their respective releases from the D-V issues of these albums (which were very much mastered by Mike Dutton) and you can see the difference that getting the EQ right has on making things like lead vocals image properly in the phantom center position.

 

[atrocity]

for most of the disc the rear speakers seemed much louder than the front and at least one instance of a volume discrepancy between tracks. Does anyone else hear this?

Yes, but I can't swear that my system is set up 100% properly.

 

[atrocity]

I’ve only listened to the Hot Tuna disc so far. I thought the quad mix was great. Also nice phantom center effect. I had to walk over to the center speaker to confirm nothing was coming out.

I had to do that for Roberta Flack!

 

[bookofsaturdays]

Thinking about Jefferson Airplane (on Grunt) makes me wish that "Long John Silver" had also been done in Quad!

I mean, as long as the multitracks are available, it’s not totally off the table…

 

[quicksrt]

Hot Tuna "Burgers" production credits, fairly vague.

Recorded At – Wally Heider Studios, San Francisco, CA
Mixing – Betty Cantor, The Masked Mixer
Engineer – The Unknown Engineer

 

[quicksrt]

Just a boring shipping comment, but like others I got my four discs from the latest batch with two cracked cases. Super annoying.

All four of these were shipped together in thin wrap around cardboard. I know I can buy new cases but obviously shouldn't have to.

I noticed the Rhino Joni Mitchell box shipping was light years better, in a good sized box with packing material.

Would very much like to see the future Quadios shipped like the Joni Box and plan to let Rhino know that.

I'm wondering your location? Different fulfillment center maybe.

My Joni came in exact same box as the 4 Quadio bundle came in, but in a thin bag over the small box.

 

[~dave~~wave~]

Hot Tuna "Burgers" production credits, fairly vague.

Recorded At – Wally Heider Studios, San Francisco, CA
Mixing – Betty Cantor, The Masked Mixer
Engineer – The Unknown Engineer

Betty Cantor is a very specific and historically important figure in the 70s San Francisco scene.

 

[texeast]

To my ears, Hot Tuna's BURGERS was an incredibly hyperactive QUAD mix ...probably intended to show off the 'new' format at the time. IMO, there is absolutely nothing 'technically' wrong with it!

The vocals are too low compared to all the instruments which just makes it not sound right to my ears. Maybe there is nothing technically wrong with it based on the original mix but hearing in my head which may not coincide with what you hear in your head it just does not sound right to me. I know this can be a subjective topic so I will just leave it at that. Thanks for your comments.

 

[Bruce00]

Since mine arrived an hour or so, Iam listening one after another.
On Robertas Killing me Softly was the only song Iam familiar with. As someone mentioned the rest sound like lounge music, not that there's anything wrong with that. But not my cup of tea, so to speak.
Hot Tuna played will I was in and out to the garage. Nothing stood out to me
Seals & Crofts, will not get played until my reciever gets finished
Donny Hathaway, while only on the first song, seems like it will be the only one to get into my rotation.

I'll still support the Quadios as long as Rhino produces them........Now back to Robin Trower

 

[aoxomoxoa]

I received 8 quadio discs all with broken hubs. The cases weren't cracked.
Must have taken a beating on the week and a half trek from fed ex.
I wish they just put these in cardboard sleeves. Like the Joni box

 

[dabl]

I'm wondering your location? Different fulfillment center maybe.

My Joni came in exact same box as the 4 Quadio bundle came in, but in a thin bag over the small box.

I'm in Indianapolis, IN. Good point about the different fulfillment center which would explain all the different ways these things ship, some more successful than others.

 

[dabl]

I wish they just put these in cardboard sleeves. Like the Joni box

Good idea, +1 on that.

 

[The Rang]

No cardboard sleeves please.
At least a damaged jewel box can be replaced, cardboard packaging cannot.

 

[Imbobman]

I ordered my Quadio bundle along with the Hootie disc, so they were all packed in a nice box with paper stuffing. Perfect shipping because of the Hootie disc being in a longer Blu-ray box.

I had a similar good experience with the Quadio bundle & 2 other titles. All shipped in a box with paper stuffing.
Excellent job! Thank you Rhino,....

 

[steelydave]

Hot Tuna "Burgers" production credits, fairly vague.

Recorded At – Wally Heider Studios, San Francisco, CA
Mixing – Betty Cantor, The Masked Mixer
Engineer – The Unknown Engineer

Wally Heiders was definitely quad equipped (Ed Barton mixed the MJQ Plastic Dreams album for quad there) but the vast majority of RCA titles from the early Q8 days were remixed for quad back at RCA's own studios by guys like Jack Adelman, Sam Stellato, Pat Ieraci, and the like. If the quad mix is considerably more murky than the stereo mix, it would be a reasonable assumption, I think, to believe that the difference is because the mixes were done in two different places on different equipment and monitoring speakers.

Betty Cantor is a very specific and historically important figure in the 70s San Francisco scene.

Very true - most famously she ran live sound for the Grateful Dead for nearly 10 years and recorded thousands of hours of their concerts on a Nagra reel to reel deck that have formed the basis for dozens of bootlegs and also archival releases from the band themselves. The story of the creation, loss, and rediscovery of the so-called "Betty boards" is a fascinating one and this article about them is well worth the read.

She also has some peripheral connections to a couple of other quad releases aside from this one - she was part of the location recording crew at the Diamond Head crater in Hawaii for the Buddy Miles and Carlos Santana Live! album (although apparently most of that was unusable and what you hear on the LP is actually a studio recreation) and she was also on the engineering team that did the Phil Lesh and Ned Lagin Seastones album, which was a single-inventory SQ quad release.

 

[Cassetto]

Shhhhh.... April 19th.......

Are the new titles going to make it to the UK? Perhaps the Dig store?

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

Are the new titles going to make it to the UK? Perhaps the Dig store?

I emailed Warner Music asking them why we in the UK are unable to purchase the box-sets and repeatedly got fobbed off. The last response being this: -

We are currently unable to provide specific details regarding the availability of certain items in our stock. Our inventory updates depend on information from our suppliers, and as we have not received any updates from them, we are unable to confirm if or when these items will be restocked.

We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused but we recommend you keep checking our website in case we do receive more stock.

It would seem they don't have any control or their own suppliers!

 

[Owen Smith]

Are the new titles going to make it to the UK? Perhaps the Dig store?

I've given up on Dig. They had two of the first bundle I wanted and that's been it so far. Between Rhino not having the UK rights and Dig not wanting to stock, they've become irrelevant.

 

[quicksrt]

I've given up on Dig. They had two of the first bundle I wanted and that's been it so far. Between Rhino not having the UK rights and Dig not wanting to stock, they've become irrelevant.

I had to buy so many European priced, UK surround import SACDs (not issued in the US) including Roxy, Ferry, Tubular Bells, Strombringer, Machine Head, Ziggy, etc. that it's not funny. I think you too can also deal with it just fine, or maybe not.

 

[Owen Smith]

I had to buy so many European priced, UK surround import SACDs (not issued in the US) including Roxy, Ferry, Tubular Bells, Strombringer, Machine Head, Ziggy, etc. that it's not funny. I think you too can also deal with it just fine, or maybe not.

I'm buying Quadios on eBay and Amazon with duties prepaid. There is no way I am dealing with Rhino's shipping in multiple packages and the cost of multiple collections of duties.