'Experience' by Gloria Gaynor.. The mystery QS first release LP

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rustyandi

900 Club - QQ All-Star
Since 2002/2003
Joined
Mar 19, 2002
Messages
908
Location
Australia
Gloria Gaynor
Experience

I have just sat down and had a good listen to this LP
Both sides
Casanova Brown
Has a percussion brake that is as good a Quad mix as you would want.
Do it yourself
How high the Moon
Both these tracks have strings in the rear channels
As a separate backing .
The other side
Prettiest Face
What’ll I Do
Tell Me How
I’M Still Yours
Walk On By
Have mixes some are not as distinct as side one
But at times give a Quad Sound at times
The Scope gives a front Back separation
Not the Right side and left Side Wall Effect
I will stick My neck out and say
I think that it is Quad
But be gentle if you think not
Ron
 
Thanks for the investigation rustyandi.
I finally found a reference in Billboard (Nov 15, 1975) that probably started the inclination that this title is quad.

In a report on the Audio Engineering Society Convention, the article states "Also being demonstrated was another of the QS "quiet quads," the disco sound of Gloria
Gaynor's "Experience," mixed at Media Sound studios here for MGM, with the "Do lt Yourself' cut showing particularly vivid separation."

I guess that kinda nails it without direct confirmation from Tom Moulton who mixed the album.
 
Is Gloria Gaynor - Experience QUAD?
Thanks for the investigation rustyandi.
I finally found a reference in Billboard (Nov 15, 1975) that probably started the inclination that this title is quad.

In a report on the Audio Engineering Society Convention, the article states "Also being demonstrated was another of the QS "quiet quads," the disco sound of Gloria
Gaynor's "Experience," mixed at Media Sound studios here for MGM, with the "Do lt Yourself' cut showing particularly vivid separation."

I guess that kinda nails it without direct confirmation from Tom Moulton who mixed the album.

Tom Moulton was kind enough to respond to my question about Experience being mixed in quad, below is our conversation:


MARK: I am wondering if the GLORIA GAYNOR -Experience album MGM M3G-4997 you mixed is quad using the Sansui QS matrix. I ask this in reference to an article in Billboard

"Billboard (Nov 15, 1975) reported on the Audio Engineering Society Convention, the article states "Also being demonstrated was another of the QS "quiet quads" the disco sound of Gloria Gaynor's "Experience," mixed at Media Sound studios here for MGM, with the "Do lt Yourself' cut showing particularly vivid separation" This appears to be an unmarked quad recording"

I am curious why the album would not be identified at the time as quad for additional marketing appeal.

TOM: Because we asked Polydor if we could do it in Quad and they said NO!
Not really understanding all the pros & cons of Quad we did it anyway and didn't tell the label. when we started hearing the album on the radio if you were listening on a clock radio or a mono radio. When you play a quad record in mono the left and right cancel each other out. So you would hear Gloria basically singing with just a rhythm track and no strings & Horns.So what's left in the middle is what you hear. So we went back in the Studio and I said instead of remixing why don't we just decode it and bounce it down to stereo. When you see the RE in the wax you know that is the stereo album. Ciao, Tom

Chat Conversation End


Interesting to hear that that first addition LP's without RE etched in the wax are quad and mixed directly from multi track to matrix 2 track.
 
My wax numbers
M3G4997AS-PRC-5
TM/JR IVEN
Who knows what means?
mine is pretty much same, except last letters -W(or U, hard to say as one side looks more like W, another - like U)A - 8(side 1) and 7(side 2).
my guess if RE absend, should be QS pressing.
 
Could this be only on US pressings? Stampers used in other countries make new stampers from lent tapes as opposed to shipping fragile stampers make of metals of value. I smell a rash of copies on ebay claiming the re is missing on their pressings...

Edit: Some Canadian copies are on Polydor, not MGM. How about other countries? I suspect that unless Tom's original matrix tape got duped and sent out, we may never know. Tom would only have had control over US stampers.
 
I agree. Thanks to all who chased this info down!!! this is a wonderful sleuthing job. Congrats on getting to the bottom!!!!
 
Rustyandi, those appear to be the matrix numbers from the original pressing. I cant find any info on the meaning of "AS-PRC-5" ect. but the M3G4997 are correct.

Until a copy is found with "RE" we really won't know what the difference in sound is to help with confirming the engineers recollection and which disks are and are not quad. We really do not know if tapes were released to other countries prior to the reissue and if the RE was dropped on recuttings here in the US when the stamper got damaged or worn out.
 
The only info I have seen published on MGM matrix numbers only identifies m3g as the label and 4997 as the catalog number. Unfortunately the numbers that follow usually containing info on the pressing plant, stamper cutting and other details has not been documented. Let's hope in time we can get to the bottom of this but until then, enjoy it if it sounds good.
I like the "4" too. It must be quad because of the 4. Maybe the engineers recollection is hazy and recuttings did not have the 4........
I have to say I do not have this title so I can't chime in on how it sounds. I will have to wait for a script or hardware decode.
 
Mark the one i have is QS, will get files up so all can hear it. m3g4997-bs-wa-8
 
In regards to 'Experience' by Gloria Gaynor.. Is there or isn't there a QS mix?
My copy has this engraved in the deadwax:
Side One: M3G4997AS-HS 4 TM/JR Iven
Side Two: M3G4997BS-HS 4 TM/JR

my guess is the 'AS' is for A Side (side one), and 'BS' is B Side (side two).
 
NOTE: These posts were pulled from the Mark Anderson Discography forum and put into this thread to give the topic better visibility and distribution. The source posts were also left in the original thread for continuity.
 
My copy has Side 1: M3G4997AS-PRC 5 TM/JR Iven
and Side 2: M3G4997BS-PRC 5 TM/JR

I did two decodings of Side 1. I have found that the two QS scripts I have each can do a better job than the other depending on the album, so I always try both. Kempfand's script QS_dec_AA3_v1 and Lucanu's 2013 QS script both provided roughly the same degree of separation and instrument/voice placement. Definitely a quad album. But the low end disappeared after decoding with Lucanu's script and it was stronger than the undecoded album with Kempfand's script. Are there other QS scripts available for Audition 1.5 or 3.0 that one could try?

J. D.
 
Jdmack, the album you have and I own are the same pressing. No one has chimed-in acknowledging there is a pressing with the 'RE' like TOm Moulton has described. In fact, Tom's recollection of his mixes has been shady due to the large amount of material he has remixed in the years between 73-79. 1975 was 40 years ago; I doubt anyone can remember all details.

Also, the member who goes by ' Quadtrade' has indicated that the QS version has the matrix on dead wax as: m3g4997-bs-wa-8

This makes sense, as the Test Pressing (according to photos and discogs) ends in wa-7.





My copy has Side 1: M3G4997AS-PRC 5 TM/JR Iven
and Side 2: M3G4997BS-PRC 5 TM/JR

I did two decodings of Side 1. I have found that the two QS scripts I have each can do a better job than the other depending on the album, so I always try both. Kempfand's script QS_dec_AA3_v1 and Lucanu's 2013 QS script both provided roughly the same degree of separation and instrument/voice placement. Definitely a quad album. But the low end disappeared after decoding with Lucanu's script and it was stronger than the undecoded album with Kempfand's script. Are there other QS scripts available for Audition 1.5 or 3.0 that one could try?

J. D.
 
Also, I have found that QS mixes don't have much separation and quad effects (like panning between speakers) like SQ. THey tend to be more conservative, and most things decoded with the QS script will give you that 'dolby pro logic II' effect on stereo recordings - fake quad.
 
Also, I have found that QS mixes don't have much separation and quad effects (like panning between speakers) like SQ. THey tend to be more conservative, and most things decoded with the QS script will give you that 'dolby pro logic II' effect on stereo recordings - fake quad.

That can be true. One thing which suggests to me that this might be something other than stereo is that summing the stereo signal to mono phases out the instruments which appear in the rear channels when run through a QS script. A good stereo mix will fold down to mono without problems (usually).

In the meantime, I'll keep my eyes open for a pressing with "RE" in the matrix. Related to that, I wonder what's on the CD?

J. D.
 
I have a 2005 Japanese pressing CD of this, i strongly doubt there's something there but who knows... if you need a snippet (30 sec) of a track for testing just say so and i'll ul somewhere.

Edit: i've tried the sum to mono and it does really sounds funky... so there may really be something.
 
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