The Who Quadrophenia QS Quad Mix

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sspsandy

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I decided to give this one another listen, through the Tate this time in SQ mode, and I'm convinced that this album is a true encoded quad mix. It has alot of separation especially during the ocean sounds and the full orchestra sounding synthsizer parts. The copy I have is an early pressing on the black Track Records label. According to some articles that I've read, Pete Townsend originally mixed this album for a 4 channel release, but when he heard it was going to be released in QS, he was disappointed so he remixed it as a dynamic stereo mix, and it was never released in quad. Like disappointed as compared to what, that it wasn't going to be released as SQ, or CD-4, or Quad Reel? I think it is more likely that it was in fact released as an unmarked QS and that maybe the more gimmicky aspects of the quad mix were toned down, since it was generally believed that QS had a more blended sound. It just seems ridiculous that an album titled Quadrophenia that was released during the peak of the quadraphonic era, was only available as a stereo mix. It is more likely that it would be taken for granted that it was a quad album and was unmarked so as not to limit it to just QS, that people with SQ systems would buy it too. The mix sounds great in SQ mode. Not having a high end QS decoder, I'd be curious to hear some opinions of this album from some of you folks that have the Variomatrix systems.
 
What I read in an interview with one of the engineers in "Studio Sound" magazine a few years ago was that it was mixed for quad, but when they played the encoded test pressings on a stereo, they sounded mono, so the quad plan was scrapped. If you don't mind a bit more expirimenting, see how the two different pressings compare to each other in stereo. I'm wondering if the "test pressings" mentioned were actually the first pressings of the commercial release.
 
Interesting to think that maybe the early pressings were the quad version, though I'm old enough to remember when quad first happened, and when Quadrophenia came out it was talked about as a quad record, that you had to hear it in quad to get the full effect. Another side note, there is a German Polydor version of the lp that is supposed to be quad, I have yet to find it. The soundtrack on Polydor definately is quad, but I've read about this German quad mix of the original album. One thing I can say for certain is that later remixes of Quadrophenia are stereo only, and there are complaints about changes that were made from the original. I'm still curious to hear from some of the folks with the Variomatrix units, whether or not they think that this is a quad QS recording or not,
 
What's interesting is the thread refers to the original releases of Tommy and Quadrophenia on Polydor UK, while the reply refers to the Tommy sountrack, whick is known to be quad. I have the German Polydor release of Tommy, which most definately sounds quad, I have never actually located a Polydor pressing of Quadrophenia, German or UK, other than the soundtrack, which is also known to be quad.
 
I have both the original UK Polydor pressings of Tommy and Quadraphonenia.........and they fall into the "decodes well" category but are in fact NOT QS (or SQ) encoded.
The rumors have bounced around for years, and along with the unmarked true QS of the Tommy Soundtrack that fueled the rumors combined with Pete's comments regarding his writing and development of Quadraphenia and its "original" intention to be a quadraphonic release have kept the rumor alive.
I did have the opportunity last year to speak to Pete T. of the Who directly and of course I brought up the subject of Quadraphenia and future multi-channel Who releases. He personally confirmed that the Quadraphenia we listen to is stereo....mixed down from his original "quad" concept.....thus it does decode well, but it is not encoded in ANY quad format. The good news is that he seemed very receptive and interested in releasing his "original concept" of Quadraphenia in one of the new MC formats! So, we might someday be able to really hear it as intended!:p

QuadBob:cool:
 
I remember in the '70s finding "Quadrophenia" in the quad bins all the time.
 
How about all the London Phase 4 records people (UNknowledgable clerks) used to put in Quad Bins new and used.
 
QuadBob said:
I have both the original UK Polydor pressings of Tommy and Quadraphonenia.........and they fall into the "decodes well" category but are in fact NOT QS (or SQ) encoded.
The rumors have bounced around for years, and along with the unmarked true QS of the Tommy Soundtrack that fueled the rumors combined with Pete's comments regarding his writing and development of Quadraphenia and its "original" intention to be a quadraphonic release have kept the rumor alive.
I did have the opportunity last year to speak to Pete T. of the Who directly and of course I brought up the subject of Quadraphenia and future multi-channel Who releases. He personally confirmed that the Quadraphenia we listen to is stereo....mixed down from his original "quad" concept.....thus it does decode well, but it is not encoded in ANY quad format. The good news is that he seemed very receptive and interested in releasing his "original concept" of Quadraphenia in one of the new MC formats! So, we might someday be able to really hear it as intended!:p


QuadBob:cool:

Very informative QuadBob! I also remember reading and Interview with Pete T. in which he said that he hated the matrix mix of Quadrophenia and if it couldn't be discrete, he would prefer a stereo only release. Too bad his old record co. wasn't on the CD-4 bandwagon!



:) :)
 
Pete Townshend: "The whole conception of Quadrophenia was geared to quadraphonic, but in a creative sort of way. I mean I wanted themes to sort of emerge from corners. So you start to get the sense of the fourness being literally speaker for speaker. And also in the rock parts the musical thing would sort of jell together up to the thunder clap, then everything would turn slowly from quad into mono and you'd have this solid sort of rock mono ... then a thunder clap and back out again. We spent months mixing it and then found out that MCA was using the CBS quad system and ... you might as well forget it. So our engineer remixed it in the same manner that it was mixed in stereo, the same sort of creative approach."
How successful he was with that mix is still a matter of contention among Who fans. Is it a good mix, a bad mix or a technically flawed mix? In any case the rest of The Who hated the mix, particularly Roger, and their reaction was the first of several disappointments for Pete stemming from Quadrophenia. John remixed the album for the 1979 film but Roger thought it was worse than the original. Pete and Roger were both involved in the 1996 remix. Their pleasure at the results was one of the primary reasons for the 1996-97 Quadrophenia tour.

http://www.thewho.net/linernotes/Quad.htm
 
hmmm... that seems a bit strange because MCA was using Sansui QS and not CBS's SQ. isn't that correct?
 
Right some faulty memories there; the film was in 1975 and issued in "quintophonic" QS. I saw it when it came out.

Tommy soundtrack on Polydor was thought to be un-marked QS...
 
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