HiRez Poll Beck, Jeff - WIRED [SACD][JAPAN]

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Rate the SACD of Jeff Beck - WIRED


  • Total voters
    53
Come Dancing - that track has me addicted! Wonderful mix - and splendid funk…

For a minute there I thought you were referring to this album by the Kinks w/ The Come Dancing hit tune which for some unknown or stupid reason avoided multichannel.


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Awww , but could've and should've and .:cry:



But now back to the disc that matters .:)

I agree ! Wired is the perfect followup to Jeff Beck's -Blow By Blow . Thank the Gods they were made available in quadraphonic back in the mid 70's.

FWIW : I tend to favour "Blue Wind" which was produced by Jan Hammer .
Wired in quad as a whole is one of my favourite albums , and thankfully Sony Japan saw fit to re-issue it on SACD (Quad intact).

:giggle:
 
there's one track on this lovely ol' Quad that i think maybe used the "patented CBS fake-o-matic upmixing" technique as also heard on the Quads of Santana's "Amigos" & "Festival" and Herbie Hancock's "Secrets".. can you spot which one it might be? 🤔 🧐
 
I've never voted on any of these QQ polls before, but on the day of hearing of Jeff's death, I gave this another spin tonight.

My reason for not voting until now is that my main criteria are (i) I have to thoroughly enjoy the music, no matter what the SQ from whatever source I'm listening; and (ii) that it has to have an expansive separation of instruments that is utilised across the channels (and not repetitive from one song to another, e.g the same instruments always being in the same channels). This mix meets both criteria beautifully. I don't think I'm qualified to make some judgments as others do about SQ or whatever, and maybe they have better systems than mine anyway. But, I'm also 63 and I accept that my hearing will compromise what the recording is actually sending to me, so I haven't voted before.

But, for the above two reasons, and with the additional one that I'm blessed we had Jeff in our musical lives, and have such a lovely recording to remember him by, I've giving it a 10. Vale, Jeff. ❤️
 
(I'm posting this in both threads, because.)

I 'reverting' the Sony Japan 5.1 release back to 4.0, by using MMH to silence the C and LFE channels.


It's a little hard for me to judge the result, because I am no fan of the 1970s quad mixing philosophy used for Blow by Blow and Wired -- lead guitar in the rear on most tracks, rhythm section up front. I really dislike it. And it's not because I use tiny surrounds -- I use the same Behringer Truth passive monitors all around. Plus two 12" subwoofers. System is 'crossed over' at 80Hz. The room is modestly treated for broadband reflections, and Audyssey does room EQ. I sit in the sweet spot in the near field. I know the album itself really well, having been a fan of it since the mid 70s (not to mention I'm currently practicing the bass part of 'Led Boots' to play in a music project honoring JB, so I know the stereo sound of that one really well now).

I compared my reverted 4.0 to the 5.1 (but with Center turned OFF in my AVR, so it was essentially 4.0 + LFE....call it 4.1. The AVR in this case should be distributing C content into LF and RF*). I could easily and rapidly switch between the two since they are files played in foobar2k. My main test tracks were 'Led Boots' and 'Blue Wind'.

The Result:
Misgivings about the mix itself aside, the 4.0 reversion sounds 'OK' on its own...but anemic compared to the 4.1. There is bass, for sure, but it's perceptibly very obviously reduced compared to the 4.1. The whole experience becomes more visceral and immersive in 4.1, because the front (where the bass instruments are) becomes in better perceived balance with the rears. It doesn't help the reverted 4.0 that the mix is so dry (the original stereo mix had a fair amount of reverb on it) -- in 4.0 it sounds rather clinical and disjointed.** Adding back the LFE seems to ameliorate that issue.

This is NOT the case for every 5.1 mix that I have 'reverted' to 4.0 -- Nektar's Remember the Future (which has low level C and LFE content), for example, does NOT suffer such a massive perceived bass reduction when C and LFE are silenced.

That said, the Wired SACD bass in 4.1 is not ideal. It feels just a bit too much, on the verge of being overwhelming, at times - which I believe one critic here said about it already. My setup can handle it, nothing sounds boomy or distorted, but I can easily imagine it being obnoxious in some setups and some playback levels. An ideal mix might have the LFE at a bit lower level. Or no LFE at all, just more bass in the main channels...my preferred solution....

My experience with Wired hints that the derived LFE content on the SACD mix consists of lowpassed content of the main channels BUT that those main channels are themselves highpassed -- i.e., they actually lack that bass, as opposed to the practice of 'doubling' bass in mains and LFE. (Such highpassing is actually best practice, to my mind. ) I don't know for sure that this is actually what's happened. I'd have to do spectral analysis on a per channel basis to test it.

Regardless, it still seems to my ears that the bass is a bit 'pumped up' when LFE is included. One question is, is that perception accurate to the original quad mix, or is it from juice added for a .1 mix? An obvious way to approach this is to compare the 5.1 mix and reverted 4.0 to actual 70s-era quad media sound. I don't have any matrixed/Q8/CD4 rips of Wired, but I'd love to to see how much, if any, the bass has been pumped up on the SACD.
 
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What can I add that hasn't already been stated in the positive on this fantastic Quad wonder from the late Jeff Beck.

This is the continuing assent of his guitarist abilities. A must own if you like Blow By Blow...for me it doesn't get any better. His musical peak captured in quad for your aural enjoyment.

Always adored my SQ encoded copy , so this is somehow better , discreet reet !

A worthy Ten.
 
I am afraid it is a 11 again. Probably for the same reason I gave a 11 to Blow By Blow. I understand some people expressed the fact it had to much surround information. Probably because it is a quad mix, and that is really a different thing.
Somehow early stereo experimented a lot with placement. You could have hard panned voices or drums. Now anything has the kick and snare center, the lead voices center, the backing slightly spread, etc. It is really standardized and slightly boring.
I understand quad mix revisited that channel distribution thing, with an exprimental touch, before it was unpleasantly normalised.

Why I REALLY REALLY love it. This quad mixing has a raw element to it. It feels unmixed in some way, so it is like your ear is just stuck into Jeff Beck's amp. Or into Middleton's amp, or in to Hammer's amp.
It is general choice to have (as in Blow By Blow) Becks guitars, and Middleton's or Hammer's keyboard in the right and left rear (except when there are mor than one guitar/keyboard).

Overall the sound is absolutely great, and the association of that sound with this 'unmixing' feel makes you feel like listening the album through a microscope. You hear unheard details. It will take a few listening before being able to grasp everything, embrace and rebuilt mentaly the whole.
SO SO SO. This is exactly what multichannel albums should be. Not only spreading things in space (do we really only care for that ? No), but bring a new listening experience on the table. This what this SACD does.
Really I gave it a 11, but it should be 15/10.
 
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Unfortunately the quad mix is not perfect, the mixing engineer missed a critical synth solo near the end of "Come Dancing." One can hear it slightly, but its overall prominent omission really messes with the musical flow of that track. Thus, a 9 at the tops for me, this Japan edition is a very good transfer and remaster as usual, still making it a very worthy addition to ones quad collection.
 
Unfortunately the quad mix is not perfect, the mixing engineer missed a critical synth solo near the end of "Come Dancing." One can hear it slightly, but its overall prominent omission really messes with the musical flow of that track. Thus, a 9 at the tops for me, this Japan edition is a very good transfer and remaster as usual, still making it a very worthy addition to ones quad collection.
You are certainly right. It bugged me too, and the following music erased that of my mind until you reminded it to me. I am certainly gullible :)
 
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