Electric Ladyland: What's up with that?

[dharma_bummer]

It's long been acknowledged that The Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Electric Ladyland" album is one of the best ostensibly stereo albums to listen to through a quad decoder. Well, I finally gave it a shot and was positively amazed. The SQ decoder on my receiver isn't even full logic, but I heard separation and depth and panning in a nearly discrete way that I've never heard on any legit SQ albums.

But, as everybody knows... "Electric Ladyland" was recorded and mixed a couple of years before matrix quad came on the market.

So what's up with that? Prophetic genius at work or just dumb luck? Or a little from column A and column B?

I've read a quote somewhere from Jimi himself which indicates he was doing some very deliberate things with phase displacement during the mixing of this album and, in fact, had to give specific instructions to the masterer NOT to correct any phase oddities that exist on the master tape.

Did he foresee (or have some advance inside knowledge of the development of) matrix quad and use "Electric Ladyland" as a lab rat? Was he using phase displacement in an attempt to give plain ol' stereo a little more dimension, and it just happened to decode well to quad? Or did he just think it sounded cool?

I'd love to see somebody do the "decoder showdown" thing with the vid clips of the scope for some sections of this album (the crazy guitars at the end of "House Burning Down" would be my vote)...

 

[Cai Campbell]

I've heard the same stories you've mentioned. Hendrix was always playing around with phase. In my opinion, this was not specifically for eventual decoding (i.e. he was not prescient) but he heard the increased depth and wider soundstage that can be apparent in a "mixed phase" stereo recording (where some elements are in phase and some element are oop or out-of-phase).

This was true from the beginning. Since you've already listened to "Electric Ladyland" through a quad decoder, give "Purple Haze" a spin and be prepared to be blown away by the discreteness. Lead vocals are isolated in the right-rear channel (for a QS vario-matrix decoder) so channel placement is not ideal... but, the discreteness of elements is truly remarkable. Other tracks from "Are You Experienced" decode to quad in interesting ways... not very consistent or logical, but entertaining in a haphazard sort of way.

 

[neil wilkes]

I have here a version of Electric Ladyland that blew me away completely.
The person who created this is going to make the WAV files available to me for a full DVD-A/V job too (He's a member here but I don't want to give his name without permission)
What is the real surprise here is that there are sections where the only audible signal is in the rears, and it pans between the Ls/Rs channels - with nothing going on in the front pair.
I have been told (It's anecdotal as I have not seen it for myself, obviously) that the master tapes are all marked "PLEASE DO NOT ADJUST PHASING"

But this really is as good as - if not better - than some supposedly discrete mixes I have heard.
It makes me want to go through all my older vinyl & CD where there are obvious phasing issues clearly audible in the stereo mix - just to see what is going on.
My guess is that a lot of Zappa material will behave in a very similar manner.
Very experimental - but that sums up Hendrix perfectly.

 

[BrownRB]

This long thread on the Steve Hoffman forum should whet your appetite:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=78631

 

[Felix E. Martinez]

Just put this on and listened to most of the album in Prologic 2 Music mode, and it was quite a treat! Nice find! The imaging is a bit wonky, but it works for this album! I have the box from 1993 which included the three Hendrix albums - quite pleased with what I heard!

This inspired me to pull out John Corigliano's soundtrack for "Altered States," which was released on CD in Dolby Surround. Also, much of Wendy Carlos' remastered CDs of synth music sounds great decoded in Prologic 2 Music mode.

 

[breakingglass]

Well, enough on the theory, which is really amazing, but the more amazing thing is to listen to the first 3 Hendrix albums with any kind of decoder going. My favorite is Come On from E.L.L. - the right rear channel is isolated for the guitar leads! Amazing. Even my skeptical and uninterested wife was blown away. Next up was Foxy Lady with very clear and obvious rear channel vocals. Now Have You Ever Been just enveloped the room in sound. Try it out and find your own special treats.

My theory - even though decoding equipment and playback gear did not exist for Hendrix to have ever "heard" the results, he was such a musical genius, like Beethoven, that the inability to "hear" the results did not stop him from creating the music, "knowing" exactly how it would later sound.

 

[jdmack]

Well, enough on the theory, which is really amazing, but the more amazing thing is to listen to the first 3 Hendrix albums with any kind of decoder going.

What kind of decoder are you using?

J. D.

 

[breakingglass]

Try it with something as simple as Dolby Pro Logic II

bg

 

[etzeppy]

Add me to the list of converts from skeptic to believer. I rolled through all of Electric Ladyland with PLII and could not believe results. The discreteness of the multi-channel decoding was shocking all things considered. I'm not sure I had ever gotten through both CDs in the past, but I could not stop once I got going with PLII running. It's really worth a listen if you have not tried it.

 

[lazaraga]

my electric ladyland reel going through my qrx7001 is one of my favorite listening experiences.

 

[BananaSlug]

I haven't listened to Hendrix in years. I want to check these out, but wondering if there are specific versions of each album that are best. As I understand it some of the earlier CD releases have the phasing removed. I bought my Hendrix CD back in the 80s. I'll have a listen through DPLIIx when I get a chance, but wonder if the newer releases are truer to Jimi's intended mixes and therefor decode better.

 

[BrownRB]

And, of course, you can also "obtain" a DVD-A surround mix of EL:

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6792