emarkay
Member
The backstory... I was raised on stereo Reel-to-Reel tapes that my Dad, a 1950's "HI-FI" enthusiast made, and then, on the Beatles, Blood Sweat and Tears, and Chicago - all early 1970's, as played on his then new Dual turntable and his Sure V-15 cartridge, through his Bose 901 series 1 speakers.
I was one of the first "kids-on-the-block" to have an FM radio, then a Cassette player, and then a stereo cassette player (I remember CrO2 tape). By age 15 I had my own RtoR deck and a better stereo cassette machine, with Dolby! I went through multiple copies of new LP's (much to the annoyance of my local "Wee Three" record store) to get ones without dust in the pressings, and then when MFSL showed the industry how to "make records" all was good, until CD's appeared. But ,they were inferior - I mean, some early ones still had the RIAA curve on them I think! Soon, then, all was good again in the the world of sound...
I recall seeing "Midway "in "Sensurround" and before that, seeing "2001" in 70MM, then "Star Wars" and all the rest of the "Sound-behind-your-head" experiences - that first scene in SW when the little ship is overtaken by the big one still is the high watermark for me in terms on WOW. Then to Beta HiFi, to DVD and now Blu-ray. I never "got" SACD/DVD-A. I missed Quadraphonic (more on that later).
I have always cherished, the accurate reproduction of, even an artificial, sound. Some of my teen memories were building model rockets to Tomita and Yes' Patrick Moraz's "I". It's been FLAC, and full-range speakers ever since, but never to the point of "Monster" cable and ten-thousand dollar gold-plated amps. Yes, I even poo-poohed putting green marker on my CD's in the 80's!
I was always curious about Quad, and well, having only gotten into it in the late 1970's, I missed it. Just what was it? Fast-forward 25 years and I then stumbled upon the "Alan Parsons' Master Tape" (or so it is called) of the 4 channel version of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon, and listened to it on my DVD player that had a "surround sound kit-in-a-box" wired to it. I was dumbfounded. Wow!
So that was "quad". Somehow someone got it to play on a DVD player, and I soon found about DTS and DD as viable methods to reproduce "4.0" (Yes, even as "lossy" as they are, the sources are still old LP's or 8 track tapes!) That challenged me to learn more and to seek out other gems. For the past year I have acquired about half the quadrophonic recordings made (about 100), all of material I am familiar with. Some are worse than the stereo versions or are poorly converted, some are just good and interesting, and some are so absolutely different and unique as to be like hearing the piece for the first time every time I hear the sound behind my head!
A note to a PhD at a well known music academy was met with "ho hum" ("I wonder if there is any historical interest in this...") but this small part of music history has nearly been lost forever, and may still fade away; worse, to be replaced with 40-year-on junior "mix-masters" molesting the master tapes for "New 21st Century Surround Sound Mix" as endorsed by the artist's great cousin's gardener. Regardless, I have heard the difference and I am pleased.
Now if only a few Pink Floyd fans, who know WYWH note for note would be interested in hearing what's missing in their notes, or a Grace Slick enthusiast could hear her in the rear left intoning the story of the White Rabbit, or a Tomita lover could hear the Firebird interpretation as it was once...
I would be interested in talking about the world of the 4 channel mix. Are there any others with this passion, in the Southern Indiana/Northern Kentucky area who may want to share some time and space to audition their collection, to "talk shop and psychoacoustics" or those who may want to actually hear with 4 ears what they only know with 2?
Thanks!
MRK
I was one of the first "kids-on-the-block" to have an FM radio, then a Cassette player, and then a stereo cassette player (I remember CrO2 tape). By age 15 I had my own RtoR deck and a better stereo cassette machine, with Dolby! I went through multiple copies of new LP's (much to the annoyance of my local "Wee Three" record store) to get ones without dust in the pressings, and then when MFSL showed the industry how to "make records" all was good, until CD's appeared. But ,they were inferior - I mean, some early ones still had the RIAA curve on them I think! Soon, then, all was good again in the the world of sound...
I recall seeing "Midway "in "Sensurround" and before that, seeing "2001" in 70MM, then "Star Wars" and all the rest of the "Sound-behind-your-head" experiences - that first scene in SW when the little ship is overtaken by the big one still is the high watermark for me in terms on WOW. Then to Beta HiFi, to DVD and now Blu-ray. I never "got" SACD/DVD-A. I missed Quadraphonic (more on that later).
I have always cherished, the accurate reproduction of, even an artificial, sound. Some of my teen memories were building model rockets to Tomita and Yes' Patrick Moraz's "I". It's been FLAC, and full-range speakers ever since, but never to the point of "Monster" cable and ten-thousand dollar gold-plated amps. Yes, I even poo-poohed putting green marker on my CD's in the 80's!
I was always curious about Quad, and well, having only gotten into it in the late 1970's, I missed it. Just what was it? Fast-forward 25 years and I then stumbled upon the "Alan Parsons' Master Tape" (or so it is called) of the 4 channel version of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon, and listened to it on my DVD player that had a "surround sound kit-in-a-box" wired to it. I was dumbfounded. Wow!
So that was "quad". Somehow someone got it to play on a DVD player, and I soon found about DTS and DD as viable methods to reproduce "4.0" (Yes, even as "lossy" as they are, the sources are still old LP's or 8 track tapes!) That challenged me to learn more and to seek out other gems. For the past year I have acquired about half the quadrophonic recordings made (about 100), all of material I am familiar with. Some are worse than the stereo versions or are poorly converted, some are just good and interesting, and some are so absolutely different and unique as to be like hearing the piece for the first time every time I hear the sound behind my head!
A note to a PhD at a well known music academy was met with "ho hum" ("I wonder if there is any historical interest in this...") but this small part of music history has nearly been lost forever, and may still fade away; worse, to be replaced with 40-year-on junior "mix-masters" molesting the master tapes for "New 21st Century Surround Sound Mix" as endorsed by the artist's great cousin's gardener. Regardless, I have heard the difference and I am pleased.
Now if only a few Pink Floyd fans, who know WYWH note for note would be interested in hearing what's missing in their notes, or a Grace Slick enthusiast could hear her in the rear left intoning the story of the White Rabbit, or a Tomita lover could hear the Firebird interpretation as it was once...
I would be interested in talking about the world of the 4 channel mix. Are there any others with this passion, in the Southern Indiana/Northern Kentucky area who may want to share some time and space to audition their collection, to "talk shop and psychoacoustics" or those who may want to actually hear with 4 ears what they only know with 2?
Thanks!
MRK
