I started to address this in a separate post yesterday but I'm hoping for a wider response. It was always my understanding that quad releases were made by taking a multitrack studio tape, and mixing it for quad balancing to create a 4-track master tape. That master would then be used directly to make discrete commercial forms like CD-4 records and 4-track quad 8-tracks and reel tapes. For matrix releases (SQ, QS, EV, etc), the 4-track studio master would be put through an encoding process, ending up with an encoded 2-track master tape, from which encoded records would be made.
If I'm right so far, I figured that in countries other than the one where the original is made, the home country would send a copy of the 4-track master or 2-track encoded master so that the final product could be manufactured locally. The important point here is, the local country wouldn't have any input on the choice of format - they would have to use whatever form of master the home country supplies.
Now it looks like maybe I was wrong. The example here is two albums by Rick Wakeman: 'The Six Wives Of Henry VIII' and 'Journey To The Centre Of The Earth'. 'Six Wives' was released on vinyl in the UK and US with SQ encoding. But in Japan, it was made available in CD-4! Did the UK/US supply Japan with a copy of the 4-track studio master even though they didn't manufacture it that way themselves? Did Japan create its own 4-track master by using a quad 8-track tape to create a 4-track master? Did Japan take an SQ disc and decode it to create a 4-track master? But wait, there's more....
The next album 'Journey' was released in the US/UK on discrete CD-4 vinyl. But in Argentina and Brazil, it was released as SQ encoded. Did those countries make their own SQ 2-track master? Or did the US/UK create a 2-track SQ master just for them?
And then there's EV-4 on records like The Flame and the Beach Boys' "Surf's Up". Was a true quadraphonic mix created for those, then put through EV encoding to create a 2-track encoded master? Or did they just use a certain amount of phasing in the stereo master that they knew would come out when the final product was played through an EV decoder?
My brain hurts....
If I'm right so far, I figured that in countries other than the one where the original is made, the home country would send a copy of the 4-track master or 2-track encoded master so that the final product could be manufactured locally. The important point here is, the local country wouldn't have any input on the choice of format - they would have to use whatever form of master the home country supplies.
Now it looks like maybe I was wrong. The example here is two albums by Rick Wakeman: 'The Six Wives Of Henry VIII' and 'Journey To The Centre Of The Earth'. 'Six Wives' was released on vinyl in the UK and US with SQ encoding. But in Japan, it was made available in CD-4! Did the UK/US supply Japan with a copy of the 4-track studio master even though they didn't manufacture it that way themselves? Did Japan create its own 4-track master by using a quad 8-track tape to create a 4-track master? Did Japan take an SQ disc and decode it to create a 4-track master? But wait, there's more....
The next album 'Journey' was released in the US/UK on discrete CD-4 vinyl. But in Argentina and Brazil, it was released as SQ encoded. Did those countries make their own SQ 2-track master? Or did the US/UK create a 2-track SQ master just for them?
And then there's EV-4 on records like The Flame and the Beach Boys' "Surf's Up". Was a true quadraphonic mix created for those, then put through EV encoding to create a 2-track encoded master? Or did they just use a certain amount of phasing in the stereo master that they knew would come out when the final product was played through an EV decoder?
My brain hurts....