Sly Stone - High On You...... Does anybody else have a copy?

QuadraphonicQuad

Help Support QuadraphonicQuad:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Q-Eight

2K Club - QQ Super Nova
Since 2002/2003
Joined
Sep 30, 2003
Messages
3,699
Location
Castlegar, BC, Canada
This albums got a couple good tunes on it, figured it'd be a good'n to ship off for convertin'. I've had a few copies and they've all been kind of dull and hissy. The copy I'm using is wrinkle and flutter free but it's going to take some heavy EQ and NR to make it sound acceptable (hope everybody is OK with that). But, I figured I might ask if anybody out there has a copy that maybe isn't so dull and lifeless? Either I'm getting a run of bad tapes or this tape is inherently bad.

I've also noticed levels are all over the place on a track by track basis. Pretty shitty mastering if you ask me.
 
This albums got a couple good tunes on it, figured it'd be a good'n to ship off for convertin'. I've had a few copies and they've all been kind of dull and hissy. The copy I'm using is wrinkle and flutter free but it's going to take some heavy EQ and NR to make it sound acceptable (hope everybody is OK with that). But, I figured I might ask if anybody out there has a copy that maybe isn't so dull and lifeless? Either I'm getting a run of bad tapes or this tape is inherently bad.

I've also noticed levels are all over the place on a track by track basis. Pretty shitty mastering if you ask me.
I just noticed this Sly LP on that Sony list, did you ever get a good conversion for the Q8 - @Q-Eight ?
https://www.discogs.com/Sly-Stone-High-On-You/release/2431031
 
I gave up trying to be perfectly honest. It's not exactly a cheap tape and I think I went through three before I threw up my hands. They all sounded like garbage but then got worse with actual tape damage. I kept the best one in my collection. Sounds like hell, but no tape damage.
 
I was going to suggest that you just get the SQ LP and play it through a Tate or Involve SQ, but I know that your passion is for Q8's. I always found that Columbia Q8's were some of the least reliable, I still have a few partially unspooled kinking around. I know that I had the LP of this at one time but can't find it now, it might be one that I sold off or traded away years ago, I suspect that I didn't care for it at the time. It would be great if DV would reissue this and "Small Talk" as a 2-fer.
 
I was going to suggest that you just get the SQ LP and play it through a Tate or Involve SQ, but I know that your passion is for Q8's. I always found that Columbia Q8's were some of the least reliable, I still have a few partially unspooled kinking around. I know that I had the LP of this at one time but can't find it now, it might be one that I sold off or traded away years ago, I suspect that I didn't care for it at the time. It would be great if DV would reissue this and "Small Talk" as a 2-fer.
Could it be that the mix is so “hosed up” that Dutton wouldn’t touch it?
 
Chase's self-titled album sounded awful on Q8, but Dutton's version was excellent. I don't think the fidelity of the old quad LP/tape release of a given title has any bearing on how the master tape actually sounds.
Yes, but I'm referring strictly to "mix", not fidelity. I'm wondering how many titles he's left on the table due to lame mixes? I guess it depends on how far his "Mastering" duties go into the area of mixing.
 
Yes, but I'm referring strictly to "mix", not fidelity. I'm wondering how many titles he's left on the table due to lame mixes? I guess it depends on how far his "Mastering" duties go into the area of mixing.

from the titles released so far i feel quite confident he knows which mixes are worth his while 🙂

tbh my SQ LP of "High On You" always sounded murky and the mix felt a bit weird.. a DV upgrade to hear it at its best would be most welcome.. a 2-fer with "Small Talk" would be even more welcome-er-er..! 😋
 
from the titles released so far i feel quite confident he knows which mixes are worth his while 🙂

tbh my SQ LP of "High On You" always sounded murky and the mix felt a bit weird.. a DV upgrade to hear it at its best would be most welcome.. a 2-fer with "Small Talk" would be even more welcome-er-er..! 😋
Yes, I agree with all that, but, is there any knowledge as to what he may have totally discarded due to the mixes?
 
tbh my SQ LP of "High On You" always sounded murky and the mix felt a bit weird..

I'm spinning my copy right now and I agree on the murkiness - the drums in particular seems dull and indistinct. There does appear to be some interesting surround activity going on though, like in track 2 Sly's response vocal with a 'telephone call' type effect is in the right rear channel.
 
I was going to suggest that you just get the SQ LP and play it through a Tate or Involve SQ, but I know that your passion is for Q8's. I always found that Columbia Q8's were some of the least reliable, I still have a few partially unspooled kinking around. I know that I had the LP of this at one time but can't find it now, it might be one that I sold off or traded away years ago, I suspect that I didn't care for it at the time. It would be great if DV would reissue this and "Small Talk" as a 2-fer.

I have a Tate. I still don't like SQ. :LOL: QS and CD-4 are actually able to impress me. SQ's separation does not. Not to mention, I seem to be on this string of receiving warped LP's.
I've been trying to collect all the ABC QS's and I've now received TWO Rags to Rufus that were warped, and the B.B. King/Bobby Bland I bought was also warped. Also had a Dolly Parton CD-4 show up warped, too! I was worried about my new CCR at Woodstock and Definitive Archies' LPs. But they're both 180g vinyl and showed up fine.
 
I have a Tate. I still don't like SQ. :LOL: QS and CD-4 are actually able to impress me. SQ's separation does not. Not to mention, I seem to be on this string of receiving warped LP's.
I've been trying to collect all the ABC QS's and I've now received TWO Rags to Rufus that were warped, and the B.B. King/Bobby Bland I bought was also warped. Also had a Dolly Parton CD-4 show up warped, too! I was worried about my new CCR at Woodstock and Definitive Archies' LPs. But they're both 180g vinyl and showed up fine.
I'm now using the Audionics Space and Image Composer with the original National chips (Tate1) and am blown away by the separation of SQ sources. QS doesn't have that same level of separation and CD-4 is too finicky. That being said the only reason I bothered with Q8's at all was either it was the only format available of a certain title or I wanted to hear the discrete version. Yes record warps are a definite problem, be wary of still sealed mint copies sometimes they are warped if the shrink it too tight. Reading others posts I was starting to think that the idea that leaving LP's in shrink causing record warps was an old husbands tale. Well one sealed SQ LP that I purchased recently was warped! I think that we would both agree that getting our old quad released discretely on SACD by DV is the ultimate way to go.
 
I'm now using the Audionics Space and Image Composer with the original National chips (Tate1) and am blown away by the separation of SQ sources. QS doesn't have that same level of separation and CD-4 is too finicky.

I love my Tate, but QS via the Surround Master is the most discrete matrix decoding I've heard. The really wide ABC mixes like Joe Walsh, Steely Dan, Rufus, etc sound remarkable.
 
Back
Top