Stereo vs. Matrix Quad Encoded Stereo - Upmixing

[kfbkfb]

Many matrix encoded quad albums have different mixes than their stereo counterparts.

I was wondering if (using the exact same upmix processing) the matrix quad encoded version sounds noticeably different (directionality wise, after upmixing) than the stereo version (directionality wise, after upmixing) of the same album?


Kirk Bayne

 

[Electric Moo]

Probably depends on the album, and how they decided to mix the stereo vs quad versions?

For a dedicated quad mix, you could do something wildly different than the stereo mix, or you could try and approximate the stereo.

I'd say trying to make them the same might result in a rather boring quad mix, and lose creative potential.

It would probably be a lot of work to make them both the same. Unless you just used the quad mix as a source for both. Maybe that's why we have stealth quad mixes? Cheaper to just do one mix, and use the matrix source for both.

 

[kfbkfb]

I haven't researched how upmixing works, whether it uses the phase difference(s) between L and R or some other characteristic(s) of the stereo content to create an upmix.

Upmixing matrix quad encoded stereo is one way to, IMHO, make the old sound new again (the quad uniqueness presented in a different type of surround sound, not the surround sound from the correct matrix decoder).


Kirk Bayne

 

[Electric Moo]

Oh!

I guess I am not clear on what exactly "upmixing" is. I assumed you were talking about feeding them both thru a decoder ( or software ) and generating surround out of the non-surround stereo mix.

This thread popped up when I hit the "new posts" button, didn't realize there is a whole subforum here dedicated to upmixing. So probably best to listen to somebody else's comments instead

 

[kfbkfb]

I currently know very little about how upmixing works.

My other post was just an idea about creating another surround sound version from a matrix quad/surround sound encoded stereo source (DynaQuad - EV Stereo-4 - QS - SQ - H - DS - CS etc.), sort of a subcategory of upmixing, using the (possibly) unique quad mix processed in a different way to get a different surround sound result.


Kirk Bayne