The Quadcast - a youtube channel about quadraphonic and 5.1 sound

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...converted quad recordings to Dolby Pro-Logic II and posted them on YouTube. Sounds great in stereo, but decodes to quad when run through a Dolby Pro-Logic II decoder. J. D.

There are two issues with this approach:
1. You still have to create two mixes and each type of mix would be described differently in your narrative.
2. Would the Dolby encoding accurately decode for the sake of comparisons? In other words, the point of the presentation is to play the content of the surround material as available in each version. To add a layer of encoding and decoding seems to me to be a way to muddy the presentation of the mixes in terms of accuracy.

Even though it would be much extra work for you AoQ, the best solution to me seems to be two versions of each Quadcast - a stereo mix for stereo users, and a surround mix for surround users. Each viewer would select the stream that fit their playback setup. Perhaps in the process of trying this approach a third and ideal solution would present itself.
 
Well, I have been playing around a bit, and have figured out the technical ends of things, so I now have the ability to create a 5.1 quadcast. And....the opening and closing theme music on the first episode actually is Pro Logic II encoded. But, I wouldn't go with that for review or analysis purposes.

I think what is important is that I need to keep this process simple enough that I don't get burn out, or episodes will become few and infrequent, and that it needs to still make sense when watching with stereo only sound. So, I'm going to continue to record and analyze in stereo, but then add 5.1 music when editing, so people can get a sampling of the material on a title being reviewed with 5.1, but when I dig in to the technical stuff that'll be done with stereo so all viewers will be able to follow the analysis.

As I get more into this and have more time to figure out the technical end of things with doing 5.1 on my board, I may start recording in 5.1....but I will always keep my episodes stereo friendly.

Anyways, I've already got a few ideas for the next episode, and hope to get a good start on that this weekend. But then I'll be away for a business trip the next week, so....we're looking at late March/early April before the next episode.
 
Ok, so now a year has passed since the first episode of this, and still no 2nd episode has happened.

I do have some ideas, but it's been a struggle to figure out just what to do with this youtube channel idea. Add to that a cross country move and huge changes in my life this past year, and it's been easy to push this off to deal with "later".

At some point before the move, I did attempt to record a 2nd episode reviewing an album. And what I found out is, I'm not good at that. It came off awkward, and not very informative.

Also, I figured out that it turns out youtube does not support 5.1 surround playback. They do support 5.1 sound in material you upload.....which they then encode to their format, which only includes stereo, so you can make an episode in 5.1, and post that 5.1 file, but it won't actually be posted in 5.1. So, I can't even include proper 5.1 in album reviews.

I've recently been playing around with a surround master, hoping to put together a shoot out and blind test of some sort with that, but have been struggling to put together a good, fair test. I might discuss that some on the next episode, but I'm still struggling to get a proper test together that I feel is fair and accurate. But, that is definitely coming, and will certainly be featured in upcoming episodes.


I guess I've been struggling with dealing with the pre-recorded format of the show, and coming up with interesting material that will be relevant. Album reviews seem boring to me, and going into technical things is likely covering things much of us know or information that's already here. But...I dunno....maybe not everything is known, or maybe starting with the basics is where I need to start. So, I've been thinking, maybe I ought to set a time, do an episode live, grab a Q8 deck, and discuss Q8 playback, and preservation.

So, if I don't set a time, this will never happen. So, tomorrow, Saturday, I intend to do a live Quadcast on the youtube channel. If you miss it, that's fine, once the show is done it's automatically archived on the channel for playback whenever. I'll start the show tomorrow night at 8pm EST. I'm not sure how long it will go, it could just be a less than an hour review of Q8 playback and preserving. But, skype will be up, I'll be keeping my eye on the twitter account, so certainly all are welcome to interact with the show live, and if things get interesting, it certainly is possible for a show to go for hours. Not sure how I'll deal with that afterwards though because multiple hour episodes aren't exactly time friendly for those that want to check it out later.....maybe I'll make edited podcast versions of long episodes to give others a highlights version....I dunno....but, I got to do something , or nothing will ever happen with this channel, so tomorrow 8pm I'm connecting live, and seeing what happens.

Anyways, certainly keep an eye on the channel, more to come soon, if you haven't already done so, subscribe now https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCtWFBAqZNDWZ-w8XTc20Iw
And don't forget to follow @armyofquad on twitter for announcements there.
And also facebook, https://www.facebook.com/thequadcast/
 
...youtube does not support 5.1 surround playback...

Hey AOQ - thanks so much for your efforts!

Have you tried to post a DTS encoded stream? I wonder if that would fly, and could then be decoded? I just did a search and found "DTS" all over YouTube, but none of it seems to be in the decode-able digital format. Hmmmm.
 
No, anything that you upload to youtube, they re-encode to fit their standards. It took a bit of effort to get a definitive answer from youtube about that, they don't want to talk directly to you unless you're someone, and I'm a nobody as far as they're concerned....but with a little pressing I finally got someone to explain that the standards listed on the page I was reading are just what they support for content that is uploaded, but whatever you upload is re-encoded to their standards, which doesn't support 5.1. Before I asked around, I did post a few test clips with 5.1 material encoded to the exact standards they say they support, and did find every time it was re-encoded to stereo.

Perhaps that will change someday.
 
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Thanks to everyone that tuned in. That was fun, hope it was informative and not too much all over the place. Any follow up questions, or ideas or suggestions for future shows, feel free to post them.
 
Thanks to everyone that tuned in. That was fun, hope it was informative and not too much all over the place. Any follow up questions, or ideas or suggestions for future shows, feel free to post them.

Thank You Army - was a great listen and Snood learned a lot - Sorry if got ya off track with the 8 Track repair question.

Once you get your laboratory all squared away would be great to see your set ups - computer and tunes equipment - a tour of the lab so to speak :banana:
 
The question was great, that was probably one of the better parts of the show. Brought up a great point that I didn't think of, that is quite important.

That's a great idea for a future episode, I will definitely have to do that.
 
Great start will be watching
It's at 12 noon Daylight saving in Melbourne

Ron
 
I popped in for a few minutes, but had other things to do. I appreciate your time, and plan on catching up with the rest soon. The live format is fine, go for it.
 
Hi. ArmyofQuad

I enjoyed the Quadcast...
I like the notion of preserving these gems to Digital is a very good idea, as you say vintage gear will brake down and then it comes to the point weather or not to repair $$$$$=
I now you have the New Surround Master have you come to a conclusion to weather it does what people have said on QQ, it would be a good topic for the Quadcast.
thanks Bill...
 
If you can let us know what you will be talking about early
I and others that are not savvy with the internet can pose
Questions early

Just a thought

Ron
 
Well, this past episode about Q8s, I completely overlooked the topic of maintaining and repairing 8-tracks in general, which is a pretty important topic. I did get some questions about how to prevent damaging tapes. And I did discuss that topic, but I wasn't really prepared to address that properly on the show, so I'm thinking next show to start by opening up a junk stereo 8-track, and demonstrate tape repairs.....opening up a tape, loosening up a tight tape, redoing the splice, replacing foam, things like that.

Also, after covering recording in a tape, the next topic after that is authoring a disc, so I might pick up with that.


But, I am open to requests or questions, so if I get feedback indicating there's more interest in another topic, I'll focus on that instead on the next episode.
 
Hey AOQ,

I am stuck at the Denver airport in a blizzard, and this was the perfect time for me to watch your Quadcast. I watched it end to end, and here are my observations.

1. You have a great wealth of knowledge on some very obscure topics, and it held my interest. I hope you do more.

2. When you show a process on a small scale, it would be helpful to find a way to show the detail. A for instance would be the insertion of the pad into the 8-Track cartridge. Perhaps you could prepare some close-up video in advance and roll it in as a screen shot. In any case, some processes beg for a closer look.

3. When you talked about EQ you did not discuss headroom. Any time you boost an audio signal, even in limited frequencies, you run the risk of inserting a digital clip (a flattened waveform). For some of the more neophyte viewers this could be an important tip. Hard digital clipping bad.

4. You talked about always saving the flat (raw) transfer from a tape, which I totally agree with. One could also make those available to interested parties so that others could try their hand at correction. Just a thought.

I am sorry I was unable to tune in live and participate, but I definitely encourage you to continue the project!
 
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