Discussion with Thomas Mowrey

[JonUrban]

.......Concerning magazine articles about quad, I have a very nice collection of them from the 1969-73 period (I think about 7) in PDF form which I would be happy to post here if I only knew how to do that! They describe very clearly how the whole thing started and then evolved........

Tom,

If you could get me the PDF files, either via regular mail on a CD/USB stick, or if they are small enough to email to me, I would host them here on the website. I could create a special page with links to them all. (As long as we don't have problems with copyright holders)

 

[Old Quad Guy]

Yes, that would be awesome to read such PDF articles of the Quad era. We should be good in regard to copyright for a few articles as Google posts whole magazines. Many magazines from that era are now defunct. Thanks.

 

[Thomas Mowrey]

Tom,

If you could get me the PDF files, either via regular mail on a CD/USB stick, or if they are small enough to email to me, I would host them here on the website. I could create a special page with links to them all. (As long as we don't have problems with copyright holders)

Yes, that would be awesome to read such PDF articles of the Quad era. We should be good in regard to copyright for a few articles as Google posts whole magazines. Many magazines from that era are now defunct. Thanks.

There are eight PDFs in all, and their file sizes are from 1 to 8 mb., so I think email is the right way to go. If you send your email address to me, I will email them back to you. Six of them are definitely from long-defunct magazines, so no copyright problems there at all. The seventh is from TIME, but from 46 years ago. Henry Luce isn't going to care about that anymore. And the eighth is a recent retrospective on this subject from a German magazine called Stereoplay. The writer and editor gave me permission to translate it for friends, so I think that would cover this usage.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

You're most welcome Thomas, thanks for that most informative reply.It's a pleasure to tap into your historic quadraphonic knowledge.

So I suppose you never had the oppurtunity to encode Scheiber onto any label or you would have mentioned that.

Another classical/ electronic based artist I'm aware of on DG was VANGELIS, were you involved with any quad mixes of any other artists?



Thankyou, derek

 

[Thomas Mowrey]

You're most welcome Thomas, thanks for that most informative reply.It's a pleasure to tap into your historic quadraphonic knowledge.

So I suppose you never had the oppurtunity to encode Scheiber onto any label or you would have mentioned that.

Another classical/ electronic based artist I'm aware of on DG was VANGELIS, were you involved with any quad mixes of any other artists?

Thankyou, derek

No, I never encoded any of my quad productions for matrixed release. As you probably know from this site, many of my quad productions for DG are now coming out on SACD from PentaTone, and the DSD transfers seem to have been done without alteration of the original analog quad masters, for which I am thankful. PentaTone has posted a video in which their engineer verbally attests to this, here: https://www.youtube.com/embed/GBctVE8qGEs. I do remember VANGELIS, but I was not involved with his work, nor did I make quad productions with any artists other than the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops, the San Francisco Symphony and the Metropolitan Opera. In all, I made around 50 LPs with them.

 

[Old Quad Guy]

Thank you Mr. Mowrey for the PDFs and for sharing them with the Quadraphonic community! Ton's of very interesting information and I'm sure folks will love to see the mike placements for recording. Also, enjoyed the placement that was intended for the listener at home. Thank you so much and please do not hesitate to let us know if you need or want us to change/add anything. Thanks!

For folks information at the very bottom is a "Google Translate" to change the page into most any language.

Thomas Mowrey Archive http://quadraphonic.info/Thomas_Mowrey

 

[Old Quad Guy]

I don't recall offhand "Quadraphonic" as being spelled as "Quadriphonics," although I do recall other spellings. Yes, I had to laugh when I first saw this, although now we are all having the last one and enjoying the Quad Masters in the 21st century. This is a quote from the 1974 magazine:

The IHFM (Institute of High Fidelity Manufactures) has adapted the spelling QUADRIPHONIC, despite the widespread use of the less plausible spelling with an "a" in the middle. We will use the "quadriphonic" spelling except when spelling a copyrighted name or phrase.

One can see the logic of the spelling, but was curious about the when or why the IHFM adapted this spelling. Perhaps it had to do with Trademarks and such at the time. Just thought this was interesting, as well as the whole article. Thanks.

 

[Lute]

There are eight PDFs in all, and their file sizes are from 1 to 8 mb., so I think email is the right way to go. If you send your email address to me, I will email them back to you. Six of them are definitely from long-defunct magazines, so no copyright problems there at all. The seventh is from TIME, but from 46 years ago. Henry Luce isn't going to care about that anymore. And the eighth is a recent retrospective on this subject from a German magazine called Stereoplay. The writer and editor gave me permission to translate it for friends, so I think that would cover this usage.

Thank you for sharing these fascinating articles, Mr. Mowrey. Tons of reading is right! I'm really enjoying it. I wonder what Edgard Varèse's 400 speakers sounded like. Quad to the 100th... Now, there's an idea!

Thank you Mr. Mowrey for the PDFs and for sharing them with the Quadraphonic community! Ton's of very interesting information and I'm sure folks will love to see the mike placements for recording. Also, enjoyed the placement that was intended for the listener at home. Thank you so much and please do not hesitate to let us know if you need or want us to change/add anything. Thanks!

For folks information at the very bottom is a "Google Translate" to change the page into most any language.

Thomas Mowrey Archive http://quadraphonic.info/Thomas_Mowrey

And thank you, Jim, for archiving these articles and all the other information as well.

Everything is well organized and easy to access. It's all very much appreciated. :upthumb

 

[fizzywiggs41]

View attachment 18947

I don't recall offhand "Quadraphonic" as being spelled as "Quadriphonics," although I do recall other spellings. Yes, I had to laugh when I first saw this, although now we are all having the last one and enjoying the Quad Masters in the 21st century. This is a quote from the 1974 magazine:



One can see the logic of the spelling, but was curious about the when or why the IHFM adapted this spelling. Perhaps it had to do with Trademarks and such at the time. Just thought this was interesting, as well as the whole article. Thanks.[/QUOTE

Rare but not unusual.Warner Bros.used this spelling (on the album spine) of one or two CD-4 Quadradiscs.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

Yes I checked my CD4 copies of JETHRO TULL AQUALUNG, WAR CHILD and through out these 2 discs, they spell quadraphonic with an eye.

"QUADRIPHONIC" on the back of album jackets, spine, and paper label of the vinyl pressing.

 

[Thomas Mowrey]

Yes I checked my CD4 copies of JETHRO TULL AQUALUNG, WAR CHILD and through out these 2 discs, they spell quadraphonic with an eye.

"QUADRIPHONIC" on the back of album jackets, spine, and paper label of the vinyl pressing.

Believe it or not, there's also "quadruphonic"! See http://www.quadruphonic.co.za Admittedly it has nothing to do with surround sound, but I guess the only version that's missing now would be one spelled with an "e" in the middle. Google turns up nothing there.

 

[epaladin]

Thomas,

Wow, so glad I stumbled on this thread while searching for info on some quad classical recordings!! Have only had time to read the introduction to your archive you wrote dated 3/29/15 but that was captivating in itself. Will definitely read the remaining articles as time allows. Thanks so much for contributing this wealth of information to the forum!

I was only 21 in 1969, but it seems like yesterday in some regards, and just a couple years later was a recording engineer at Capricorn Records. My expertise was electronics generally, and magnetic tape recorders in particular, not music production. Had the privilege of working with some great musicians in the rock & roll arena but nothing as impressive as classical or jazz artists. After my time at Capricorn was the southeastern U.S. sales engineer for Studer , who, as history has proven, manufactured possibly the finest tape mastering machines ever made. They were mechanical works of art in my opinion.

Only mixed & mastered one quad LP - Eat a Peach, Allman Brothers - in my career but that was a thrill to do. We had a Tom Hidley designed quad control room with an API console with quad panning capabilities and Studer recorders w/Dolby A so the mixing environment was pretty good. This was the first of only two quad releases from Capricorn I believe - the other being "Live at Fillmore East". So thanks very much for helping invent quad recording and mastering!! You and your compatriots made possible one of the best memories I have from that era.

Best,

 

[epaladin]

This was an exact duplicate of the above post - not quite sure how that happened...

 

[Philip Spinner]

Thomas,

Wow, so glad I stumbled on this thread while searching for info on some quad classical recordings!! Have only had time to read the introduction to your archive you wrote dated 3/29/15 but that was captivating in itself. Will definitely read the remaining articles as time allows. Thanks so much for contributing this wealth of information to the forum!

I was only 21 in 1969, but it seems like yesterday in some regards, and just a couple years later was a recording engineer at Capricorn Records. My expertise was electronics generally, and magnetic tape recorders in particular, not music production. Had the privilege of working with some great musicians in the rock & roll arena but nothing as impressive as classical or jazz artists. After my time at Capricorn was the southeastern U.S. sales engineer for Studer , who, as history has proven, manufactured possibly the finest tape mastering machines ever made. They were mechanical works of art in my opinion.

Only mixed & mastered one quad LP - Eat a Peach, Allman Brothers - in my career but that was a thrill to do. We had a Tom Hidley designed quad control room with an API console with quad panning capabilities and Studer recorders w/Dolby A so the mixing environment was pretty good. This was the first of only two quad releases from Capricorn I believe - the other being "Live at Fillmore East". So thanks very much for helping invent quad recording and mastering!! You and your compatriots made possible one of the best memories I have from that era.

Best,

Hi. Brothers and Sisters was rumored to be mixed in quad as well. Do you have any info on it. Also thanks for posting.

 

[epaladin]

Hi. Brothers and Sisters was rumored to be mixed in quad as well. Do you have any info on it. Also thanks for posting.

Don't know if Brothers & Sisters was remixed in quad but I can try to find out. I was one of a couple engineers on the original tracking sessions for it but not for the mix sessions. I'll let you know if my contacts from back then know of a quad mix.

I discovered the QQ forum when searching for a quad reel-to-reel copy of Eat a Peach last year. I'd really like to hear it again before I leave this planet...did find the quad LP version but haven't yet set up a turntable for quad playback though the necessary pieces to do so are in hand - seems time is growing ever more scarce as the years roll by.

 

[quicksrt]

Was the Eat a Peach SACD surround mix the old quad mix? Or was it a newer mix? Or was it out on DVD-A?

My memory is fading away like the passage of time.

 

[epaladin]

Was the Eat a Peach SACD surround mix the old quad mix? Or was it a newer mix? Or was it out on DVD-A?

My memory is fading away like the passage of time.

The SACD was not the 1974 quad mix but a much later surround remix. Don't believe it was ever released on DVD-A.

 

[quicksrt]

Well at least there is a reel to reel released and a DVD conversion out there to be studied by future generations.

Was Fillmore East a fresh new surround mix as well on SACD? I know DTS issued the quad mix on DTS CD, but it came out again right?

 

[Thomas Mowrey]

Thomas,

Wow, so glad I stumbled on this thread while searching for info on some quad classical recordings!! Have only had time to read the introduction to your archive you wrote dated 3/29/15 but that was captivating in itself. Will definitely read the remaining articles as time allows. Thanks so much for contributing this wealth of information to the forum!

I was only 21 in 1969, but it seems like yesterday in some regards, and just a couple years later was a recording engineer at Capricorn Records. My expertise was electronics generally, and magnetic tape recorders in particular, not music production. Had the privilege of working with some great musicians in the rock & roll arena but nothing as impressive as classical or jazz artists. After my time at Capricorn was the southeastern U.S. sales engineer for Studer , who, as history has proven, manufactured possibly the finest tape mastering machines ever made. They were mechanical works of art in my opinion.

Only mixed & mastered one quad LP - Eat a Peach, Allman Brothers - in my career but that was a thrill to do. We had a Tom Hidley designed quad control room with an API console with quad panning capabilities and Studer recorders w/Dolby A so the mixing environment was pretty good. This was the first of only two quad releases from Capricorn I believe - the other being "Live at Fillmore East". So thanks very much for helping invent quad recording and mastering!! You and your compatriots made possible one of the best memories I have from that era.

Best,

It was interesting to read of your own experiences in the early days of quad, Epaladin, and good to hear that you enjoyed my reminiscences and the magazine articles from those days which I posted at http://quadraphonic.info/Thomas_Mowrey. On that site you'll find a copy of a speech which I made a couple years ago about quad and the classical music recording business in its "golden" days. On page 30, you will see a photo of me and my tape editor, Christa Conrad in the DG post-production studios in 1972, working on the Bernstein/Horne "Carmen" recording. There, in the background, you will see one of the Studer tape machines (this one was a two-inch, 16-track model) whose virtues you are extolling above, and how right you are! They truly were marvels of engineering. Pentatone recently released my original quad mix of that recording. There is a video about that re-release here — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBctVE8qGEs — and there you will see the 4-track master being replayed for DSD conversion on (what else?) ... one of your Studer machines! Full circle.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

Well at least there is a reel to reel released and a DVD conversion out there to be studied by future generations.

Was Fillmore East a fresh new surround mix as well on SACD? I know DTS issued the quad mix on DTS CD, but it came out again right?

EAT A PEACH SA-CD is a remix as well.

That being said I to am a fan of the quad mix and perhaps one day soon AF or maybe AP will reissue the quad mix.