HiRez Poll Garfunkel, Art - BREAKAWAY [SACD]

[tomeh]

Well. I have recieved it and listened twice completely through.

It's is excellent. Garfunkel's voice is amazing and there isn't an over compressed or distortion from a poor mixer or mastering engineer anywhere.

I had a client in for lessons on mixing and mastering on Thursday and in my introduction and history of recording I always pick out samples to play with reference to "knowing what to do with the tools, not the cost of the tools, is the most important thing." I played Time Out from Dave Brubeck's 1959 recording, then used a cut from this Garkfunkel 1977 recording, followed by a random selection of poor recent recordings.

His head just about did the 360 rotation on Brubeck and Garfunkel and then shook in dissapointment on the poor, recent recordings.

Quality is quality no matter the year.

Stay well people. We have a lot more music to hear.

 

[jaybird100]

An angelic voice, coupled with incredible sonics and a great mix. It just doesn't get any better.

 

[califcab]

Going back as I did not rate this one before - I would give it a 9 based on the superior surround sound and fidelity, and great vocals. I will hold back my 10 rating for when they release Bridge Over Troubled Water.

 

[jaybird100]

Going back as I did not rate this one before - I would give it a 9 based on the superior surround sound and fidelity, and great vocals. I will hold back my 10 rating for when they release Bridge Over Troubled Water.

Don't hold your breath. Paul Simon controls the master for that one, and he won't allow it. It would be nice, though.

 

[GOS]

I have 3 unopened copies of this one....and 2 opened. Love it....and will give a couple to my kids when I'm OLD! lmao
But, how will they play them?

 

[GOS]

This isn't really the place, but it's worthy of a post for us music lovers. I finally was able to see Art last year at a small venue (2500 seats) locally and I've honestly never been so moved from a concert. All my life, I've been a massive S & G fan, and to finally be able to at least see Art was something I'll never forget. Art behaves like a cranky old man, yet, his voice is (was) so fragile and still carried an intimacy that I cannot deny. Often, I found myself with tears of respect. Unbelievable.

I don't think I'll ever have that feeling at any other show....super powerful moments.

 

[MrSmithers]

Anyone by chance know who did the quad mix on this? I did a brief scan of the poll/engineers poll and couldn’t find it?

I have to say this album in quad is literally brilliant! It’s the waters of perfection!!!

I already voted a 10, but just hadn't listened in a bit... It’s still bloody bollocking brilliant!

 

[sjcorne]

Anyone by chance know who did the quad mix on this?

I think it was Bill Schnee?

 

[fredblue]

I think it was Bill Schnee?

that it was

 

[MrSmithers]

Cool - thanks chaps! Gotta tag these dudes into the metadata!

 

[mediumwave13]

I'm fairly sure there's a channel assignment issue with this disc. Upon ripping and re-assigning the rear channels, they look much more aligned as to how you would expect. Upon relistening, the image appears much more focused than it did before, and bolsters a fantastically mastered disc. YMMV.

 

[GOS]

I'm fairly sure there's a channel assignment issue with this disc. Upon ripping and re-assigning the rear channels, they look much more aligned as to how you would expect. Upon relistening, the image appears much more focused than it did before, and bolsters a fantastically mastered disc. YMMV.

So, what exactly did you do? What changes did you make?

 

[GOS]

So, what exactly did you do? What changes did you make?

Oh, I see it now. Once I clicked your pictures, I could see you simply swapped them.

 

[mediumwave13]

Oh, I see it now. Once I clicked your pictures, I could see you simply swapped them.

Sorry, yes, I should have explicitly said that!

 

[ar surround]

I'm fairly sure there's a channel assignment issue with this disc. Upon ripping and re-assigning the rear channels, they look much more aligned as to how you would expect. Upon relistening, the image appears much more focused than it did before, and bolsters a fantastically mastered disc. YMMV.

Did you do this swap on all of the songs? Or is it one of these deals where certain tracks need the swap while others do not?

Also, when you say 'image' do you mean the front vocals, or everything.

 

[LuvMyQuad]

I must be missing something. I don't see a difference in the 2 pics.

 

[himey]

I must be missing something. I don't see a difference in the 2 pics.

It is pretty obvious the bottom two tracks which are the rear speakers are switched in the second picture. On my phone I had to open in a new tab group to expand it to see it.

 

[fredblue]

I'm fairly sure there's a channel assignment issue with this disc. Upon ripping and re-assigning the rear channels, they look much more aligned as to how you would expect. Upon relistening, the image appears much more focused than it did before, and bolsters a fantastically mastered disc. YMMV.

for what it's worth, the channels on the Vocalion SACD are assigned the same as both my SQ LP when decoded and my Q8 4-channel 8-track cartridge, so i'm fairly certain there is no channel assignment issue on the SACD per se.

the mix itself may even have originally been committed to master tape with the channels wrongly assigned but i am doubtful of that, especially as it has been subsequently confirmed by one of the top Quad engineers of the day, Arthur Stoppe, that diagonal pans were de rigeur for CBS Quad mixes intended for public consumption on SQ matrix encoded LP, in part due to the inherent limitations of the SQ system.

for example, elements panned to the "Room Centre" position in a mix had to be done so via diagonal placement, so by placing them in Front Left/Rear Right or in Front Right/Rear Left to avoid phase issues, cancellation and so forth.

 

[steelydave]

for what it's worth, the channels on the Vocalion SACD are assigned the same as both my SQ LP when decoded and my Q8 4-channel 8-track cartridge, so i'm fairly certain there is no channel assignment issue on the SACD per se.

the mix itself may even have originally been committed to master tape with the channels wrongly assigned but i am doubtful of that, especially as it has been subsequently confirmed by one of the top Quad engineers of the day, Arthur Stoppe, that diagonal pans were de rigeur for CBS Quad mixes intended for public consumption on SQ matrix encoded LP, in part due to the inherent limitations of the SQ system.

for example, elements panned to the "Room Centre" position in a mix had to be done so via diagonal placement, so by placing them in Front Left/Rear Right or in Front Right/Rear Left to avoid phase issues, cancellation and so forth.

100% this is correct.

This album has more diagonal placements than almost any other quad mix, but they're absolutely intentional. You can swap the rears, which basically puts these instruments, which are phantom quad center (LF & RR or RF & LR) along the side walls (LF & LR, RF & RR) and make the waveforms "look" balanced, but the immersive effect of the mix - and Bill Schnee's intention as the quad mixer - is lost.

If you want any more confirmation that the diagonal pans are correct, listen to the end of Waters of March, there's a circular around-the-room pan of a synthesizer or something during the fadeout (akin to the circular snare drum at the beginning of One Word from Mahavishnu Orchestra's Birds of Fire) and if you swap the rears on this album is now zig-zags nonsensically all over the place.

Furthermore, think about the quad mix folded down to stereo (or SQ encoded stereo) when instruments are diagonally placed in quad, they fold down to phantom center (if they're a mono instrument) or a stereo spread in stereo if they're recorded that way. Take the piano in I Believe When I Fall in Love, which is diagonally panned in the quad mix. If you fold that down to stereo you get the piano beautifully stereo spread from left to right in the stereo mix. If you swap the rears in the quad mix and fold it down to stereo you now get the piano (which would be in Left Front & Left Rear or Right front & Right Rear) folded down to double volume mono in one speaker, and that is not what the original stereo mix (which the quad mixes always tried to mimic to some degree) sounds like.

Stereo compatibility was a big feature of the SQ system (hence the name SQ = Stereo-Quadraphonic) and there are almost no quad mixes that feature stereo material along the side walls, because when it folded down to stereo it appeared in mono. Stereo spreads were always placed along the left-right plane (either front speakers, rear speakers, or diagonally) and this album is no exception.

 

[LuvMyQuad]

It is pretty obvious the bottom two tracks which are the rear speakers are switched in the second picture. On my phone I had to open in a new tab group to expand it to see it.

Ok I see it now. You have to open the pics.... Who would have thought