List of Q8's with swapped channels

[steelydave]

If you've ever come across a Q8 that was manufactured wrong and has swapped channels, you know how headscratching it is to sit there and try and figure out what the hell they were thinking, until you realize the tape was manufactured wrong. This is a short list of tapes I've come across that have swapped channels. I'd be interested to know if there are any more.

Focus - Live At The Rainbow (Front & Rear channels swapped on one side)
Graham Central Station - Ain't No Bout A Doubt It (Front Right and Rear Right channels swapped)
Steely Dan - Can't Buy A Thrill (front and rear channels swapped on one side)
Steely Dan - Countdown To Ecstacy (same)

and a bonus one that isn't really channel swaps, Earth Wind & Fire 'That's The Way Of The World' - on the second side of this tape, the phase is inverted on one of the front channels, which means all the center placed instruments cancel themselves out. This is most apparent if you have a system with a subwoofer as all the bass frequencies are directed there, and then they cancel themselves out.

Dave.

 

[Q-Eight]

Two more to add would be:

Jim Croce - Don't Mess Around with Jim (C7022-756) Left Front & Rear Swapped
The Grass Roots - 16 Greatest (C7023-50107) Left Front & Rear Swapped*

*- This is the tape with alternate takes/mixes of some songs


There MUST be alternate mixing sessions with the GRT tapes. I've noticed that many of the catalog numbers on them either start with "C" or have the C blacked out by dots and replaced with a suffix of a different letter.... ones I've seen are H and N.

Now, I'm no expert on this subject, but just last week on ebay there were some GRT Q8's on ebay. Two Jim Croce's and Joe Walsh. These three tapes on ebay had different catalog suffixes/prefixes than the tapes I currently have. Unfortunately, I got outbid.

The only example I have is my Grass Roots Tapes. One has the C prefix, one has an H suffix.... the two tapes contain different mixes!! So I'm not crazy! :banana:

 

[Lucanu]

I love Focus, but I didn't know that Live at Rainbow was in quad, I had the stereo version only... was there a quad release in lp?

 

[JonUrban]

Actually, I believe that the "C" and the "H" on the GRT tapes is a list price code. Sort of like when Columbia went from CQ to CAQ and PQ to PCQ.


I do remember that some of these tapes have different mixes. Who knows?

 

[winopener]

Two to add, i don't remember now how it was swapped:
Elvis Presely, Madison Square Garden (RCA Canadian)
Joan Baez, Come from the shadows (A&M UK)

 

[steelydave]

The Focus Q8's (Live At The Rainbow & Moving Waves) were Q8 only.

The alternate mixes thing is interesting, unfortunately I don't have the money to pursue buying up all the GRT tapes that appear on eBay either - do you have any more info about these alternate mixes Jon? If anyone has any of these tapes and wants high quality conversions to digital done, feel free to get in contact.

Dave.

 

[steelydave]

I regretfully have another title to add to the list, The Four Tops 'Keeper Of The Castle'. The front and rear left channels are swapped, which is a shame, the mix sounds good and very discrete. It seems that whoever was doing tape duplication for GRT had the 4 wires hooked up in the wrong order..

Dave.

 

[Q-Eight]

Yet another one to add:

Chuck Berry's London Sessions. Very nice mix! I hated it until I realized the left's were swapped again. A little fiddling with the out's from my tape deck and it sounded quite good. I'd offer it up for conversion but some meathead taped over the first 2 minutes of My Ding-a-Ling with some boring radio speech by Ronald Reagan

 

[Q-Eight]

This one's a Maybe:

Elvis : Live on Stage; Feb. 1970

I've noticed if I swap lefts it keeps drums set in the rear, vocals up front, horns up front and just generally sounds better. First I've ever had swapped channels on an RCA cart.

 

[EMB]

Yet another one to add:

Chuck Berry's London Sessions. Very nice mix! I hated it until I realized the left's were swapped again. A little fiddling with the out's from my tape deck and it sounded quite good. I'd offer it up for conversion but some meathead taped over the first 2 minutes of My Ding-a-Ling with some boring radio speech by Ronald Reagan

I don't have this one....but "My Ding-A-Ling" was faked to Quad on that one, wasn't it? The rest of the stereo album is stereo, but that recording was mono, as was the heavily edited 45....

ED

 

[Q-Eight]

I don't have this one....but "My Ding-A-Ling" was faked to Quad on that one, wasn't it? The rest of the stereo album is stereo, but that recording was mono, as was the heavily edited 45....

ED

My Ding-A-Ling is Live at Lancaster. If it's faked, it's very, very well done. But being a live recording, it's all band up front with crowd & echo in the rear.
I don't believe it's faked, cuz it sounds like the two other live songs on the tape: Johnny B. Goode and Reelin' & Rockin'. All three songs were recorded live at the Lancaster Music Festival in '69 or '70 if I'm not mistaken (and I very well could be!) If memory fails me as it usually does, Chuck was opening for Pink Floyd.

 

[EMB]

I'm curious as to how the band is imaged L/R front...there is no separation on the stereo Lp at all. The other two songs, on the other hand, are in true stereo, obviously so.

ED

 

[Q-Eight]

Considering the song is just Chuck's vocals and his guitar (no drums, bass, piana, etc.) It would be hard to create a stereo image from that. The only thing I can say to back up my claim that it is true quad is that the crowd sounds differ from FL & FR.

 

[winopener]

I hve just transfeered the Elvis Presley "Madison Square Garden" RCA CANADIAN q8 to 24/96 and figured out the correct channel placement

Assuming
FL=1
FR=2
SL=3
SR=4

the order in which are placed on the tape is
2
3
4
1

Remember, this is a rca CANADIAN tape, USA edition may be ok.

 

[Q-Eight]

I have the US version and it's setup just fine. Live Feb. 1970 however, I'm certain has a swapped channel.

I'm curious to know, is the Canadian Madison Square Garden the afternoon show or the evening show? Does it mention on the cartridge anywhere? The US Quad is the evening show and Elvis was pretty drugged up by then. I've heard the afternoon show and he seemed way more into it. I'd love to hear the afternoon show in Quad.

 

[winopener]

No mention of any show, i suppose it's the same as the other releases.

 

[Q-Eight]

More to add to the list, Both GRT's:

Mountain - Best Of : Wierd Channel Error. LF and RR are correct. What should be in RF is in LR. What should be in LR is in RF. Cross Channel!

Homer Louis Randolph III : Left's swapped back to front.

 

[Q-Eight]

Yet another. Ramsey Lewis Trio "Best of" Swapped left channels.

 

[ress4278]

Its mentioned that on Focus-Live @ The Rainbow the F&R channels are swapped on one side, but its not clarified if its the L or R side.

 

[ress4278]

Its mentioned that on Focus-Live @ The Rainbow the F&R channels are swapped on one side, but its not clarified if its the L or R side.

Come to think of it, I guess it doesn't matter which side you change, in either case, the problem will be solved.