Listening to Now (In Surround) - Volume 2

[van1]

I'm moving from stereo to 5.1 now...

Nick Drake : A Treasury

View attachment 73349 View attachment 73350

Great songs but Isn't this stereo, even though it's labelled 5.1?

 

[Hamilton59]

Great songs but Isn't this stereo, even though it's labelled 5.1?

No, it's in 5.1. It appears that only the 4 tracks from Bryter Layter had the multi tracks to mix into true 5.1 and the rest was faked surround.... but even those sound better to me than the stereo mixes.

Check out the poll responses ...

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/threads/drake-nick-a-treasury-sacd.4420/

 

[humprof]

David Hazeltine-George Mraz Trio with Billy Drummond, Manhattan (2006), SACD 5.0. No way for Chesky's omnidirectional one-mic technique to yield anything like "discrete" channel separation, but it does make you feel like you're in the room with the musicians. R.I.P., George.

 

[Quad Linda]

Love, Devotion & Surrender - Santana & McLaughlin SQ
Serenade - Neil Diamond SQ LP
Psonic Psunspot- Dukes of XTC BD
Sketches of Spain - Miles DVD-V

Supreme Jazz surround SACD's:
Harry James
Dave Brubeck
Stan Getz
Dizzy Gillespie

I guess the Supreme Jazz are surround, just barely

Have seen/heard all these folks live, except the Dukes & McLaughlin.
Caught Miles and Santana at least a half dozen times each.
Saw George Mraz w/Stan Getz

 

[humprof]

Holst, The Planets (NYPO/Bernstein, 1973), in a conversion from Q8. We probably don't need yet another Planets in a modern surround format--there are several good ones out there--but I'd still like to see Dutton reissue this one. It's Lenny, after all! (He does a crazy-quickstepping "Mars.") And Larry Keyes!
https://petersplanets.wordpress.com/

 

[humprof]

Akira Ishakawa and Count Buffalo(es), Uganda (1973), in a software decode from QM LP (apparently QM was Toshiba's version of "Regular Matrix" EV-4?). I think Ishakawa--who started as a jazz drummer before moving into fusion and proto-"world" beats--had more than one quad release; this is the first I've heard. Both the music and the mix are pretty wild, with screaming guitar and discretely mixed African drums & percussion.

 

[4-earredwonder]

ALWAYS a FAV TO GET THE BALL ROLLIN'

Recorded by Elliot Scheiner

 

[4-earredwonder]

Holst, The Planets (NYPO/Bernstein, 1973), in a conversion from Q8. We probably don't need yet another Planets in a modern surround format--there are several good ones out there--but I'd still like to see Dutton reissue this one. It's Lenny, after all! (He does a crazy-quickstepping "Mars.") And Larry Keyes!
https://petersplanets.wordpress.com/
View attachment 73371

Most unfortunately, humprof, the early 00 SONY Multi~CH SACD [?] seems to have forgotten it WAS multichannel!

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Akira Ishakawa and Count Buffalo(es), Uganda (1973), in a software decode from QM LP (apparently QM was Toshiba's version of "Regular Matrix" EV-4?). I think Ishakawa--who started as a jazz drummer before moving into fusion and proto-"world" beats--had more than one quad release; this is the first I've heard. Both the music and the mix are pretty wild, with screaming guitar and discretely mixed African drums & percussion.

View attachment 73372

That's an uber expensive one- if .... if... you can even find one. Never heard it either. QM is very similar to QS; always feel the Japanese QM's I have decode out very discretely.

 

[humprof]

The Isley Brothers, 3 + 3 (1973), in a slightly tweaked version of the 2001 5.1 SACD that restores the original 1974 quad mix. Beautiful, lovely, real fine. But never mind "Who's That Lady," which is an undisputed masterpiece: after that, the best things on this album may be the covers. I'm not trying to be heretical--I like my DBs and my JT as much as anybody--but almost every one of those covers is arguably better than the original. (Well, maybe not "Summer Breeze"...)

 

[humprof]

The Jazz Piano Quartet (Dick Hyman, Roland Hanna, Marian McPartland, Hank Jones), Let It Happen (1974), in a conversion from CD-4. This small gem is great fun. Please, Mr. Dutton, may we have a sonic upgrade?
https://www.discogs.com/release/8729095-The-Jazz-Piano-Quartet-Let-It-Happen

 

[4-earredwonder]

[/QUOTE]

Most unfortunately, humprof, the early 00 SONY Multi~CH SACD [?] seems to have forgotten it WAS multichannel!

To clarify, humprof, for a Larry Keyes remix it was a VERY TEPID AFFAIR!

 

[sjcorne]

To clarify, humprof, for a Larry Keyes remix it was a VERY TEPID AFFAIR!

The 5.1 mix on the SACD is not a faithful adaptation of Larry Keyes' quad mix. It sounds to me like they used only the front channels of the four-channel master as the basis for some type of upmix/manipulation, since the organ that's isolated in the rear channels on the Q8 tape is nearly inaudible on the SACD.

 

[4-earredwonder]

The 5.1 mix on the SACD is not a faithful adaptation of Larry Keyes' quad mix. It sounds to me like they used only the front channels of the four-channel master as the basis for some type of upmix/manipulation, since the organ that's isolated in the rear channels on the Q8 tape is nearly inaudible on the SACD.

Precisely, Jonathan. Humprof's wish for a 'proper' D~V QUAD SACD remaster is certainly seconded here!

 

[humprof]

To clarify, humprof, for a Larry Keyes remix it was a VERY TEPID AFFAIR!
[/QUOTE]

They mucked up a lot of great old quad mixes with those SACDs. (Exhibit A: Boulez Conducts Bartok's Concert for Orchestra...) Thankfully, the Isleys' 3 + 3 wasn't one of them!

 

[4-earredwonder]

Love, Devotion & Surrender - Santana & McLaughlin SQ
Serenade - Neil Diamond SQ LP
Psonic Psunspot- Dukes of XTC BD
Sketches of Spain - Miles DVD-V

Supreme Jazz surround SACD's:
Harry James
Dave Brubeck
Stan Getz
Dizzy Gillespie

I guess the Supreme Jazz are surround, just barely

Have seen/heard all these folks live, except the Dukes & McLaughlin.
Caught Miles and Santana at least a half dozen times each.
Saw George Mraz w/Stan Getz

QL, the German produced SUPREME JAZZ Multi~CH [?] SACD series were ALL upmixes but sound surprisingly robust for their meager asking price. Some of the Supreme Jazz series were MONO but reconfigured for a faux surround mix but still worth seeking out, IMO.

 

[humprof]

John Klemmer, Magic and Movement (1974), in a Sansui-decoded conversion from QS LP. Not the New Age-y, Smooth Jazz-y Klemmer everybody thinks of. Interesting mix, too, especially for live recordings (and for QS). Also some good sidemen: Mike Nock, Dean Parks, Wilton Felder, Cecil McBee, Alphonse Mouzon... Definitely worth a listen.

 

[madship]

 

[humprof]

Yehudi Menuhin, Ravi Shankar, and Jean-Pierre Rampal, Improvisations - West Meets East - Album 3 (1976; released in the UK as Improvisations), in a conversion from SQ LP. Just what you'd imagine. I'd rather we'd gotten Shakti in quad, but this is worth hearing once...

 

[Titch]

Air 10,000 Hz Legend [Parlophone/2 RBCDs/1 BD~A Dolby Atmos, 5.1, Stereo] What an unexpected delight from the French electronic duo of Jean~Benet Dunckel and Nicolas Godin. The new discrete surround remix {Dolby ATMOS/5.1} by Bruce Keen & Gildas Lointier at Studio Benezéne, Paris is nothing short of SCRUMPTIOUS! Looking forward to more from this dynamic French duo...like MOONSAFARI, s'il vous plait?

No, listen 4-earredwonder, darling: 10000 Hz Legend is an appalling album. I don't care how discrete it is, but it just blows chunks. I wondered why I haven't played this album since its release - I play Moon Safari, The Virgin Suicides soundtrack and Talkie Walkie considerably more often. I get all excited, just like you do, when suddenly a new Atmos mix pops out onto a shiny new little silver disc. So I ordered this album, of course. And then I heard the three first songs again and suddenly had a flashback to 2001. The sound of two incredibly bored and uninspired Frenchmen, having spent all their time going to parties and doing drugs, having to put out a new album for their record company. With no new hooks or tunes or anything. Merde!