I've often wondered if the Q8 of Blood, Sweat & Tears "Greatest Hits" mistakenly received the SQ master instead. Hear me out on this one.
We do know that many SQ titles received modified mixes because even Columbia/Sony engineers knew that SQ was less than exemplary. So, two tapes containing differing mixes must have been made at various stages of production.
An example would be B,S&T's Greatest Hits. Now, I've never heard the SQ LP, but frankly, I don't think I need to. If we compare the mix on the Q8 versus the unreleased mix on one of the Mike Robin Reels.... the mixing and editing is almost identical. However, it seems that on the Q8, the separation has been cranked down so that if a Horn is supposed to play out of back left, you're still getting horn in front left at about 30% volume. It's like they were blending things back together after the main mix had been done. Yet on the Robin Reel, that horn is plainly in back left and nowhere else.
I often wonder if this is the case with one of the later Santana titles.... is it Festival? or Borboletta? (I can't remember).
We do know that many SQ titles received modified mixes because even Columbia/Sony engineers knew that SQ was less than exemplary. So, two tapes containing differing mixes must have been made at various stages of production.
An example would be B,S&T's Greatest Hits. Now, I've never heard the SQ LP, but frankly, I don't think I need to. If we compare the mix on the Q8 versus the unreleased mix on one of the Mike Robin Reels.... the mixing and editing is almost identical. However, it seems that on the Q8, the separation has been cranked down so that if a Horn is supposed to play out of back left, you're still getting horn in front left at about 30% volume. It's like they were blending things back together after the main mix had been done. Yet on the Robin Reel, that horn is plainly in back left and nowhere else.
I often wonder if this is the case with one of the later Santana titles.... is it Festival? or Borboletta? (I can't remember).