More stealth quad albums

[fredblue]

Sometime in 1976 Columbia Masterworks went single inventory for their quad releases, so this one, along with any of the others (you can see a list here) should maintain the SQ encoding.

The issue wouldn't be with "digital remastering" (any analog tape reissues on a CD has been digitally mastered or remastered by definition) it's more what's done during that remastering process. I think the SQ encoding can survive a lot of that (EQ, noise reduction) but something like narrowing of the stereo sound field (ie mixing the left and right channels together) probably would have a detrimental effect on the SQ encoding.

That Three-Penny Opera should be good though, it's a Don Young quad mix, and probably one of his final ones too - kinda wild to think he did this and Bob Dylan's Desire in the same year.

i think maybe Annie was one of the last released Quad mixes he did for CBS?

 

[fredblue]

i think maybe Annie was one of the last released Quad mixes he did for CBS?

or maybe the Preservation Hall Jazz Band was his swan song?

another single inventory SQ release, like Annie and the Three Penny Opera!

 

[4-earredwonder]

or maybe the Preservation Hall Jazz Band was his swan song?

another single inventory SQ release, like Annie and the Three Penny Opera!

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, IMO, would also be a great candidate for the D~V treatment...liberated from its matrixed confines!

 

[steelydave]

From the 1977 Catalog of Copyright Entries - street date was sometimes a week or two later, but you get the idea.

Annie: A New Musical (Original Cast Recording) - 27th May, 1977

Preservation Hall Jazz Band New Orleans Vol. 1 - 4th November, 1977

 

[fizzywiggs41]

I wonder if he did the quad mix of RTF Music Magic as well ?

 

[fizzywiggs41]

FWIW :

Very interesting reading amongst the posts in this thread . Specifically on page 1 and 2.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

I wonder if he did the quad mix of RTF Music Magic as well ?

Maybe Dave's done some additional skulking on this one since then?
https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...ever-musicmagic-sacd.23689/page-2#post-383028

 

[fizzywiggs41]

Maybe Dave's done some additional skulking on this one since then?
https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...ever-musicmagic-sacd.23689/page-2#post-383028

Maybe he has.

In the meantime there is no quad credit indication on my SQ album , nor the DV sacd.
So I'm just guessing it may be Don Young , as he seems to have done the bulk of the last Columbia quads .
Not certain about Columbia Masterworks Classical , though.

 

[steelydave]

No, that 'bass in one rear speaker and drums in the other rear speaker' is 100% the signature of Dick Bogert and Warren Vincent. My theory is the same reason that a bunch of them were uncredited (Tower of Power, Return to Forever, Miracles, etc.) is the same reason they got done - Bogert and Vincent were non-union guys doing the mixes at A&M Hollywood (using the studio vacated by Bart Chiate and Marv Bornstein after A&M got out of quad in '75) so it was probably considerably cheaper to get done than if Don Young or Larry Keyes did them at CBS New York.

Pretty much every credited Bogert/Vincent quad mix has this mixing style, so I feel confident in saying all the uncredited ones are them too.

Credit to @fredblue for advancing and advocating this theory for quite some time before I was able to confirm it more fully by seeing a few master tape boxes for uncredited mixes including Tower of Power and The Miracles Love Crazy.

Pretty much all the later-era Masterworks single-inventory quads were Ray Moore - they just combined the engineering credits into one line on those instead of giving a separate quad engineer credit, but you can tell who the quad engineer is because he's the last guy credited. I think Larry Keyes maybe did a couple as well, like the Pulcinella Suite for example, which was recorded in 1975 but not released until 1978 for some reason.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

Thanks for that lengthy and noteworthy information, Steely.

So those two chaps have a signature quad mix style.
My quad album says ; Engineer Bernie Kirsh , mastered at A&M Studios by Bernie Grundman.
But not really a quad credit.

Bogart/Vincent could have compiled the mix at Caribou . They did have quad mixing there , but then it was 1977 and plenty of Studios had quadraphonic mixing consoles.

Ray Moore is the name I could not remember when I comes to Columbia Masterworks .
I know his name is synonymous with quad Classical music mixes.(at least for CBS )

 

[steelydave]

All the CBS (Columbia, Epic, Blue Sky, PIR, etc.) albums used the stereo sleeve, usually with a quad credit added later. If the quad credit wasn't added then the sleeve is simply incorrect.

They did all the mixes at A&M Hollywood - like I said, I've seen some of the master tape boxes and they're all from there. Bogert worked for A&M for many years before (I guess) going freelance sometime around 1974 so he would have been intimately familiar with their studios.

The Billy Preston Music is My Life Q8 an (uncredited) A&M quad mix done in '72 or '73 while Bogert was still working for A&M still displays this same kind of mixing philosophy - once again @fredblue pointed this out originally and I think it's entirely possible that he's right.

The way these guys kept their schedules tight (and costs down) was by mixing in the same studio (A&M Hollywood) with the same mix style (bass and drums each in one rear speaker) because once you've got a formula, the more times you repeat it the easier it gets.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

FWIW :

Very interesting reading amongst the posts in this thread . Specifically on page 1 and 2.

FWIW There are a lot of stealth quads reported on page 1. Some possibly SQ and Regular Matrix variants.

Now I will have to check out some Vangelis albums. I know his label recently rereleased a large number of his albums (cd's).

 

[fizzywiggs41]

Here are some more stealth vinyl quad albums:

Vangelis recorded most of his later albums in either SQ or UMX (I am trying to determine which). They are not labeled as such, because the record company that published the albums (RCA) would not allow an SQ recording if they knew. But they definitely have sound sources in all 6 primary SQ positions .

Does your view on the RCA Vangelis albums in some form of SQ encode still hold true ?

I know a lot of time has past since this post but I'm curious to know.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Does your view on the RCA Vangelis albums in some form of SQ encode still hold true ?

I know a lot of time has past since this post but I'm curious to know.

I see @MidiMagic hasn't been around since 01/21 hope he's OK, I seem to remember some Vangelis possibly on those Dolby CDs (think @kap'n krunch was looking into that) but didn't know anything about this, so +1

 

[DuncanS]

Does your view on the RCA Vangelis albums in some form of SQ encode still hold true ?

I know a lot of time has past since this post but I'm curious to know.

I see @MidiMagic hasn't been around since 01/21 hope he's OK, I seem to remember some Vangelis possibly on those Dolby CDs (think @kap'n krunch was looking into that) but didn't know anything about this, so +1

Was Albedo 0.39 on of them? I've got the RCA CD of "Albedo 0.39" and somewhere a Reel-to-Reel recording of the original vinyl, I have a later issue of the LP on vinyl. I can stick the CD through the SM2 to see what comes out.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

I see @MidiMagic hasn't been around since 01/21 hope he's OK, I seem to remember some Vangelis possibly on those Dolby CDs (think @kap'n krunch was looking into that) but didn't know anything about this, so +1

Pupster , you probably are thinking about those Dolby surround on the Italian label CAM . There are 3 CAM soundtrack albums in Dolby Surround by Vangelis.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

Was Albedo 0.39 on of them? I've got the RCA CD of "Albedo 0.39" and somewhere a Reel-to-Reel recording of the original vinyl, I have a later issue of the LP on vinyl. I can stick the CD through the SM2 to see what comes out.

Okay thanks Duncan , good buddy.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

Midi mentions the Vangelis albums as :

Heaven And Hell

Chariots Of Fire , and

Opera Sauvage


Just thought I'd throw that out there.

 

[DuncanS]

Was Albedo 0.39 on of them? I've got the RCA CD of "Albedo 0.39" and somewhere a Reel-to-Reel recording of the original vinyl, I have a later issue of the LP on vinyl. I can stick the CD through the SM2 to see what comes out.

I'd say its not SQ encoded as when sitting in the centre it was mainly the fronts dominated, some tracks did have some rear sounds but got more in Involve mode, but its not QS either I'd say!

 

[jaybird100]

Here are some more stealth vinyl quad albums:

Vangelis recorded most of his later albums in either SQ or UMX (I am trying to determine which). They are not labeled as such, because the record company that published the albums (RCA) would not allow an SQ recording if they knew. But they definitely have sound sources in all 6 primary SQ positions.

"Tommy" (the movie soundtrack) is in QS, as is the movie. No mention, because Polydor used CD-4.

The Beach Boys "Love You" is in Dynaquad. There was an article on it, but no mention on the album.

All of the ABBA albums 1977 and later seem to be in either UMX or H. Because they were on Atlantic, there would be no mention of matrix quad on the album.

Some Meco albums are in Dolby Surround.

Most movie soundtrack albums are in Dolby Surround.

According to ABBA's producer, Michael B. Tretow, their albums are stereo. They are not encoded in any system. I will say they sound great through the Surround Master, but there's no encoding of any type.