Korgscrew
Group: Super Admins
Posts: 3511
Joined: Dec. 1999 |
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Posted: May 29 2005, 05:48 |
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It technically is, but they'd have told you differently in 1976!
Boxed was a set of quadraphonic remixes, mostly overseen by Phil Newell and done at The Manor which had just been re-equipped to provide Virgin with a state of the art quadraphonic studio (the exception being Hergest Ridge, which was remixed by Mike at Througham Slad, which he'd also had equipped with quad mixing facilities).
There was a problem with quadraphonic albums though, and that was the puzzle of how to get them to the consumer. The standard way with stereo albums was the LP, but getting any more than two channels onto them wasn't possible. That didn't stop them trying, though - the results were two types of system, one involving matrixing, and one involving FM (that is, frequency modulation, the same as FM radio). The FM discs were actually better at keeping the channels separate, when they worked, but they had problems (they used a super high frequency signal to carry the information necessary to split the signals apart - not only did it need a special stylus to play them, and special vinyl to press them, but the grooves for the high frequency carrier waves were also very delicate and wore out more easily than the audible signal grooves). On the other side were the matrix systems. They involved feeding the four channels through a box which mixed them down to two channels, adding information which could later be used to separate them again. Music encoded that way could be pressed onto any old LP, and also transferred to cassette, 8 track, or any other stereo format they could care to think of. They didn't need any special playback equipment, apart from the decoder (and of course four channels of amplification instead of two), and would play as a normal stereo record for anyone without quadraphonic equipment (you just get the rear signals coming out at the front instead, just like with the downmixes modern digital surround systems can create). Wonderful. Except it wasn't, quite - the separation between the channels on matrix recordings was pretty bad (as low as 3dB in some directions - what directions depends on the system). They finally found ways of improving that using clever tricks in the decoder, but by the time that was perfected, quad was dead.
The record companies continue to like matrix quad though. Take a look at a matrix quad tape and what do you see? A stereo tape...perfect for transferring to CD to sell as an alternate mix. This is the case with Boxed. What's actually on the CD is the matrix encoded quad mix - they just tell you it's stereo...and it is stereo, or at least it's compatible with stereo equipment. It's definitely still got the encoding there, though.
The SACD was produced from exactly the same four track tape that was used to make the matrix quad version, just they've transferred the four channels direct to four channels of the SACD, rather than mixing them together into matrixed quad. Play the Boxed CD through the right matrix quad decoder (that is an SQ or Phase Matrix decoder - QS or Regular Matrix won't do) and you'll get something approximating what you get from the SACD...as well as an interesting demonstration of the differences in reproduction between a discrete and a matrix system!
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what is your favorite version of Tubular Bells? 
However, I think another version should be added to the list above - Mike's BBC performance as featured on the Elements DVD. 
, and help anyone please. 