Quadrophenia on SHM-SACD

Again, interesting to me, because it has always been the title piece that's impressed me and I've thought of I Am The Sea as effective and necessary, but somewhat incidental. Your postings about it are giving me a better appreciation for its consideration.

There are photos and captions in Q Cloud and in the super deluxe book of some of the mic placements that captured some of the sea/water sounds. I hadn't paid attention to them as much as the other items included in the book and cloud.

 

I'm behind the curve, I guess. I had never heard of Q-Cloud until you just brought it to my attention.

http://www.quadropheniaofficial.com/

I am over there now looking and listening. Thanks!

 

I figured with the quad sacd coming out it would be a great time to grab a MFSL set at the right price and snagged one at $30 in mint condition.
My job is done.

 

Good thinking and what a great deal!

 

Quad SACD? Huh?

Do you mean QUADROPHENIA SHM-SACD?

 

Whoever sold that to you for only $30 must have been distracted by your car's airbags.

 

This. You want EQ, get a parametric and do your own custom EQ, just the way you like it! YOU can be the mastering engineer, with the sound of the master tape in your hands. How freakin' cool is that?

ccm

 

It can be cool, but it can also be a pain if the tape doesn't sound very good as-is, and you *have* to apply some EQ for it to sound decent.

 

I still like the idea. I don't want to put my EQ on top of someone else's EQ. I value flat transfers for the chance to work on the master tape sound myself.

I can recognize that there are people out there who, particularly at this price point, feel that it should just be done right by a pro in the first place.

Best of all worlds would be a pro-eq'd disc and an INCLUDED hi-rez flat transfer.

Or do a flat transfer and include a sheet of recommended parametric settings from a pro engineer.

Better still, have a flat transfer disc and then have a website where the mastering gods post their "battle of the settings" where the end user can hear their different approaches.

I know that's just a silly fantasy, but it WOULD be cool.

ccm

 

Well I just popped for the SHM-SACD at CD Japan. It's my all-time favorite LP so that alone justifies the <gulp> purchase

 

Anybody know any other forums out there where people are discussing how this compares to the MFSL and MCA/Polydor?

I find it a bit curious that an album of this popularity is getting so little discussion here when we live in a world where samples can so easily be shared and we could really discuss the differences in EQ, compile some frequency charts, etc. I think the EQ'ing on the SHM-SACD makes a lot of sense. My guess is some work was done to bring out the mids and it was done nicely. Not sure I prefer it just yet. Would be nice to get into some discussions about it and maybe get the impressions of a Quadrophenia vinyl expert as well.

 

Don't have time to translate, but can provide a summary of a few of the thoughts contained in the liner notes:

The author talks about the Director's Cut and how it is a "definitive edition" for a longtime fan except that it is missing the original mix. The original mix was supposed to be included in the Director's Cut, but Pete chose to include the 96 remix - he speculates that a primary reason might be the mix of Pete's vocal on The Real Me, which he talks about for a bit. He then says that in recent interviews, Pete seems to feel that the original mix is meant to be heard on vinyl, which is one reason the original 6-track album was included in the Leeds 40th anniv. box. He also notes that Pete seems to think of the album in terms of a multi-channel mix these days.

To judge the SHM-SACD, he listened to the first press UK album. He noted that unlike Tommy, where there were wide variations in the quality of pressings, with Quadrophenia, the quality of pressings was quite good in the UK, with little degradation from -1 to -2 matrixes. He briefly mentions the MCA US pressing and says that while having a certain "hardness" typical of US pressings, that it is good as well. He said that he was worried that this hi-rez "flat transfer" of original tapes might not sound good on the sound of the ocean on I Am The Sea recorded on Ronnie Lane's mobile unit. He said this is not a problem, easy to distinguish from tape hiss, with width and stunning depth characteristic of SHM-SACD.

He comments that the MFSL Gold, which was an excellent original mix on digital, shows limitations of the CD format when one compares the detail of the vocals and various instrumental parts on the SHM-SACD.

Oh the SHM-SACD, he says that the sound tends to be better than the UK vinyl on the tracks that are closer to the inner groove - particularly on the heavier numbers, with The Rock and Love Reigh O'er Me sounding stress free.

He says that throughout the album, Roger's vocals have real presence, and he feels there is no problem with the mix of his vocals, despite all that has been said.

He says that he holds the sound of the original master tapes in his hands with this release.

 

Thanks for the summary of the liner notes, much appreciated.

 

Thanks very much indeed, drbryant.

 

Thanks!

 

this may be misinformation or a victim of auto translation, but the non-SACD SHM papersleeve issue of Quadrophenia due this week in Japan is a downsampling of the DSD transfer used for the SACD according to hmv.co.jp. the price is not much less than the SACD (¥3800 vs ¥4500) but might appeal to those without SACD playing capability if it proves to be true. this is a replica UK sleeve, numbered 2 disc set.

 

Correct:

 

Wow, that means there are currently two completely different SHM-CDs available for QUADROPHENIA: last fall's Japanese issue and this summer's Japanese paper-sleeve set. Very interesting.

Give me the original mix any day over the excellent yet flawed '96 remix.

 

Draining my bank account

 

I take it the sacd looks like the others they did,not a real Mini,with no Book
So you have to Buy both(or Box,Lp) shm versions if you don't have original
version,to me this is insane why can't they just put the SACD in a proper
Mini sleeve with Book?? for that price

 

Listening to whatever sounds come out of the tv between innings. Not quite audiophile quality. Watching a re-run of last night's mets - yankees game.

 

You are correct, bare bones like the other SHM-SACD discs.

 

Hybrid would be nice too (although for Quad it would have to be split to 2 CDs).

 

Question about Quad Box,Does it include Loss less download?? is there one coming
from HD Tracks,since they do a lot of Universal stuff

 

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