The quad mixes

Alice Cooper co-founder and Hall Of Fame inductee Dennis Dunaway answers your questions!

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Dannorama
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The quad mixes

Post by Dannorama » Sun Aug 08, 2021 2:25 pm

For the most part, the quadrophonic mixes of BDB and MOL are pretty much the same as the regular albums. There are subtleties, though. Notably, at the end of "Generation Landslide," it sounds like Neal's toms and bass drums randomly "fire-off," creating a pretty cool skyrocket effect. Soon after that, your bass guitar sounds extra bouncy on "I Love the Dead." Maybe a different take? Just wondering if you guys had any input? For that matter, have you ever heard these mixes? I tried finding them on YouTube, but no dice.
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Dreary
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Re: The quad mixes

Post by Dreary » Sun Aug 08, 2021 3:11 pm

I have both of our Quad albums and I even had a Quad record player.

They say the Beatles were present for their mono mixes but left the studio when it came time for the stereo mixes because it hadn't really caught on yet. Most people had mono record players and a mono record collection and few were ready to invest in a stereo set up.
In our era, stereo had become the norm and Quad was the unproven format. Quad record players had 4 speakers so they cost more and, even though they would also play stereo records, the record stores had very few Quad records, and most of those were classical.

So record companies were willing to spend money on stereo mixing sessions but the budget was very tight for quad. And recording studios didn't have proper speaker systems for it, therefore the mixes were double stereo with few variations. You only have two ears, was the approach. I was in the studio with Jack Richardson and Jack Douglas during the MOL quad mixes. I had all kinds of ideas but it was a race to the finish and it was best to stand back and be quiet.

The only album I had that took full advantage of quad was Bette Midler:The Devine Miss M. Standing in the center of the room listening to "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" sounded like the horn section was in one corner of the room and the background singers were in another. It was exciting.

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Re: The quad mixes

Post by Dannorama » Sun Aug 08, 2021 6:49 pm

Good to know your perspective. Music presented in surround sound is indeed exciting. I often get absorbed by the DVD-Audio version of BDB in 5.1. In that case, I wish that they'd mixed the album edits in 5.1. Instead, they mixed the unedited versions of a few songs. The elongated "Mary Ann" is cool, but "Raped and Freezin'" is a tad too long in my book. Not bitching, just saying. Thanks for recommending the "Miss M" album. I'm going to dig around for it.
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Re: The quad mixes

Post by Saint&Sinner » Sun Aug 08, 2021 7:47 pm

i must say i love the 5.1 album mixes of allot of albums BDB being one of them, welcome to my nightmare is also excellent.
wish more albums were in 5.1 - including allot of alice albums both group and solo. on a side note, the 5.1 of appetite for destruction is surprisingly good

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