Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters

Released in 1973, the twelfth studio album by the American jazz musician Herbie Hancock is a key release in his career and a defining moment in the genre of jazz funk. Head Hunters followed a series of experimental albums by Hancock's sextet (Mwandishi in 1970, Crossings in 1971, and Sextant in 1973), and was released at a time when Hancock was looking for a new direction in which to take his music. Happily, it was also released in quadraphonic!

Although it was "tweaked" for 5.1 surround, the SACD was based on the original quadraphonic release. This conversion has been "untweaked" back to the original quadraphonic mix.
Source: SACD

Converted to: DVD-A MLP 24/88.2, DVD-V DTS 24/48 & Dolby Digital 24/48

Slatkin / St Louis Symphony - Prokofiev: Nesky & Kijé

A late (1977) entry in the quadraphonic releases from Vox, this time featuring conductor Leonard Slatkin leading the St Louis Symphony, America's second oldest orchestra, playing two works of modern composer Sergei Prokofiev: Alexander Nesky (a cantata) and Lieutenant Kijé (a symphonic suite), both of which were originally film scores.

The SACD release featured the original quadraphonic mix with a silent centre channel as required by the SACD format and a silent (as far as I could tell) LFE channel that I deleted from my conversion.

With a running time of around 58 minutes, the SACD appears to contain an LP and a half with Alexander Nesky being released as a stand alone album. However, I couldn't easily find Lieutenant Kijé being released with any other piece and so my conversion includes both works.
Source: SACD

Converted to: DVD-A MLP 24/88.2, DVD-V DTS 24/48 & Dolby Digital 24/48

Nektar - Remember The Future

The fourth album from Germany-based English band Nektar.

A conversion was originally created by Romanotrax with menus. I have re-created that conversion without the menus.

The SACD was based on the original quadraphonic release "tweaked" for 5.1 surround. Romanotrax re-tweaked his conversion back to quadraphonic. In addition, the bonus tracks from the SACD that were originally edits from the stereo release were recreated by Romanotrax as edits of the quadraphonic version and have been retained here.
Source: SACD

Converted to: DVD-A MLP 24/96, DVD-V DTS 24/96 & Dolby Digital 24/48

Deep Purple - Machine Head[SACD rear channel configuration corrected]

When Deep Purple's Machine Head was released on SACD it included a quadraphonic mix of the album. Unlike other quadraphonic mixes on SACD such as The Moody Blues' albums and The O'Jays' Ship Ahoy that had derived center and LFE channels added to them to create artificial 5.1 mixes, Machine Head featured an non-enhanced quadraphonic mix. But exactly which mix is it?

Comparison with the UK SQ mix originally released on LP and later on CD shows the SACD quad mix is similar, but not quite the same. Comparison with the US mix released on reel-to-reel and CD-4 LP reveals that the SACD is not that mix. Could the SACD contain the UK SQ mix with the rear channels reversed?

As well as the full album in a quadraphonic mix the SACD included three bonus tracks - possibly to make the SACD similar to the 25th anniversary CD release. The first time I created a conversion of the SACD I included the bonus tracks. These bonus tracks turned out to contain the 5.1 surround mix that was commercially released on DVD-Audio and included digital watermarking copy protection. When the bonus tracks were converted from SACD to DVD-Audio the audio watermarking was still intact causing issues for players that detected these watermarks.

This conversion contains only the original album with no bonus tracks and with the rear channels as presented on the SACD swapped over to restore the original UK SQ mix configuration.
Source: SACD

Converted to: DVD-A MLP 24/96, DVD-V DTS 24/48 & Dolby Digital 24/48

Deep Purple - Machine Head[Original SACD channel configuration]

When Deep Purple's Machine Head was released on SACD it included a quadraphonic mix of the album. Unlike other quadraphonic mixes on SACD such as The Moody Blues' albums and The O'Jays' Ship Ahoy that had derived center and LFE channels added to them to create artificial 5.1 mixes, Machine Head featured an non-enhanced quadraphonic mix. But exactly which mix is it?

Comparison with the UK SQ mix originally released on LP and later on CD shows the SACD quad mix is similar, but not quite the same. Comparison with the US mix released on reel-to-reel and CD-4 LP reveals that the SACD is not that mix. Could the SACD contain the UK SQ mix with the rear channels reversed?

As well as the full album in a quadraphonic mix the SACD included three bonus tracks - possibly to make the SACD similar to the 25th anniversary CD release. The first time I created a conversion of the SACD I included the bonus tracks. These bonus tracks turned out to contain the 5.1 surround mix that was commercially released on DVD-Audio and included digital watermarking copy protection. When the bonus tracks were converted from SACD to DVD-Audio the audio watermarking was still intact causing issues for players that detected these watermarks.

This conversion contains only the original album with no bonus tracks and with the quadraphonic channel configuration as released on the SACD.
Source: SACD

Converted to: DVD-A MLP 24/96, DVD-V DTS 24/48 & Dolby Digital 24/48

Susskind / St Louis Symphony - Holst: The Planets

The St Louis Symphony again, this time under the baton of Walter Susskind. Holst's seven-movement orchestral suite The Planets - particularly the Mars and Jupiter movements - have been the inspiration for a number of rock tracks and synthesiser-based interpretations.

The SACD release featured the original quadraphonic mix with a silent centre channel as required by the SACD format that I deleted from my conversion.
Source: SACD

Converted to: DVD-A MLP 24/88.2, DVD-V DTS 24/48 & Dolby Digital 24/48

Slatkin / St Louis Symphony - Gershwin: American Rhapsody

Another in the series of releases from Vox, this time featuring conductor Leonard Slatkin leading the St Louis Symphony, America's second oldest orchestra, playing the works of modern composer George Gershwin.

The SACD release featured the original quadraphonic mix with a silent centre channel as required by the SACD format and a silent (as far as I could tell) LFE channel that I deleted from my conversion. Most of the orchestra is heard from the front speakers with ambience in the rears, although there is a variation to this in the final track Cuban Overture.

In other cases where the SACD release has included bonus tracks, I have limited my conversion to the original LP contents, either because the bonus tracks could be found on another SACD or because there was no direct connection to the main content of the disc. On this occasion I have included the bonus tracks in the conversion.
Source: SACD

Converted to: DVD-A MLP 24/88.2, DVD-V DTS 24/48 & Dolby Digital 24/48

John Williams / English Chamber Orchestra - Rodrigo & Villa-Lobos Guitar Concertos

These two works feature classical guitarist John Williams performing with the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim recorded at CBS Studios London in 1974.

Although it was "tweaked" for 5.1 surround, the SACD was based on the original quadraphonic release. This conversion has been "untweaked" back to the original quadraphonic mix.

The SACD also included a third work by John Williams performing with the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Sir Charles Groves recorded in 1967 that was also presented in 5.1 surround. I do not know the full provenance of how the 5.1 mix of this recording was created but could not find any reference to it ever being released in quadraphonic so I excluded it from my conversion.
Source: SACD

Converted to: DVD-A MLP 24/88.2, DVD-V DTS 24/48 & Dolby Digital 24/48

Boulez / New York Philharmonic - Boulez Conducts Ravel

The original vinyl release of these selections had the two shorter works La Valse and Menuet Antique on Side 1 and the longer suite Ma Mere L'Oye on Side 2. For some reason the SACD placed the longer suite between the two shorter works. For my conversion I restored the original running order.

The SACD release featured the original quadraphonic mix with a silent centre channel as required by the SACD format that I deleted from my conversion.
Source: SACD

Converted to: DVD-A MLP 24/88.2, DVD-V DTS 24/48 & Dolby Digital 24/48

Somary / English Chamber Orchestra - Handel: Water Music, Royal Fireworks

The Suite from The Water Music has the main instruments emanating from the front speakers, with the interplay between wind and strings heard from the front and rear. The Music from The Royal Fireworks is arranged so the listener hears the music as if they were in the middle of the ensemble.

The featured solo horn is by the late Alan Civil OBE, who played the French horn on The Beatles song For No One from Revolver.

The SACD release featured the original quadraphonic mix with a silent centre channel as required by the SACD format that I deleted from my conversion.
Source: SACD

Converted to: DVD-A MLP 24/88.2, DVD-V DTS 24/48 & Dolby Digital 24/48

Somary / English Chamber Orchestra - Bach: Brandenburg Concertos

These recordings of J S Bach's Brandenburg Concertos were recorded from the perspective of the conductor. Most of the orchestra is heard from the front speakers, although dialogue between wind and strings alternates between front and rear.

The SACD release featured the original quadraphonic mix with a silent centre channel as required by the SACD format that I deleted from my conversion and was a two disc set. As the high resolution version of the entire recording could fit on one disc, I created separate DVD-Audio and DVD-Video (DTS & Dolby) discs rather than two hybrid DVD-Audio/Video discs.
Source: SACD

Converted to: DVD-A MLP 24/88.2 (Disc 1) & DVD-V DTS 24/48 & Dolby Digital 24/48 (Disc 2)