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