Surround enthusiasts will want to thank Bloop of Cosmic Ground for mixing and offering a selection of songs from his catalogue in quadrophonic audio. He felt a special kinship with other quadrahoics in the popular Quadrophonic Quad forums, and specifically offered his special multi-channel mixes there. He selected personal favorites from his catalogue creating a seven tracks compilation with about 100 minutes of quad ecstasy for those who enjoy ambient , psychedelic , and dark electronic music that leans heavily on the 70’s into 80’s classic sound. He did not aggressively master these mixes for playback in a car, which would have limited the dynamic range. Instead these mixes have been specifically tailored to high quality listening rooms, not radio, nor mobile listening, which tend to play into the loudness wars.
He mentions in his post, “At home, I am listening to 4.0 with an old Sansui quad receiver from the 70’s, four speakers, no center or sub-woofer. Plus, as it turns out, in the studio it is easier to produce a 4.0 mix instead of a 5.1 version.” He goes on to note that although the initial recordings are digital, his mixes are always analog. He excludes the center channel as he feels they are better utilized for movies and large spaces, and I have seen a trend back to quad for music by other artists too, and generally agree with this style.
While the download is free, may I suggest supporting Cosmic Ground by visiting their BandCamp page and picking up one or more of their albums, which contain the original stereo mixes that are now available in this quad compilation.
Format Info
FLAC 4.0 download and also available on various CD's.