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Q-Sound is a mixing process that's supposed to give the song a "3-D" sound. Madonna used it on the Immaculate Collection, and there were a few other releases around the same time that experimented with it. I've never known Q-Sound to have anything to do with noise reduction, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

Aaron is completely correct regarding Q-Sound and the Century 21 GoldDiscs (at least I think they were known as Century 21 before TM Century?)

Q-Sound was a mixing technique that didn't just pan sounds left/right, but imparted a small phase shift between left and right channels. The phase shift was intended to mimic the times at which sounds would arrive at your ears, so that the delays could (in principle) make sounds appear to come from anywhere in the soundstage. Madonna's "The Immaculate Collection" was by far the biggest-selling release in Q-Sound. I think Sting's "The Soul Cages" was also in Q-Sound; there are others from that time frame. It didn't last very long.

It was a neat idea back then. Modern sound designers for videogames and VR systems use phase delay and EQ techniques that vastly expand on the ideas first introduced by Q-Sound.

As I understood it, Q-Sound really screwed up some of the compressor/limiter processing for FM broadcast. I don't remember the specifics, though.

I went and looked at one of my Top Hits USA discs and noted that I was misreading the whole thing.

The disc I found was T376 April 18, 1997 and it is labeled "Ultrasonic - Q tm" Radio Disc.
That must be where I was getting the idea of Q-Sound. Somehow, I started thinking this was a process used in TM Century's discs.
I have absolutely no idea what Ultrasonic - Q is or means.

I was not a fan of the whole "Q-Sound" thing. The local oldies station plays the "Q" version of "Material Girl" by
Madonna and it never sounds right to me.

Edited by Paul Haney

I'll admit I helped contribute to this thread running O/T. I ask forgiveness.

I noted in another thread that asked how do we listen to our collections, this comes to mind. Like so many others have posted about Madonna and "The Immaculate Collection",
I picked up early-on that the mixes sounded quite different than original "Hit" versions. I actually don't mind either being played as they are pretty easy to distinguish
from each other. I didn't know anything about the Q-Sound approach until now though.

With that said, I can't think of many times when I actually decided to actively intend to listen to any of Madonna's catalog. Her style in the 80s was good enough to gain
her the stardom she earned. As my wife puts it, "She's a good businesswoman." I would also say the same for another superstar of pop, Michael Jackson. I think there's a big
difference in how these two were marketed though. It seemed like every time I turned around, there was another new remix on Madonna, or another MJ greatest hits. Ugh!

Eventually, there may be a way to look up and easily play a lot of the remixes that mattered most. Sort of like youtube does. I have to admit that I do like this approach,
rather than buying endless CDs, hoping for the "Right" mix.