|
|
|
Thoughts from the world ...
Turbulence - Voice of Space
Space murmurs its Voice throughout Turbulence
To present some of the most advanced scientific research in turbulent motion using an innovative and immersive artistic experience for the audience.
This is the idea of Turbulence | Voice of Space, a project realized by Giannandrea Inchingolo, born in Andria, Italy, and Ph.D. candidate at the Instituto Superior Técnico of Lisbon.
This project describes the turbulence, the chaotic motion of the particles and elements that characterize a fluid or, as for Giannandrea’s research, a plasma. A plasma is a particular state in which the matter is decomposed into its elementary charged particles, electrons and ions. This state of matter is everywhere in our Universe: from the Sun to all the other stars in the space, but also plasma is part of some more familiar phenomena like lighting or Nord lights.
During his research, Giannandrea studies the turbulent motion characteristic of the plasma. The topic is often difficult to understand only throughout mathematical expression, especially if you have no specialistic background preparation. Here the idea of Giannandrea to transform his research into catchy artistic expressions, in order to offer a sensory experience of the turbulent plasma realm to whom approaches to this word for the first time.
For Turbulence | Voice of Space, Giannandrea chooses different artistic forms, like images and experiences in virtual reality, but as the name of the project suggests, the sounds are a fundamental part of this project.
Thanks to the collaboration with prof. Joseph Paradiso from MIT Media Lab, the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, Turbulence VoS transforms Giannandrea’s research data into a music track, using Joe’s Massive Modular Synthesiser.
Since their introduction during the ‘60s and the ‘70s, modular synthesizer represented an avant-garde for electronically music and after many decades they are being enthusiastically re-discovered and in many ways re-invented by the current young generation of electronic musicians. Follow this trend, Joe has more than 45 years of experience in design, build and use several electronic music systems. In particular, his last installation called Re-Synthesizer has been active at MIT from April to August 2018 and Giannandrea had the possibility to interact personally with Joe and his installation during this time.
For the occasion, Joe used his home-made Massive Modular Synthesiser realized from 1974 to 1987. A modular synthesizer, in principle, has no pre-set sound: each sound must be realized manually patching the different modules and the different logical units. With more than 150 different modules used and more than 700 cords-patch to patch the different logical units, the Massive Modular Synthesiser of Joe is probably the largest home-made modular synthesizer ever made.
The sources for the different modules used are Giannandrea’s research data, together with other data from the plasma experiment Alcator C-Mod at MIT. The data waveforms have been loaded into an array of Eurorack samplers that Joe could control from processes running in the synthesizer. While most of these signals were used as direct audio, some were adopted for modulation envelopes and slow control.
The final product is a non-repetitive music track, played continuously and evolved in complexity for all the 5 months of the installation. In this track, the different physics process becomes not only the different ”instruments” of an electronically orchestra but also the active and expressive directors of how the turbulence speaks loud, in this way, its own voice.
Listening to this data as audio, I was immediately transfixed. This didn’t sound like bland digital noise, but instead felt alive, giving you the sensation of being transferred to an alien world.
The images produced are perfectly coupled with the Turbulence project: the sensations of being immersed in a non-familiar word are the perfect soundtrack for the exploration of the turbulent motion of plasma, a realm often non-familiar and inaccessible to most. Turbulence takes these sensations, stimulated not only with sound but also visually and physically thanks to a complete and interactive virtual reality experience, making them a great tool for the exploration of the turbulent motion behind them.
You just need to dive into Turbulence | Voice of Space and make yours these sensations and explore the plasma realm.
For more information on Giannandrea’s project and some sample, visit www.giannandreainchingolo.com/turbulence
If you are interested in further details on Joe Paradiso’s synthesizer, visit http://synth.media.mit.edu
Vince Genovese
To present some of the most advanced scientific research in turbulent motion using an innovative and immersive artistic experience for the audience.
This is the idea of Turbulence | Voice of Space, a project realized by Giannandrea Inchingolo, born in Andria, Italy, and Ph.D. candidate at the Instituto Superior Técnico of Lisbon.
This project describes the turbulence, the chaotic motion of the particles and elements that characterize a fluid or, as for Giannandrea’s research, a plasma. A plasma is a particular state in which the matter is decomposed into its elementary charged particles, electrons and ions. This state of matter is everywhere in our Universe: from the Sun to all the other stars in the space, but also plasma is part of some more familiar phenomena like lighting or Nord lights.
During his research, Giannandrea studies the turbulent motion characteristic of the plasma. The topic is often difficult to understand only throughout mathematical expression, especially if you have no specialistic background preparation. Here the idea of Giannandrea to transform his research into catchy artistic expressions, in order to offer a sensory experience of the turbulent plasma realm to whom approaches to this word for the first time.
For Turbulence | Voice of Space, Giannandrea chooses different artistic forms, like images and experiences in virtual reality, but as the name of the project suggests, the sounds are a fundamental part of this project.
Thanks to the collaboration with prof. Joseph Paradiso from MIT Media Lab, the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, Turbulence VoS transforms Giannandrea’s research data into a music track, using Joe’s Massive Modular Synthesiser.
Since their introduction during the ‘60s and the ‘70s, modular synthesizer represented an avant-garde for electronically music and after many decades they are being enthusiastically re-discovered and in many ways re-invented by the current young generation of electronic musicians. Follow this trend, Joe has more than 45 years of experience in design, build and use several electronic music systems. In particular, his last installation called Re-Synthesizer has been active at MIT from April to August 2018 and Giannandrea had the possibility to interact personally with Joe and his installation during this time.
For the occasion, Joe used his home-made Massive Modular Synthesiser realized from 1974 to 1987. A modular synthesizer, in principle, has no pre-set sound: each sound must be realized manually patching the different modules and the different logical units. With more than 150 different modules used and more than 700 cords-patch to patch the different logical units, the Massive Modular Synthesiser of Joe is probably the largest home-made modular synthesizer ever made.
The sources for the different modules used are Giannandrea’s research data, together with other data from the plasma experiment Alcator C-Mod at MIT. The data waveforms have been loaded into an array of Eurorack samplers that Joe could control from processes running in the synthesizer. While most of these signals were used as direct audio, some were adopted for modulation envelopes and slow control.
The final product is a non-repetitive music track, played continuously and evolved in complexity for all the 5 months of the installation. In this track, the different physics process becomes not only the different ”instruments” of an electronically orchestra but also the active and expressive directors of how the turbulence speaks loud, in this way, its own voice.
Listening to this data as audio, I was immediately transfixed. This didn’t sound like bland digital noise, but instead felt alive, giving you the sensation of being transferred to an alien world.
The images produced are perfectly coupled with the Turbulence project: the sensations of being immersed in a non-familiar word are the perfect soundtrack for the exploration of the turbulent motion of plasma, a realm often non-familiar and inaccessible to most. Turbulence takes these sensations, stimulated not only with sound but also visually and physically thanks to a complete and interactive virtual reality experience, making them a great tool for the exploration of the turbulent motion behind them.
You just need to dive into Turbulence | Voice of Space and make yours these sensations and explore the plasma realm.
For more information on Giannandrea’s project and some sample, visit www.giannandreainchingolo.com/turbulence
If you are interested in further details on Joe Paradiso’s synthesizer, visit http://synth.media.mit.edu
Vince Genovese
Interview with Aerial Acoustics' Michael Kelly
Angelo Jasparro, Michael Kelly, Luca Righetti
AA: The first time I heard about Aerial Acoustics was when I read on Stereophile the review of the 10T loudspeakers and I think that was the first of your models and your production. There is a big technical difference between the 10T and the 7T that we reviewed HERE.
I'd like to know why did you change?
MK: Well, the successor to the 10T was the 20T which we had in the line for several years, we have a new speaker above the 7T and below the 20T, called the 12T coming in the first part of next year.
This will have 2 cabinets, we are studying two different constructions between the cabinets, and this will be more like the 10T.
The 7T actually has better performance than the 10T even if it looks completely different but you probably remember the 10T and ask this question over and over and so this tells us that we need to do some models above the 7T so you'll see things coming that will remind you of the 10T.
AA: Will you use the ribbon tweeter or not anymore?
MK: Unfortunately not any more. That is a wonderful tweeter, the best high frequency sound, so delicate and pure.
The speaker we have coming, the 12T, will use a new beryllium tweeter and this is very very good.
The ribbon tweeter of the 20T is the best tweeter I have ever heard and it is no longer possible to make this tweeter.
It had no problems and this new beryllium tweeter we are using will be almost as good.
AA: What about the market? Which are the best markets in the world for your products?
A: Well we do very well in the US our home market and this is very important. We do very well in Asia and I think this is true for most manufacturers; South Korea is a very strong market.
We want to make Europe a stronger market and we fell that we have missed getting distribution strong enough in Europe. Now we are starting again in Italy, with Luca.
Brad O'Toole, Marketing Manager, was present and added:
I can say something about the market. One of the things I have found in promoting and working with Aerial Acoustics is that it is a music lover speaker so where we do well is with music loving Countries and that isn't always true.
You know, a lot of people here listen to gear, they do not listen to music. So actually having that connection with live music and understanding it, well those are the customers that understand Aerial.
It's been very interesting for me.
AA: I wrote something like that in my review ...
BoT: Unfortunately I haven't read the whole review yet but you understood that, yes.
AA: I used to be a drummer when I was young, I was a musician …
BoT: Musicians understand Aerial … yes … very nice.
This is what I wanted to add about the marketing part of it, we have to find the right connection with the right distributors to understand music … this is what we do in HI-FI, it is very important.
Angelo Jasparro
I'd like to know why did you change?
MK: Well, the successor to the 10T was the 20T which we had in the line for several years, we have a new speaker above the 7T and below the 20T, called the 12T coming in the first part of next year.
This will have 2 cabinets, we are studying two different constructions between the cabinets, and this will be more like the 10T.
The 7T actually has better performance than the 10T even if it looks completely different but you probably remember the 10T and ask this question over and over and so this tells us that we need to do some models above the 7T so you'll see things coming that will remind you of the 10T.
AA: Will you use the ribbon tweeter or not anymore?
MK: Unfortunately not any more. That is a wonderful tweeter, the best high frequency sound, so delicate and pure.
The speaker we have coming, the 12T, will use a new beryllium tweeter and this is very very good.
The ribbon tweeter of the 20T is the best tweeter I have ever heard and it is no longer possible to make this tweeter.
It had no problems and this new beryllium tweeter we are using will be almost as good.
AA: What about the market? Which are the best markets in the world for your products?
A: Well we do very well in the US our home market and this is very important. We do very well in Asia and I think this is true for most manufacturers; South Korea is a very strong market.
We want to make Europe a stronger market and we fell that we have missed getting distribution strong enough in Europe. Now we are starting again in Italy, with Luca.
Brad O'Toole, Marketing Manager, was present and added:
I can say something about the market. One of the things I have found in promoting and working with Aerial Acoustics is that it is a music lover speaker so where we do well is with music loving Countries and that isn't always true.
You know, a lot of people here listen to gear, they do not listen to music. So actually having that connection with live music and understanding it, well those are the customers that understand Aerial.
It's been very interesting for me.
AA: I wrote something like that in my review ...
BoT: Unfortunately I haven't read the whole review yet but you understood that, yes.
AA: I used to be a drummer when I was young, I was a musician …
BoT: Musicians understand Aerial … yes … very nice.
This is what I wanted to add about the marketing part of it, we have to find the right connection with the right distributors to understand music … this is what we do in HI-FI, it is very important.
Angelo Jasparro
Analog Master Tapes by Antonio Lanfranca
The Master Tapes
When Paul Stubblebine and Michael Romanowsky – two
experienced Californian mastering Engineers – started a limited production of
commercial Master Tape derived from the original masters of the golden age of
the analog recording, nobody would have been able to foresee that (in few
years) the producers and users of such Tapes enthusiastic feedback would have
been strong enough to rediscover and revive a true treasure: The industrial standard for music production adopted until
the mid-eighties, after which it had been prematurely abandoned thru the use of
digital technology (with its enormous cost-cutting opportunities).Without a shadow of a doubt, both engineers were well aware of the Master Tape formats capabilities.
Obviously being part of a small niche of practical professionals with decades of experience knowing analog tapes inside out, they have never stopped using them (nowadays perhaps only in the mix finalization and mastering stages). The same type of awareness is well spread also amongst radio station (broadcasting) professionals from the days of ‘pirate radios’, amongst the numerous artists that in those years were making songs at home (whilst dreaming about having the availability of a 2-inch analogue multitrack recorder) and, generally speaking, amongst all, that for any reason, have been in exposed to the music industry before the nineties.
Obviously being part of a small niche of practical professionals with decades of experience knowing analog tapes inside out, they have never stopped using them (nowadays perhaps only in the mix finalization and mastering stages). The same type of awareness is well spread also amongst radio station (broadcasting) professionals from the days of ‘pirate radios’, amongst the numerous artists that in those years were making songs at home (whilst dreaming about having the availability of a 2-inch analogue multitrack recorder) and, generally speaking, amongst all, that for any reason, have been in exposed to the music industry before the nineties.
Ironically, the Master Tape format great potential of performance the has not been well known by Audiophiles. This being due to the fact that, at the time, the Master Tape format (that accounts for a minimum of 1/8 inches wide tracks and 15 inches per second of tape play speed) was only available to Vinyl and Compact Cassette Recording studios (these representing the main market for such recording & reproduction).
The media format for the consumer market was, except on rare occasions, the so-called ‘4-Track open-reel’ (each stereo track being 1/16 inch wide and 7.5 inches per second of tape play speed), or the even less performing compact Cassette (1/32 inch
track width and 3.75 inches per second of tape play speed).
The media format for the consumer market was, except on rare occasions, the so-called ‘4-Track open-reel’ (each stereo track being 1/16 inch wide and 7.5 inches per second of tape play speed), or the even less performing compact Cassette (1/32 inch
track width and 3.75 inches per second of tape play speed).
I will deepen the important technical and sonic implications
deriving from the reduction of track width and tape speed in another article.
Here, I would like to invite all, that have had calibrated
their listening experience of a 4-tracks open reel (or, even worse, on that
of the Compact Cassette), to reset their opinions on analog sound quality.
Having the opportunity to listen to a Master Tape (much more accessible
nowadays) you will be able to build up a fresh new opinion on its
unparalleled sound quality.
In fact, besides the commercial products coming from these “new
pioneers”, Master Tapes have also started being distributed outside the
closed circle of professional recording, reaching the high-end segment of the
Audiophile market.
Today, new entirely analog recordings produced with state of the
art techniques and equipment, are also available in Italy.
Perhaps you may have someone that is already using these kinds of tapes. You might have attended local or international audio exhibitions (in which Master Tapes are usually being played)... even if being limited, these are listening opportunities that were not available before and I recommend you not to miss them. ‘Limited’, as above said, is inevitable as to make and dub a magnetic recording in ‘Master’ format is not an easy task and quite costly. Therefore, the availability of this format is not and will never be mass-market. Nevertheless, beyond cost- and market penetration considerations, the advent of Master Tape at the high-end consumer analog audio reproduction is fact and it can help us thinking about at least two things:
- The first is that, as occurred with Vinyl, another analog technology given as ‘extinguished’ already at the end of the eighties is actually well far from gone.
- The second and one I care about most, is that analog magnetic recording and reproduction is still the reference measure today for every other audio format and technology. This is quite surprising considering that more than thirty years have passed since the pushy introduction of digital technology (as an industrial and consumer standard). Above all considering that analog/magnetic technology progress has not been fueled (remaining at the state of the art reached at the end of the eighties) while digital technology has continuously evolved.
The purpose of this section will be to open a window on this fascinating and diverse world of high-performance analog magnetic recording and reproduction, providing information, testimony and tips that could be useful not only to whom has never seen an analog tape recorder in action, but also to whom already knows and uses this format.
Stay tuned!
Antonio Lanfranca
Translation: Fabio Di Mauro
Perhaps you may have someone that is already using these kinds of tapes. You might have attended local or international audio exhibitions (in which Master Tapes are usually being played)... even if being limited, these are listening opportunities that were not available before and I recommend you not to miss them. ‘Limited’, as above said, is inevitable as to make and dub a magnetic recording in ‘Master’ format is not an easy task and quite costly. Therefore, the availability of this format is not and will never be mass-market. Nevertheless, beyond cost- and market penetration considerations, the advent of Master Tape at the high-end consumer analog audio reproduction is fact and it can help us thinking about at least two things:
- The first is that, as occurred with Vinyl, another analog technology given as ‘extinguished’ already at the end of the eighties is actually well far from gone.
- The second and one I care about most, is that analog magnetic recording and reproduction is still the reference measure today for every other audio format and technology. This is quite surprising considering that more than thirty years have passed since the pushy introduction of digital technology (as an industrial and consumer standard). Above all considering that analog/magnetic technology progress has not been fueled (remaining at the state of the art reached at the end of the eighties) while digital technology has continuously evolved.
The purpose of this section will be to open a window on this fascinating and diverse world of high-performance analog magnetic recording and reproduction, providing information, testimony and tips that could be useful not only to whom has never seen an analog tape recorder in action, but also to whom already knows and uses this format.
Stay tuned!
Antonio Lanfranca
Translation: Fabio Di Mauro
"Pure Audio" BluRay discs: Something is (slowly) moving
I think very few of us have heard of BluRay discs that contain only high-resolution audio tracks without video, adopting the protocol "Pure Audio"... and fewer still have them in their own record collection.
Yet, in my opinion, this is a real missed opportunity for our audio world. The Pure Audio protocol (which is not a new format, but only a way to manage audio streams within a BluRay disc, which is then read by any BD player) was presented in 2009 and standardized by AES in the following year. To summarize, the benefit of the protocol "Pure Audio" is to control the reading of a BluRay disc as if it were a normal CD, simply by inserting the disc into the player; playback starts automatically, without having to select the appropriate item from the main menu and without ever needing to turn on the TV.
At that point, track skips or fast forward / rewind will be carried through the usual buttons on the remote control and you also can switch in real time between the various formats on the disk (eg. PCM stereo, multichannel PCM, DTS-HD Master Audio, etc.) using the four colored buttons found on all the remote controls of BluRay players. So I consider a very pleasant and interesting news the presentation of a new edition in Pure Audio recently published by Decca, "The Ring of the Nibelung" by Wagner conducted by
Sir Georg Solti, to celebrate what would have been his 100th birthday (Solti was born in 1912 and died in 1997). The original master tapes were acquired digitally in stereo PCM at 192 kHz / 24 bit. In this case, the laboratories' msm-studios ", which carried out the BluRay authoring, assigned the four colored buttons on the remote control to navigate through the four operas that comprise the Ring (instead to use them to select the different audio streams) without the necessity to switch-on the TV screen. However the BluRay is just one of the media contained in this edition, really rich, which includes 14 CDs with The Ring of the Nibelung, 2 CDs with an introduction to the Ring by a pupil of Wagner (Deryck Cooke), 1 DVD with a BBC/ORF documentary ("The Golden Ring") in English and German, 1 CD with the Overtures by Wagner recorded in Vienna during the years of the Ring, and finally the BluRay which has been mentioned, as well as libretti, scores, more descriptive material etc.
The cost of the entire box should be about 250 Euro.
This is the official link posted by Pure Audio BluRay on Facebook (you do not need to be registered to read it):
http://www.facebook.com/notes/pure-audio-blu-ray/soltis-historic-der-ring-des-nibelungen-released-on-pure-audio-blu-ray-by-decca-/527237273969749
This other French link includes also a beautiful promotional video where you can hear the quality of the remastering done (of course... in a small scale, but the result is very good already):
http://www.hdfever.fr/2012/09/19/sir-georg-solti-the-ring-coffret-deluxe-17-cd-pure-audio-blu-ray/
And for those who want to further investigate the issue, I conclude with a description of the characteristics of Pure Audio with some comments on its purpose and its potential. First, the "Pure Audio Blu-ray" is a method, not a new format, designed to produce an audio-only Blu-Ray disc and allow its use in the easiest way possible, while maintaining compatibility with all existing and future Blu-ray players.
This project was proposed to AES by Stefan Bock of Msm-studios of Monaco (Germany) and the path to the
standard began August 10, 2009. The final approval of the project and its transformation into an AES standard, with the number X-188, took place May 22, 2010.
The specific name of the standard is: “AES-X188, Screen-less navigation for high-resolution audio on Blu-ray Discs”.
Its purpose: “To recommend a method for authoring an audio-only Blu-ray Disc to enable playback in screen-less consumer systems, and to provide simple stream and track selection using the remote control of a normal Blu-ray Disc player.”
Its target: “Record companies who wish to offer a high-resolution product using current technology; mastering facilities, and recording studios; end users who wish to enjoy high-resolution audio.”
For the official link: http://www.aes.org/standards/meetings/init-projects/aes-x188-init.cfm
It is also possible to insert a further function in the disc (also developed by Msm-studios) called "mShuttle", which allows you to input data and additional files (eg MP3 or FLAC files) on the disc and listen them via PC, connected to Blu-ray via home network.The Pure Audio Blu-ray project started from the consideration that the audio world had been in a sense "orphan" of a high-resolution format accepted by the market, where production costs are sustainable, widespread, cheap for customers and easily availabile.The previous SACD and DVD-Audio formats, despite their undoubted intrinsic validity, are unfortunately never become mass spread. The SACD is now confined to a niche market, with continuous trend to extinction; the DVD-Audio is considered dead. In addition to read SACD and DVD-Audio a special multi-player is requested: this limitation has always prevented a wide spread of both formats, besides the fact that very often the public has seen the existence of both the media as yet another " format war". The Blu-ray format instead has had a continuous growth and spread worldwide. In the U.S. it was present at the end of 2011 in the homes of 40 million Americans, for a penetration rate of 38%
(source: http://www.degonline.org/pressreleases/2012/DEG_year_end_2011.pdf).
Although the Blu-Ray was not born specifically for audio, as it has been conceived by the Hollywood studio majors to distribute the film and not by organizations such as AES or by companies in the audio industry (such as Philips and Sony , when they allied to create and to make approve the CD-Audio), there is no doubt that its features for the basic stereo format (Linear PCM at 192 kHz - 24-bit) allow for superlative audio quality, much higher than CD-Audio quality (44.1 kHz - 16 bit), higher than DVD-Video quality (96 kHz - 24 bit) and directly comparable to quality of SACD and DVD-Audio (192 kHz - 24 bit). Moreover, the maximum sample (Linear PCM 192/24) can also be applied to audio multichannel with quality characteristics identical for each channel, which is not possible with the previous formats. From all this it was clear that the audio world could not ignore the Blu-ray format, relegating it to a mere complement to the video: it was only to determine the best way to use it according to the modalities, expectations and specific target our industry. So the Pure Audio Blu-ray joins also the world of high-definition music to be downloaded online from the various dedicated websites, meeting all those people who for various reasons:
- They do not have a PC and do not want it (either by choice or due to lack of skills);
- Despite having a PC, they do not know how to use it at best and therefore can not easily manage the high-definition music files (how to download, how to storage, which programs to use for reading, how to make secure backup of downloaded data, how to install interfaces and their drivers, how to connect physically the PC to the interface and then the interface to the stereo system, and so on).
- Despite having a PC and knowing ho to use it, they don’t have a high-speed Internet connection;
- Despite having all the necessary and also a high-speed connection, they get annoyed with the long time required for the transfer of a high-resolution full disc (and consider not always convenient the costs to do it);
- Even if all the above point are overcome, they know that people at their home (wife, children, elders...) can feel themselves uncomfortable and "limited "in their use of new technologies (expecially the elderly);
- Finally: while being comfortable with all of the above, they continue to feel a sense of nostalgia for the "physical media" (cover, booklet, disc): that is, something that has always built step by step their music collection.
Now majors can offer to their public the same opera on traditional disc, with the simultaneous presence of high-resolution multiple audio tracks on the same disc, selectable and comparable each other simply by pressing the colored buttons on the remote control. Also the cost is not a problem, because the same authoring system used for a Blu-ray (now present in many studios) can be used to create a Pure Audio Blu-Ray, at no further cost. From this it follows that the phenomenon of piracy too can be reduced: when a user may purchase a Pure Audio Blu-ray disc with the quality we have said, plus the book, with a sense of "real ownership" of the opera and all at a price like any other blu-ray disc, why to download only the tracks from pirate sites? Since the beginning of the definition of the standard, Denon published a special disc from the record company 2L (let's call it "experimental"). In this picture you can see how well the color keys on the remote control allow the simple choice of different resolutions sound (5.1 DTS-HD MA, LPCM 5.1, LPCM Stereo, all in 192/24): http://www.2l.no/epost/images/2L_Denon_screen.jpg
Also Stockfisch recently published in Pure Audio a disc by Sara K (5.1 DTS-HD MA, 5.1 PCM, PCM Stereo):
http://www.stockfisch-records.de/stckff/sf_sarak_d.html
In short, the system capability is really great and its potential too. We really hope that the race of the Pure Audio continues.
Yet, in my opinion, this is a real missed opportunity for our audio world. The Pure Audio protocol (which is not a new format, but only a way to manage audio streams within a BluRay disc, which is then read by any BD player) was presented in 2009 and standardized by AES in the following year. To summarize, the benefit of the protocol "Pure Audio" is to control the reading of a BluRay disc as if it were a normal CD, simply by inserting the disc into the player; playback starts automatically, without having to select the appropriate item from the main menu and without ever needing to turn on the TV.
At that point, track skips or fast forward / rewind will be carried through the usual buttons on the remote control and you also can switch in real time between the various formats on the disk (eg. PCM stereo, multichannel PCM, DTS-HD Master Audio, etc.) using the four colored buttons found on all the remote controls of BluRay players. So I consider a very pleasant and interesting news the presentation of a new edition in Pure Audio recently published by Decca, "The Ring of the Nibelung" by Wagner conducted by
Sir Georg Solti, to celebrate what would have been his 100th birthday (Solti was born in 1912 and died in 1997). The original master tapes were acquired digitally in stereo PCM at 192 kHz / 24 bit. In this case, the laboratories' msm-studios ", which carried out the BluRay authoring, assigned the four colored buttons on the remote control to navigate through the four operas that comprise the Ring (instead to use them to select the different audio streams) without the necessity to switch-on the TV screen. However the BluRay is just one of the media contained in this edition, really rich, which includes 14 CDs with The Ring of the Nibelung, 2 CDs with an introduction to the Ring by a pupil of Wagner (Deryck Cooke), 1 DVD with a BBC/ORF documentary ("The Golden Ring") in English and German, 1 CD with the Overtures by Wagner recorded in Vienna during the years of the Ring, and finally the BluRay which has been mentioned, as well as libretti, scores, more descriptive material etc.
The cost of the entire box should be about 250 Euro.
This is the official link posted by Pure Audio BluRay on Facebook (you do not need to be registered to read it):
http://www.facebook.com/notes/pure-audio-blu-ray/soltis-historic-der-ring-des-nibelungen-released-on-pure-audio-blu-ray-by-decca-/527237273969749
This other French link includes also a beautiful promotional video where you can hear the quality of the remastering done (of course... in a small scale, but the result is very good already):
http://www.hdfever.fr/2012/09/19/sir-georg-solti-the-ring-coffret-deluxe-17-cd-pure-audio-blu-ray/
And for those who want to further investigate the issue, I conclude with a description of the characteristics of Pure Audio with some comments on its purpose and its potential. First, the "Pure Audio Blu-ray" is a method, not a new format, designed to produce an audio-only Blu-Ray disc and allow its use in the easiest way possible, while maintaining compatibility with all existing and future Blu-ray players.
This project was proposed to AES by Stefan Bock of Msm-studios of Monaco (Germany) and the path to the
standard began August 10, 2009. The final approval of the project and its transformation into an AES standard, with the number X-188, took place May 22, 2010.
The specific name of the standard is: “AES-X188, Screen-less navigation for high-resolution audio on Blu-ray Discs”.
Its purpose: “To recommend a method for authoring an audio-only Blu-ray Disc to enable playback in screen-less consumer systems, and to provide simple stream and track selection using the remote control of a normal Blu-ray Disc player.”
Its target: “Record companies who wish to offer a high-resolution product using current technology; mastering facilities, and recording studios; end users who wish to enjoy high-resolution audio.”
For the official link: http://www.aes.org/standards/meetings/init-projects/aes-x188-init.cfm
It is also possible to insert a further function in the disc (also developed by Msm-studios) called "mShuttle", which allows you to input data and additional files (eg MP3 or FLAC files) on the disc and listen them via PC, connected to Blu-ray via home network.The Pure Audio Blu-ray project started from the consideration that the audio world had been in a sense "orphan" of a high-resolution format accepted by the market, where production costs are sustainable, widespread, cheap for customers and easily availabile.The previous SACD and DVD-Audio formats, despite their undoubted intrinsic validity, are unfortunately never become mass spread. The SACD is now confined to a niche market, with continuous trend to extinction; the DVD-Audio is considered dead. In addition to read SACD and DVD-Audio a special multi-player is requested: this limitation has always prevented a wide spread of both formats, besides the fact that very often the public has seen the existence of both the media as yet another " format war". The Blu-ray format instead has had a continuous growth and spread worldwide. In the U.S. it was present at the end of 2011 in the homes of 40 million Americans, for a penetration rate of 38%
(source: http://www.degonline.org/pressreleases/2012/DEG_year_end_2011.pdf).
Although the Blu-Ray was not born specifically for audio, as it has been conceived by the Hollywood studio majors to distribute the film and not by organizations such as AES or by companies in the audio industry (such as Philips and Sony , when they allied to create and to make approve the CD-Audio), there is no doubt that its features for the basic stereo format (Linear PCM at 192 kHz - 24-bit) allow for superlative audio quality, much higher than CD-Audio quality (44.1 kHz - 16 bit), higher than DVD-Video quality (96 kHz - 24 bit) and directly comparable to quality of SACD and DVD-Audio (192 kHz - 24 bit). Moreover, the maximum sample (Linear PCM 192/24) can also be applied to audio multichannel with quality characteristics identical for each channel, which is not possible with the previous formats. From all this it was clear that the audio world could not ignore the Blu-ray format, relegating it to a mere complement to the video: it was only to determine the best way to use it according to the modalities, expectations and specific target our industry. So the Pure Audio Blu-ray joins also the world of high-definition music to be downloaded online from the various dedicated websites, meeting all those people who for various reasons:
- They do not have a PC and do not want it (either by choice or due to lack of skills);
- Despite having a PC, they do not know how to use it at best and therefore can not easily manage the high-definition music files (how to download, how to storage, which programs to use for reading, how to make secure backup of downloaded data, how to install interfaces and their drivers, how to connect physically the PC to the interface and then the interface to the stereo system, and so on).
- Despite having a PC and knowing ho to use it, they don’t have a high-speed Internet connection;
- Despite having all the necessary and also a high-speed connection, they get annoyed with the long time required for the transfer of a high-resolution full disc (and consider not always convenient the costs to do it);
- Even if all the above point are overcome, they know that people at their home (wife, children, elders...) can feel themselves uncomfortable and "limited "in their use of new technologies (expecially the elderly);
- Finally: while being comfortable with all of the above, they continue to feel a sense of nostalgia for the "physical media" (cover, booklet, disc): that is, something that has always built step by step their music collection.
Now majors can offer to their public the same opera on traditional disc, with the simultaneous presence of high-resolution multiple audio tracks on the same disc, selectable and comparable each other simply by pressing the colored buttons on the remote control. Also the cost is not a problem, because the same authoring system used for a Blu-ray (now present in many studios) can be used to create a Pure Audio Blu-Ray, at no further cost. From this it follows that the phenomenon of piracy too can be reduced: when a user may purchase a Pure Audio Blu-ray disc with the quality we have said, plus the book, with a sense of "real ownership" of the opera and all at a price like any other blu-ray disc, why to download only the tracks from pirate sites? Since the beginning of the definition of the standard, Denon published a special disc from the record company 2L (let's call it "experimental"). In this picture you can see how well the color keys on the remote control allow the simple choice of different resolutions sound (5.1 DTS-HD MA, LPCM 5.1, LPCM Stereo, all in 192/24): http://www.2l.no/epost/images/2L_Denon_screen.jpg
Also Stockfisch recently published in Pure Audio a disc by Sara K (5.1 DTS-HD MA, 5.1 PCM, PCM Stereo):
http://www.stockfisch-records.de/stckff/sf_sarak_d.html
In short, the system capability is really great and its potential too. We really hope that the race of the Pure Audio continues.
Analysis and comparison of music audio files by using a specific software
(i.e. Adobe Audition)
First of all I want to thank Angelo for allowing me to write on the Audio Activity website.
I begin my collaboration with an article on how to analyze a music track from a CD by using a specific software (in this case, Adobe Audition, but it is also possible to use a free software like “Audacity” or similar ones, even if the results are generally less precise). If this kind of technical articles will be considered interesting I will be glad to propose other of them, on similar topics, obviously collecting suggestions from readers. What is the target of such analysis? The main purpose is to clarify some doubts on the recording and satisfy some “technical curiosities” on the peculiarities of the tracks themselves, especially when doing a comparison between different versions of a song (eg. the original version of a disc and its new remastered version). In fact sometimes the results of the analysis are not directly related to the results of the listening, and, conversely, most of the times, this kind of analysis gives very little information on the sound of the track itself. In fact, often he who analyzes (before listening) two similar tracks, or different versions of the same track, suggests himself considerations and conclusions which are then heavily modified or even distorted when the two tracks are heard in comparison.
This is one of those cases where the ear is the undisputed judge: we know that the "listening pleasure" comes from a long series of factors, especially psychoacoustic, which are practically impossible to analyze analytically by instrumentation.
On the other hand, there are other "technical information" contained in a music track that the ear can't discern, but that may be helpful to complete the knowledge of the track itself ...
This said, let's start with the analysis of two different versions of the same track. I chose one that practically everyone knows: "Birdland" by Weather Report, included in their album "Heavy Weather".
The original LP was released in 1977 while the CD was released in 1984. The disc I purchased at the time (from which I extracted the first track in analysis) was printed by CBS / Sony in Japan and has the catalog number CK34418. Then I recently bought on Amazon the box "The Perfect Jazz Collection -Vol.1" which contains a remastered version of 2010 of Heavy Weather -catalog number LC80162. From the latter I extracted the second track to analyze.
In the following figure the first disc (the original, in plastic case) is at the top, the second (the remastered one, with paper envelope) is at the bottom.
I begin my collaboration with an article on how to analyze a music track from a CD by using a specific software (in this case, Adobe Audition, but it is also possible to use a free software like “Audacity” or similar ones, even if the results are generally less precise). If this kind of technical articles will be considered interesting I will be glad to propose other of them, on similar topics, obviously collecting suggestions from readers. What is the target of such analysis? The main purpose is to clarify some doubts on the recording and satisfy some “technical curiosities” on the peculiarities of the tracks themselves, especially when doing a comparison between different versions of a song (eg. the original version of a disc and its new remastered version). In fact sometimes the results of the analysis are not directly related to the results of the listening, and, conversely, most of the times, this kind of analysis gives very little information on the sound of the track itself. In fact, often he who analyzes (before listening) two similar tracks, or different versions of the same track, suggests himself considerations and conclusions which are then heavily modified or even distorted when the two tracks are heard in comparison.
This is one of those cases where the ear is the undisputed judge: we know that the "listening pleasure" comes from a long series of factors, especially psychoacoustic, which are practically impossible to analyze analytically by instrumentation.
On the other hand, there are other "technical information" contained in a music track that the ear can't discern, but that may be helpful to complete the knowledge of the track itself ...
This said, let's start with the analysis of two different versions of the same track. I chose one that practically everyone knows: "Birdland" by Weather Report, included in their album "Heavy Weather".
The original LP was released in 1977 while the CD was released in 1984. The disc I purchased at the time (from which I extracted the first track in analysis) was printed by CBS / Sony in Japan and has the catalog number CK34418. Then I recently bought on Amazon the box "The Perfect Jazz Collection -Vol.1" which contains a remastered version of 2010 of Heavy Weather -catalog number LC80162. From the latter I extracted the second track to analyze.
In the following figure the first disc (the original, in plastic case) is at the top, the second (the remastered one, with paper envelope) is at the bottom.
Listening to the remastered version I noticed that they did a good job. The overall timbre of the original CD was good, the dynamic was adequate (a little compressed, but not excessively) and the instruments were well located all along the stereo scene. A typical jazz / rock recording of the late '70s, with more positive than negative aspects, if we evaluate them with the critical skills and "audiophile" criteria that we all have developed over the years listening to one format and the another (vinyl, cassette, CD, HD audio, etc ...).
In the remastered version the tonal balance was a little revised: bass frequencies are much more present, both globally and in individual instruments (eg Pastorius's bass is more in evidence during his passages); mid and mid-high frequencies are a little softer than the original, but generally more "clear", probably thanks to an A / D converter more sophisticated than the one used almost thirty years ago. Of course, this consideration is valid only if the remastering was done using the original analog master or a copy of good quality, and not a digital acquisition of the analog master made earlier, but this we can not know. In most of the tracks the engineers adjusted at certain points certain passages particularly important to “highlight” them. Just to give an example: in the central part of Birdland, around 3'40 ", Shorter's sax is a bit more in evidence than in the original version. Finally, the overall dynamics is dramatically improved, which is quite unusual for a remastered copy, and considering the "havoc" we have witnessed in the last decade. Fortunately this was not done by simply raising the average level of volume (unfortunate trend of the so-called "loudness war "when taken to the extreme).
While in the original recording the crescendos tend to flatten out during their increase, until you have a few decibels of dynamic between their beginning and their end, in the new version the increase occurs more gradually, better respecting the original dynamics of the tape (and this is easily verifiable via instrumental analysis, as we shall see shortly). In short, a good job that does not upset the original version but made it, in my opinion, even more enjoyable.
And now we come to the instrumental analysis, carried out as mentioned with Adobe Audition and using only the analysis functions of this complete program (which means to use 5-10% of its capacity, since it allows an impressive array of features for treatment and processing of music that wouldn't be pertinent here). Let's see the waveform of the two versions of Birdland: In fig.1 the CD version of 1984, in fig.2 the 2010 remastering.
(Note: in this analysis we consider only the track Birdland, but the considerations can be extended to the entire disc as the remastering is very homogeneous).
In the remastered version the tonal balance was a little revised: bass frequencies are much more present, both globally and in individual instruments (eg Pastorius's bass is more in evidence during his passages); mid and mid-high frequencies are a little softer than the original, but generally more "clear", probably thanks to an A / D converter more sophisticated than the one used almost thirty years ago. Of course, this consideration is valid only if the remastering was done using the original analog master or a copy of good quality, and not a digital acquisition of the analog master made earlier, but this we can not know. In most of the tracks the engineers adjusted at certain points certain passages particularly important to “highlight” them. Just to give an example: in the central part of Birdland, around 3'40 ", Shorter's sax is a bit more in evidence than in the original version. Finally, the overall dynamics is dramatically improved, which is quite unusual for a remastered copy, and considering the "havoc" we have witnessed in the last decade. Fortunately this was not done by simply raising the average level of volume (unfortunate trend of the so-called "loudness war "when taken to the extreme).
While in the original recording the crescendos tend to flatten out during their increase, until you have a few decibels of dynamic between their beginning and their end, in the new version the increase occurs more gradually, better respecting the original dynamics of the tape (and this is easily verifiable via instrumental analysis, as we shall see shortly). In short, a good job that does not upset the original version but made it, in my opinion, even more enjoyable.
And now we come to the instrumental analysis, carried out as mentioned with Adobe Audition and using only the analysis functions of this complete program (which means to use 5-10% of its capacity, since it allows an impressive array of features for treatment and processing of music that wouldn't be pertinent here). Let's see the waveform of the two versions of Birdland: In fig.1 the CD version of 1984, in fig.2 the 2010 remastering.
(Note: in this analysis we consider only the track Birdland, but the considerations can be extended to the entire disc as the remastering is very homogeneous).
fig. 1
fig. 2
It may be noted that in the original version there are no clipped peaks, but the performance was a bit "sacrificed" by compression during the loud musical passages. Nothing unusual or negative: in 1984 was usual to proceed in this way.
In figures 3 and 4, I highlighted in red the areas of the right channel, in the first 2'40 "of the track, where the difference between the two versions is most visible. In the first area shown there is almost no difference (apart from a "small detail" that we will see shortly), while in the second and third areas we can see that dynamic was a bit '"recovered" compared to the first version and now the highest peaks of the two passages often touch the 0 dB.
It may be noted that in the original version there are no clipped peaks, but the performance was a bit "sacrificed" by compression during the loud musical passages. Nothing unusual or negative: in 1984 was usual to proceed in this way.
In figures 3 and 4, I highlighted in red the areas of the right channel, in the first 2'40 "of the track, where the difference between the two versions is most visible. In the first area shown there is almost no difference (apart from a "small detail" that we will see shortly), while in the second and third areas we can see that dynamic was a bit '"recovered" compared to the first version and now the highest peaks of the two passages often touch the 0 dB.
fig. 3
fig. 4
Some peaks (fortunately very few) were "clipped" by a digital limiter, as can be seen in Figure 5, where in correspondence with one of these points I have amplified to the maximum the horizontal time axis to see the individual samples making up the waveform. I reported this just for didactic information, since these limitations are of a very small duration and cannot be heard even by the most trained ear. We are talking of a maximum of three to four consecutive samples for each of the peaks clipped, ie of a total duration of less than 100 microseconds, given that the sampling frequency of the CD is 44,100 Hz, and then each sample (the "dots "visible in the figure) has a duration of only 22.7 microseconds. There are many other "real" distortions from clipping, perfectly audible, which can be found even on some prestigious works ... (!)
Some peaks (fortunately very few) were "clipped" by a digital limiter, as can be seen in Figure 5, where in correspondence with one of these points I have amplified to the maximum the horizontal time axis to see the individual samples making up the waveform. I reported this just for didactic information, since these limitations are of a very small duration and cannot be heard even by the most trained ear. We are talking of a maximum of three to four consecutive samples for each of the peaks clipped, ie of a total duration of less than 100 microseconds, given that the sampling frequency of the CD is 44,100 Hz, and then each sample (the "dots "visible in the figure) has a duration of only 22.7 microseconds. There are many other "real" distortions from clipping, perfectly audible, which can be found even on some prestigious works ... (!)
fig. 5
I said that in the first area you can see a special feature. In fact, when observing well the two versions and moving your eyes from one to another, you can notice that between the two tracks the phase is reversed: in figure 6 I highlighted the upper front of the waveform of the left channel in the original version, which contains several peaks, which are "mirrored" in the waveform of the remastered version.
I said that in the first area you can see a special feature. In fact, when observing well the two versions and moving your eyes from one to another, you can notice that between the two tracks the phase is reversed: in figure 6 I highlighted the upper front of the waveform of the left channel in the original version, which contains several peaks, which are "mirrored" in the waveform of the remastered version.
fig. 6
Again, this information should be considered only as a curiosity: first, because it is useless to repeat here the ancient and controversial issue on the audibility of the absolute phase in a music track, but mostly because we can not analyze the original analog master, so there is no way to know if the waveform "correct" (so to speak) is that of the original version or that of the remastered one....
In conclusion here is an "overview" of the frequency response of both tracks.
In Figure 7 and 8 you can compare the two graphs. Observing carefully the differences (ignoring the area up to 30-40 Hz, not significant), we have the confirmation of a major emphasis of the bass in the remastered version, in particular below 200 Hz; the magnitude of the exaltation is about 4-5 dB between 50 and 100 Hz
Again, this information should be considered only as a curiosity: first, because it is useless to repeat here the ancient and controversial issue on the audibility of the absolute phase in a music track, but mostly because we can not analyze the original analog master, so there is no way to know if the waveform "correct" (so to speak) is that of the original version or that of the remastered one....
In conclusion here is an "overview" of the frequency response of both tracks.
In Figure 7 and 8 you can compare the two graphs. Observing carefully the differences (ignoring the area up to 30-40 Hz, not significant), we have the confirmation of a major emphasis of the bass in the remastered version, in particular below 200 Hz; the magnitude of the exaltation is about 4-5 dB between 50 and 100 Hz
fig. 7
fig. 8
Also the high range (around 20 kHz) is different: the original version is affected by the application of a very steep anti-aliasing filter, as were those used in A/D converters of the time, while the remastered version has a more "natural" roll-off. This confirms the use of a converter with very advanced digital filters that best meet the current "audiophile" approach.
In Figures 9 and 10 we see finally the same frequency response of the previous figures, but here the horizontal scale is linear instead of logarithmic, so as to better highlight what happens at very high frequencies.
Also the high range (around 20 kHz) is different: the original version is affected by the application of a very steep anti-aliasing filter, as were those used in A/D converters of the time, while the remastered version has a more "natural" roll-off. This confirms the use of a converter with very advanced digital filters that best meet the current "audiophile" approach.
In Figures 9 and 10 we see finally the same frequency response of the previous figures, but here the horizontal scale is linear instead of logarithmic, so as to better highlight what happens at very high frequencies.
fig. 9
.
.
fig. 10
My first analysis ends here. I hope you found it interesting.
Thank you all for your attention!
Quirino Cieri
My first analysis ends here. I hope you found it interesting.
Thank you all for your attention!
Quirino Cieri
Audio ... Creativity by Marco LincettoThe birth of a record: KYRA
What I'll do in Audio-activity will be very close to Public Service Advertising.
My columns will describe thoroughly the birth of a record in the catalogue Velut Luna and how it is recorded. This is a good way to give to the audiophile the tools to understand "what" is important to listen to in his HiFi equipment. A typical question is " what is it right to listen from a stereo system? The sound of a live performance or the sound of a recorded performance?" The answer could be "both things" However, while the sound of a live event should be familiar to audiophiles, what is portrayed in records is most of the times unknown to listeners. My columns are focused on records that are regularly on sale and want to give you a tool to understand and appreciate it. It may also be useful to understand how your HiFi works. 
Let's start talking about KYRA
It's a musical production that cannot be catalogued in a definite style. All the songs are original compositions of the guitar player Pietro Ballestrero. He plays Jazz but has also a solid classical tradition. This record portrays a whole range of emotions and colors. The group is thus composed: string quartet - 2 violins, viola and cello - jazz double bass played mostly plucked, without bow; classic guitar and semi acoustic jazz that plays solo but also in ensemble, solo clarinet in 7 tracks out of 10. At the clarinet we find one of the most important jazz musicians in the world: Gabriele Mirabassi. 
As I said this is a minimalist music due to the interaction of the bow
quartet but it's also very melodic in the parts where guitar and clarinet play
solo. We have the typical groove of jazz thanks to the rhythmic of the double
bass. My recording philosophy is linked to the concept of a music that may be
reproduced and sound just like a live concert even if it's been recorded in a
studio. I recorded the whole group strictly live.
Velut Luna has a studio designed to reproduce the acoustic of a small auditorium. The "Sala Gialla" is a big space of 140 Mq with a ceiling with a variable height of 4,5 to a maximum of 7,5 meters. It's a room designed with acoustic criteria that guarantees a natural echo of 1,8 seconds, characterized by a slow fading without sound distortions. Wood and stone bricks give the sound a warm tone, well defined, precise and harmonically rich. THE RECORDING The position of the elements in the studio is the exact reproduction of their disposition during live events. They set themselves in a semi-circle, going from left to right we find: first violin, second violin, viola, cello, double bass and guitar. The solo clarinet has a central position, in front of the group but separate from them by high "separating" panels that are semi-opened. In this way we can control better the different and bigger acoustic pressure of the clarinet compared with the group. The use of these big panels in this big room makes the acoustic of this space the same for both the clarinet and the group and guarantees tonal homogeneity. 
THE MICROPHONES
I chose two Sennheiser MKH 8020 positioned centrally with respect to the group. The configuration is A-B with a distance of 90 cm. These two microphones are responsible for the 75% of the final sound. I added to these microphones an "accent microphone" for each instrument to guarantee a better micro dynamic and a better music detail. I used for the two violins and the viola three Neumann KM140 small capsules, Neumann TL103 large capsule for the cello, a classic Neumann U87ai for the double bass and a Schoeps MK4 for the guitar. I have used for the clarinet a technique that I have specifically designed for situations like these in which I have to preserve the sound of the place far from the main mic and bring out details and presence typical of the soloist. It's a stereo recording with a technique XY with the addition of a central accent mic coincident. The microphones used are all Schoeps: two MK4 for the stereo pair XY and a MK4 in the center. RECORDING PROCESS It's very easy to damage the signal transmitted by the microphones with choices that are not very accurate, therefore I put a lot of care in this process, starting from the cables, going through the microphone preamplifiers up to the AD conversion stages. In this recording I have used the high quality Mogami Starquad microphone cables, very short - less than 5 mt - all connected to Millennia Media HV-3D pre positioned close to the microphones themselves. Straight to it the multichannel AD converter Prism Sound ADA - 8HR connected to the Millennia pre with litz cables 1 meter, custom made, very high performance, that we could call "Velut Luna Wired". At the outputs of the Prism Sound Converter we have used digital cables AES/EBU 18 meters long to reach the control room. 
Here the digital signal has been connected to a DAW based on a professional audio card PCI
express RME AES32 (only digital 16in /16out), integrated with a custom PC used solely as a support for the recording software Samplitude 11 PRO. All this in standard PCM 24bit/88,2 kHz. MIXING AND MASTERING I use DAW as a recording device. I do not use any of the classical digital plug in when mixing, exception made for the digital delay on each track and level automatisms just because mixing and mastering are done in the analog domain. I'm convinced that starting from six recorded track onward (in our case we had 11 tracks to mix) the digital mixing has limits due to the headroom limitation to 0.0 dB, typical of the digital. In a digital mixing - to avoid clipping - we have to dull the single tracks, sacrificing detail, resolution and dynamics. Using a high quality analog mixer we bypass the problem, we will have a full resolution recording thanks to the +24 dB headroom that in our case is supplied by Neve 8816 mixer. To mix analogically we have to convert first in an analog domain the single tracks. We did it with DA Prism Sound ADA -8HR. Very important is the phase realignment of the single accent microphones with respect to the main stereo microphones. The sound has its own speed so to eliminate the so called comb filtering it's necessary to realign the phase. This operation is very simple in the digital domain and we obtain it moving all the tracks and making the single signal peak match. You may have noticed that I haven't mentioned equalizers or compressors in fact we have not used them in the mixing phase. I chose to use a light equalizing and a general compression in the mastering phase to complete the big dynamics and tone work performed by Neve when mixing. But don't be afraid, it's nowhere near to the so called "loudness war". In the analog domain I have connected downstream Neve a chain composed by: Millennia Media TCL-2 twin compressor and Millennia Media NSEQ-2 twin equalizer and limiter Maselec MPL-2. At the end we gave everything a general compression of 2,5 dB to avoid that single excessive peaks could disturb the listening forcing to listen to it at a too low volume. As for the level of equalization I have given freshness to high frequencies applying +2dB shelving eq to 20.000 Hz. The final dynamics value is DR18. At the end of this mix and mastering chain performed all at once, I have transposed the signal in the digital domain through the Prism Sound Ad-2 DREAM in format PCM24/88.2 and within DAW Samplitude 11Pro, that I have also used to downsample to 16/44.1 to prepare the master copy to record CDs. WHAT YOU HAVE TO LISTEN IN THIS RECORD The tone color is very neutral, characterized by the wooden sound of the instruments: the mellow of the classic guitar, the acute of the clarinet and violins, bass control of the viola and the bass of the double bass. The double bass sounds more like a "Bump-bump" than a "Tunc-Tunc". I hope this onomatopoeia makes clear that the real sound of the double bass is not very fast and very controlled in nature but only in the fantasy of some sound engineers. Finally the soundstage. What you have to expect is to hear the semi-circle that you can see in the pictures with the first violin close to the left loudspeaker, the guitar inside the right loudspeaker, the double bass close to the guitar on the right center. Don't expect an excessive sound depth because it was limited to 1 meter behind the viola. The soloist clarinet can be heard in the center, in line with the first violin and guitar. The same happens to the soloist guitar in the track "Verde ". That's about it! Have a pleasant listening now! The record will be sold in Italian music stores and on line www.ludomentis.com or as a HD flac 24/88.2 file on the website www.hdtracks.com Translation: Francesca Rubino The Loudness War
INTRODUCTION
The loudness war has distant origins. The first rumblings of this phenomenon occured when audio CD was created, although, it was a dead certain when vinyl became the first means of music mass distribution. Record companies, in order to spread the most important songs of their major artists, published 45rpm records that were played in jukeboxes in bars around town. The jukebox had a fixed output volume that was set by the owner of the premises, but the records that had a higher recording level compared to other got more attention from the public. The belief that "Louder is better" has influenced many people within the record industry eventually creating many unsuspecting victims. The first among these were certainly occasional listeners or those who are more distracted so that over the years they have represented the highest number of buyers. In order to help you better understand what I mean, try to carry out a small test. Make a group of people listen to a song at a certain volume or sound pressure level. Then repeat the same song at a higher volume than the first time. Nine times out of ten you will be told that the song sounds better when played at a higher volume. If you try to ask why, you will be told that listening is more immersive and exciting. That may be true, but beyond that which can only be described as a subjective feeling, there are also specific technical and scientific reasons. Let's look at them more closely. As regard technical reasons, it should be noted that the majority of amplifiers, speakers and headphones, with volume increase or decrease, do not reproduce all frequencies at the same level. Very low volumes can give the impression that the higher frequencies and lower ones are stronger than medium ones. Otherwise, as soon as you raise the volume to normal listening levels or higher, you can hear the entire range of frequencies more evenly, with the distinct impression that the song has a greater impact and effectiveness. The scientific reasons being that, the human ear can hear frequencies ranging between a minimum of 20 Hz to a maximum of approximately 20 Khz, although the latter limit decreases progressively with age. In this range of frequencies, the ear turns out to be more sensitive to sounds between 1 and 5 Khz, also thanks to the resonance of the ear canal and the transfer function of the ossicles of the middle ear. In this way, the volume also increases the perception of the frequency range in which the human ear is most sensitive, giving the listener the feeling that everything sounds better and with greater presence. VICTIMS AND SLAUGHTERERS If we had to identify victims and slaughterers in the loudness war, we should definitely include on the one hand the dynamic range of music and on the other hand musicians and marketing managers of record labels. The dynamic range of music is the range between the maximum peak level produced by a sound and the minimum intensity produced by such sound. To achieve higher levels of volume you should reduce drastically this range by using a process called compression. As quoted from Wikipedia: "Dynamic range compression, also called DRC (often seen in DVD and car CD player settings) or simply compression reduces the volume of loud sounds or amplifies quiet sounds by narrowing or "compressing" an audio signal's dynamic range. Compression is commonly used in sound recording and reproduction and broadcasting and on instrument amplifiers. The dedicated electronic hardware unit or audio software used to apply compression is called a compressor. Compressors often have attack and release controls that vary the rate at which compression is applied and smooth the effect. Downward compression reduces loud sounds over a certain threshold while quiet sounds remain unaffected. Upward compression increases the loudness of sounds below a threshold while leaving louder passages unchanged. Both downward and upward compression reduce the of an audio signal". Having said that, we should try to explain more clearly why during the loudness war, the dynamic range has become the main victim of perpetrators such as artists, marketing managers and to some degree, sound engineers. In order for the music produced and recorded to always be higher, dynamic range compression is used more often in mastering causing, however, dynamic range flattening that can easily be detected in modern music. This is done not only to follow the latest trends in technology, but mainly because of concerns about a possible negative commercial impact should the recording sound lower than other songs in the charts. Therefore a whole range of devices, often of poor quality, are used by many artists trying to make the volume of their songs as high as possible at the expense of high fidelity. The result is a race in which there are no rules but only one goal, to play your disc at a volume higher than anyone elses. A race that over the years, in our opinion, has just made things worse without any winners or losers, and that has ended up creating the modern paradox of an equation in which the increase of the quality of the recording devices and of digital technology has been offset by killing, or rather flattening the overall quality of recorded music. With rare exceptions (taking into account albums and also internationally renowned artists), many records have expensive productions behind them in terms of technology and timing but which in practice are not very effective from a sonic point of view because of their frantic search for loudness. In addition, and here lies the paradox, the use of today's music has dramatically helped this harmful tendency to raise volume. The birth of smaller and transportable music players has ended up putting the listener in noisier environments such as streets full of traffic and city centers. We refer to the various iPods and portable media players that reproduce compressed audio files such as mp3. The spread of their use has prompted record labels to provide users with tracks with increased volume to avoid a poor judgment or little impact on what they have bought from digital music multiple distribution platforms, even if over the years it has been seen that there's no link in practical and economic terms between the increase in volume of a song and the number of sales of the same. We therefore believe that all this is merely the result of marketing managers' unwarranted fears or those of certain uneducated artists about the real performance of the music market. Obviously, by limiting and compressing the dynamic range, you'll always cause some damage to the song. If that wasn't the case, people wouldn't complain about it and wouldn't point the finger at a specific category such as mastering engineers who, in order not to lose many customers feel obliged to follow the whims of record labels and artists during the finalizing process of a record. So is there really a loudness war? To answer this question properly, it would be useful to adopt the same method used in image processing, where an image is analyzed based on the luminance distribution with an algorithm that makes scanning all the pixels and sorts them according to their brightness. The result is a distribution diagram that indicates whether the image, as a whole, includes light areas, medium or darker ones and to what extent. The same process can be performed with music; take the example of a scan of all the samples of a song and sort them in accordance with their absolute level. If we analyze today's songs in the charts using this method we would end up seeing images or surfaces that are too light or bright. Similarly with music from the last 20 years, the images that we would ultimately derive would be progressively clearer with a sharp increase in brightness in the most recent recordings. This feature can be observed mainly in modern music, where more brilliance not only means a higher density of bright pixels but also a significantly reduced dynamic range, which is indicative of a heavily modified waveform and in the worst cases, distortion. Although in theory there is nothing wrong with this, common sense would suggest that this feature should not be the common denominator of existing recordings of pop or rock music. REPORTED CASES There have been several reported cases of the loudness war over the years. We talk about records being victims of wild compression and limiting in the mastering stage. Many have become the subject of bitter criticism by both audiophiles and common listeners in online petitions where people claim that the record should have being remastered at lower levels. The musical media most affected by this phenomenon was definitely the audio CD. In the eighties CDs were not the primary means of dissemination of music on a large scale , and there was, at least then, no particular reason for pushing the levels of the recordings . In the nineties, however, this trend has changed and Cds with high recording levels began to spread quickly. This is also thanks to the introduction of the digital brickwall limiter. A brickwall limiter is basically a compressor that has a very high compression ratio, of 20:1 and also a time attack that is extremely fast. Since the audio signal, at least in the digital domain, can not exceed 0 dBFS using a limiter with a maximum output level set just below zero, it can be reduced drastically in the dynamic range where there's almost no difference between the sections with lesser or greater volume. Since the volume of a digital audio track is not infinite, but limited to a certain threshold such as 0 dBFS beyond which the signal is clearly distorted, the only way to increase the perceived loudness, once you reach that threshold, is to compress the signal with a brickwall limiter. In this way we reduce the peak dynamics, which almost always correspond to the kick and snare hits, raising all that is between them and at the same time flattening the transients. This technique has also been used in the past, but always in a rather moderate way. Today, unfortunately, things have changed and it's unthinkable to produce a record without first subjecting it to heavy dynamic range compression. The first victim of such treatment is music because the dynamics of sound is dramatically reduced, leveling the language of music itself, standardizing it and thus causing it to lose its high intrinsic value. Although clearly questionable, this method is acceptable for certain genres of music such as dance or techno or pop songs that have no ambition to last more than one season. However, if the goal of both the artist and producer is to create something that will last over time and be considered a classic or something that people will listen to in the future, then the use of heavy compression is very harmful because by playing down the shades and turning the song into a single block, the sound will immediately become unappealing. Even after a few minutes, it will be possible to experience some fatigue because our ears and our minds need the nuances and the details to maintain attention and interest. The growing musical dynamics, from pianissimo to fortissimo passages are part of our musical background since the introduction of the first home stereo systems. The primary purpose of recorded music has always been to record the performance of an artist, whether in the studio or live, with the highest quality and fidelity. In this regard, we don't want to embark on nostalgic speeches, but simply we want to take a clear stance widely shared by those who truly love music and make it the soundtrack of their lives. Unfortunately so many artists and producers today don't think that excessive use of compression and brickwall limiters are a danger to their musical productions. According to the dictates of the loudness war, his unrestrained search for volume is also very often used in the mastering stage in order to increase the gain of a few decibels of the final track. However, not only have audiophiles started fighting in the loudness war but also very famous artists who have labored to try to go against this damaging trend. Even someone like Bob Dylan was moved to declare: "You listen to these modern records, they're atrocious, they have sound all over them. There's no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like static". This is what many buyers thought in 2008 when the famous album by METALLICA titled DEATH MAGNETIC was published. The level of recording of the record was so high that the album has quite a saturated sound whether it's played on a laptop computer using a headset or an expensive stereo system. For this reason we have encountered strong reactions and negative comments from everywhere to the point that many fans have started an online petition to remaster the album. Even Ted Jensen who took care of the mastering of the album stated: ”I’m certainly sympathetic to your reaction, I get to slam my head against that brickwall limiter every day. In this case the mixes were already brick walled before they arrived at my place. Suffice it to say I would never be pushed to overdrive things as far as they are here. Believe me I’m not proud to be associated with this one, and we can only hope that some good will come from this in some form of backlash against volume above all else”. Going back a few years and more precisely to 1999, many fans complained about the low quality sound of the album CALIFORNICATION by RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS released on CD. The volume on the CD is so strong that the digital recording suffers from clipping in a clear manner that even the occasional listeners have protested against in the form of an online petition requesting the remastering of the album. Another case concerns an album that many people consider, and not just us, a true milestone in rock music. We're taling about NERVERMIND by NIRVANA. To celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the album, it was re-released in a remastered version. Unfortunately, and to our great disappointment, this beautiful record was a victim of the loudness war. The new remaster of NEVERMIND is a total disaster. The dynamics and transparency of the original release have vanished, transforming the entire album into a mess of sound. The impact between verse and chorus that made NIRVANA famous disappeared completely, making each song flat from every aspect. The only advice we can give in such situations is to keep hold of the original 1991 CD release or the audiophile version published by MFSL. 
FINAL THOUGHTS
Some say that the dynamic range compression helps the quietest parts of a record to be listened to more easily in noisy environments such as in the car, or late at night without disturbing the neighbors. The musicians should always ask themselves: why their records need to be adapted to different listening situations? And why not implement a button that activates the dynamic range compression on the audio player, in the car or at home and let the user adjust it to his liking? It might be a viable solution to the above problem and could end the loudness war. The loudness war always ends with a one and only victim - music. When you avoid compressing individual songs in an obvious way, the dynamics of the individual instruments gives the music the right rhythmic propulsion, whether it's a violin concert or reggae music. The sense of relaxation that ensues when listening, stands in sharp contrast to the stress generated by heavy compression. The wide dynamic range allows a deeper involvement in music, greater ability to hear all the musical parts providing a much more pleasant listening experience. The sense of space and the reconstruction of the soundstage are placed with greater emphasis, helping the listener to be brought closer to the recorded music event. Similarly the low frequencies remain more focused and have a greater impact and are not leveled out unlike most modern songs. Even electric guitars have a fighting spirit that gives them more presence, without causing them to dominate the rest of the instruments. The sounds that play in the upper registers of the sound spectrum retain the harmonic sweetness that they achieve in real life, without the fatiguing process which accompanies the compression. The air around the musicians remains intact and gives breath to the whole record. There will always be those who actually use the compression as trademarks of their music productions should this be their ultimate goal. These people should understand, however, that there is merit in making records that sound like live music. The artists should forget once and for all that their records, even if mastered at high volumes, can play louder than the others on the radio. Robert Orban, CEO and Chief Engineer of Orban has something to say about that. Orban Industries equips most of the radio stations in America and in some parts of the world. When a record is aired on Orban radio equipment its audio signal undergoes further compression, a further process of limiting the dynamic range thereby conforming its volume to the rest of the music that is transmitted from the radio itself. In this way, also the audio signal at the lowest level is brought to the maximum and the one already heavily compressed undergoes a further compression. These devices are certainly not designed to make music sound better than it had been recorded originally. The radio broadcasting process removes all the dynamics of the music and the beginning of the song is played at the same volume as the chorus. The higher the recording level of the original CD, the more compressed and distorted it'll be once transmitted on air. To conclude we want to say that fortunately this loudness war is coming to an end thanks to the diffused awareness campaigns of websites such as Pleasurize Your Music and Turn me up! Both are nonprofit organizations that gather together groups of artists and highly qualified professionals from the audio recording industry in order to publish high dynamic range records. At this point we would like to advise all artists, producers and sound engineers to avoid compression for the sole purpose of increasing the volume of their work because on all the stereos of this world, both those present at home and those in the car, have a the knob that adjusts the volume. So whether you're a professional or a casual listener, if you really want your music to be higher volume wise and with greater emotional impact please turn up that damned volume knob! Use it! Always! Francesco Donadel Campbell, Editor HDPhonic.com Article and photos are property of hdphonic.com published here courtesy of the author Francesco Donadel Campbell About ListeningMusic is the kind of art that better epitomizes the meaning of the artistic creation. The Opera discloses from a place where the life and death of sound combine: silence. The sound wave, that is flexible and impalpable, runs over the listener and in this sort of clash between two entities that occupy the same space - the person and the sound that penetrates his body - the aesthetic experience becomes real. Stravinskij states that music, as sound, is a "thing" and therefore music does not express anything and must be interpreted as an invitation to participate to the union of the listener and the opera. This is a rite that repeats itself every time we listen to music. Listening in fact is "the place" where we discover the deep meaning of a thought expressed with sound.
The listener has the duty to give life to these thoughts expressed with the sound. The listener is also the one that chooses, from time to time, in which way he wants to enjoy the music event. Let's consider two different approaches: "to hear" and "to listen". The first one consists in refusing every stimulus that may bring thoughts and reflections about sounds: a kind of surrender to pure aesthetic pleasure that pleases senses. "Hearing" is running away from the struggle of reasoning, in other words implies a condition of relaxation in which music has a fundamental role but cannot reach "ratio" and cannot make space for it in the maze of its intimate essence. More than a clash this makes me think of a transient rendezvous. "Listening", on the other hand, makes the listener part of the music event. This happens when a sound makes the listener ponder on the meaning, the reason for being of the sound itself. It's an invitation to an aware listening. There is something paradoxical and not rational in this; in the fact that a thing - an object - could act upon us as a subject; that a thought may ask to be thought. But this is what happens. Music is sound and as sound is a thing, this is certain. Music is something tangible but it is so light that it escapes gravity. Uttered words are sound too - yes sound - but, despite music, words do not occupy an established pitch, and the meaning of the speech comes out of words semantic. Notes, on the other hand, do not have a specified meaning: they are only sounds that have a meaning only if they are put in a music construction, in the work of art. To be art, words have to be transformed into poetry or literature. Music instead, thanks to its outer look is immediately recognizable as a work of art (it often happens to [mis]understand and recognize as art also what is not). Schönberg is even more direct in calling for the listeners' participation to give a sense to the utterance of a "music thought". When he presents "Six Bagatelle for string quartet op. no. 9" by Anton Webern, he declares: "These pieces will be understood only by those that believe that music can say things that can be expressed only through music". He was asking for an effort in understanding. Schönberg did not ask for an act of faith but for an aware listening. Webern is the most radical of all the second Wiener School. His music, with its pithy form and the rigorousness that is the characteristic of the work of this composer, is quintessential in asking for understanding. It is a sort of microcosm in which nothing is superfluous, that expands without limitation and that never repeats itself in asserting its truth. Melodies made of timbre and the complex symmetrical structure of the twelve-tone compositions by Webern take the listeners to the highest mountain top where, inebriated by the pure air, is possible to listen to silence as it really is in nature, that is to say loaded with sound. It is the place where the sound dies to come back to a new life, it is a place where we go back each time we hear a triple pianissimo fade and we hear a crescendo that seems to come from inaudible. Webern with his silences gives us a multifaceted truth, made of absolute pureness chips, uncountable and infinite, different as different are both the conditions of each single listening and the human truths. To fully understand a music it's important to listen to it, watching the musical score. It's not necessary to know music to link notes with music, it is sufficient to know that the notes written on top are high pitched notes and those written below are the low pitched notes. Their length is inferred by the flags between the stems of the notes. The more they have, the shorter their duration is. It is not a real reading of the musical score but it gives a visual idea of the music. For example, the first notes of "Variations for Piano op. 27" by Webern, that is the presentation of the fundamental dodecaphonic series, have the aspect of two symmetrical curls. Seeing the graphic representation of it gives us a clearer perception of it: in fact this variation is a twist of symmetrical figures that determine the elaboration of every parameter of the composition [1]. It's impossible to have the musical score of every music we listen to, so we have to rely upon the sector literature: essays, analysis and comments that are easy to find. A schedule or the CD booklet are the first approach, a sort of introduction and after this we can switch to more demanding readings. Another way to enlarge our knowledge about the musical matter is the participation to meetings, seminars and conferences. Music of art, especially modern music, wants to be understood that's why associations, universities and institutes that serve in this sector organize conferences that are, most of the times, very interesting. These conferences give us the chance to listen with awareness and in a direct and effective way under the guide of those that have made, of music and listening, their profession. All those that approach music have never enough of it. Luigi Nono states that we experience a real "falling in love" that, as we all know, implies an implacable thirst of knowledge - hence the biblical meaning of this word - of the beloved object. The slow and step by step discovery of its various aspects gives us the opportunity to take possession of small (or big) truths that reward us with small but very happy moments in our life. Guido Peri [1] I recommend the analysis on the Variations op 27 by Edison Denisoy. Sound Systems for Show
|
