After a two-year break due to the pandemic, we had the pleasure to record again with great musicians as part of the of My Reel Club™ project. This time we also participated as a label.

The My Reel Club™ recording events were launched 3 years ago with ambitious plans. The Club members and founders were determined to introduce audiophiles and music lovers, who were also engaged in the technical background, the work in a recording studios, and thus to open a unique opportunity for them to understand and appreciate how music is recorded. Unfortunately, the pandemic has made it temporarily impossible to realise some of our ideas. Hopefully, the situation is improving, and we are still determined to expand our special recordings, although with a limited audience for the time being.

This time, we worked with Gábor Juhász’s Trio, featuring Julia Karosi and Tony Lakatos on the recording of the album Planets at Digital Pro recording studio. Gabor is a Gramophone and Artisjus award-winning jazz guitarist and composer, and Aegon co-award-winning jazz guitarist and composer. He taught jazz guitar at the Béla Bartók Music Secondary School and the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music and was named Jazz Guitarist of the Year 2021 in Hungary. My relationship with Gábor goes back a long way, even our musical careers met once, I was happy to welcome him after many years.

The trio, founded in 2006, features Zoltán Kovács on double bass and György Jeszenszky on drums. They are highly skilled musicians with a masterly command of their instruments, who have also brought much joy to the crew with their exciting playing and humility in the course of our work. I highly regard musicians who do not consider themselves, but the whole production is essential in such situations (too). They are like that. The trio has been completed with two new members this time, according to Gábor’s musical plans. Julia Karosi added an impressive colour to the material and the male group with her truly unique vocal technique. Tony Lakatos has been living abroad for some time. He is a saxophonist well-known to all jazz lovers in Hungary and worldwide with a highly considerable international reputation. Now he has returned home for a few days to record this album. His skilful routine combined with his musical and human authority made an outstanding contribution to the success of the project.

István Matók, the head of the Digital Pro Studio, where the recording took place, is a leading figure in the Hungarian sound engineering community and is well-known to My Reel Club™ members, having hosted our first studio meetings in 2018.

He confidently managed the technical crew and equipment from the planning stage of the recording. We recorded the main points of reference based on the musical ideas, time and technical equipment available:

• The recording is completed “live”. We call it Live-To-Tape™ and Live-To-Disk™ process. All the musicians were playing simultaneously, in a shared space, to see and hear each other live. They can react to each other in real-time by this method. It is essential in this improvisational musical style.
• Sound processing and effects are kept to a minimum.
• We record what is happening in the studio with carefully chosen microphones.
• We use various recording technologies, producing 192kHz/24bit PCM material in ProTools, stereo DXD/DSD material with Merging Audio’s Anubis and analogue tape stereo recording. The three versions will be targeted at different audiences, formats and produced differently.
• As we stick to the original sound, there will be no mastering and post-production on the DXD and analogue tape recording. However, the 192k/24-bit PCM multi-track recording will be produced with usual post-production and mastering to fulfil commercial expectations and provide an Atmos version. The high-resolution PCM recording was done on the AVID ProTools system installed in the Digital Pro studio. Each microphone signal is on a separate channel, allowing for post- production sound mixing required by the future CD, Atmos release and streaming service provider’s requirements.

Gábor Juhász brought two instruments to the recording.

He played track “Copernicus in Tartu” on a Collings C10 Deluxe acoustic guitar. He picked a legendary Gibson ES 175 Herb Ellis Model Plus electric guitar with Thomastik Jazz Swing JS13 strings for the other tracks, the thickest set of which he used for a full sound. The electric guitar was played through a tube/FET hybrid amp built by András Nyerges, and a 30 cm Fane speaker, miked with Sennheiser MD 421 and Shure SM 76 microphones. The guitar sound was a mix of the two mic feeds.

Zoltán Kovács’s double bass was a 2006 model by Géza Fábián, with two Neumann TLM103 microphones placed in front of it, close to the strings and under the bridge. In front of the saxophones was a Warm Audio 67 Tube Condenser (Neumann U67 clone) microphone, and Julia Karosi sang into a Warm Audio 47 Tube Condenser (Neumann U47 clone) microphone with great passion and excitement.

For drums, AKG D25 (kick), AKG C251 (snare), WA-84 (hi-hats), AKG C414 (toms) and AKG C12A (overhead) mics worked around György Jeszenszky’s custom-made and great sounding DDrum rig:

Everyone played in the same studio space in the recording room but separated by screens to reduce unwanted acoustic leakage between instruments. The isolation is not perfect, the sound still got in where it shouldn’t have, but that’s inevitable in a live recording. If the musicians had been completely separated, the sound would have been technically better, but the musical content would probably have been compromised. The signals of the microphones, selected based on the lessons learned from legendary jazz recordings, were fed into Trident, Warm Audio and Bricasti preamps, where they underwent some light analogue dynamics processing. Unfortunately, this is unavoidable. It would be virtually impossible to record the events in the right quality without it. Finally, the amplified signals were fed into a 16-channel APB-DynaSonics analogue (!) console used for live mixing and programme output distribution.

The tape recorder and DXD/DSD recordings were made using the console PGM outputs without any digital processing, and the two stereo recorders received the same mix from the console’s L-R main output. The signals were digitised from the analogue desk’s channel-by-channel Direct Outputs for the ProTools multi-track recording, with each microphone on a separate track.

This is the working environment in the studio control room with the three recording systems installed:

Not much space left in the control room, but just enough for the producer and my friend Ferenc Koscsó, the MRC project’s innovator and organiser. The analogue mixing console and preamps on the right with the tape recorder, the ProTools system control surface in the middle, and the DXD/DSD recorder on the left. The latter is a supercharged Luxor PC with linear power supply (optimized for Merging’s Pyramix), Pink Faun’s OCXO clocks for the motherboard, passive cooling and custom cabling, running Merging Pyramix software in DXD/DSD mode. As being usual in case of MRC recordings, the A to D conversion was the highest resolution available with today’s technology.

The Merging Anubis interface was driven from a high-quality linear power supply, connected in stereo 2 channels, with Evidence Lyric cables to the mixing console’s output. The analogue tape recording was made with a Nagra IV-S NQS-LSP reel to reel recorder, SM468 tape at 38 cm/s, with CCIR equalisation, under the supervision of Tamás Perczel. We used Yamaha NS- 10 near-field and Dynaudio midfield monitors for monitoring in the studio. We all brought our own headphones, including a high-end Focal. A well-known headphone can help us immensely to control and fine-tune the recording.

I have lived in various studios for 25 years. I have ‘retired’ from such ordeals, but I still occasionally enjoy to participate in more serious activities, such as the My Reel Club™ recordings. Living among so many knobs, switches and reels for long time teach you to respect the technique and your colleagues. It’s an exhilarating feeling when you get to work with like-minded and like-mannered people, as was the case with this recording. Due to the musicians’ busy schedules, we had a limited time of only one-half day for rehearsals and another half day to record. This can only be achieved if there are no technical problems to slow down the process and if everyone is in control and maintains their own level to a high standard, including the technical crew and the musicians. The one day installation and set-up went smoothly, the technical staff did their job with confidence. Let it remain between us that many musicians would feel uncomfortable in this “live” situation because they are typically used to the fact that everything can be corrected in recording and post-production. That was deliberately not available this time, so great discipline and concentration were required.

The signal gaining is an essential parameter for live recordings. Since there is no room for a correction here in a “live” recording, the recording signal levels must be adjusted to achieve the highest possible signal-to- noise ratio and dynamics without overdriving. In the case of My Reel Club™, recordings, limiters and compressors are not used for this function, so levelling is a bit stressful, and there is a constant fear of recording. Fortunately, I managed to adjust everything so that the peaks on the digital material dropped to around -5 dB FS, which is still a safe distance from the deadly 0 dB level, but already results in excellent dynamics. And speaking of dynamics… When listening to music at home, a recurring question is what volume reproduces what is actually happens in the live music. This time, we continuously monitored the loudness in the studio, as shown in the graph below. We will also give you a little help for the listening process in that the album will feature a sustained saxophone sound as a reference. If you set the volume of this sound at home to between 75–80 dB SPL (yes, unfortunately, an instrument is required for this), you can enjoy the whole material at roughly the same dynamics and volume as it was played live in the studio. Of course, this won’t work for many people due to the limitations of playback systems and rooms, but I think it’s worth a try. Below you can see the original (C weighting, slow av.) sound pressure curve of the track “Saturn”, measured in the studio at a distance of 3–5 m from the musicians. Peak values were 98–100 dB SPL, with an average of 85–90 dB SPL(C).

The technology performed flawlessly during the recording, and I didn’t have to constantly juggle it (despite many beliefs, this is one of the main characteristics of pro audio over commercial equipment). So I had time to listen to music while I worked. In concerts and studios, I’m always competing with the musician and the sound engineer in myself; sometimes I am focusing on musical details, sometimes on technical parameters. Fortunately, they tend to support each other; there is no fierce battle between them. While recording, I was sometimes able to contemplate the technical beauty of the Nagra tape recorder and the musicians’ playing too. As a bass player I particularly enjoyed listening to Zoltan Kovács. The miracle of music being made just a few metres away from us, with attuned minds and equipment, is still a thrill for me.

We listened to the recorded material together. Some requests were made by the musicians and some lessons were learned by us. At the end of the process, we will need all the creators’ blessing to produce a recording approved by all the participants. This also reflects that the sound engineer(s) is/are not the final decision maker(s) in the studio. They cannot make decisions solely on all matters. Still, they/he/she will respond to the technical, aesthetic and artistic requests in a chosen way based on their experience and professional knowledge. The question has also arisen about which recordings represent a higher quality or are closer to a “live” sound. “Live” is in quotes here because we in the control room are not hearing the original sound of the instruments, but the sound of the microphones, and we can compare the recordings to that. It was agreed that the DXD and the analogue tape recording were very close to the live sound, with only a tiny difference in taste. For my part, I would put the digital DXD version first. My analogue tape operator friend Tamás Perczel, of course, voted for tape. Obviously, our ears are tuned differently, but that’s okay It is worth noting that the enormous differences between the recordings, which are mentioned by audiophiles way too often, of which we only perceived a fraction, each containing much more information than most home HiFi systems can show.

The recordings are done, processing, uploading, publishing and all the associated paperwork is next, and with a bit of luck, the production will be released to the public in a few weeks. After that, we plan to make it available on major streaming providers, high-res file download portals and as an audio CD and possibly as vinyl too. My Reel Club™ members will get them first. So, I have selected the versions that the musicians have voted, making some basic corrections (editing, tracking, making fade in/out runs, signal level correction, converting to multiple file formats, uploading metadata, etc.), all done in the privacy of my own home.

The final product is very different from the usual sound of commercial music releases, mainly in the dynamic range. Because only minimal dynamic compression was applied, the recording preserves the difference in volume between the quieter and the more powerful musical events to almost 60 dB. (This is typically 15–30 dB for commercial material). Playback of this album may be problematic for some home systems. To get the quietest details to sound, they need to exceed the background noise level in terms of SPL, typically 35–45 dB SPL in a home environment. So, the peaks are around 100 dB, which weaker HiFi chains cannot reproduce enjoyably without aggressive distortion. But then again, hi-fi fans have long cherished the dream of high dynamic range recording, so there you go! Another feature of the recording is that the timbre may seem duller at first listen than on most releases without mastering. I suggest to give your ears time because the human ear can correct such “problems” in a few minutes! The frequency range is quite wide, and the graph below shows that there is still plenty of musical content above 20 kHz:

A 2-minute sample is now available in 44kHz/24bit, 352kHz/24bit and DSD128 formats.

The post My Reel Club™ – Recording of Juhász Gábor Trio featuring Julia Karosi and Tony Lakatos: ‘Planets’ appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Homeland – Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor and De Falla’s Noches en los Jardines de España (Nights in the Gardens of Spain)
Judith Jáuregui (piano), Kaspar Zehnder, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León.
Eudora Records 2024 (Pure DSD256, stereo and 5.1 channel surround).
Available only from NativeDSD.

Utter transparency. Abundant detail. Extreme delicacy and nuance. A soundstage to die for. Unrestrained dynamics and immense power. This is a recording to cherish, a recording to celebrate.

Such were my reactions when first listening to this amazing new recording from Gonzalo Noqué and Eudora Records. After repeated listenings, my initial reactions hold. This album is a tour de force of orchestral recording magic.  And it is entirely recorded, edited and mastered in Pure DSD256*. Not a bit of PCM processing anywhere in the production chain. From microphones, to editing, to mixing, to mastering, all is accomplished entirely in the DSD domain. 

*Technically, this is pure PDM (pulse density modulation) using both single-bit and multi-bit PDM, with the final output being the single-bit PDM standard that is known under the Sony marketing name “DSD”. But for simplicity, I refer to this as DSD in the title and throughout the article. Whether multi-bit or single-bit, it is all PDM and not PCM (pulse code modulation). See Tom Caulfield’s explanation HERE.

This is perhaps the only large orchestral recording made to commercial standards (with a full complement of 22-27 microphone channels mixed post-production in the studio) that has been produced in Pure DSD256 throughout. Yes, I have heard some other wonderful Pure DSD256 recordings of large orchestral performances. The Pure DSD256 recordings from Hunnia Records come most immediately to mind, such as the remarkable Bartok Piano Concerto No. 1 with László Borbély (HERE). But most Pure DSD orchestral recordings that I’ve heard have been non-commercial recordings, and most have been minimally mic’d, with limited post-production mixing—truly special, but not commercial, recordings. 

I’ve been told over the years that making a large orchestral recording to commercial standards is simply not possible with DSD. Supposedly, you can’t mix DSD.

Well, I’m here to tell you it is possible.

And the result is the most transparent verisimilitude of an orchestra that I have heard in a commercial recording. Ever. It simply sounds like the real thing: no compression, full dynamic range, incredible detail, beautiful capture of the timbre of the full range of instruments found in a large orchestra performance. Most apparent is the utter transparency of the sound. There is nothing between you and the instruments themselves. For me, “transparency” is an ultimate goal in the recording of natural acoustic instruments. And this recording delivers that transparency in spades with its Pure DSD256 heritage.

And you can hear it for yourself with the free download sample at full DSD256 resolution that Gonzalo has graciously agreed for Positive Feedback to make available to you. More about that below with my further discussion of how this recording was made.

But first, let me tell you about the music on this album.

The performances by Spanish pianist Judith Jáuregui are invigorating, brilliant and an utter joy to hear. She plays with power, precision, and technical mastery. But, more importantly, she plays with emotion, fluidity, and a striking singularity. She clearly has something unique to say. Born in San Sebastian in northern Spain, she has grown up in a multicultural environment through her Basque mother and her Mexican father who grew up in France. After initial studies and a debut recital at the age of just 11, she moved to Munich to study with the Russian pianist Vadim Suchanov at the Richard-Strauss Konservatorium. 

When asked about the music she plays best, she replied, “I am comfortable in general in the romantic light of Brahms, Liszt, Chopin… where the piano sounds in all its glory. I feel very natural also in French music since I have a french side: my father was born in Mexico but grew up in France, and I was born in San Sebastian, just 20 km from the border between Spain and France. Many of my childhood memories are from the other side of the border, where Ravel was born. I am attracted to everything that has to do with the Paris of the beginning of 20th century. I have also a very special link with the music of Spanish composer Federico Mompou, with its purity, its essence.” (HERE)

In performing the music of Norwegian Edvard Grieg and then the music of Andalucían Manuel de Falla, Jáuregui demonstrates remarkable comfort traversing cultures to find the common love of homeland, the title of the album. Says Jáuregui, “A homeland is the profound affective bond between a human being and their land, their culture, their nature. It is the root from which our initial experiences grow, leaving an indelible mark on our identity. It is also the ensemble of physical and emotional homes that we construct throughout our lives… On this album we find two authors who made of their love for their homeland a musical message: Edvard Grieg and Manuel de Falla. Both scholars of the folklore of their respective origins, Norway and Andalucía, they knew how to introduce and emphasize elements of this in their music, creating a new, unique, original and personal register.” 

And throughout, Judith Jáuregui’s expressive refinement and infectious brightness of being bring to us a joy in the music that she seems delighted to share.

Conductor Kaspar Zehnder and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León provide excellent partnership in this musical journey. Orchestral ensemble playing is tight. There is overall a fluid flow and ease with which the orchestra approaches the music, very aptly complementing Judith Jáuregui’s own fluidity and ease.

Oh, and did I say that these are large orchestra works? Yes, indeed they are. De Falla scored Nights in the Gardens of Spain for piano, three flutes and piccolo, two oboes and English horn, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones and tuba, timpani, cymbals, triangle, celesta, harp, and strings. The variety of timbre is an aural delight.

The one sonic weakness of this album is the overly forward piano sound in the Grieg Piano Concerto. It is too prominent, too divorced from the overall soundstage of the orchestra. Fortunately, the sound of the orchestra is just fine. Very balanced, very well integrated, very natural. 

In contrast, the piano sound in Nights in the Gardens of Spain is beautifully well integrated with the overall sound of the orchestra. It sounds here as I assume Gonzalo wished for all of it to sound. And, accordingly, it is  this selection, the opening movement of Nights in the Gardens of Spain, that I have chosen to offer to you as a free download sample. You can hear for yourself what a brilliantly mixed and mastered Pure DSD256 recording is capable of delivering.

Free Sample Download
This free sample download, all 10:32 minutes and 1.7GB of it, is available courtesy of Gonzalo Noqué and NativeDSD. It is track four from the album Homeland, Manual de Falla’s Noches en los Jardines de España (Nights in the Gardens of Spain): En el Generalife (the jasmine-scented gardens surrounding the Alhambra):

Use this link to download the Pure DSD256 file. This file is a Pure DSD file with no PCM processing. (For best results, please be sure your DAC is capable of playing a DSD256 data stream without remodulating or converting it.)

Use this link to download the track as a 352.8kHz DXD/PCM file. This DXD file is provided for those who cannot play DSD256 and for those who’d simply like to compare formats. This DXD file is the original edited PCM session mix, with no intermediate conversions or remodulations. 

Please note that only albums downloaded from NativeDSD will be in Pure DSD. Any other release you may find, including any SACD, will have been PCM processed. This is because the Pure DSD mixing and mastering of the album is accomplished by a collaboration between Gonzalo and NativeDSD’s mastering engineer Tom Caulfield. Tom actually creates the Pure DSD mixes in Signalyst HQPlayer Pro from the Pure DSD tracking channels and mixing instructions provided by Gonzalo. You can’t obtain it anywhere else.

The Recording Process and Pure DSD – a deeper dive for those similarly obsessed

I start with a format bias. For me, DSD256 presents a level of audio excellence unmatched by any other digital format. DSD256 delivers a degree of ultimate transparency and fidelity to the timbre of the instruments that subtly eludes DXD and any of the PCM resolutions. I wrote about my wife’s and my experiences in this back in 2021: Pure DSD256 – What We Hear.

There is a reason Bob Witrak (High Definition Tape Transfers) makes all of his tape transfers in DSD256 even when further PCM post-processing will be required due to issues in the vintage tapes. There is also a reason Gonzalo Noqué (Eudora), Jared Sacks (Channel Classics), and Brendon Heinst (TRPTK) all lay down their microphone tracking channels in DSD256 even though they typically apply PCM post-processing in their classical music recordings to achieve the final results they are looking for. In all four cases, these exceptional audio engineers tell me they use DSD256 because it most accurately captures the sound of the source. 

The problem with Pure DSD final releases is not that they can’t be accomplished. It is because, as Gonzalo tells me via an email conversation, the problem is practicality. The mixing process for a Pure DSD release “is very time-consuming and impractical compared to a DXD mix workflow, which is very fast and straight forward.”

And, in the Pure DSD realm, “you cannot use limiters or compressors, which is becoming more and more common in the Classical music recording world.”

But, when I asked if he would make another Pure DSD recording of a large orchestra, his reply was, “Yes. In fact I have another orchestral recording coming before summer where we’ll do it again. As I said in the article you wrote about this topic (Mixing in Pure DSD – No PCM Allowed), there’s something that I love conceptually about remaining in DSD256 for the whole process. Maybe it’s just the idealistic, utopic side of me, but I do think a Pure DSD256 release represents the best quality achievable in the digital world right now. Whether the difference is large or small, noticeable by many or few, I find it very rewarding having the opportunity to work this way.”

I asked about microphones and Gonzalo explained, “The main sound (I’d say at least 90% of the overall mix) comes from the main orchestral pair (2 x Sonodore LDM-54) and the four microphones used for the piano (2 Rens Heijnis modified Neumann U89 relatively close to the instrument and two Sonodore RCM-402 further away). The rest of the mix (around 10% of the overall mix) includes several spot microphones for the different orchestral sections: Schoeps MK4, Pearl CC22, Gefell, Neumann… There are overall 22 channels/microphones in Grieg’s concerto and 27 channels/microphones in Falla’s Noches en los Jardines de España.

In describing the mixing process at this scale, Gonzalo said that it was exactly as described in that last year’s article discussing how Gonzalo and Tom Caulfield create a Pure DSD recording: Mixing in Pure DSD – No PCM Allowed. Just many more microphone channels! “Once I found the mix I was happy with within a DXD project in Pyramix, I then started “translating” the visual representation found in Pyramix’s mixer into the command line-style found in HQPlayer.” Tom then takes these command line mixing instructions into HQPlayer Pro and generates the Pure DSD256 file. The process clearly works. But as Gonzalo observes, “It is definitely a very impractical workflow.”

As explained to me most patiently by Tom, “Recorded music post processing and mastering is done using tools named Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). These provide the function of editing and microphone channel mixing to the final channel format, plus the numerous sweetening provisions like channel equalization. With the exception of HQPlayer Pro, they all convert a continuous DSD bitstream into discrete PCM samples for processing. HQPlayer Pro uses remodulation at the original DSD bitrate for channel mixing and EQ. For acoustic recorded music, requiring minimal channel sweetening, HQPlayer Pro is the ideal DAW for channel mixing without the incurred filtering effects of PCM conversion.”

What Gonzalo and Tom have done is remarkable. Gonzalo has essentially mixed this album twice. Once in PCM in Pyramix to create the channel mixes he wants for a final product, and again to copy out the mixing and EQ parameters for HQPlayer Pro.

Gonzalo could stop once he has his Pyramix PCM mix. He has a fully satisfactory commercial release of the album and he can make all of his format renders from this PCM mix using Pyramix Album Publishing, including a DSD256 render. Most labels do stop here.

But, Gonzalo does not stop. He goes that major step further. He uses all of the settings that he’s determined in his Pyramix final PCM mix, every channel, every fade, every mix, and translates those settings into line by line coding for the command language used in Jussi’s Signalyst HQPlayer Pro.

Tom then loads the original DSD256 channels into HQPlayer Pro with command language parameters Gonzalo has created to mix again, but this time entirely in the DSD/PDM domain. Tom will then send the Pure DSD256 mix out of HQPlayer Pro to Gonzalo for approval. If Gonzalo approves, Tom will start this process all over again from the original DSD256 channels to generate each format render of this album that appears for sale on the NativeDSD website: DSD512, DSD128, DSD64, DXD, 192kHz PCM, and 96kHz PCM. Every file format is a separate independent render directly from the master DSD256 channels, so every format render found at NativeDSD will be as close in purity to the original DSD256 channels as is possible to make. (The DXD sample file download above was created this way.)

For both Gonzalo and Tom, this is an act of pure dedication and love for the art.

As an audiophile who has always valued the highest quality sound reproduction I can possibly achieve, I absolutely delight in Gonzalo’s and Tom’s willingness to strive for the pinnacle of what is currently achievable in digital sound recording and playback. Yes, it is impractical from a purely commercial standpoint. But, so are the single sided, 45-rpm, high purity vinyl discs that I was always eager to obtain in my days of listening to vinyl. It is the love for achieving excellence, to strive to create something that is as close to the maximally accurate reflection of the real acoustic event as possible using today’s technology. And I feel so utterly grateful to fellow sound quality fanatics who are willing to take this effort.

So, I hope you will listen to this Pure DSD256 file from Eudora for yourself! I hope you will hear in your own system that which Ann and I hear, and that you will find in it the same joy of discovery that we find. And, I hope that you will encourage their continuing efforts to create for us such glorious recordings as this. 

Here are some additional Pure DSD256 albums from Eudora that I’ve reviewed elsewhere in Positive Feedback (see search results HERE). I’d highly recommend any of these to you:

The post ‘Homeland’ – Pure DSD256 Large Orchestra Recording from Eudora Records appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Had you heard of DSD before making this album?

To be honest, I hadn’t heard of it until HR Recordings mentioned it to me. They are known for recording in high resolution, capturing every detail, down to the sound of the fingers on the strings.

Was that a new experience for you?

Yes it was! It felt more exposed than when the microphones are farther away- but also somehow really true. It was very nice to have a small intimate team also- my husband was my Tonmeister- as in the one looking after that everything was covered- he and Augustin, the sound engineer and owner of HR records, were inside the church with me while I was playing. Originally I was planning to record this more slowly- but Agustin inspired me to go for recording all 12 now – it required a big push to go for it in quite a short time but I’m glad we went ahead and finished them!

So, the project began with transcribing the 12 Fantasies for solo viola. What inspired you to undertake this?

The viola has a unique history, especially during the early Baroque and classical periods. Initially, it was primarily a harmony filler instrument due to its size limitations. Unlike the violin and cello, the viola’s acoustical characteristics differ, giving it a distinct mellower tone but also posing challenges in tone production and clarity. In the world of solo viola music there is limited original repertoire from the 18th century, prompting me to explore transcriptions and adaptations. Discovering Telemann’s Gamba Fantasies, originally composed for the viola da gamba, intrigued me. The viola’s journey from a supporting role to a solo instrument fascinated me, leading me to transcribe and adapt these pieces for the viola.

 What was the process like for transcribing these pieces?

Transcribing these pieces was a labor of love. I stumbled upon existing transcriptions but found discrepancies and compromises that deviated from the composer’s original intent. Utilising modern technology like Staffpad, I meticulously transcribed the pieces, striving to remain faithful to Telemann’s compositions. Each fantasy presented its own challenges, especially in adapting chords and multiple string techniques characteristic of the viola da gamba. My aim was to preserve the integrity of Telemann’s music while making it accessible to contemporary viola players.

Your efforts have resulted in a significant contribution to viola repertoire. How does it feel to have your name associated with these transcriptions?

It’s a humbling experience. Throughout my career, I’ve interpreted and performed numerous works, but seeing my name associated with these transcriptions feels special. It’s a testament to the collaborative efforts with scholars, editors, and publishers who recognized the value of these adaptations. As a viola player, expanding the repertoire and exploring lesser-known works is immensely gratifying.

Moving to the recording process, what was your experience like working with Agustin and HR Recordings?

It was a very comfortable collaboration. Agustin’s husband is a very old friend of mine and he mentioned that HR Recordings was looking for new projects. He asked if I had anything I would like to record, and I did! The recording process was intensive yet rewarding. We chose a picturesque location, a quaint church north of Madrid with amazing acoustics and ambiance. Recording all twelve pieces in three days was a challenge, requiring meticulous preparation and focus. Despite the time constraints and physical strain, the experience was enriching, allowing me to immerse myself fully in Telemann’s music.

Did you encounter any unique challenges during the recording process?

Recording solo pieces was a departure from my usual ensemble or orchestral work, requiring a different mindset and approach. The intimate setting and single microphone setup made me feel exposed, intensifying the focus on every nuance and detail. Playing in a cold environment presented physical challenges, I had to wear extra layers and use a little heater next to me to stay warm. However, the solitude allowed for introspection and deep connection with the music, resulting in a profoundly personal recording experience.

Did you find it easier or more challenging to connect with the music in a solo recording setting?

I think it was a bit of both. With someone else, you can feed off each other’s energy, although there’s also the potential for conflict. Going solo is definitely an inward journey, allowing you to really immerse yourself in the music. It’s about bringing the composer’s intentions to life and understanding the story within each piece. For me, it’s crucial not to impose too much of my own interpretation but rather to honor the composer’s vision.

So, you mentioned initiating the recording process. Did that involve a lot of preparation, perhaps with Agustin, or was it more spontaneous? Did you just fly in, assess the space, and dive into it? You mentioned earlier that what you initially thought would take around six days was condensed to just three by Agustin.

Yeah, essentially, I would have preferred more time. It was a bit of a mixed feeling because, of course, it’s great to get things done efficiently. However, having more time would have been preferable. I had been living with the pieces for about three years, so they were deeply ingrained in me, but I needed to translate that understanding into my playing, which required a lot of extra effort, especially considering my other commitments like teaching. Yeah, and I had a minor injury just before the recording.

Oh, really? In your hand?

Yeah, just one finger. I overdid it with practice. Thankfully I discovered something called Body Mapping – without which I’m not sure I would have been able to record solo music for hours like that! With the knowledge of how to use your body in an optimal way one can play with much more freedom and much less danger of injury and pain! Even if I managed to hurt one my fingers on the left hand from over working it – it would have been much worse had I not had the understanding of why it occurred and how to handle it…

Were there pieces that required more time than others, or was it a balanced distribution?

Well, in terms of time, they were done sequentially. However, towards the end, I made a decision. Number eleven—I postponed that to the following morning when I was feeling fresh. So instead, I tackled number twelve in the evening when I was a bit fatigued. But indeed, each piece presents its own set of challenges. What’s fascinating about these twelve fantasies is their individuality. None of them feel repetitive. Starting from C minor in the first one and ending in the relative major, it’s quite significant in terms of harmony if you’re interested in that aspect.

Besides being dedicated to his amateur gamma player friend, is there a backstory to these pieces?

I’m not sure. He must have shared copies with someone. Others must have played them. Considering he composed such an extensive body of work—3000 pieces in total—calculating how many were out there is quite a task. This particular fantasy, however, disappeared for about 300 years until it resurfaced in 2015.

Incredible. It was found in someone’s private collection, correct?

Yeah, there was some documentation that led to its discovery in a private collection. Remarkable, isn’t it? It makes you wonder how much more lies undiscovered. Anyway, these fantasies he wrote for solo instruments are truly unique. There are twelve for flute, twelve for violin, and thirty-six for keyboards. They’ve gained popularity over time, with numerous recordings and editions available. Since I began my work, there have been at least three new editions. 

One of my students, about two years ago, came to a lesson with a new  edition of the same twelve fantasies for viola—edited by my colleague Brian Schiele in Scotland who plays in the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. It was funny because I was on my way the following week, to guest lead the viola group in the SCO. He had a quicker publishing process compared to mine. And he made different choices so we had a nice nerdy conversation about “why did you do this down the octave there?” And  “how did you solve this problem?”

And did you stand by your decisions after you spoke with him about it?

Oh yes, I did and I still do. I’m very happy with how this project turned out. 

Well we are too, Asdis. It’s great to add another solo viola work to the collection. Thanks for joining us.

The post Ásdís Valdimarsdottir speaks about ‘Telemann: 12 Fantasies for Solo Viola’ appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

When NativeDSD started making the Songlines high-res back catalogue available, I was very interested in checking out their Higher Rates Program. All our DSD recordings are from the 2000s and are therefore DSD64. Would I hear a significant improvement when remodulated by NativeDSD’s engineer Tom Caulfield at DSD256 or 512? The full-range audiophile stereo system that I listened on is the creation of my friend Nic Morelli and it has been one of my reference systems for decades. It is almost entirely self-built, and Nic continues to improve and upgrade digital playback. His main DAC is a Signalyst-design DSD DAC, and he works hard to eliminate as much digital noise from the chain as possible.

“Nemesis”, the first track of the eponymous album by Canadian jazz composer Mark Nodwell, is a 2001 analogue recording that was mixed in analogue to DSD and mastered by Dawn Frank at the Sony SACD Project in Boulder.

So it’s Pure DSD, and was therefore remodulated using the Signalyst HQPlayer Pro. We didn’t have DSD128 to compare, but at DSD256 the sound opened up considerably: there was more space around individual instruments, creating a more coherent and spacious soundstage; we also noticed more fine detail and improved dynamics. The big revelation for us though was DSD512. It sounded so…organic. There were further significant improvements in ambiance retrieval – each instrument stood clearly in its own space with its own bloom. And the instrumental timbres themselves preserved an analogue smoothness and realism that was very seductive. Yet nothing was smoothed over – textures were actually more palpable than before. To sum it up subjectively, we could “hear into” the music in a deeper, more relaxed way.

Our second test track was “LB” from Wayne Horvitz Gravitas Quartet’s Way Out East.

This chamber jazz group (piano, trumpet, cello, bassoon) was recorded in DSD and  mixed in analogue in 2005, then mastered in Pyramix in DXD. It has therefore been remodulated up to 256 using the Pyramix Album Publishing software, but Tom also produces a DSD512 version using HQP. We wondered whether the fact that this recording had gone through a DXD post-production stage would limit the benefits of remodulation. But no – we heard the same types and degrees of improvements at 256 and 512 that we’d experienced with “Nemesis”. The 512 sound was just wonderfully present, and it was a joy to follow the counterpoint and relish the instrumental colours as the players wove the music together.

Our conclusion: if you have a modern, sophisticated DAC that’s optimized for DSD playback then please give remodulated DSD files a try. Certainly these legacy DSD recordings on Songlines never sounded this good back when they were recorded.

NativeDSD Plus Membership – the most affordable way to explore different DSD rates on your system.

The post Songlines Recordings compares different DSD rates appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Firstly let me say thank you to the both of you for taking the time to speak to me today. I’m very excited to get to know you both a bit better, and to learn more about TRPTK and how you guys operate. If we may, I’d like to start with some personal background into your lives. I find it fascinating to hear the journeys that brought professionals such as yourselves in to the world of making music.

Brendon Heinst: Well for me, I didn’t grow up in a particularly musical family, but everyone of us did listen to a lot of music and all of us played some as well. My father listened to a wide range of music and was in some bands as well. My brother was also really in to music, so from a very young age I just started picking up instruments and starting to learn how to play. I was always more of a tinkerer, rather than like a ‘proper’ musician at heart and soul. I liked to open stuff up and see how it works, and then try putting it back together. I guess I would say I was kind of 50/50 interested in making music but also breaking apart things that make music. 

I played a lot of guitar and I started building a lot of stuff for that: I built my own amp and my own pedals – I even started to build my own guitar at once, but it turns out I’m terrible at woodwork. 

Was there a time that you remember your interests turning towards actually recording music rather than playing or tinkering?

Brendon: I don’t know about a specific moment, I just always had an interest in how music was made. I remember watching a ton of those behind the album documentaries that always came on VH1 and I grew this fascination towards the musical process. It seemed like the perfect combination of creating music, hanging around socially, and also tinkering with the technical stuff. But honestly I didn’t know I would become a recording engineer.

My first work was actually in photography and I had my own graphics design business which I was mostly busy with. While I was abroad one summer though my father – who was already ill for a while – became extremely sick really quickly and one of the last conversations we had before he passed was about this exactly. I was in Singapore, it was about 3:00 a.m., and honestly I don’t know why I called him. I just remember the overwhelming feeling that I should. We spoke for hours about many different things, one being what I should do about the fact that I am interested in music but the business is extremely hard to make it in. The last thing he said was, “You gotta do what you feel you have to do. If it feels right just go for it”. That really inspired me to take music seriously as a profession. 

Wow, that’s powerful. Then is that right when you decided to start TRPTK? 

Brendon: No, it was about four years before TRPTK was born. I started studying at the Utrecht University of Arts and had a few classes instructed by Eelco Grimm who is now famous for his hifi company Grimm Audio. It was really inspiring to attend his classes because I felt I had similar interests and approaches to working with audio. While I was writing my master’s thesis about recording in surround sound I also did an internship with Bert van der Wolf of Turtle Records. Through these experiences I got to see the classical music world up close and I hated it… passionately. It was so conservative and there was nothing young or creative about it. Back in those days I also recorded rock bands fairly often, and I loved the world and atmosphere much more.

So I was torn – I enjoyed recording classical music the most because it was the most challenging from a technical stance, but I enjoyed the creative and energetic atmosphere of other types of music sessions. I really wanted to merge those two interests, but I couldn’t find anything for a really long time. Then finally I met Maya, we did one session together and I really loved working with her. At some point we started to record Schnittke together, the first cello sonata, and we had such a nice crew together that the whole session was extremely fun and energetic. And we did things in a totally different, non-traditional or conservative way, because Maya is not conservative in any shape or form. 

Maya Fridman: No, you’re right. And for me Schnittke was an amazing composer who broke a lot of boundaries – for example he combined rock music with classical – and unfortunately was quite unknown. Starting my professional recording career with this piece felt very symbolic for me as an artist. 

So is that a feeling or view that you share as well, Maya? That you have a love for classical music, but you feel the atmosphere around it is too traditional or conservative?

Maya: Yes sure, for me it was a really long road to get to where I was playing music I actually enjoyed. I started as a classically trained cellist at six years old. At around seven or eight I decided that I wanted to pursue it professionally and for the rest of my life. 

Brendon: Haha, as children do!

Maya: Yeah well, I was asked very directly because this kind of musical education requires a lot of investment from the parents. It cost a lot of money, but it also required a lot from my mother to be disciplined and get me to practice every day. I recorded my first album when I was eleven. It was never published, but it was a great learning experience for me to realise that I enjoyed the recording process just as much as I enjoyed performing.

As I grew up and got to find my own identity a bit more, I realised that I love rock and metal music so I started to play with bands, although in Moscow at that time it was basically impossible. In the culture there if you were a classical musician that is all that you played. Finding rock bands who wanted a cello player was very difficult, to say the least. I remember at the time I didn’t have internet at home, so I would go to internet cafes and look for advertisements of black metal bands looking for a cellist. Safe to say I didn’t find many. I ended up playing keyboard in a black metal band once, and then I found a post-rock band that I could play cello with. Then I came to the Netherlands and though I didn’t find many musicians to play this specific mix of music I wanted, at least here I started to do my own thing and break out of the classical world. I started my jazz/rock trio Dinosaur,

I was working with singer/songwriters, playing with folk artists and stuff like that. Then I responded to an ad that Brendon had put up and that’s how this all started. 

Oh wow, that sounds like a story. You first connected because of an ad? 

Brendon: Yeah it’s actually a pretty funny story. I was busy with my master’s degree and I had finished all the theoretical ground work but what I needed was test subjects. So I hung up a poster at the Amsterdam conservatory explaining that what I need is the player and the material to test my recording thesis, and what you’ll get is a free recording. I only ever got one reply in all the time that the poster hung there, and for years afterwards I wondered, ‘Why is it that at a conservatory of hundreds of musicians, only one person was interested in a free recording?’ Turns out Maya didn’t write down the phone number as I had intended that people do, she just took the entire poster! 

Haha, that’s amazing. Smart plan Maya, to make sure you’re the only choice!

Maya: Yeah, haha. I don’t think I even did it consciously. It was just a natural instinct. But I’m very happy I did that, because it led to the partnership that Brendon and I have. 

Well this brings me to a question that I just have to ask. Many of our listeners probably don’t know this, but your partnership is very unique in that it’s not only a partnership in TRPTK, but in life and love as well. I’m curious, how did this amazing story start between you? Did it start right away with that first session recording Schnittke?

Brendon: Well I knew right away that Maya was someone very special but I couldn’t quite place it. It was only once we started working later hours with the editing and mixing of that project where I started to understand what she really meant to me. 

Maya: And for me it was only from the second album that we worked on together. Of course I felt very open and comfortable with Brendon from the beginning, but at first I couldn’t imagine anything more than just being friends and colleagues. But while I was working on the arrangements for our second album together Fiery Angel something changed.

The album was this very romantic story about a woman who falls in love with an angel who turns out to actually be a demon –

Brendon: Can you see the connection here? 

[All three of us were cracking up at that one]

Maya: Haha, yeah for some reason I don’t know why, during all of the musical arranging and the complicated love story, I started to feel something for Brendon more than just friendship. 

Well that’s an amazing story. It makes me think of the deep connecting force that music can be.

Brendon: Yeah it really has that power for sure. Not just romantically but socially and culturally as well. With the benefit concerts that Maya organises you can easily see it. She goes on stage with people from Ukraine and people from Russia, and despite everything that’s going on there is this huge sense of connection between everyone there. 

Maya: And also music can bring up the deepest emotions that we have as humans, and it can express them sometimes better than we can. 

Maya, can you tell me more about these benefit concerts? 

Maya: Yeah well I started doing them about a year and a half ago when Russia invaded Ukraine. When it all began I couldn’t sleep, we talked a lot, but I felt completely desperate and extremely angry at the situation. Suddenly the idea came that ‘maybe I can do something’ and to organise a benefit concert with Ukrainian and Russian musicians. The next day I started calling colleagues and fellow musicians and in one week we managed to put on a concert at the Concertgebouw. The tickets sold out and we raised over €100,000. It was incredible, and I just thought that I have to go on because the momentum was there. I created the TRIDA Foundation and have continued doing the benefit concerts since then, among other things. 

Wow, that is amazing. Where can we go to find more information about the foundation and the concerts? 

Maya: You can visit the website tridafoundation.org

Definitely will check that out. 

So we’ve made it to the point of how you both met and how your relationship formed, but I would like to go a bit deeper in to how TRPTK actually came to be. That first project together was not technically a TRPTK production yet, right? 

Brendon: Yeah I actually pitched that first album [The Invisible Link] to a couple of different labels. And with my background as a photographer we had shot photos and made artwork for the album as well, but not in the traditional manner. This just didn’t look or sound like an album that these labels were used to. So the general comments were like, “No, no-one listens to Schnittke so we’re not going to do it” or “This is not a classical music cover”. And I couldn’t understand why, just because something hasn’t been done before, that’s a reason not to do it. As if it being a new idea made it a bad idea. So this, along with many other examples, left me feeling like a lot of the labels just had it backwards, or were stuck in another time. Because I wanted to work with Maya and with other artists like her who were really bringing new and creative ideas to the table – and since other labels weren’t interested – I decided to just do it myself. Then I started TRPTK. 

When I visit your website one of the first things I see is this term Optimised Omnidirectional Array, can you explain to me what that is exactly? 

Brendon: I did my master’s research on this, to make a microphone array for surround recording, and it was based on doing a lot of simulations and going back to the science that’s been done in stereophonic listening. I made countless recordings, micro-tweaking the microphones countless times, listening back in the anechoic chamber at the HKU, and really crafting this microphone array. Then we did a lot of listening tests with a really wide audience – I didn’t want to just include students or teachers, but also friends of mine and family, people outside the music industry. Through the simulations and the listening tests, I put together this microphone arrangement that is the most natural or realistic way of recording things – the Optimised Omnidirectional Array, or OOA for short. And every single recording that TRPTK has ever made utilises this technique. 

And has your pursuit for the most natural audio representation also led you down a never-ending search for the right microphones? Or do you have your tried and tested mics? 

Brendon: We started out working with Sonodore microphones and I really love them, but they’re not without their faults – like noise rejection, because they’re unbalanced microphones, so they are prone to interference. By some weird coincidence my business partner Ben [Ben van Leliveld] got in touch with Rembrandt Hissink (the main representative of DPA in the Netherlands) on the very same day that I had emailed them asking if I could possible test out some microphones. So then we moved on to using their microphones and I just really love the 4006A from them. Later on I made a recording with Eelco Grimm, or rather we made the recording together but on our separate systems. He used his own Grimm Audio AD1 DSD convertors (which are astounding) in combination with Josephson microphones which I had never heard of at the time. What they do is take these measurement microphones and they create a body to put on it to use for recording, but since they are measurement microphones it’s really ‘what you put in you get out’. There is no coloration on these microphones, and I love it. They really help us achieve our view on recording which is to capture exactly what is there, not adding anything or taking away from it. 

Your studio has such a distinct and dramatic look with the blue speakers on the white background. Was there intention there or do you just love the speakers?

Brendon: Haha, I’m not gonna lie, I do love the way they look! It’s not the main reason I use them, but it’s a nice perk. When we started out we had these GoldenEar speakers, pretty nice for the money they cost, but at some point I began to hear the limitations of that setup. Also at that time we made the jazz record Elegy with the AEON Trio – which included Maya –

and when it was finished I took some CDs to a friend of mine who I knew liked this type of music. I wanted to ask him if he knew anyone that could help us with the business aspects of TRPTK, because all I know is making records. What happened is that he came on board himself, and the first thing he did was come see the studio and say, “This ain’t gonna cut it. If we’re going to set something up then we’ve got to move, and we’ve gotta get better equipment”. He talked with a couple different manufacturers and in the end we decided with KEF for our speakers. They’re a great combination between perfect imaging and not being overly analytical. 

I also noticed on your website that you always work with a 50/50 split deal with the artists you record?

Brendon: Yeah I do. I’ve seen some artists in the past getting taken advantage of by the label and it always confused me. The way I see it, the percentage you pay to the artist is a direct reflection of how you value your artist and how you value yourself, and the work that you both put in. The only way that made sense to me was to go into a deal with an artist and split everything 50/50. We split all of the costs that are involved in making the recording – i.e. hiring the location, instruments, extra musicians, etc. We also have an equal 50/50 royalty split so for the artists and for us it’s a big incentive to sell the records: what we put in is what we get out, equally. I mean, I’d love to give more royalties to the artists, but then I wouldn’t be able to make recordings anymore. But giving less than 50% to the artist is never going to be an option.

Maya: It is really a relationship, you know? We are there for the artists and for the music and we are extremely involved. I feel it has to be this way also from the artists, I mean it’s like becoming part of a family for me. When I’m looking for artists, I’m also trying to feel if it will work or not with our personalities and commitment to the project. 

Is there any story behind the name TRPTK?

Brendon: Honestly I wish I could answer with some philosophical masterpiece, but in reality it’s just because it was started with three people. Haha, nothing too exciting about it really. 

Haha, okay gotcha. 

Well my last question is one I ask in each Meet the Magicians interview, and it’s typically the least favorite to be answered. Can you tell me your 3 Desert Island Albums – your three favorite albums that you’ve created which you’d prefer to have if you were stranded on an island.

Maya: I think I know mine. First is the album B.ACH with Kersten McCall, and I can’t really explain why exactly but I just love the way it sounds. 

Brendon: Oh man, that’s tough. We’re up to 111 productions that we’ve done so I’m gonna have to look through our list real quick… Ah! My first choice would definitely be The Power of Indifference mostly just because of the process. It was an intense and long creation process for this album, so different than just renting a church for a few days and then you’re done. We set up our living as kind of a studio and we made music for weeks creating this album, so it holds a special place for me. Another would be Kinn by the Marc van Roon Trio –

Maya: I also wanted to say this one! But I was doubting between Kinn and B.ACH. 

Interesting that you both choose Kinn… what makes it so special for you? 

Brendon: Such good memories is one reason. We had two days of complete and utter freedom and it was great. We were supposed to do a Schumann recording that week but due to COVID the piano player didn’t have any concerts at all and he was unsure if he would be able to do a full on CD recording, so we cancelled it. We still had the location booked however, so a week before those dates I called Marc van Roon whom I had been talking with for years already about doing something. I said, “This is probably going to be a long shot, but do you want to record in a week from now? We have the church booked, a beautiful piano rented and it would be a shame to let it go to waste”, and he said yes! He came up with the idea to make a fully improvised album with three people (piano, double bass and drums) where he usually started with a poem in mind and the other two musicians came in. It resulted in a really extraordinary album. Oh, and I definitely need to include Into Eternity, especially now with the situation in Israel. This album has a lot of importance and was made with so much passion.

Great, well that makes four but since you are two people we’ll let it slide. You did it! I know it’s not easy to choose between your ‘babies’. Thank you both so much for your time. It was great getting to know you better and discovering more magic behind the curtain of TRPTK. I look forward to many more amazing albums in the future!

Albums Mentioned

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The post Meet the Magicians: Brendon Heinst and Maya Fridman of TRPTK appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

This album represents a personal tribute to the genre and its literature from its origins to the present day, offering a unique perspective.

NativeDSD’s David Hopkins visited the Recording Session to have a talk with Tom Peeters, Owner and Recording Engineer of Cobra Records. The album is available here.

I did the filming and editing. Enjoy friends!

Jonas Sacks

The post Behind the Scenes at a Recording Session (Video) appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Can you give me a bit of the origin story of Sound Liaison? When did you both decide to start the label? 

Frans: I guess it was about ten years ago or so, back in 2012. Already for thirty years I had been a recording engineer and back then the way jazz music worked in the Netherlands was that no jazz musicians were linked to any labels or recording companies. They all had to do their projects independently – so a band would come in to record for a couple days, then we would do the mixing for a couple days, I’d give the final product to the band and they would disappear with it. It would be up to them from then on to make CDs and to try to sell it themselves. I did this for project after project and I finally thought, why don’t we all just join together and create one place where people can find all the Dutch jazz music. Already twenty years ago I thought about doing something like that but never did anything with it. Then ten years ago I realised that with how far the internet has come, well maybe now is the time! So I started the webshop and shortly after I asked Peter to join. We just started with one album, which we had already recorded of Carmen Gomes ‘Thousand Shades of Blue’. 

Peter: Maybe the reason Frans asked me is because we go so far back, when he studied engineering at the conservatory and I studied bass. One of the first successful recordings we ever made was with a Brazilian band I played with back in the ‘80s. Frans recorded an album for us as a school project and it sounded so good that the band went on to get a recording contract because of it. Years later I would be playing in Carmen Gomes’s band and she wanted to do a solo album but was tired of the pop world and the big studios and labels, so I suggested we work with Frans because I knew him from school. So Carmen actually has recorded all of her solo albums with Frans as engineer. Later we worked on another project separate from Carmen where I was in more of a producer’s role and we realised that we had good chemistry working together not only on Carmen’s music but also on other artists. So that’s probably where our partnership -as it is now – began. 

So the birth of Sound Liaison was actually out of a wish to create one place to find well-recorded jazz music? 

Frans: Yes, the idea was rooted in hi-end audio. I remember at the time I used to go to the hi-fi shop RHAPSODY here in Hilversum very often and for years they always used the same albums for testing equipment. I remember thinking “man, we have the musicians. We have the space. Why don’t we create new jazz albums for hi-fi audiophiles”. So that was always the goal as well. 

Peter: And Frans’s background of many years as an audio engineer, but also working on radio plays really helped in this. He used to do the recordings for theatre plays that were broadcast on the radio, so he really had to think of the entire sound field, not just a stereo image. That skill came in handy when we decided to make records for hi-fi systems – he was very good at placing things in the sound field which not many engineers have that. 

And how do you typically choose projects to work on? 

Frans: We always say that the music we record is also music that we will put on at home just to enjoy. If it’s not music that we enjoy listening to then we don’t work on it. Sometimes we have to refuse projects – people may come to us with a demo and ask if it’s something we would like to work on and we literally ask ourselves that question: would I put this on and listen to it myself? If the answer is no then we have to pass on it. 

Peter: Yeah and sometime Frans will get hired as an engineer and the band will pay for the studio time and everything, usually hoping to get on the label, but we won’t use it. And it can happen the other way around as well. I remember one time a band won some contest to come in a record and when we heard them we really liked it, so we offered them a contract with us right away. For something to be on the Sound Liaison label we have to really be fans of the music first because we really put an enormous amount of work in to it without very much financial return. If we do not love the music and are not passionate about it then it just doesn’t make sense financially. 

Right, and Frans you mentioned earlier that in order for SL to focus only on projects you are passionate about it means that you both are busy with other work outside the label as well. 

Peter: Yeah that’s true. It’s also probably my fault because back when we started this and Frans asked me to join him I said “Okay let’s do it, but we have to be a straight label. We’re not going to cheat anyone and we have to be completely open and fair.” Which means that the deal a musician gets with us is probably about as good as it gets it the music industry. It’s about a 50/50 split that we give to the musicians.

Well that’s commendable. A label that treats the musicians as equals. The world could use more of those. 

Do you guys remember if there was a specific person, artist or album in your past that lit the original spark of fire that would be your life in music? 

Peter: Yeah I have two things. The earliest thing that got me to start playing the guitar and later switch to the bass was The Beatles, they were very important to me as they are to many. And the thing that piqued my interest in becoming a jazz musician when I was in high school – it actually inspired me to quit school and go play double bass full time – was the album ‘Kind of Blue’ from Miles Davis. Especially inspiring was the track ‘All Blues’, they played that track in my music class in high school and I remember it feeling almost like a religious experience. I got goose bumps, and I’ve never experienced anything like that, before or since. Then I just became obsessed with double bass and practiced all the time. 

Frans, any person or musical piece that you remember being your initial inspiration? 

Frans: Well kind of, my story is a bit strange I guess. For me it all started out of nothing really. I had a cousin who was playing in a band and the bass player quit suddenly. The next morning my cousin was at my house with a bass guitar and said “Here you go Frans, a bass. Next week we start rehearsing.” I was very interested so I decided to go for it. I was only sixteen or seventeen but I remember thinking that I was very far behind so I would need to learn the bass quickly! So I was looking for a teacher and – actually now that I’m thinking about it I guess it was that teacher who inspired me – because on the second lesson with him he gave me a cassette tape of highlights of all the bass players he had in his record collection. On the first side was double bass players and on the second side was electric players. That was the first time I heard of Ray Brown, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Marcus Miller, of all the great bass players. I listened to that tape so many times with my mouth open just thinking “Wow, what’s happening here?!” I was just so shocked and impressed. So that was really what started my interest in jazz music and the double bass. 

Peter: It’s funny that you say that about the cassette tape Frans because I had a similar thing happen to me. That day I was in music class and hear ‘Kind of Blue’ for the first time, the guy sitting next to me was Frederik Lundin – who is now one of the top tenor saxophonists in Denmark – and he said “hey I need a bass player for my trio.” So I was like Frans where I had one week to learn! But the most important thing that Frederik did was he made me a 90 minute tape of mainly Charlie Parker with a bit of Lester Young playing the blues. See he knew I was playing bass in some blues bands in town, but that I didn’t really understand jazz. So to help me he made me that tape of great jazz musicians playing blues songs, which I could understand. And from there it was much easier for me to begin understanding the more complicated world of jazz music. To this day when I see Frederik I still thank him for that tape. It’s that kind of little extra attention or help that is so important in life. And that’s a bit of what we like to do at Sound Liaison as well. We try to also get young people on the label to give them that first chance to establish themselves or begin their careers.

Can you tell me about your signature One Microphone Recordings? When and why did you start recording in this way?

Frans: I can tell a story about my relationship with a Japanese manufacturer of speakers – TAD – and Mr. Hirano. He is always very interested in what we’re doing here with our music. One day he retired, but people in Japan never really retire, so he said to me, ‘You know, if I can ever do something for you like promoting or maybe put some LPs or CDs in some shops because I have a lot of connections with High End audio shops.’ Together with Rhapsody we made a record of Carmen live and we gave that to him. His response was that “yes, this recording is very nice. But… we already have so many nice recordings. Why should I listen to this recording and not something else?” His advice to us was that we had to look for something special – and he mentioned an example of a Japanese label who record with only one microphone. That idea was very interesting to me, just one point stereo recording, that’s it. Also during that time I discovered the Josephson microphones from California. We were so blown away with them, I mean for studio recording jazz, it’s amazing the quality!  And they have this beautiful stereo microphone the c700S with the triple capsule.

***Purchase all of Sound Liaison’s One Microphone Recordings for 30% off with the DSD Bundle!***

So we started experimenting with this recording format with Carmen Gomes and her band. We did a session and it was a bit uncomfortable for me in the beginning. I had been so used to the typical way of recording – you set up your players in the room, then you set up your microphones depending on where your players are, and you record. Now, I had this one mic in the middle of the room and I had to move the players around in order to hear a good balance. Really I thought ‘okay, yeah this doesn’t work for me’. Regardless, we tracked a couple songs. When the band and I went to listen I was a bit stressed because of how the session went and thinking it didn’t sound great. The band’s reaction was a bit different. They were quite surprised, saying they’d never heard themselves this way before, and they thought it was great. I thought it was so difficult and annoying to record this way so I didn’t think much of it. 

A few days later I decided to go listen again to the songs we recorded, still thinking that they don’t sound good with just the one mic. But as I listened I realised – ‘whoa, this is interesting. I’ve never heard something like this before.’ And when it was over, I put it on again, and I couldn’t stop listening to it! It was so real, and with a lot of depth. And I realised how special this technique really is. Since then we’ve been using it more and more and we have now many of our signature One Microphone Recordings. 

Do you find that now after using the technique more often it became easier to achieve the results you want? 

Frans: Well, I more and more start to know where to put the players. Here, I can show you. (Frans proceeds to draw for me a demonstration of how he would set up the players in the room… on his ‘White Board Table’) 

For the album ‘Nola’ by Red we had the players set up in this arrangement [see above image]. It takes a bit of time and trial and error to find the right position for each player. And in this recording we also had to figure out the position changes during solos. So when everyone was playing together they would stand on their marks, and when someone played a solo they would step to a new position (usually forward) in order to get the balance right, and we would have to make markers for each musician. Another fun example is the album ‘Feebbrothers Play Dave Brubeck’.

These four brothers are spectacular musicians and for this recording we struggled a little bit with the saxophone player Paul van der Feen only because he likes to move a lot when he plays. It still sounds great this recording but every now and then you can hear the saxophone changes character. But this is one of the unique circumstances to One Microphone Recordings – you hear it like it is. 

Yeah I’m curious, how do musicians usually take to this style of recording? It was foreign and uncomfortable for you at first, but do you find the same for the musicians?

Yeah well first we make sure that the musicians are actually interested in this type of recording. They have to be curious about it because already in the beginning it takes quite some time to set up, maybe one or two hours. For a typical recording session they’ll come in and the microphones are already set up, we’ll check that levels are okay and then they’re off. But for this it takes quite some time to find each players position for the right balance. Now once we have that down, then it’s all up to them, then it feels normal for most people. And really every time when we go listen back to the recording they are surprised and delighted! 

I noticed another unique recording method – or rather album arrangement method – that you’ve implemented. What is The Arch Recording Series?

Peter: Yeah actually I had this idea when the covid lockdowns began. At that time we had many recordings scheduled and due to the lockdown they all got cancelled. Then we were given regulations that we could work but only with two people in the studio at the same time. So I had this idea, what if we start an album just with a solo artist and then we can expand to two musicians and then when the covid restrictions lifted we could introduce more musicians in the session. It was a sort of workaround to be able to keep recording during the lockdowns. It also created a fun challenge for Frans to use all of his talents at once, going from a solo artist, One Microphone Recording to a large scale recording with many musicians and microphones all on one album. So yeah, this idea started out of covid times, and it has proven to be very work-intensive so the decision is whether we are going to continue doing so in the future. But these albums have been received quite well, the album ‘Ebb Tide’ with Gidon Nunes Vaz was elected Album of the Month at Hi-fi News & Record Review and they gave it a 5-star review. 

Wow, congratulations that’s great. And you mentioned previously that for all of your One Microphone Recordings you use the Josephson c700S?

Frans: That’s correct yes. After the first time I used this microphone I knew it was something special. Some people also have made one mic recordings with different microphones, certain ribbon mics for example, but I always find that they miss something. They miss a kind of third dimension that the Josephson captures which creates a full 360 degree listening experience. 

And is it a very characteristic microphone or is it more clean? 

Frans: Clean. Yes very clean. You know, sometimes when you’re recording say a saxophone and put a really nice ribbon mic in front, when you listen back the player says “Oh yeah, wow how nice. Listen to the sound that the mic gives it.” With the Josephson you don’t have that feeling that it adds some colour. It just sounds so realistic. And it never fails, the musicians mostly react like; “Wow, this is my sound, this is what I hear when I play!” I rarely get that reaction using another microphone. 

Peter: Yeah and also we hardly have to use equalisation with the Josephson. For example with bass – I’m a double bass player myself – and whether it’s me playing or another bassist, Frans often has to EQ specifically for each different player because every double bass sounds different. But when we use the Josephson he hardly has to touch the EQ at all which is quite amazing. So it really just capture the instrument in front of it as it is, and that’s been quite a revelation for us. And same goes for the drummers! They are typically even more surprised than the bassists because they are used to being fully mic’d up with many microphones around their drum set. Now they just see this one microphone standing in front of their kit and they’re thinking “is that it?” But every time they are back in the studio to listen they are happily surprised. 

It’s funny that you mention bass Peter. You are both double bass players if I’m not mistaken. Is that just a coincidence or is that what brought you both together originally? 

Frans: Yes that’s correct we both play double bass, but not sure if that’s what connected us originally. The funny thing is that you see many engineers/producers who are also bassists. I think it’s common because your role as an engineer or producer is the same as the bassist: not to be too noticeable, to blend in to the background while simultaneously being the glue that holds everything together. 

Peter: Yeah I think there’s definitely a connection there. As a bassist your typically standing back keeping an eye on everything. And you have to be very careful and intentional with your notes. As a bassist if you decide to play a third you can suddenly change everything. And the same responsibility falls on a producer, you have to stand back and keep an eye on everything and only make changes or recommendations when they are warranted. 

Can you tell me about where you make most of your recordings here in Hilversum?

Frans: We have done almost all of our recording here in Studio 2 at MCO, the Muziek Centrum van de Omproep. This is the oldest radio studio in the Netherlands and it has a lot of amazing history. It was built around 1930 and there are many amazing photos from the ‘30s of some of the jazz greats – Lester Young, Roy Eldridge, Flip Philips, Oscar Peterson, Irving Ashby, Max Roach and even Ella Fitzgerald! 

This is my favourite room to record in. It’s not super big but it’s got high ceilings, so you have space but it’s still quite dry. The whole room was designed for live radio with music, so everything had to be clear – the music, the DJ, everything need to come through clearly. For jazz it works really great. We also do here live recordings with audiences. Together with MCO (Muziek Centrum van de Omroep) we organise four or five concerts per year. 

Peter: Yeah there is something special in this studio. You can tell because musicians quickly feel comfortable in this room. At least the jazz musicians do, classical musicians tend not to like it so much because they think there’s too little reverb. But for jazz and blues and folk it’s just perfect. 

Why do you think they feel comfortable there so quickly?

Peter: There’s something with the early reflections that you hear your instrument very clearly. For example, this is the only studio in my forty years experience as a bass player where if there is also a drummer, I feel comfortable playing without an amp. Here you can just take your double bass and you hear it perfectly. There’s something about the way the sound comes back to you in this room. That’s one thing, and maybe it’s also because it’s full of ghosts! 

Frans: Haha, yeah I think it’s those two things indeed. One is that right away when musicians hear themselves in this room it’s an immediate relief they feel. The other is energy – a lot of people that play in this studio talk about the energy in the room and I think it has to do with the history of the room. There have been so many amazing musicians and so much great music being made here and I think you can feel that. 

We already spoke in detail about your favourite Josephson microphone. Can you take me through some of the other gear you use in the studio? 

Frans: Well here in the control room I have the TAD speakers which I love. They’re actually Hi-Fi speakers that are very analytical and people say they almost sound like studio speakers. But that’s what I love because with these I can listen very analytically but I can also sit back and really listen to the music. I combine them with a really powerful, really clean amp from Moon. Another piece we really like is a headphone amp from RME, we’re really impressed with how it sounds. And of course we use the standard hi-res recording hardware Merging Technologies and we have the Anubis interface from them as well. 

Desert Island Albums

Well the last question I have for you is a tough one. Can you tell me a few of your favourite albums from the Sound Liaison catalogue that you would want if you were stranded on a desert island? 

Peter: Oh man that is tough. You’re asking us to choose between our children… not cool! Haha. Okay I’ll first say to all the musicians out there we’ve worked with that I’m being forced to do this, so please don’t take it personally! I can give you three albums that are important to us. “Don’t You Cry” is very important because it was our first One Microphone Recording. Another one is “The Gift” from Michael Moore and Paul Berner. It is magical to listen to them, the music seems to flow in a natural and unhindered stream, each note being an obvious continuation of what was played before. It was a thrill to witness those two masters feeding off each other. And the third one in my opinion is “Free: Soulful Piano Reflections” by the Witmer Trio. I just really like this album from a musical standpoint. I often put this album on at home just to enjoy. I’ve always loved the way that the pianist Cajan Witmer arranges for his trio, and I think he’s very underrated. But again, I’m not a fan of this question! Haha. It really hurts to have to choose because we are so proud and happy with all of the artists we’ve worked with and all of the albums we’ve made. So I hope no one takes this personally. 

The post Meet the Magicians: Frans de Rond and Peter Bjørnild of Sound Liaison appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Original Source: Positive Feedback

For years I’ve been told that it is not possible to mix in DSD—that this is one of the major limitations of recording in DSD. Well, I’m now learning from Tom Caulfield, mastering engineer for NativeDSD, and Gonzalo Noqué, owner and recording engineer at Eudora Records and Noqué Studio, that this is no longer true. Proof of point is this marvelous recent release from Eudora, Lost in Venice, over which I enthused in a recent review (HERE). 

Eudora has now released two further albums in Pure DSD256 that are very striking in the transparency of their sound:

In an email exchange with Gonzalo, he told me that one of the challenges in recording the Lost in Venice album was the venue. It was simply not acoustically ideal and he had to work a lot with his microphones to get the sound he hoped to achieve. He did—in spades! As I wrote in my review, “I think this is perhaps the finest recording I’ve yet heard from his hands…” 

Gonzalo recollects that he used 12 microphones to capture the stereo release: main pair, room pair and spot microphones. Tom Caulfield at NativeDSD then mixed the 12 microphone channels into the final stereo release via Signalyst HQPlayer Pro per the mixing instructions Gonzalo provided.

But this is a PURE DSD256 release! How did Gonzalo and Tom manage to mix the various microphone channels and retain everything in DSD?

I contacted Gonzalo to see if he could share more about the process to create the mixing instructions that then allowed Tom to do the final mastering while staying entirely in DSD256. It is a fascinating approach that Gonzalo believes any recording/mastering engineer could apply to recordings with a manageable number of microphones.

Rushton Paul: I understand that the final release of this album at NativeDSD was created entirely in DSD, is this correct? 

Gonzalo Noqué: That is correct. The Lost in Venice recording sold on NativeDSD is Pure DSD256 mixed entirely in the DSD domain from a total of 12 microphone tracking channels. Tom and I accomplished this as a collaboration. I created the mixing instructions, and Tom used Signalyst HQPlayer Pro and the mixing instructions I provided so that the album stayed completely in DSD256. 

Can you explain further? As I’ve understood it is not possible to mix channels in DSD?

Well, the original Sony Sonoma workstation did allow people to mix tracking channels in DSD64, but not at a higher modulation. So, as DSD modulation moved to DSD256, to release an album in DSD meant either mixing in analog before the Analog-to-Digital converter, or by using Merging Technologies’ Pyramix Digital Audio Workstation to mix in DXD and then output those DXD post-processed files to DSD using Pyramix’s album publishing function.

Over the past several years, Tom and NativeDSD have worked with Jussi Laako at Signalyst to use Jussi’s HQPlayer Pro (HQP) software to mix DSD tracking channels. The mixing is done in HQP through a process called “modulation.” This process keeps the signal entirely in the DSD domain. The only problem is that HQP is not a digital audio workstation.

If HQP does not have a digital audio workstation function, how did you determine the mixing instructions?

A DAW works with visual knobs, faders and settings that make the process of mixing “user friendly” and mimic what an analog mixer looks like. HQP, on the other hand, features a matrix processing (fig. 1), essentially a command line “channel in—channel out” pipeline. Each line tells the software what to do with the original channel and where to go to the resulting mixed file channel mapping.

Let’s see an typical example, the one you would typically use for a spot microphone channel to be added to a stereo mix. In Pyramix, if you want that channel to be “placed” in the center of the image, you would just set the knob in the center (fig. 2), which means that internally Pyramix sends that source channel’s audio to both left and right output channels with a -3dB attenuation to avoid clipping (sending them without an attenuation would cause clipping as the sum would exceed 0dB). Sending the same sound to both left and right channels, as readers will know, will be processed by the brain as a sound located in the center.

If you want to achieve that within HQP, you have to send that source channel twice (fig. 3): one to the output left channel with a -3dB gain, and another one for the right output channel, with the same -3dB gain.

Now, if you’re placing any channel “anywhere” between the center and hard left or right, things get tricky. Merging does not fully know anymore the exact Pyramix “pan law” outside center or hard left or right, so I’ve just made my own listening tests and come up with my own Pyramix to HQP “pan conversion law,” so to speak.

Lastly, HQP allows for equalization (EQ), with specific command line instructions (fig. 4). In this case, going from Pyramix to HQP is easier, as HQP features a graphic plot that represents what you’ve already set in the written instructions (fig. 5).

Why do you go to this additional work rather than simply using the DSD output from the DXD post processed file that you can get from Pyramix?

Going this route is definitively not very practical and still pretty limiting compared to the DXD path within Pyramix. But to my ears, it delivers what in my opinion is the best digital sound achievable today when recording Classical music recorded in real acoustics. So, in my mind, I can only think: “Why wouldn’t I do it?” Whether the difference is large or small, noticeable by many or few, doesn’t really matter.

Do you have any suggestion for recordists who would like to sample the difference in sound quality?

Well, in order to fully appreciate the difference, I think the best option for him or her is to record in DSD256, mix in DXD within Pyramix and also doing it in HQP, and then compare the resulting files. I think that any recording engineer who’s spent time listening to the subtle differences between microphones, choosing between them and refining the equipment to find the best sound, trying different recording techniques and developing those listening skills, will find that this route I chose delivers a finesse and a textural and harmonic palette that is worth the effort.

Thank you for sharing so much about what you are doing with your recordings. I appreciate all the time you’ve given me. (End of conversation.)

Free Download of DSD Mixing Sample Files

There is no better way to understand the difference in sound quality to which Gonzalo refers than to hear it for yourself. To this end, Gonzalo agreed to make available to Positive Feedback readers three pairs of sample files from three different Eudora albums, including a string quartet, a violin concerto, and a violin and harpsichord duo. In each file, the data comes from the same DSD256 microphone tracking channels mixed either a) via a DXD project in Pyramix or b) via a Pure DSD modulation in HQPlayer Pro. These sample files are free to download.

Noqué Studio DXD Sample Mixing Files – download by clicking on this link

I asked Gonzalo to describe what he hears in these samples and he said:

“All three samples are period instruments. It’s difficult to put into words the differences I feel/hear. But, in my view there’s a feeling of easiness and finesse with the DSD256 mixed with HQPlayer. The DXD processed files feel a bit closer and tense in comparison, while the HQPlayer mixed files have a more refined and organic sound, with the relationship with the acoustics of the recording venue better felt. I hope the article does not give the idea that I am a kind of DSD evangelist trying to convince people, as this is something very far from my nature. Acoustics, choice of microphone and placement of them is what makes a recording really good. The DSD processed in the Pure DSD domain is the icing on the cake. Please, have a listen to the samples and let me know what you feel/hear.”

I also asked my listening partner, Ann, to lend an ear to this evaluation. We played the files together and we both had exactly the same conclusion across all six files. As Ann immediately said: The Pure DSD files are cleaner, they have more detail, they’re more open, and they have a greater sense of air.

Yep, I agree. And what she describes is consistent across all the samples. Is it a dramatic difference? No. But it is a clearly audible difference. It is also a consistent difference across all the many Pure DSD recordings to which I’ve listened.

Am I happy listening to DXD? Oh, certainly. But, the Pure DSD is simply that bit better sonically. Remember, I’m the past vinylholic who went out of my way for over forty years to seek out the better LP pressing, the better mastering, the 45rpm release because it sounded closer to the master tape.

Digital is the same: there is good, and there is better. And the better your digital playback system is, the more easily you hear the difference. Just like in my days of pursing vinyl playback.

So, I hope you will find the time to listen to the file samples Gonzalo has provided. Also, I encourage you to spend some time listening to the Pure DSD recordings being released by Eudora, Cobra, Hunnia, Just Listen, and other labels. You may find it difficult to go back.

And, for those of you reading this who may, perhaps, make your own recordings, I hope you will experiment with keeping your recordings in the Pure DSD domain to see what you think of the sound quality you get. Tom Caulfield suggested a simple experiment: take your primary stereo microphone channel tracks from a DSD256 recording and play them without any other mixing or processing. Now take those two stereo channel tracks and convert them to DXD, as you would for typical post processing. Don’t do any post processing, simply publish/convert them back to DSD256. Now listen to the DXD processed DSD256 file and compare. 

If you need to mix microphone tracking channels and you can afford to do so, by all means try out mixing in HQPlayer Pro via DSD modulation. Just keep in mind what Tom Caulfield advised when talking with me: keep to a single pass with all changes built into that one pass through the software. DSD modulation is just like analog tape: multiple generations eventually accumulate audible artifacts. Always go back to your source files and feed them in with all the changes you need to make. Never add a modulation on top of a modulation.

Taking a deeper dive into the weeds… What is happening when digitizing musical files that may underlie the sonic differences that Gonzalo and others are hearing in Pure DSD files? 

I was curious about the technical differences when converting the file to DXD for post-processing versus keeping the file in Pure DSD. So I reached out to Tom Caulfield, mastering engineer for NativeDSD, to see if he could help me understand. Tom graciously agreed to talk me through what DSD really is, how it differs from DXD, and what happens as one moves a file from one to the other. (For an earlier article in which Tom discussed DSD with me in much greater technical detail, see that earlier article HERE.)

What follows is a paraphrasing of what I think I’ve learned. Any errors or confusion are mine and no one else’s. Let’s dive in…

Format Conversions are Not Lossless.

First, the bottom-line reason for taking the extra effort to record and post process in DSD is that DSD is the closest digital format to the original analog microphone signal (further explanation below). By staying in DSD, one keeps that original signal as pure as possible. Every conversion to any other digital format after this initial conversion of the analog signal to DSD results in some unintended changes in the audio integrity. It is mathematically impossible to make later conversions without also introducing some artifacts. It is also mathematically impossible to reconvert without introducing yet additional artifacts. (It is not a “lossless” process.)

The original analog microphone signal is a continuously changing voltage level that is proportional to the sound pressure level (SPL) presented to the microphone. This voltage signal is converted into a digital format known as a 1-bit wide variant of Pulse Density Modulation (PDM), commonly known by the Sony/Philips marketing name “DSD.” 

By converting this initial PDM bitstream into DXD for post processing we unavoidably introduce greater artifact introducing opportunities. The question for the producer, recording engineer, mastering engineer is whether the added benefits of editing in DXD are needed (or worthwhile) to accomplish the desired finished product. In many cases, this conversion step to DXD is unavoidable for certain post production editing functions (e.g., EQ, adding reverb), but, as Tom and Gonzalo are demonstrating, no longer for mixing.

So why is the first digital conversion a PDM bitstream?

The reason is that in all A/D converters available today, and since the early 2000s, are front-ended with with Sigma-Delta modulators performing the actual analog signal to digital bitstream conversion. And Sigma-Delta modulators convert to PDM. 

So what are these Sigma-Delta modulators doing? 

In simplified terms, the analog signal from the microphone is a continuously changing voltage level that is proportional to the sound pressure level (SPL) presented to the microphone. The Sigma-Delta modulator creates a continuous stream of 1’s and 0’s bits whose ratio of 1’s to 0’s, or 0’s to 1’s is proportional to this voltage level signal. This resulting bitstream is Pulse Density Modulation. (Again, for a more detailed explanation of this, see the earlier article with Tom Caulfield, HERE.)

To obtain a DXD file (352.8kHz Pulse Code Modulation or PCM), the PDM bitstream is segmented into chunks through interpolation, and filtered to remove the high frequency alternating 1/0 bit carrier, producing digital samples that are signal level values expressed in a binary number digital form.

This PDM to PCM conversion is necessary for traditional direct binary computer math processing because a PDM bitstream contains no digital value information. Unfortunately, the conversion process of PDM to PCM is a lossy process, meaning that the resulting PCM samples have incurred losses such that the original PDM bitstream can not be recreated from it.

Translated: this means there’s a loss of very fine sound resolution detail in the PDM to PCM conversion.

While a DSD bitstream is the interim first step in the audio analog to digital encoding process, on the path to producing PCM samples, it is also available to be stored and played back in a digital computer. And, it can be be post process channel mixed and EQ’d through an additional modulation step using Signalyst HQ Player Pro.

So, a summation of all this:

1) PDM is the first stage of A/D conversion and is virtually an analog signal itself;

2) the next stage of converting the PMD to PCM is lossy and cannot be recovered completely;

3) the losses in the PDM-to-PCM conversion are audible to some listeners; and

4) it is now possible to to mix microphone tracking channels and make volume adjustments while staying entirely in PDM, this is no longer a technical limitation for working in DSD even though some further signal manipulation like adding reverb is still not possible.

A reminder of why we care about Pure DSD256 recordings—it simply sounds better

When I collected vinyl, I always searched for the more transparent and revealing pressings. Often I was seeking out 45 rpm reissues where I could find them. Why? They sounded better. They sounding as close to the sound of the master tape as I felt I could ever get playing vinyl. Yes, these 45 rpm releases were more trouble to play given their short listening sides. Yes, they were more expensive. But, wow, they were dramatically worthwhile for our listening enjoyment.

So, why do I care about Pure DSD256? Same reason: it just sounds better.

Pure DSD256 is a purist pursuit. It continues a path we’ve been following for decades—always seeking the better sounding, more transparent, more true to what was picked up by the microphones recording of acoustic music performed in a real acoustic venue that we value. For us, today that better, more transparent, more true to the source recording is Pure DSD256. And, for us, it is worth the pursuit.

We are gratified that more and more recording labels (like Eudora, Cobra, Hunnia, Just Listen, Base2, Yarlung, Channel Classics) are willing to make the commitment to this pursuit where recording realities allow. Being able now to mix and EQ in Pure DSD makes this possible for more recording projects.

Update: Frequency EQ in DSD using HQPlayer Pro.

Gonzalo mentions doing EQ in HQP as part of his mixing process. See Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 above. Given some questions asked, I went back to confirm with Tom Caulfield that it is possible to frequency EQ with HQP while staying completely in the DSD domain. Tom replied:

Definitely yes. Attached is the manual page screenshot for iir filters. It’s not a graphic user interface, like Pyramix, but an expression as shown at the page top. You see an example of this in your DSD article… These expressions are chained together for multiple poles filters, so if one can be designed, one can implement it in HQPlayer Pro.

Here’s the manual page:

Written by Rushton Paul for Positive Feedback

Original Source: Positive Feedback

The post Mixing in Pure DSD – No PCM Allowed appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Gonzalo’s Desert Island Albums

Can you tell me a bit about your childhood, and maybe when or how you first became interested in music? 

Well I was born in Madrid, and almost all of my life I’ve been a musician. Actually I still consider myself a musician first. All of my educational background was as a classical guitarist. I studied here in Madrid, and then went on to study in Salzburg, Austria. But now, after many years and while looking back over everything, I see that what I loved most was listening to music. Also from the very beginning of my musical studies I loved recording. While I was busy at the conservatories I was always recording myself playing guitar, so it went side-by-side. I always loved listening to the differences in recordings – listening to albums and hearing, or rather feeling the sound in each recording. As I said, now with time passed I can see that this is what I loved even more than performing on the guitar, which at that time was what I thought my path was. Recording only felt like a hobby then. 

Was it from your exposure while at the conservatory that you became interested in recording? 

No not really. I mean I was always interested in audio, in sound. I still remember the first time I got my first stereo set and my first good pair of headphones. I can remember the feeling of hearing that for the first time. And it wasn’t just because of being at the conservatory. I was always a bit of an audiophile, I guess. At the same time there was my studying, and at the same time my interest in recording. They all evolved in tandem I suppose, not one influenced the other. Just my love for music influenced all three. 

I find this type of combination lends itself to creating the best producers. Someone who was a musician and evolved into the world of production. Would you agree? 

Oh yes, I would agree. I would even say for classical music and probably for all other music as well – though classical is what I know – I would say it is necessary. There is so much you need to know about the music: about intonation, the sound of the instruments, the way the musicians play… Even to follow the score, it is necessary for a producer to have come from that classical world. To have been a part of that world. In my opinion, anyway. 

Do you remember when you started thinking about taking recording and producing seriously as a profession? 

Yes actually, I remember the moment very vividly. It was sometime in 2011 or so, I was driving somewhere with my wife who is also a musician. At that time we were both teaching at the conservatory, each of us teaching our instruments, and we were quite unhappy with what we were doing. We needed a change. So we were driving one day and my wife just suddenly had this idea out of nowhere: ‘Why don’t we do that? Why don’t we take what is already there, and why don’t we change what we are doing? Why don’t we record and produce music instead of teach it?’ And that is how it all began, we were both very excited about the thought and we just ran with it. 

So it sounds like your wife is the reason for where you are now, perhaps the reason Eudora began? 

Oh yes, definitely. I remember that moment exactly that she had the idea. It was like an enlightenment moment, and it was totally her idea. For some reason it wasn’t in my mind at that moment, not at all. And has always been involved since the beginning. I handle most of the technical side of things, but she is involved daily with everything else. She also produces our albums fairly often. She is my partner, and more than an essential part of Eudora. It was her idea. She is also still performing professionally with the orchestra, which is part of the reason I am more involved with Eudora at this point. She’s not able to give as much time to it as I am because of that professional performance side of her life. 

Do you remember Eudora Records being a difficult thing to get going? 

Well we had a lot of musician contacts, so that helped. But the rest of it we built from scratch knowing nothing. Though to be honest it felt easy. There were challenges sure, but I was doing something I loved and was very excited about. If you really love something it doesn’t seem difficult, you just jump. I remember those times as a beautiful process, not something scary or difficult. Our motivation for it all really helped make it feel easy. And maintaining that motivation, that love for what I do, has meant that I have stayed quite busy over the years, which I’m so grateful for. 

It is clear that you have. I’m curious, how many productions do you usually work on in a typical year? At NativeDSD we release quite a lot of music from Eudora, so it’s clear you stay busy. 

Well that depends. Aside from the recordings for Eudora, I also do freelance recordings when I can. But for my label I usually do no more than ten recording sessions a year. We usually have around six or seven releases on average. That’s about all I can cope with myself. 

When you first envisioned Eudora Records, was it always with the idea of recording in DSD? 

Yes it was. I can remember when SACD was first released, I was very young, but for some reason since then it always stuck with me. I don’t know why, but I always had a fascination with that. So from the very beginning of creating the label I wanted to try that, and to see how DSD compared. So Eudora was conceived from the very beginning with DSD in mind. I can’t say why, or that it was a conscious choice, it just was. I have to admit, that’s kind of how everything with Eudora went. From the beginning it was created from the heart, not from the mind, and that’s how I’ve kept it. I try not to overthink decisions, I want to just go in the direction that I feel is right. And so far it hasn’t led me astray. I believe that when you start to think less, good things start to happen. 

That sounds like an important life lesson – to lead with the heart and not overthink things. It makes me wonder about your teaching years when you said you were unhappy. How long were you teaching classical guitar before you started the label? 

It was not very long, only three years or so. After the first year I knew already that it was not my path, my thing to do in life. I wasn’t happy with what I was doing and that meant I was already on the way to being a bad teacher. That also was not fair to the students because there’s nothing worse than having a teacher who doesn’t like to teach. So I knew very quickly that it wasn’t for me. And I’m happy – for myself and for any future students – that I found my path and made the change. 

Well speaking of teaching and students, I wonder was there someone in your life that showed you the way with recording? Did you have a mentor or someone you looked up to who taught you how to make recordings? 

No I was completely self-taught in recording. I read a lot in the very beginning. But the theoretical side of recording I feel is actually quite easy to study and to learn in four months or so. It’s not a mystery, you don’t need a 700 page manual in order to learn that type of stuff. The difficult side is in practicing that theory, and especially in having the background and knowledge of how different recordings sound. What I mean is that the difficult part of recording is to have the idea of the sound that you want to achieve. Getting to that is relatively easy, but you need to know what you want. And that takes time and many years of experience. Without an idea of the sound that you want to capture, it’s a nightmare. It’s like shooting in the dark, you’re adjusting a hundred things in the recording process – the microphones, spacing, angles, placement of musicians – hoping that at some point it will sound good. But good is not a sound, it is not a goal. You must first know the sound you want to achieve, and then you can adjust those things that help you capture it. That’s why I believe the very best producers usually stick to a few favourite microphones that they discovered over the years. They’re not always changing mics to change the sound. They know the sound they want, and they know how to achieve it. 

Aha, that makes a lot of sense. So do you have your ‘bag of microphones’ that you always go to? 

Yes well from the very beginning I was using the Sonodore RCM-402, the one with the small diaphragm. But for the last year or two I’ve moved to the other Sonodores that have a 1” diaphragm, the LDM-54, which I think are the best microphones in the world. They are omni-directional microphones so they better reflect the acoustic space, and these microphones are undeniably superior to almost all other microphones, in my opinion. 

I’d like to change gears a bit and ask about the name ‘Eudora’. How did you come up with the name for your label? 

Yeah sure. Well when I was still a performing guitarist I was very in to an unknown repertoire for guitar. It was chamber music with guitar from the 19th century – voice and guitar, flute and guitar, trios, quartets – and it was just a huge repertoire because it was during the golden age of the guitar, it was played all over Europe in homes. So I was very busy at that time looking for pieces from this unknown repertoire and I found a collection for voice and guitar and it was called Eudora, and I loved the sound of it. It is a Greek word and what it means is something like ‘nice present’, and somehow it resonated with me. It was a beautiful word with a beautiful meaning, and I always remembered it and decided to use it later for the label. 

And what has been one of the best things about your journey with Eudora Records? 

Well that’s a tough question to answer, there’s been so many great things. But something very personal I can share. I have always been a very shy and introverted person. I was always very busy with myself and worked a lot alone, but starting this label meant that I began having lots of contact with amazing people. I suddenly had to work with people, with great musicians, and I had to work hard to create a closeness with them, to open up a bit and be vulnerable. This is something I believe you need if you are going to create art together. And it has really changed me as a person, it has made my life so much richer. I feel very lucky for this unexpected gift of my profession. 

Well thanks so much for sharing Gonzalo. It has been an honor to get to know you as a person and as a producer. Your story is fascinating and inspiring, for myself and I sure for many of our readers and listeners at NativeDSD. I have just one more question for you before you go. Can you tell us your three ‘Desert Island Albums’? These are the albums from your collection that you would choose to take with you to a desert island above all else, the only three albums you’d be able to listen to for the rest of your life. 

Oh man, that is difficult. Let me think… ah okay, for sure I know one of them. It’s the Schubert and Schumann album by Javier Laso. This one for sure because Javier is just from another world. His playing transcends the piano and, in a way, transcends the music itself. He really takes you on a spiritual journey, and it is beyond my understanding how someone like him is not super famous. It’s very strange to me. I would also have to choose something from Josep Colom, probably the Late Piano Sonatas & Bagatelles album because the music is from another world. These last three sonatas of Beethoven represent to me the pinnacle of our culture, of Western culture. Josep is like a poet of the piano, someone from another generation of conceiving the instrument. He’s very unique, he never plays a note just for the sake of playing it, he’s always telling you something with each note he plays. He’s also the most lovable person you can meet, and being able to record him so many times has been something unique for me, something I’m very grateful to have been able to do. I also have to choose The Violin and Harpsichord Sonatas from Andoni Mercero and Alfonso Sebastián. The music is amazing, the performance is amazing, and there’s something special I feel in the recording quality. The instruments, the music, and the church acoustics created something. They relate to each other in a way that created a sound that is very special, and I feel I was able to record that in a way that communicated that really well. So I’d have to choose those three, IF I had to choose! Haha,  it’s a very difficult question. 

I know I know, it’s not fair to ask you to choose between your ‘children’, but I appreciate you sharing why you’d choose those three! Gonzalo, I thank you for your time. I’ll let you go now so you can get back to creating amazing DSD records for us to enjoy. 

Gonzalo’s Desert Island Albums

The post Meet The Magicians: Gonzalo Noqué of Eudora Records appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

I would like to first ask about the inspiration for this album. Who first brought the project to you? 

I would say that 99% of everything I do comes to me through word of mouth. And this project was the same. I believe it started from the violinist Andoni Mercero who was the first viola from the Casals Quartet. He is a very good friend of another violinist I recorded, so that’s how we were introduced. But the recording was not my idea, he wanted to do this so he reached out to me. We recorded in two different sessions, two months apart, and it went very smooth.

And this was back in 2020? 

Yes exactly. The editing took a long time because Andoni and Alfonso (Alfonso Sebastián Alegre, harpsichord) were both deeply involved in the process with me, much more than usual. It was a good thing, definitely, but it did make the process a bit slower than usual. If it’s just me I can do it quite quickly and just send the artists the finished product. But they wanted to listen to each original track and choose the parts along with me. They did a great job I believe, but it did take time. 

What sort of benefits were there having Andoni and Alfonso in the editing with you? 

If the original material that you record is of extremely high quality, as it was here, then it’s really nice to have them there with you. When you’re editing you reach many points where there is a subjective choice to be made. It becomes very personal, what you choose. This only happens at a very high level of musicianship, because at lower levels it is quite clear which choice to make. But at this high level with Andoni and Alfonso I had many options to choose from and it was not so clear sometimes what choice to make. When that is the case it becomes beneficial to have them there so they can really choose what they like best, according to feeling rather than hearing. And they did it very precisely and extremely well thought out. 

Can you tell me about the Church of San Miguel where you recorded the album? 

Actually it was planned to be recorded in a different church that I record in often, but two weeks before the scheduled date I got a call that they had to cancel and I could not record there. Iglesia de San Miguel was actually a second option that Alfonso knew of in Zaragoza in the north of Spain, but I had no idea about the acoustics of the church. I just knew that some recordings had been made there so I listened to those and had faith that it would sound good. When we went there I learned it was not easy acoustics to record because it was overly reverberant, so the way I recorded was different from most of my recordings. Normally you would place the harpsichordist kind of next to the violinist as if you were in concert, but in that position there was no way to get a good balance of both of them. I ended up putting the violin behind the harpsichord with a specific distance and I used two different pairs of omni-directional microphones for each of them. This was also a different position for the players, though it didn’t seem to phase them. I am very happy with the result in the end, but it was not easy. 

Yeah, I can imagine. Recording in a space you’ve never been before must be challenging. Did it take long to find the sound you wanted? 

No it didn’t really take long. When I’m going to record something I already have in my head the sound that I want to achieve and I know in most situations how to achieve that sound. From the beginning I knew that my normal setup was not going to work so I quickly began changing things in order to make it work, and it didn’t take too long. I’ve been in worse situations. 

Well you definitely pulled it off. The recordings are beautiful. So is this the first recording you worked on with Andoni Mercero (violinist)? 

Yes it is, and hopefully I can work with him again. He is outstanding. He was extremely consistent and always performing at such a high level. He and Alfonso both, they’re just excellent. They made it a very easy recording actually. They’ve known each other and have been playing together for something like thirty years and you can tell that from the way they played on this recording. It sounds extremely cohesive and natural. I was constantly impressed with their expertise and their level of playing. It is why I am so excited about this recording.

Did you run in to any issues with this recording? I find it fascinating to hear the scary moments that producers are tested with… in hindsight of course. 

Oh yeah, I had one big issue. We recorded two times but in separate months, one day in August and another in October. During the second session it turned out that the microphones I used for the violin in the first session had a problem. Some intermittent noises were present no matter what I did. Luckily I had almost the same microphone, based on the same capsule, at home. So I drove home a very long way, about 300 kilometres, and picked up the other pair of microphones. The microphones on the violin actually change from sonata to sonata because we did not record sequentially, but they are so similar that you cannot tell the difference. I mean it could have been a disaster, but thankfully I had that other pair. Funny as well, now when I listen back a couple of years later I actually prefer the second pair of microphones. 

Well, I have quite a few more numbers to work through on this double album, and I am excited to do so. It’s really an amazing recording. 

Oh thank you very much. This music is literally from another world. Not only the talent of Andoni and Alfonso, but I mean even for Bach. This is probably one of his set of works that best represents what he accomplished. It’s just outstanding. 

The post An Interview with Producer Gonzalo Noqué About ‘The Violin and Harpsichord Sonatas’ appeared first on NativeDSD Music.