SOUND LIAISON GOES LIVE IN THE STUDIO, WITH 4 CONCERTS BEING RECORDED IN DXD MULTITRACK AND DIRECT TO 2 TRACK ANALOG TAPE.
In collabration with the MCO (Dutch Music Broadcasting Association) we have begun a new series of recording musicians live in the studio in front of a studio audience. The theme for the four concerts for this season is my “most influential album’’. We have asked some of our favorite artist to reinterpret one of the albums that was influential in their becoming musicians.
Trumpeter Ruud Breuls chose an old LP of Louis Armstrong’s greatest hits, Carmen Gomes decided on her father's old favorite “Harry Belafonte Sings the Blues, Paul Berner went for the Beatles “Rubber Soul” and Tony Overwater chose Jim Hall & Ron Carter, which he will record together with guitarist extraordinaire Maarten van der Grinten. The recordings will be recorded direct to a two track Studer tape recorder and in 352.8 DXD multitrack.
As of this writing the first two concerts have taken place. We can report that DXD sounds absolutely fantastic. Ruud Breuls who is, due to his many years with the Metropole Orchestra and the Westdeutsche Rundfunk Big Band, perhaps Europe’s most recorded trumpet player, was absolutely stunned when he heard the DXD playback of ”When it’s Sleepy time Down South”. He used words as “real” and “it sounds like me” when trying to describe the sound.
The direct to tape recording of Carmen Gomes surpassed all our expectations, the combination of Carmen Gomes’ voice and the Studer 2 track tape machine was a match made in heaven.
Carmen who is a big fan of the sound of the classic ‘50 recordings was deeply moved by the result; “It’s the real deal’’ was her comment.
Subjectively analogue tape and DXD feels related in sound quality. They both sound so very natural. But technically there is of course a great difference; DXD; being purely digital with all the benefits of being able to edit the sound, correct mistakes and so forth in post production; while with the Direct to Tape; the recording is following a pure analog signal path with no possibility of editing, no correction, the result being what it is.
We hope to make the first 2 editions of the series available before x-mas.
. We have a longer thread on their site somewhere else.
