Saturday, April 21, 2007

Music: Better With Or Without Video?

My little audiophile label records our projects in a single session. There are no overdubs or later processing of the tracks to correct mistakes or replace less than perfect performances...we capture real music making. Because of this single session methodology, I have brought video equipment into the auditorium during virtually all of the recording sessions. In the beginning it was pretty basic videography, no fancy lights, no set dressing or even camera operators. Things have changed in the past two years, however, I shoot all of the sessions with HD Video equipment, have real lighting [although not the concert arena look and feel]. Because we release our titles on DVD, it seemed natural to include the video of the music making...and we do.

My question is this. Do music fans like to experience the music alone or do they embrace the idea of having the performance on their video monitor, plasma or big screen projection? It takes a lot of extra money and time to capture the video, edit it and sync it up with the audio. Perhaps I should just think like a traditional label and put out music only. It certainly would save a bunch of effort.

Sunday, April 1, 2007

iTrax.com Promises First REAL HD Audio Downloads

I have spent the better part of the last 7 years recording and releasing HD Surround Audio on DVD-Audio/Video discs. My small label AIX Records didn't have a "back catalog" to exploit when DVD-Audio was introduced so I had to go out and create one. As of 2007 we've recorded 58 album projects. All of them were recorded using HD Audio recording equipment and a philosophy of recording that is non-traditional. I bring all of the musicians into an acoustically rich performance space and let them perform for each other [and for our microphones]. There's no live PA system, no audience, no isolation booths, limited use of in-ear monitors and no overdubbing [adding or replacing parts later]. That combined with the purist approach we use during the post production phase of the projects, means that the recordings are "better than reality'.

Consumers, reviewers, and judges at competitive conferences have raved about the quality of our recordings. We sell them through our web site [www.aixrecords.com] on DVD-Audio/Video discs. However, these optical disc formats are problematic for customers in distant parts of the world. So, I've been actively building the first REAL HD Surround Music download site. It's still a couple of month off but iTrax.com will allow visitors to search, select, audition and download new HD Audio recordings according to their preferences.

I'll keep you posted as things continue to develop, but the future is looking good for those interested in HD Audio. I expect to launch iTrax in June of this year.