Penteo: The Saga Continues

Things are starting to get exciting here. Our exhibit of 52 songs converted from stereo CD masters drew quite a bit of attention at the Audio Engineering Society show in October. Todd Rundgren, Rupert Neve (the console magnate) and his wife; Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead, and dozens of audio pros came by and were mesmerized. We did an upconversion of a classic 1970s hit (Simon and Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence") for Universal Studios sound department heads -- for an upcoming feature -- right on the spot at the show. Two different companies have now approached us to license the technology for live use -- mostly to free live television mixers to not have to worry about 5.1 mixing... just do a good stereo mix and let Penteo handle the 5.1 pan.

So many other "effected" 5.1 conversion methods have disappointed people -- in many cases because they sound like they're going through a rubber hose when downmixed back to stereo. Because Penteo is a pure panorama slicer, it downmixes perfectly. Don't be surprised if you see the Penteo name on the credits of some of your favorite live reality shows next season.

Best of all, one of Hollywood's great Engineer/Producers of the '70s has requested a test upmix of a classic album that, like so many others, could never be remixed into 5.1 because the masters have been lost, thrown away, or intentionally destroyed. It's too early to divulge any details, but its really exciting.

Stay tuned.
-John

I wish it were that easy. Unfortunately, Penteo just doesn't work well on material that started out as analog unless it's been remastered by us to stabilize it. The tape stability -- even the pan pots on the original console -- causes the image to be unstable unless we stabilize it first. The only hardware-based application that we're really pursuing is for LIVE television -- or material that has been digitally recorded. But we do intend to offer our remastering services to stabilize any stereo recordings ever made, then run them through the process...

If all we were interested in was making as much money as possible as quickly as possible, we would throw the firmware out on the open market for consumers. We've been asked to and said no -- several times.

It would work -- umm.. okay. Certainly better than the solutions that are out there now. But we want the Penteo name to be associated with master-quality upmixes - a whole new listening experience for classic material, on par with the best 5.1 that you've ever heard. So we really want to do it the RIGHT way, and gain the recognition that caring about quality brings.

Well, the song was only done (as most of the era) with three pan positions... So we separated it out into vocals, rhythm track, and (I believe) guitar overdubs. It's pretty stark, but its what they wanted...

Um, no. I have done a couple motion pictures (currently working on "Mao's Last Dancer"), but nothing new for 'ZLX.