Special AVS Deal From AIX Records - Page 20

I spent 10 days on the road...got back on Sunday from DC. My son and I attended the Capitol AudioFest hosted by Gary Gill. It was a small show but proved to be very successful for us in spite of the general affection for vinyl, tubes and 2-channel setups. I put together a table in the record sales ballroom complete with a Blu-ray player, a small HDTV and my Smyth-Research Room Realizer. Thankfully, there were plenty of people that already knew about AIX Records that were anxious to learn what was new on the table. We've been very busy with new BD productions (they are so new that I haven't gotten all of them on the website yet...I'm the webmaster too).

Our new releases on Blu-ray include: Mozart - The Old City String Quartet (3D - this one is reviewed on 6 Moons at http://www.6moons.com/musicreviews/2012_july/mozart.html), Bryan Pezzone - Piano Pieces (3D), Ernest Ranglin, Albert Lee (review at: http://www.hometheatersound.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=56&Itemid=62, 3D Music Album Demo (review at: http://www.3dtv.com/reviews/3D-demo-disc-from-AIX-is-the-best-audio-and-3D-video-you-are-likely-to-see, Mark Chesnutt and James Walker and Free Flight. In production right now for release in a month or so are: Wallace Roney and Brand New Opry - Here and There Volume II. Of course, the world's first 3D Music Album™ Goldberg Variations Acoustica is still available (we bundled 20K copies in a Japanese high end magazine a couple of months ago...they loved it).

Visitors to our table were treated to the acoustics and sound of the AIX studios (including 5.1 surround using our B&W 801 Matrix III speakers and Bryston Amps) through the Smyth box. In case you haven't experienced this amazing technology, it basically captures the sound of my room (including all spatial cues) and delivers it through headphones. I decided to capture the output of the box and include those stereo files on the BD-ROM section of our new discs...this way you can hear "surround" on phones while you're traveling or out of your home theater. It's really revolutionary but I don't think too many reviewers are even accessing those files. John Atkinson of Stereophile stopped by and was impressed. He posted his reaction here:http://www.stereophile.com/content/capital-audiofest151day-two-morning

As it happened the folks from Mapleshade were selling there discs from the table right next to us. We were sort of the digital corner in an otherwise vinyl dominated room (why did they guy across from us have to fire up his rather obnoxious and loud disc cleaner vacuum system every 30 seconds all day?). Anyway, I got the chance to play a couple of my favorite tracks (in this case Lowlands from Brand New Opry Vol I) for Pierre Sprey, the founder and engineer for the very well-respected Mapleshade company. He listened through the Smyth Realizer and loved what he heard. According to his second in command, he never raves about other company's tracks but he loved what I played for him. We may even get included in his catalog...something that has never been offered to another record company. We had great Indian food one evening...very interesting conversation and good company. They also had a room upstairs that I got to check out...crazy cabling (thin twisted pairs and off ground trestles) but it did deliver good sound.

One last word of caution about the Crown Plaza Hotel chain where the event was held. I suffered through a night of bed bugs as I awoke and discovered over a dozen bites. The manager is "investigating", which means he's not interested in doing anything. I you have a choice stay away from Crown Plaza...they don't care..

The news for Dominic is that he is out of his coma and has been moved to a "sub acute" care facility south of the studio. I went to visit him on Sunday when I got back and was amazed to see him alert and obviously engaged with everyone around him. He's not speaking yet but is slowly gaining back his physical and mental capabilities. Very positive. It will still be a long recovery but he's a very strong and determined young man and will overcome this challenge.

The reviews continue to be extremely positive for our latest blu-ray releases. Rad Bennet at SoundStage called the sonics on the Albert Lee title "perfect and gave it 5 stars. Brandon du Hamel at Blu-ray Definition said this about the 3D Music Album™ sampler, "What can i say about AIX Records that hasn't already been said?" He also gave the sound 5 stars!

Well, it's been a summer of production at AIX Records. I've just completed the Mark Chesnutt - Your Room and James Walker and Free Flight - Threads projects on Blu-ray 3D and love them both. I'm hoping that Mark Chesnutt fans will want to see and hear Mark playing his hits in full surround and HD-Video. I'm a proud fan of country music and love the sound on this one.

The Free Flight project is a quartet headed by flutist extraordinaire James Walker. He is joined by Bryan Pezzone (who I released on 3D Music Album format in June), Tim Emmons and Mike Packer. This is jazz/classical fusion that shows amazing virtuosity.

I'm expecting to get Wallace Roney and BNO (The Brand New Opry II) Here and There back from the replicator this week. Check out the website for additional information and for videos. We're hoping to get two new production out per month...so far so good.

I look forward to hearing what this group thinks.

It really doesn't make much sense to continue producing DVD-Audio discs at this point in time. The Blu-ray format is perfect as a physical format and obviously the future is downloads or streaming. I pretty happy with the ease of use and the quality of the BD format. They are expensive to produce and the royalties are pretty harsh.

Wow...there's a lot in your post. Let me respond briefly. First of all, AIX Records is first and foremost a music label. We deliver what I believe is some of the best sound music recordings on the planet on various formats. It doesn't matter to me whether it's an MLP file on DVD-Audio or a TrueHD file on a Blu-ray disc or even a file downloaded from the internet. The magic is not in the format but in the way the recordings are produced. We are currently releasing our REAL HD-Audio albums on Blu-ray and Bluy-ray 3D. The video is a bonus...watch it a couple of times or don't watch it at all. I find that many customers like the experience of watching a performance. After all, music is a visual art as well as a sonic one. As for the 2D or 3D thing, that's just additional candy to explore. I like 3D but every disc we make is 2D compatible.

The files for all of our projects are available on iTrax.com AND our recent releases have the stereo FLAC in HD-Audio on the BD-ROM portion of the titles.

I'm not sure what you mean by "the design of our ears blocks out sound coming from the rear". I hear sound from the rear all the time and actually our stage mixes include sounds coming from the 110-120 degree perspective.

The fact is, everyone can choose their own type of listening experience...and I think AIX Records gives people more choices than any other label I'm aware of.

You guys don't know how much I would love to have access to artists with more "relevance" to a certain market segment. I've made pitches to John Ondrasik of Five for FIghting but his record company wasn't interested...although he was and a very nice guy. If I actually can get money enough to get it together Todd Rundgren might work with me on a project...I know him and he has been here and experienced the whole deal. I'm a secret...no one other than some people here and other dedicated music lovers know what I do. That's too bad because I do believe that we're doing things that take audio to another level. Spreading the word takes time and resources.

As for the Sgt Peppers record, I actually have imagined re-recording each of the parts with original instruments and then laying the original vocals over the top...I actually have a copy of the 4 track masters. Wouldn't that be a hoot!

Just received Wallace Roney and BNO (Brand New Opry) Here & There Vol. II back from the replicator. These are very different types of music but both are really great. I'm amazed at the complexity and imagination of Wallace and his brother Antoine...and the additional of a turntablist (not a DJ) was brilliant. The BNO project combines more the "coastal country" crowd organized by Phil Salazar and Jonathan McEuen...I could listen to that all day every day. The organic nature of the music and the diversity of personalities is great. If you liked the first Brand New Opry, this is more in the same vein.

Of course, last month we finished James Walker and Free Flight as well as Mark Chesnutt.

We got a couple of really terrific reviews yesterday. Check out these links:

"A terrific crossover quartet in perfect hi-res surround, and 3D visuals to boot!" http://audaud.com/2012/08/james-walker-and-free-flight-threads-blu-ray-3d-2012/

http://www.blu-raydefinition.com/reviews/albert-lee-tearing-it-up-blu-ray-review.html

It's been a very productive summer for AIX Records...we've never finished so many projects in such a a consistent fashion. If you're a fan...spread the word.

I've just learned that our Albert Lee - Tearing It Up Blu-ray release has been given the "Recording of the Month" spot in the November issue of Stereophile magazine...very nice to have this very special project recognized. Robert Baird interviewed Albert for his piece on this amazing musicians and talked to me about High Definition audio etc.

I was also on Scott Wilkinson's netcast "Home Theater Geeks" a couple of weeks ago. We've been friends since we both attended music school at CSUN back in the late 709s and 80s. You can check out the show (which is part of the twit.tv network) at the following:

http://twit.tv/show/home-theater-geeks/126

I'm going to be speaking and selling our latest discs at the Toronto Audio Video show at the end of September AND at the RMAF in October. If you're attending, please stop by and say hello.

Thanks for your comments and question. The differences between the formats must always be kept in perspective...because they ALL represent potential qualitative measures. There are many CDs that do not have any dynamic range thanks to the aggressive processing that mastering engineers are required to apply to virtually all CDs and digital downloads (I know...I was a mastering engineer for 13 years!). Analog tape vs PCM digital is not contest. As much as I love my Nagra IV-S, I recognize that it cannot approach the potential fidelity of even the Redbook standard...for both dynamic range and frequency response. This whole notion of full level frequencies above 20 kHz is a myth unless you're using one of the super custom machines and running tape at 30 ips. I posted the frequency response of my Nagra and it rolls off gently starting at around 18 kHz. By 25 kHz, it's down 6 dB.

Sony and Phillips did the best they could with the information that they had at the time. It would have been better to move the sample rate up by a factor of 2 but that would have delayed the introduction of the format and who knows what might have happened.

Nicci Gilbert is coming early next year.

Mark

It's been a very busy month of traveling to a couple of audio shows...one that I've never attended and another that I usually visited but haven't actually participated in for a fewe years. I went to the TAVES (Toronto Audio/Video Entertainment Show) and was very pleasantly surprised at the number of informed audio enthusiasts that attended and the interest for our expanding line of Blu-ray titles. I gave a couple of presentations about HD-Audio and the future of the music business, which were very well attended. Last weekend I attended the RMAF (Rocky Mountain Audio Fest) in Denver. This is one of the biggest shows in North America and this year seemed better than ever. I didn't set a demonstration system as I have done in the past but opted instead to pitch my wares in the sales ballroom. I came with 5 boxes of various discs and left with only 1...so it was a great weekend. I've decided to do almost all of the shows if I can pay for the trip with the sales proceeds. This way I can help spread the word about our real HD-Audio surround titles. I'm already planning for the biggest AXPONA show yet which will be held in Chicago next March.

A piece of really great press showed up in the November issue of Stereophile magazine. Robert Baird wrote a feature article about our recent Albert Lee - Tearing It Up project on Blu-ray AND they awarded it the "Recording of the Month". This is the first time that a Blu-ray HD-Audio surround title has ever been recognized with this award. Obviously, I'm thrilled. The only irony is that the cover line states "Albert Lee's Surround Music Experiment"...after 12 years of doing this I don't think of my work as experimental anymore. For a magazine entitled STEREOphile, I guess 5.1 surround music is still "experimental".

I've received copies now of Terry Trotter's new BD release entitled "I Play The Piano". He's an incredible LA based jazz pianist that is respected by all prominent jazz players. He was invited by Miles Davis to join his band back in the early 1960s...but declined because he didn't want to move to SF. This is a really special piano release.

We also just received our first run of the Rita Coolidge - Play Something Sweet BD 3D. This is spectacular project that includes some of Rita's biggest hits with a full 7-piece band and background singers (the Waters family). One part New Orleans funk and one part rock/pop, this is a rare treat for our little label. I'll be getting it up on our web site shortly.

Thanks for the encouraging comments. The emails and positive reviews have increased since the publication of the Stereophile "Recording of the Month" award and the feature article...of course, I feel that all of our productions are worthy. They are all recorded using the same philosophy and in REAL HD-Audio. Besides Albert, my new favorite is Terry Trotter. If you haven't checked out this amazing musician, you should. I posted a video sample on YouTube.

As we head into the Holiday season, I thought I would ramp up our marketing presence a little. The fact is I love producing new music release, I love getting feedback from customers, I love reading positive reviews and I absolutely love experiencing AIX Records products. I will sit in my studio for extended periods just listening and watching. But I do not love to promote and push our recordings on potential customers. I guess I've subscribed to the "Field of Dreams" concept of "build it and see if they will come". Thankfully, they have. I've been at this audiophile record label thing for 12 years and managed to complete 80 projects during that time. Fortunately, there have been appreciative customers, impressed reviewers and grateful artists that continue to support our quality driven label. My new favorite pianist is Terry Trotter...one of our new titles.

So I'll be preparing a newsletter this weekend that will highlight some of the latest AIX Records releases and offer a Christmas Special of some sort. Over the past 6 months, I've completed almost a dozen Blu-ray titles, finished all of the 3D Music Albums and revamped the AIX Records web site (yes, I do virtually all of this work myself...including the writing, coding, artwork and audio/video stuff!). I'll point out the incredible reviews that we've received over the past few months including the award for "Record of the Month" from Stereophile magazine for the Albert Lee - Tearing It Up Blu-ray (they also wrote a very thorough article about Albert and AIX) and the numerous 5 star reviews from Blu-ray Definition and Audiophile Audition. I will also mention that MIX Magazine (the recording engineers primary periodical) included me as "one of 8 experts" on quality audio recording...it was an honor to be placed alongside multiple Grammy winner Al Schmitt. After 12 years, I do believe that AIX Records has made an impact on the recording industry. It's small but those of your who know about our quality and attention to detail, you know. And I'm far from finished.

I received a call from a customer in Michigan this morning. He wanted to place a phone order (he picked up the Albert Lee title). As we chatted, I asked him if he had ever experienced one of our titles. He responded, "Yes, of course. They are the best recordings I've ever heard! Once you've heard an AIX Records project, nothing else compares!" I'm obviously very thankful that he's a fan and this is not the first time that I've received this sort of positive comments. It does keep me going.

I would urge AVS surround sound fans, HD-Audio and AIX customers to visit the site and check out our new offerings AND to stop by FaceBook and add AIX Records as a "friend". It's time that I push at least a little and I thought I would start here. If you can help me spread the word, the "Field of Dreams" will become a bigger reality. Thanks.

I trust everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends. I managed to complete the Holidays Newsletter, clean up the contacts list and get a mailing out yesterday. If you're on my mailing list, then you've probably already received it. If you didn't you can review it at http://www.aixrecords.com/newsletters/newsletter_121117.html. There's the usual news and information about what's been happening at AIX Records and a couple of special deals available for through the holidays...including a BUY 2 and GET 1 FREE offer.

This has been a very busy year for AIX Records with almost 16 new blu-ray productions completed. Check them out at the site and contact me with any questions.

BTW Dominic is doing much better. He's home and enjoying the holidays.

I know I have MIA for a while. It's been a very busy spring. I went to ALL of the audio shows in North America (AXPONA, Montreal, etc) and have working a new roll out of the iTrax downloader. The big news is the RealHD-Audio.com magazine site that I launched a week or so ago. It's a place for information about HD-Audio. There's a really great interview with John Siau of Benchmark Media about the DSD encoding scheme and an article about a comparison recording I was involved with in Montana between analog tape, DSD 64 and PCM 94/24. Very compelling.

Check out: www.realhd-audio.com