AIRSHOW MASTERING PUBLISHES ARTIST AND PRODUCER GUIDE TO SACD
November 22, 2002 – Boulder, CO – Airshow Mastering, known for bringing the latest technology to its award-winning work on acoustic, jazz and classical recordings, has published the first comprehensive guide to producing Super Audio CDs (SACDs). Intended to help artists and producers make optimal use of the new high-resolution format, "The Artist's and Producer's Guide to SACD" is available for free at the Airshow website, www.airshowmastering.com.html.
SACD is the high-resolution, surround sound-capable music format, based on the Direct Stream Digitalô (DSD) recording system, developed by Sony and Phillips as the next-generation successor to standard CDs. Widely praised by artists, engineers and music reviewers for its "warm" and "analog-like" sound, SACD also offers record companies the copy-protection security they have long sought for digital recordings.
"We saw a need to help producers understand how making a SACD differs from making a CD," explained David Glasser, Airshow's chief engineer. "Quality control, getting reference discs for approval, the manufacturing timeline, and even test pressing are some of the important things that are different. Plus there are the entirely new dimensions of multichannel audio, text publishing, and authoring. So we combined the experience of our engineers with that of our SACD clients to produce a soup-to-nuts guide to creating SACDs."
Airshow has worked on 80 SACDs to date, including a surround reissue of Mike Oldfield's epochal 1973 New Age hit, Tubular Bells (EMI). Airshow has mastered SACD releases for leading audiophile labels Telarc, Delos, and Groove Note, and for such noted independent artists as flutist Herbie Mann. "In the past year, we've seen a dramatic increase in the number of SACD titles being mixed and mastered in surround," said Glasser. "We've also seen SACD spawning new boutique labels, such a Artegra and CAVI, which see an opportunity to enter the market with the kind of high-quality sound made possible by SACD," continued Glasser.
Airshow Mastering has been working with SACD since the format's inception. In 1999, Airshow became one of the first studios worldwide to install Sony's Sonoma DSD workstation, and has continued to beta-test new DSD and SACD production gear. Airshow will update "The Artist's and Producer's Guide to SACD" as new equipment appears.
In addition to employing new technologies to record and master contemporary audiophile recordings, Airshow Mastering has worked on some of the epochal restoration projects of recent years, including the Grammyô-winning reissue of Harry Smith's seminal Anthology of American Folk Music (Smithsonian Folkways) and the acclaimed Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues: The Worlds of Charley Patton (Revenant Records). The company operates studios in Springfield, Virginia, as well as Boulder. For more information on Airshow Mastering call Ann Blonston at 1-888-545-9035 or visit their Web site at www.airshowmastering.com.
END
Press Contact:
Ann Blonston, Airshow Mastering (303) 247-9035
November 22, 2002 – Boulder, CO – Airshow Mastering, known for bringing the latest technology to its award-winning work on acoustic, jazz and classical recordings, has published the first comprehensive guide to producing Super Audio CDs (SACDs). Intended to help artists and producers make optimal use of the new high-resolution format, "The Artist's and Producer's Guide to SACD" is available for free at the Airshow website, www.airshowmastering.com.html.
SACD is the high-resolution, surround sound-capable music format, based on the Direct Stream Digitalô (DSD) recording system, developed by Sony and Phillips as the next-generation successor to standard CDs. Widely praised by artists, engineers and music reviewers for its "warm" and "analog-like" sound, SACD also offers record companies the copy-protection security they have long sought for digital recordings.
"We saw a need to help producers understand how making a SACD differs from making a CD," explained David Glasser, Airshow's chief engineer. "Quality control, getting reference discs for approval, the manufacturing timeline, and even test pressing are some of the important things that are different. Plus there are the entirely new dimensions of multichannel audio, text publishing, and authoring. So we combined the experience of our engineers with that of our SACD clients to produce a soup-to-nuts guide to creating SACDs."
Airshow has worked on 80 SACDs to date, including a surround reissue of Mike Oldfield's epochal 1973 New Age hit, Tubular Bells (EMI). Airshow has mastered SACD releases for leading audiophile labels Telarc, Delos, and Groove Note, and for such noted independent artists as flutist Herbie Mann. "In the past year, we've seen a dramatic increase in the number of SACD titles being mixed and mastered in surround," said Glasser. "We've also seen SACD spawning new boutique labels, such a Artegra and CAVI, which see an opportunity to enter the market with the kind of high-quality sound made possible by SACD," continued Glasser.
Airshow Mastering has been working with SACD since the format's inception. In 1999, Airshow became one of the first studios worldwide to install Sony's Sonoma DSD workstation, and has continued to beta-test new DSD and SACD production gear. Airshow will update "The Artist's and Producer's Guide to SACD" as new equipment appears.
In addition to employing new technologies to record and master contemporary audiophile recordings, Airshow Mastering has worked on some of the epochal restoration projects of recent years, including the Grammyô-winning reissue of Harry Smith's seminal Anthology of American Folk Music (Smithsonian Folkways) and the acclaimed Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues: The Worlds of Charley Patton (Revenant Records). The company operates studios in Springfield, Virginia, as well as Boulder. For more information on Airshow Mastering call Ann Blonston at 1-888-545-9035 or visit their Web site at www.airshowmastering.com.
END
Press Contact:
Ann Blonston, Airshow Mastering (303) 247-9035
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