NEW (2) Blu-ray releases now available from AIX Records (+1 DVDA/V)

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Smarty-pants

New member
Joined
Dec 22, 2009
Messages
2
Well, I don't come around here much, but it's not cuz I don't like you guys :D.
Just that the more I hang around surround music discussions, the more money I spend, and if money grew on trees,... I digress.:)

Anyway, I stopped in to see if there was any discussion about the 2 new Blu-ray releases from AIX Records, as well as the new DVDA, all released just today.
I've already got an order in for both BDs and a couple other DVDAs.

I'll paste a copy of the email newsletter that Mark sent out yesterday, and that should help describe the titles plus more info...






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AIX Records Releases First Blu-Ray Titles!

It's been a very long time since I put together a newsletter from AIX Records because things have been really busy on a number of fronts but also because I haven't completed a new project (other than the BD samplers discussed below) in a long time. I'm happy to report that the production drought is over! Lisbeth Scott's - Charmed DVD-Audio/Video is complete and ready for immediate shipping. We've also finished a couple of Blu-ray titles Chamber Music Palisades - Shostakovich, Debussy and Brockman AND Pachelbel Canon Acoustica..

Last fall, the entire production team at AIX Records spent a lot of time working out the new production realities associated with the Blu-ray format (New video formats, new audio codecs and of course, new authoring realities). Well, it took a while but we've figured out the new tools and have begun to issue new products in this revolutionary format. Some of you may have already seen our work on the AIX Records' Calibration and Sampler Blu-ray disc that comes bundled with every BD player from Oppo.

We've also added some additional labels to, iTrax.com, the first and only website dedicated exclusively to HD Audio downloads! Harmonia Mundi, SFS Media, Norway's 2L and Zenph Sound Innovations have all made available their HD recordings to iTrax.com.
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As is customary with each issue of the AIX newsletter, I'm pleased to offer readers of this email newsletter the opportunity to add some new AIX Records productions to their collection of Audio/Video DVD/BDs with a special promotion. Here's the deal. Just purchase $100 worth of our recordings (purchasing 4 of our regular discs at $24.98 qualifies) and I will offer you either two additional DVDs free of charge (Collectors Editions count as two) or our Dolby Blu-ray Sampler IV Disc. AIX will pick up the shipping cost for the additional discs (for domestic orders only). MAKE SURE YOU ASK FOR THE TWO FREEBIES or BLU-RAY DISC IN THE COMMENTS SECTION OF THE ORDER FORM! As usual, I will include our award-winning High Resolution Audio Experience DVD sampler with the package as well.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me [email protected]
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Lisbeth Scott DVD-Audio/Video Has Arrived!

If you're one of those individuals that pre-ordered the Lisbeth Scott - Charmed and has been waiting patiently for a few years for it to materialize, your wait is finally over! My sincerest apologies for the delay but I hope you'll agree that it's been worth the wait. A few of her tracks have been featured on our Oppo and Dolby BD samplers, but the entire collection of tunes is now finally available.

When Lisbeth came to our studio a few months ago to experience the HD Surround mixes in their full fidelity, she was literally overcome with emotion and thanked me for paying so much attention to her artistry. Her tremendous talent is perfectly reflected in these amazingly clear and intimate recordings. You can hear samples of all of the tunes on our web site.
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Chamber Music Palisades - Shostakovich/Debussy/Brockman AIX's First Blu-Ray Title!

Three years ago, I recorded a chamber music ensemble that resides on the west side of Los Angeles called Chamber Music Palisades. I have been friends with a couple of the members for many years and they approached me about doing a compact disc of in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Dmitri Shostakovich's birth. The notion of making a CD isn't terribly interesting to AIX (as most of your already know) but I mentioned doing a DVD-Audio/Video production instead. They were very interested in this exciting new audio/video technology. It was to become my first HD production of a classical music ensemble.

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Little did the artistic directors of the ensemble know that three years later, their award-winning production would be AIX's first Blu-ray release. This disc represents the culmination of a dream that I've had since I started the label way back in 2000 (which also featured Delores Stevens, the pianist on this project).

After about a decade, consumers can have breath-taking HD Surround sound without any of the sonic compromises of analog tape or vinyl AND detailed, crystal clear, high-definition 1920 x 1080 video! The marriage of these two technical requirements hasn't been possible previously. But now with the introduction of BD, it can.

As Dennis Berger put it in his review of the DVD, "This type of music was made to be experienced in surround...everything has a place of its own."

While others issue operas or other live concerts from their catalog that have standard definition stereo soundtracks that have merely been encoded in the new BD codecs, AIX Records is offering new productions with REAL HD Surround audio in Dolby TrueHD. No loss of fidelity from the source recording to deliver in your home theater.
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iTrax.com Adds More REAL High Definition Labels!

I'm really pleased at the progress that we've made with iTrax.com over the past two and half years of operation. We've got over 1000 tracks up right now and more are coming every week. And these are ALL real HD tracks...not merely CD resolution. It seems I was right and the world of high quality audio IS going to be delivered by the internet and lots of people are trying to get on board. We're still working on the site and expanding the catalog available online...so stay tuned and check back often.

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If you're an audiophile that begun to explore sources for "HD Music Downloads" to use in your high quality music server, you may have noticed that not everything that is available from these "high quality" sites sounds that great.

There's a reason. Most of the source tracks that are offered from these sites are NOT HD! They are older recordings (or even new ones that were made using standard definition equipment) that have been transferred into a High Definition sound file. To call the Grammy-winning Robert Plant and Allison Krause album an "HD" recording is like saying that my 8mm home movies from 1959 are HD when transferred to high definition video tape. The quality or fidelity of the source is established by the technology used to capture it at the moment that it was recorded and nothing that happens further down the line is going to change that.

Our HD Download site will never allow tracks that were not actually recorded using HD equipment to be available to customers seeking the real thing. And we've found some additional partners that believe in the same standard of excellence. Harmonia Mundi's tracks (not all of them but all of their tracks that were captured using DSD technology), San Francisco Symphony Media, Norway's 2L and most North Carolina-based Zenph Sound Innovations are all part of the family.

I'm especially proud to be the exclusive outlet for the HD Stereo and Surround tracks from Zenph's recently released CD, "Rachmaninoff Plays Rachmaninoff". John Walker, Ph.D. of Zenph knew that he had found a fellow believer in iTrax.com. iTrax.com has been featured in the Boston Globe, Stereophile and Ultimate A/V. Help us out by checking in on iTrax.com and passing the word to your anyone interested in real HD audio recordings.
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AIX Records Founder and Chief Engineer Mark Waldrep Ph.D. interviewed on Home Theater Geeks

Part of my undergraduate education was spent at California Stare University at Northridge. I was a music composition student in their well-respected music department along with Scott Wilkinson. It turns out that I recorded Scott's senior recital in 1982 (he plays the trombone), a fact that he reminded my of during our recent podcast for the Twit.tv network. I've know Scott all these years and have shared my passion for HD Surround music with him over the years. A couple of months ago, he invited me to be part of his weekly podcast.

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The response to this interview has been tremendous. People from all over the world have written to me expressing their gratitude for a great and very concise explanation of High Definition music and why vinyl and analog tape do not qualify. Hits to our web site and sales of our products have been way up since that interview.

If you've got a few minutes, I would encourage you to take a listen and write to me to let me know what you think. Click here to be taken to Home Theater Geeks

There must be a reason why I get emails like the following:

That's got to be the most incredible sound I've ever heard. I'm the middle of your podcast on iTunes with Home Theater Geek. And this was on my Boston Acoustic PC speakers. I can't wait to hear something like this on my Home Speaker with 5.1 surround sound, what ever it is your doing don't stop!

Leroy from NJ, Jazz, Classical, New age fan.

Thanks Leroy, I appreciate the feedback. And thanks to my good friend Scott Wilkinson of Home Theater Geeks.
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AIX Records at AXPONA in Jacksonville, Florida

I've known Steve Davis for at least ten years. Steve's a guitar player, songwriter, singer, audiophile and high end equipment dealer based in Florida. I met him through a small demonstration opportunity that he hosted outside of Washington DC. He asked if I would come and bring my recordings to share with a small group of invited guests and I agreed to attend. Our friendship started that weekend all those years ago.

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Steve called my about six months ago and asked if I would like to be part of a new audiophile show that he and a partner were cooking up. It would be called AXPONA (Audio Expo North America) and would happen the first week of March in Jacksonville, Florida. He offered AIX Records the largest ballroom in the whole place to demonstrate our HD Surround project complete with HD Video. He also allowed my to present a couple of seminars on REAL HD Music.

I contacted some of my equipment manufacturing friends and was very please to receive equipment from Boulder, Thiel, DH Labs, Stewart Filmscreen, Wolf Cinema and Oppo in support of the room. In total, we had about $300,000 worth of gear all being driven by a $900 Oppo BD-83 SE (Special Edition) Blu-ray player. And the system provided the "best experience of the show", according to John Atkinson of Stereophile.

I couldn't agree more. It's pretty amazing that a very cost effective BD player could outperform all of the fancy tube preamplifiers, the $100,000 plus turntables, the esoteric cables and the heavy duty, custom made speakers. Yes, it's true that we had incredible equipment supporting the rest of our playback chain, but in the end the experience of listening to HD Surround music with HD Video was transformative. If you don't have a great source, the rest of the signal path doesn't make up for it.

Thanks to John Atkinson for spending so much time in the room AND especially to Steve Davis for making the opportunity available to our little label.
 
Also released, and info not included in the Email for some unknown reason... Pachelbel Canon Acoustica Blu-ray.

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General Information

This is AIX Records' second full Blu-ray production and the second in our series of of acoustic jams on selected classical works. If you've already heard the "Moonlight Acoustica" project from a couple of years ago, you know what you're in for, some of the finest studio musicians in Los Angeles letting loose on the harmonic and melodic foundation provided by Johannes Pachelbel. The sextet weaves through a variety of tempi and textures as each member explores their role in the ensemble. This recording was done in one pass.

Other music labels are using the BD format, but none captures HD Video of the sessions while recording the audio in HD. Welcome the future. Once again, AIX Records is leading the charge in this exciting new format.

About the Recording Approach

This recording is NOT an attempt to "document" a live recording of a music ensemble but instead an exploration of the creative process of making and recording music on HD Video and using high-resolution digital audio recording equipment. AIX Records uses no EQ, dynamics processing or artificial reverberation...everything you hear is as the musicians played it. Both "audience" and "stage" 5.1/7.1 mixes and a PCM 96/24 bit stereo mix are included on the disc. We've used Dolby TrueHD to losslessly encode the 5.1/7.1 audio AND enjoy the HD Video at the same time! You can chose to listen from the middle of ensemble and hear the sound of the instruments coming from all directions or place yourself in the "best seat in the house". The dynamic range and fidelity offered by the 96 kHz/24 Bit source recording makes this recording come to life, something standard definition digital and analog cannot match.

About the Disc

This is a single Blu-ray disc with the performance presented in 16:9 - 1920x1080 pixel HD Video. The audio is available in 5.1 "Stage", 5.1 "Audience", 7.1 "Stage", 7.1 "Audience" and 96/24 PCM stereo.

About the Blu-ray Format

The Blu-ray disc format was developed by Sony to bring HD audio and video content to home entertainment systems. While usually associated with Hollywood movies, it makes a great platform for "private music presentations" in high definition audio AND video.
 
Good Grief! That's a lot of new releases!

Thanks for posting all of that info. A very nice persentation!
 
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