HiRez Poll Primamore, Peter - GRANCIA [SACD]

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Rate the SACD of Peter Primamore - GRANCIA

  • 7:

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 6:

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  • 5:

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  • 4:

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  • 2:

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  • 1: Poor Surround, Poor Content, Poor Sound Quality

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  • Total voters
    11

JonUrban

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Please post your thoughts and comments on this SACD release. (y):phones (n)
 

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I came across this the other day - not sure where I found out about it but I'm glad I did - available at CD Baby http://cdbaby.com/cd/primamore, this is one of the finest 5.1 SACD releases I have heard to date. "Grancia" is described as chamber Jazz and it is an apt description, beautiful string and horn arrangements complimented by lilting jazz/world music style solos. The 5.1 mix is spectacular and is presented from the perspective of Primamore on keys. Recorded live with a minimum of overdubs, this mainly acoustic album places you directly in the band and each instrument is clearly defined in a holographic soundstage - beautiful!

Primamore is a composer out of the Woodstock, NY scene and is joined by several local luminaries including Tony Levin on bass(King Crimson, Peter Gabriel), Jerry Marrotta on drums (Peter Gabriel) and Chieli Minucci on guitars (Special FX). Each piece has formal string and horn arrangements yet flows in a very organic way. The album is produced by Larry Chernicoff who was awarded the Surround Sound Disc of the Year award in 2004 for his similarly styled "October" - also available at CD Baby. You can hear sample tracks and read more about the recording at Peter Primamores' site http://www.peterprimamore.com. This is a special recording that should not be missed. Highly recommended (y)
 
I came across this the other day - not sure where I found out about it but I'm glad I did - available at CD Baby http://cdbaby.com/cd/primamore, this is one of the finest 5.1 SACD releases I have heard to date. "Grancia" is described as chamber Jazz and it is an apt description, beautiful string and horn arrangements complimented by lilting jazz/world music style solos. The 5.1 mix is spectacular and is presented from the perspective of Primamore on keys. Recorded live with a minimum of overdubs, this mainly acoustic album places you directly in the band and each instrument is clearly defined in a holographic soundstage - beautiful!

If you like Grancia, be sure to pick up the Surround Sound SACD of October by Larry Chernicoff (Windy Planet SACD 4511). The music is very similar to the Grancia SACD - not surprising since they share the same producer.

For more on Grancia, see the High Fidelity Review write up on that Surround Sound SACD at http://www.highfidelityreview.com/news/news.asp?newsnumber=15426360.
 
It's hard to pin this one down as some of the string arrangements are very classical. But I do find it very soothing and satisfying to listen to. I think generally it is more of a combination of "smooth jazz" and "new age". Sort of like a lot of the stuff that Windham Hill puts out but this one has greater consistency of quality across the entire disc.
 
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It's hard to pin this one down as some of the string arrangements are very classical. But I do find it very soothing and satisfying to listen to. I think generally it is more of a combination of "smooth jazz" and "new age". Sort of like a lot of the stuff that Windham Hill puts out but this one has greater consistency of quality across the entire disc.

There are enough musical styles here that I didn't even try to categorize it in my High Fidelity Review write-up! Nice music in Surround Sound though.

John Sunier over on Audiophile Audition said the SACD had a Surround Sound mix that was tasteful enough to convert 2 Channel fans to Surround Sound.

Have you picked up the October SACD by Larry Chernicoff? Very similar in style and music. And also a nice Surround Sound SACD for the collection.
 
There are enough musical styles here that I didn't even try to categorize it in my High Fidelity Review write-up! Nice music in Surround Sound though.

John Sunier over on Audiophile Audition said the SACD had a Surround Sound mix that was tasteful enough to convert 2 Channel fans to Surround Sound.

Have you picked up the October SACD by Larry Chernicoff? Very similar in style and music. And also a nice Surround Sound SACD for the collection.

Hey Brian,
I haven't heard "October" yet. Thanks for the tip. I will look into it.
 
Hello all,


Brian mentioned this thread to me . Thanks for the interest in Grancia . I'm enjoying the discourse. It fascinates me to see how people perceive and respond to my music . If anyone has any questions about the music or production process, I'd be happy to answer .

Best,



Peter Primamore
 
Hey Peter,

I ordered another copy for my mother!

You have to love the sense of humour on the CDBaby E-Mail that confirms shipment:

Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with
sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.

A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure
it was in the best possible condition before mailing.

Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over
the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money
can buy.

We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party
marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of
Portland waved 'Bon Voyage!' to your package, on its way to you, in
our private CD Baby jet on this day, Monday, January 22nd.

I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did. Your picture is on our wall as 'Customer of the Year'. We're all
exhausted but can't wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!


Thank you once again,
 
Okay I am going to vote on this one. I have listened to it enough times to do that. First off I like the "you are there" feel. As if you were sitting on the stage. I have noticed that some tracks sound less live then others. I think at this point "Chatham" is my favourite track. I like the way it flows along like a river. What I also like about the entire disc, is that the instruments all sound natural and you can pick each one out even when there are a lot of them in the mix. The larger labels should listen to this to get an idea of how things should be done when you are mixing together such a wide array of instruments. You would think it would be even easier to get it right with less instruments in the mix. The AIX produced discs are pretty much the only other things I have heard that are able to pull this kind of thing off. The bass is also tremendous on some of the tracks and I am glad I have a sub that produces it naturally and with authority.The music depends on your taste. I myself like it very much from that perspective as well. Okay so I am going to vote a 10 on this for both sonics and music composition. This is worth picking up on it's quality alone. Along with that, the fact that an independent person like Peter goes to the trouble to use analog tape along with 96/24 PCM and to place his microphones to capture a surround experience should dictate that we are all behind his efforts. I am assuming that a Hybrid SACD is the most efficient cost effective way of doing a hi-rez surround release as a CD/DVD-A combo would have required 2 discs whereas a Hybrid SACD of course accomplishes the same thing with a single disc. I guess some could argue that a direct 24/96 transfer to a DVD would have been one less layer than adding a conversion to an SACD as a carrier. Given the quality of this I don't think it matters.
 
First of all, thank you Guy,Elmer and Brian for your kind and insightful commentary . I do want the support of the audiophile community and I appreciate the exposure .

Brian asked me to comment on the SACD/ DVD-A thing and why we went the SACD route. Basically ,I just took the advice of Larry Chernicoff, Paul Antonell and Rich Tozzoli , (who captured and mixed) and David Glasser (who mastered) - the consensus was go to with the SACD format as in their opinion it simply sounded the best - I can definitely say that the bounce to analog stage was key . Mastering to DSD from the 2" 8 track stems was incredible . Especially in the main mastering room at Airshow with David's massive Dunlavy speakers

BTW, IMHO, in a tightly controlled listening environment , "A-B-ing" between digital and analog-there was no contest- With analog tape the bottom begins to breathe and swell with a depth, power and warmth that was otherwise minimized . Having Tony Levin and Jerry Marotta anchoring the rhythm section, there was a real need for accuracy and presence down there in the low zone-those guys plays so much interesting stuff and we wanted it to meld with the acoustic ensemble as seamlessly as possible .We put Tony and Me in each speaker to varying degrees to slightly enhance that feeling as well . I hope that was somewhat helpful- My technical know how only goes so far-but I love to answer questions-so fire away at any time-

Best to all

Peter
 
Hey Peter,

There are very few times on forums that you are actually able to interact with the composer. I really appreciate this. From my listening experience with hi-rez titles it is usually the ones that are sourced from a well recorded analog stage that sound the best. There is just something warm and vibrant with this that cannot be lessened with digital processing. Are there any tracks that were done direct to digital as I can hear some difference between tracks and I was wondering whether it was the analog sourcing that made this difference?

Also, IMO I think the bass was extremely well handled.
 
The set up was something like this :we tracked live (for the most part) in a large room at clubhouse in Rhinebeck- there are pictures on my website- you can see here:

http://www.peterprimamore.com/granciawebselects/granciawebselects.html

Paul and Rich spent about 2 days just placing mikes and hanging figure 8's in strategic points around the room- the signal path went from these 30-40 mikes into a vintage neve board (rumored to have been used by John Lennon) and then sent to various high end outboard gear-almost all of it tube based- it was then captured digitally in pro-tools at 24//96- then mixed down to 2" inch analog and mastered to DSD- this was the same process for each track- the diffences I think you are hearing may have to do with the fact that we opted for a dynamic panning stategy based upon each tune- though the mixes are always centered from the piano perspective, different tunes sometimes have different players in different panning locations - otherwise the basic capture and mix formula was consistent throughout .

I love to talk with listeners - I am grateful that so many people seem to be enjoying the record . Thanks .
 
Interesting one this. The sound is absolutely gorgeous, the surround mix is demonstration quality - incredibly effective right from the simple oboe / harp duet through to tracks with a lot more musicians.

Oi give it ten.
 
Loved the mix on this and am definately glad I took the plunge after reading elmer's inital post. Having Tony Levin on Bass was the kicker for me to buy it.

It is interesting to find that this was conceived as a surround release from the start. I am hoping that more Artists and Producers will follow this example, and that the sales figures for albums such as this will be high enough to justify more of the same.

Great job Peter, thanks. Gave it a 10.

I prefer this release (music wise) over "October" - don't tell Larry :) .

I have purchased from CD Baby before and their service is fantastic.
 
Thanks to you all- I appreciate the buzz and helping get the word out . As always ,feel free to ask any questions about the record etc.. I love to connect with my listeners .


Cheers from Ice cold NYC,


Peter
 
Thanks for stopping by Peter! It's great to be able to correspond with artists, especially with regards to surround sound projects!
 
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