Jump to content

JimC

  • Posts

    12
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Country

    country-ZZ

Retained

  • Member Title
    Newbie
  1. You do realise that Apple haven't actually announced anything? A lot has been made out of a single CNN article... I have a pretty good idea what they are up too; not that I am going to steal their thunder. Jim - Linn Records
  2. Hi Folks, Writing to keep you all up to speed on the situation and let you know the latest developments. We have been working closely with ARTS on this and I can confirm that the label’s titles are indeed genuine 24/96 recordings and none have been up-sampled from CD. We talked in some detail with their engineers before penning the original deal with the label, and understood their recording engineer’s recording techniques and workflow to be of the highest standard. It appears, however, that when batch exporting their catalogue for delivery to our servers there has been some form of heavy low-pass filtering, or that the audio has met some piece of outboard that was only 44.1khz capable, and the high frequencies have been lost. This process was completed post-master by a member of staff at ARTS that is no longer with the company, so sadly we can get no more detail than that! All their audio was delivered to us around two years ago and our systems, some of them automated, did not catch this discrepancy. These systems have since seen a significant overhaul and every album delivered, from whatever source, now goes through a full manual check in addition to our automated quality controls. We are in the process of getting the entire ARTS catalogue delivered again. This will be done meticulously, and for each title the label are getting the original recording engineer on board to revisit the original sessions to ensure that the workflow, and purity of the audio is preserved. I have attached some spectrum grabs comparing the previously available and new material for anyone who is interested. This isn’t a speedy process but starting today, and over the coming months, we will be making the titles available once more, and contacting customers individually to make them aware and allow them to download again. These ARTS 24-bit recordings are great and sound even better with the full frequency range restored. Many thanks for your patience and valuable feedback, Jim - Linn Records
  3. Hi Folks, Just writing to keep you up to speed on where we are at. We take issues of quality very seriously, hence the reason we have taken the step to remove all ARTS content from sale, while we examine what has been reported here and are able to give our own full report on the music in question. We can of course see the spectral analysis that has been posted here and also make our own in-depth analysis of the music files. In order to give the fullest response possible, with the detail that you rightly request, we also require input from the label and engineers involved in the original recording; so we thank you for your patience while we wait for their response and gather all the information. Incidentally, here is the recording spec for the Brandenburg Concertos: - Microphones: Sennheiser MKH20 (2), Schoeps MK2s (3), Neumann KM140 (4), DPA 4011 (2) - Analog-mixer: Studer 861A/D conversion 24 bit / 96 kHz: Prism Sound Dream AD2 - Monitoring: Focal proline MC-210 using Studer-power-amplifiers - Headphones: Sennheiser HD-600 - Digital editing + mastering: Sadie5-PCM-8 digital workstation using Waves-directX mastering processing It is one of our core principles to do the right thing by our customers - the most valuable part of our business - and we intend to do just that as soon as we know all the facts. We really do appreciate the feedback of enthusiast communities like this, as we are enthusiasts too. Jim - Linn Records
  4. Hi Folks, It is a strict policy that Linn do not, and will never intentionally market any recordings that have been up-sampled. This is explicit in our agreements with partner labels, and we do go to significant lengths to check and make sure of the integrity of the music we sell. We are looking into this specific recording and will report back as soon as we know more. In the mean time this title has been taken off sale. Jim - Linn Records
  5. Hello Everyone, The second in the series has gone out through Twitter. This time we even have a 192kHz Studio Master! Beethoven Piano Concertos from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, with Sir Charles Mackerras and Artur Pizarro Oh, and for anyone who wants to buy the full album of any of the recordings in the series, use the Promotion Code TW622P94 to get 20% off the full album! Let just know what you think of the record here or via Twitter. Jim - Linn Records
  6. Do you use EC2 at all? Interested in your experiences with that. It would most likely require a combo of that for token authentication... but we really are getting boring now! Jim
  7. Hi Chris, We have, and still are, investigating Amazon among other cloud based CDNs. *This is a whole other debate though!* But it is not just as simple as the prices make it appear. the CDN has to be capable of good large object transfer and not just website acceleration (as CloudFront is aimed at) and/or cheap storage. We also need to look at how the cache flushing of the POPs work on the CloudFront setup. It's not just a question of cheaper storage either, there are security issues that have to be addressed when using S3 + CloudFront, making sure that this all ties in securely to the to the server dealing with the transactions. With out getter uber geeky and slightly boringly un-music-related on here, there are other issues too. As I said, we are always working on providing better value, but we have to make sure that this isn't at the cost of quality or service. Thanks for all the input though! Jim
  8. Hi Guys, While we don't have the cost of pressing the CD, there is still a significant cost to selling downloads of this size, something which a lot of people don't appreciate. Bandwidth costs alone on recordings which can have individual track sizes of up to 650MB is significant, and that's not including the infrastructure costs (including keeping everything secure) and all the other expenses associated with paying artists fairly. There is also cost to storing the files too! It is easy to take these things for granted when we live in the web 2.0 age, when many companies offering web services for free are venture capital funded and operate under massive losses, hoping to figure out a way to be sustainable later! But we are always looking for ways we can make things more affordable, but only if we don't compromise on the ultimate quality and service provided. We lament the decline of the local CD shop as much as anymore - we still distribute our records as wildly as possible - and sadly the demise of the record store as we know it can be attributed to far more obvious sources such as piracy and the state of the high street as a whole. We are actually happy for any audio shops to stock our catalog in disc or hard drive form, so you don't have to just download from us! If their are any retailers out there interested, please do get in touch. Jim - Linn Records
  9. Hi Poo,<br /> <br /> Well it wasn't intended as that! If any of the moderators agree, the please do take these posts down... not my intention at all.<br /> <br /> We are really quite pleased that other labels are coming on-board with 24-bit music after championing it for a few years now. When people hear the difference (with appropriate hardware of course) we think it will benefit the format as a whole.<br /> <br /> And it seemed an appropriate thread to post in, as it's more 24-bit music for people to go and try out of free - legitimately. <br /> <br /> Incidentally, we are not offering this through our website, pushing people to 'give us their details', or sign up to our mailing list to download these track; It's all done through SoundCloud.com so anyone across the web can test out the format.<br /> <br /> But again, if anyone is from CA or Reference Recordings is unhappy, please do take down my posts!<br /> <br /> Jim - Linn Records
  10. Hi Chrille,<br /> <br /> Well, there are lots of Jazz fans out there (me included) and this is one incredible jazz drummer. There is a vast gulf between this and Muzak!<br /> <br /> Personally I think it really does have some great dynamics, and the 24-bit recording really gets the driving power of the horns and crack of the drums across beautifully. 24-bit is only about dynamics, but a great sense of space too - something that's great to hear in a live band like this.<br /> <br /> But don't worry, as I mentioned in my <a href="http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Free-Linn-Records-24-bit-Studio-Master-Downloads">original post</a> we will be catering for the classical aficionados too; next up in the series is a 24/192kHz classical recording!<br /> <br /> And if it's classcal + dynamics you are after - just wait until you hear the next set of Mozart recordings from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Sir Charles Mackerras. I was fortunate enough to be filming the sessions, and spent a few hours in the control room - incredible!<br /> <br /> Jim
  11. We have been running a similar series via Twitter, offering up free 24-bit tracks from our catalogue to directly compare these with CD quality files and MP3s. <a href="http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Free-Linn-Records-24-bit-Studio-Master-Downloads">See my post here</a> about it.<br /> <br /> Good stuff CA!<br /> <br /> Jim - Linn Records<br /> <br /> <br />
  12. Hi Folks, For anyone who is interested in doing a direct real-world comparison between 24-bit, 16-bit and MP3, we are running a little 24-bit download series via Twitter. Great to see the guys at Reference Recordings doing a similar thing via Computer Audiophile! These are the exact files we sell in download form, not just some test tone or doctored clips. First up: some awesome Jazz from Alyn Cosker. Download the full 16bit and 24bit FLAC versions of this track for free and have a listen. I think you will be pleasantly surprised! Click the little down arrow on the right hand side to download each track, and make sure you preview them through a DAC or soundcard capable of reproducing 24-bit/96Khz. Get the tracks here Follow us on Twitter too if you would like to keep up with it and hear some more. Coming up in the series we have some classical recordings (at 24/192kHz!) some great rock and pop from Maeve O'Boyle, and as yet unreleased new work from jazz great Claire Martin! Enjoy! Jim - Linn Records
×
×
  • Create New...