PlayClassics TRT v2.0 master file giveaway for CA members

[Mario Martinez]

The main goal of our project is to develop a recording setup that solves the problems artists face when recording their work.

 

To get an understanding of what these problems are you can read this paper "The performer's place in the process and product of recording" published by Professor Amy Blier Carruthers (Royal College of Music, London) over the 2nd PSN Conference on 2013.

The performer's place in the process and product of recording

 

We started working on our setup on 2009 long before that paper was published. Here you can read about our solution:

About - PlayClassics, the art of true music

 

As you can see, there are many aspects to these problems. The quality of recorded sound itself is one of the biggest issues. Our solution to this respect is based on transparency: "In our studios the recording hall is configured so that the sound of the hall is exactly the same as the sound of the take"

 

The purpose of the Truthful Recording Technology is to achieve this transparency. To go about this, we only use two mics always placed on the same exact spot of our auditorium (we do not use any mixing or mastering). Our technology is all about calibrating the hall and the recording chain to be transparent. The better the calibration, the more transparent the setup will be and the more control the artists will have over the recorded sound.

 

Nine months ago we started a thread called: PlayClassics master file giveaway for CA members. The purpose of that thread was to have CA members try the sound of the Truthful Recording Technology on their systems. What we shared with you back then was the most transparent sound we had so far (that was calibration version 1.0). That truly was a great experience. It was a lot of fun being able to share all that with you.

 

Up to that point we had only used our setup with classical music instruments, but thanks to that thread we started trying new things out. One of the things we tried was a drums set and a rock band. The recorded sound of those instruments was not as transparent as we would have expected. That made us realize there was still some room for improvement on our calibration. We tried to do some fixes over calibration v1.0 but that approach did not seem to work. (Here is the thread where we published those results: PlayClassics Truthful Recording Technology v1.1)

 

We then knew we would have to re-calibrate from scratch:

 

I would like to try something new.

 

I think fixing this minor problems by applying little patches over calibration v1.0 is not going to work.

 

In order to get good results we might have to re-calibrate from scratch. Do not worry, we are not going to change the sound. We are always aiming at transparency, so even if we do the calibration 100 times we will always end up at almost the same identical place. But this time, I am aware of this little problems, so I will try to deal with them from the beginning.

 

I might take me a few days, but I will report back as soon as I have something that I am convince of

 

It has been 5 months since then, but I think it was all worth it. We have a new calibration v2.0 that we would like to share with you. This is not a patch or a fix over v1.0 it is a completely new calibration. Our studio is setup so that you can record and playback right away so it is very easy to compare the quality of the live source against the quality of the recorded sound. Comparing the quality of the recorded sound of both calibrations (v1.0 and v2.0) against the quality of the live source it becomes clear that v2.0 is more transparent. What we would like to know is how does that turn out on your systems.

 

We will be happy to send a Gift Code to all CA members who would be willing to try the Truthful Recording Technology (calibration v2.0) sound on their systems.

 

Just post the album of your choice and we will send you a Gift Code to download the full dynamic range 24bit 96kHz Truthful Master.

 

All we want in exchange is to get as much feedback as possible. It would be great if we could get your testimonials to include them on our web page.

 

PlayClassics, the art of true music

[odelay]

I'm most curious to hear what you have done with the new calibration to deal with that room resonance.

 

Please send me codes to download the new Iberia version.

 

I won't be able to listen for a few days, though. Sadly.

 

Thanks [emoji846]

[bkinbk]

Very exciting. I'd love to try the Albeniz. Unless you also have the rock band (which I didn't see on your site).

 

Thanks Mario!

[esldude]

If you have a new version of Cabrera plays Debussy. That would be nice. If not just pick a V2 version for me that you are very happy with. I know from your previous recordings you do a great job with them.

[kschac]

I'd love to hear the Cabrera plays Debussy or Debussy Preludes. Thanks!

[semente]

Hi Mario,

 

Could I get the codes for the Albéniz Iberia and the Cabrera plays Debussy recordings?

 

Thanks,

Ricardo

[Jamesroy]

Yes please send me the files

[wouterk]

Hi Mario,

Could you send me the code for Debussy please? I think it is amazing what you have achieved thus far:)

[mansr]

I'd like the new versions of Polish Songs and Iberia, please.

[Mario Martinez]

Thank you all. I am really happy you are taking the time to listen!

 

I am thinking maybe we should all get two albums.

 

See, all these recordings are made exactly the same way: It is always the same piano, with the same tuning, sitting on the same spot of the stage. The hall, the recording gear and the calibration is always the same. In fact the only thing that is different would be the performer himself. So if you listen to two recordings of two different pianists you should get a sense of how those pianists use the same instrument to produce sound in a different way.

 

This is actually an important part of this Truthful Recording Technology. Listening to different recordings of different pianists you would get a real sense of how they use the instrument just like you would if you were to listen to all those pianists in a real concert situation.

 

So, if we go ahead and do this, you should all have the Albéniz Iberia by Luis Grané and one of the other three albums by Cabrera (Cabrera plays Debussy, Chopin Polish Songs or Songs of Paolo Tosti)

 

I hope you do not mind me going ahead and sending you all codes to complete your two albums

 

P.S. Debussy Preludes by Enrique Bernaldo de Quirós was recorded before we finished building our setup. Calibration v2.0 has been developed specifically for the current setup (working since April First 2013). Calibration v2.0 cannot be applied to that album. I took this album out of the list for this particular reason.

[Guidof]

Thank you, Mario.

 

Please send code for the Iberia and Cabrera plays Debussy.

[Nikhil]

Hello Mario,

 

I would be interested in Albéniz Iberia and Cabrera plays Debussy.

Thank you very much for sharing your work with here on CA.

 

Regards.

[sdolezalek]

Thanks Mario: Please send me both as well, it will be interesting to compare to the prior versions.

[francisleung]

Hi Mario, please send me codes to download the 2.0 tracks.

I do not understand it correctly. Are the tracks newly recorded with 2.0 calibration or they are reworked from previous recordings just like the 1.1 version? If the latter, I would like to have the third track of the drum set solo. It has been my new reference for a while.

[Mario Martinez]

Are the tracks newly recorded with 2.0 calibration or they are reworked from previous recordings just like the 1.1 version? If the latter, I would like to have the third track of the drum set solo. It has been my new reference for a while.

 

Hi Francis,

 

What we have done is develop a new calibration on the gear side of things (the physical setup remains the same) We have run that calibration on all our previous recordings (except the Debussy Preludes because that was recorded long ago with a different physical setup)

 

So yes, in your words, they are reworked. but this time, instead of trying to fix calibration v1.0 we have developed a new calibration from scratch.

 

I am posting the albums first. Once everyone has listen to them I will be posting the drums, flamenco and rock. This time we will be hearing all the albums, the drums, the flamenco, and the rock with the exact same calibration. If the quality of the sound is consistent across all audios (which did not happen the first time) then we will know we are at the transparency point.

[francisleung]

Thanks Mario.

I have tried downloading the Iberia many times but the linked got broken every now and then. Was able to piece one track together but after it played for a while, the sound was like firecracker. At first I thought the power supply to it or the DAC had failed. Will download again later.

Got two shorter ones, the tenor as well as the soprano.

 

Ideale, tenor

The sound of the 2.0 is more forward and louder, giving the impression of it being cleaner and clearer. I prefer this to the 1.1 version.

 

Polish song, soprano

in the 2.0, the piano is moved back and the voice moved forward, with better separation of the two. The soprano now stands in front of the piano. The 1.1 version was previously archived whereas the 2.0 version is now in playlist.

[qdwieertteyrujpo]

Unfortunately, I have to say that I encounter the same problems downloading. Keep on at it, though...

[qdwieertteyrujpo]

Unfortunately, I have to say that I encounter the same problems downloading. Keep on at it, though...

About 160 MB into the download after 5 or 6 retries, I gave up. Will try again some other time...

[Mario Martinez]

I am sorry to hear about this problem with the downloads.

 

Some people have already reported some issues. I do not know if this will help everybody, but this is what we did to solve them:

 

Firefox allows you to resume the download if it stops for any reason (probably Chrome or Safari do that to, but I just have not used them).

 

The size of the Albéniz Master is about 1.5Gb and the size of the Cabrera Master is about 1.0Gb. The files are quite big, so they take a long time to download. If the connection stops at any time you do not have to restart the download. You can resume it right at the point where it stopped. All you have to do is click on "Downloads" under the "Tools" menu and resume the download.

 

I hope that helps...

[mansr]

I am sorry to hear about this problem with the downloads.

 

Some people have already reported some issues. I do not know if this will help everybody, but this is what we did to solve them:

 

Firefox allows you to resume the download if it stops for any reason (probably Chrome or Safari do that to, but I just have not used them).

 

The size of the Albéniz Master is about 1.5Gb and the size of the Cabrera Master is about 1.0Gb. The files are quite big, so they take a long time to download. If the connection stops at any time you do not have to restart the download. You can resume it right at the point where it stopped. All you have to do is click on "Downloads" under the "Tools" menu and resume the download.

 

I hope that helps...

 

I've had good results using the DownThemAll! download manager for Firefox. It will automatically resume interrupted downloads.

[Nikhil]

Hello Mario,

 

Yes I can confirm that using Firefox is much better than using Chrome.

The download does fail but Firefox's download manager allows you to restart from where it last stopped.

 

@mansr: How did you use a download manager for these downloads?

I tried using Freedownload Manager but it fails authentication. (Invalid username or password)

[francisleung]

The 2.0 Iberia.

It is crispier, cleaner and more lively. A slight veil in the 1.1 version that I did not notice has been removed. It is louder now and I need to reduce -2db in gain compared with the 1.1. The piano is now "perceived" more realistically in the centre of the soundstage.

If I am asked to demo a piano track, this is the one.

Thank you Mario.

[ciccio1112]

I would be very interested to hear the songs.Thanks

[mansr]

@mansr: How did you use a download manager for these downloads?

I tried using Freedownload Manager but it fails authentication. (Invalid username or password)

 

With DownThemAll, the normal Firefox save dialog gets an extra option to use this manager in addition to the usual options. I guess it picks up whatever cookies or other authentication tokens might have been active when clicking the link.

[firedog]

I'd be interested in the Debussy and the Iberia.

Thanks