Soundabout

Wow. Check out this demo of an as yet unreleased utility from Mac audio utility builders audioease.

Link

Nine Inch Nails champion hi-def audio

The first simultaneous DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray music release will be Nine Inch Nails Live  Beside You in Time. Released by Interscope Records on February 27, the live concert was filmed during the band’s 2005-2006 world tour. Extras include a selection of music videos and rehearsal footage. The software industry will be watching the [...]

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Dave Davis on the new Sonic Studio Hardware

[T]he hardware is absolutely amazing. The best interface I’ve ever used, period. Mine’s custom from MH with a few goodies, but the same guts as Sonics. The DACs are jaw droppers: its as if a whole new octave has been discovered on the bottom. I’ve never heard bass so accurate, rich and clear in my life, and the top is effortlessly smooth.

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That’s a snippet from Dave’s post on the wonderful mastering forum on the ProSound web site. There’s more if you follow the link.

Quantegy to Discontinue Various Magnetic Tape Products

Quantegy Recording Solutions has discontinued various magnetic tape product lines after manufacturing these products for more than 60 years. In a press release, Quantegy notes that improvements in other technologies has resulted . . .

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Formerly the mighty Ampex. Times are changing.

MAX Update

Version 0.7 has brought big improvements to this lossless audio application for the MAC OS X operating system. MAX can encode and decode to over 20 formats including MP3, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, AAC, Apple Lossless, Speex, AIFF, and WAVE which makes it a must have for any MAC users who need to convert their lossless audio files to different formats.

New Features[snip]

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I use this for ripping audio from CDs for production work when there isn’t a higher resolution version of the audio available. It has a particularly thorough error checking system.

Sonic Studio Delivers Multichannel

Sonic Studio is certainly on a roll. Recently the entire web site was revamped to reflect the flurry of product announcements coming from them. Today’s announcement is the biggest in my mind. We finally have something that can replace Sonic HD.

First there’s the Eight Channel upgrade option ($895) for soundBlade ($1495) which will work with any Core Audio interface.

Second you can buy a Sonic Studio-branded Firewire-based I/O in the form of the Model 304 DSP I/O Processor. $5895 gets you 8 channels of 192 kHz AES/EBU, 8 channels of ADC/DAC, a headphone output and DSP hardware acceleration for soundBlade.

Press Release pdf

Dolbycast – Audio and Home Theater Discussion

Craig and Jack discuss the best ways to enjoy your music in surround.

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I just listened to the latest Dolbycast. I wish the presenters weren’t so gonzo with their presentation. But I’m pleased that Dolby focused here on music releases. Their main points: use Dolby PLII to listen to your stereo sources (eg from iPods); and check out DVD-A. Somehow they managed to talk about DVD-A without mentioning The Beatles’ Love.

Fraunhofer Introduces Surround Sound for Internet

At Midem, a music and gaming convention held in Cannes, France, Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits introduced a new MP3 surround streaming module that allows manufacturers to build Web radios featuring 5.1 surround sound.

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You can download software players and encoders for Mac, Linux and Windows.

Wired News: Will Digital Radio Boom in U.S.?

U.S. radio broadcasters are banking on HD Radio — which transmits digital signals over normal AM and FM bands — as a crucial weapon in their battle with satellite broadcasters. But so far the response from listeners has been lukewarm.

Not so in the United Kingdom, where similar technology — known simply as “digital radio” — has become hugely popular. With radio giant Clear Channel recently launching a new digital partnership with Microsoft, is this the year that HD Radio will take off in the United States?

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How CDs are remastering the art of noise

Albums are getting louder and the sound quality is suffering. Audiophiles and engineers despair of the trend, but who is driving it?

“I can’t stand the sound of today’s CDs,” says Roland Stauber, a 39-year-old music lover who works in the automotive industry. “They sound harsh and loud. I hardly buy new releases any more.”

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Wonderful. I hope this subject gets more coverage in the mainstream press.