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Mastering the Art of CD

Editor's Note: Richard Hess has recently spent time remastering several CDs and wrote about the experience for an engineering newsgroup. We think Stereophile's online readers will find his comments about the process interesting.

I've had a lifelong love of and involvement with audio, and have often been frustrated by the lack of quality. The following are some real-world examples of the struggle for quality sound from my personal work.

Marie-Lynn Hammond, the Toronto-based singer-songwriter I'm working with, had released five albums by the time I met her. I've re-released albums 1…

Pay the Man to Play the Band

In an effort to smooth the way for websites that wish to legally reproduce copyrighted music, BMI announced last week that it has now become the world's largest online digital rights management company with the launch of its Digital Licensing Center (DLC) and "Klick-Thru" online copyright licensing system. The company says that the DLC is intended to help Internet companies digitally obtain a music-performance license through BMI.com, allowing them to publicly "perform" any of BMI's 4.5 million copyrighted works from its 250,000 songwriters, composers, and music publishers.

BMI's Frances W…

Grokster Decision Leaves Matters Murky

On June 27, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of Metro-Goldwin-Mayer (MGM), agreeing that peer-to-peer file-sharing services such as StreamCast Networks and Grokster could be held responsible (read: be sued) if they encouraged their users to infringe copyrights. This will return the "MGM vs Grokster" case to a lower court, where it will be determined whether or not the P2P companies encouraged their users to violate copyright laws.

Justice David H. Souter wrote: "We hold that one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by…

CDs Cheaper than Downloads

An old adage has it that one common type of fool believes that anything new must be better.

Little noted during the past year's hoopla about the success of Apple Computer's iTunes Music Service and its slew of online competitors was the real cost to music fans. During the first week of April, reports appeared in Wired News, The Wall Street Journal, and elsewhere exposing the fact that many recordings cost more in virtual form than they do as physical products.

Apple hyped its service at 99¢ cents per song/$9.99 per album, but it has been charging $16.99 for the popular Fly or Die by…

Added to the Archives This Week

Wes Phillips writes: "If, as some would have it, Audiophilia nervosa is like the dark night of reason, then certain audio epiphanies must necessarily stand out from a distance, like a grove of trees 20 miles away thrown into stark relief by prairie lightning." In his review of the B&W Nautilus 801 loudspeaker, WP recounts that "the B&W Nautilus 801 has the stuff to keep me in fireplace fantasies throughout my dotage, and probably well into my (hyper)active middle age to boot."

"My paradoxical brief is to ferret out real audio improvements for zero or minimal cost; if you know what…

DSD in the Studio

At present, the recording industry is based on a variety of analog and PCM digital audio formats, putting proponents of Super Audio Compact Disc (SACD, which is based on the Direct Stream Digital, or DSD, format) in a tough place when it comes to creating pure DSD works for showing off the format. To date, labels have had a limited number of options for creating, mixing, and mastering pure DSD projects.

Nashville-based SADiE, which markets digital audio workstations and is one of the only two companies currently offering a commercially-available SACD authoring system, has decided to take…

Industry Update

EMI drops: The EMI Group, the British music company, sent its stock prices plummeting 16% with its announcement last week that sales for the fiscal year ending next month would be as much as 9% below those of last year.

This time it isn't downloaders that are to blame. The company has been forced to delay the releases of new CDs by the bands Coldplay and Gorillaz until after the March 31 financial year's end. No reasons were given for the delays, although rumors have been circulating that Coldplay is breaking up. Re-orders and purchases of EMI's backcatalog—traditionally considered a…

Added to the Archives This Week

Chip Stern writes in his review of the Blue Circle BC3 Galatea line-level preamplifier, "From the moment I hooked these units up, the captivating turquoise glow of their matching front-panel lights (a glowing orb within a blue circle) held out the promise of something inviting and serene." Promise fulfilled? Stern spills the Blue Circle beans.

From the current February issue, Robert J. Reina profers his opinion of the Mission m71 loudspeaker. With his favorite Mission 731i loudspeaker now discontinued, RR sees if he can cuddle up to its fresh-faced replacement.

It may resemble an…

XM Radio Feeling Shy?

XM Radio held a press conference in New York City Thursday, April 18. The event was heralded with great secrecy—attendees were enticed with promises of "major news," but no one leaked details beforehand, and the press arrived expecting something juicy indeed.

Whether or not XM delivered on its promises depends on who you talk to. XM Satellite Radio's executive vice president Steve Gavenas began the meeting with a passing reference to the company's latest round of financing—a public offering, which resulted in gross proceeds of $154 million, more than enough, he assured attendees, to last…

Primedia To Acquire emap usa

On Monday, July 2, 2001, Primedia announced that it has agreed to acquire emap usa from Emap plc. This transaction, which will create the second largest magazine company in the United States, is currently under a customary regulatory review. It is expected to close during the third quarter of the calendar year.

This new development offers many exciting opportunities for emap usa assets. Primedia is the largest targeted media company in the world with a strong presence in the automotive, teen, outdoor, active sports and consumer electronics arenas. Once the sale is concluded, more…