Intrada Soundtrack Forum

Blu-ray Audio, or "Pure Audio" as it is also called, has a niche audience in the classical and pop/jazz/rock genres. My suggestion for Intrada is to do very limited pressings of some of the best sounding soundtrack recordings the label has worked on.

I assume that you currently transfer from tape in 96kHz/24-bit resolution or the like, and master/mix in something like 32-bit floating point? Of course, in the case of digital elements there is a wide number of sample rates that were used for the source, but the point would be to keep it all in the native resolution. As you know, multi-track elements give you freedom to go nuts with convincing surround mixes to coincide with the stereo mixes that we already love.

You can't know how something will sell until you've tried it. I'm pretty sure you would be the first dedicated soundtrack label to do this outside of the likes of Tadlow, and I would support it.

I agree that Intrada should try this, or at least try producing some SACD hybrid discs. (Varese tried that years ago and abandoned it, but that was before SACD had really caught on for orchestral music.) If there's room for 500 copy vinyl pressings I think Intrada would be similarly surprised by the interest in better-than-CD digital formats.

Yavar

Just as some score recordings fit the vinyl aesthetic perfectly, others could possibly lend way to a perfect Blu-ray Audio experience.

Some really interesting surround mixes can probably be made out of scores like White Fang, Young Sherlock Holmes and The Shadow. I wouldn't be surprised if Vince DiCola would be game in doing a sparkling new surround mix for Rocky IV.

This is all just something to think about if there ever comes a time when things aren't so hectic at the office.

What would you guys especially like to see released on this format?

Given their noted availability of multi-tracks, relative popularity and pertinent sound signatures, I think the following would make great 5.1/7.1 surround sound presentations.

The Shadow
Young Sherlock Holmes
Rocky IV
The Black Hole
Return to Oz
Flesh+Blood
White Fang
The Dove (from the 8-channel album tapes)


The original Jaws would be an excellent way to get some more people hooked on this format. If available and approved, the much liked quad LP mix could be represented as well.

I like the way you guys dream!

I think the original Jaws would be an AWESOME title to try this on. If it were an SACD hybrid then the quad album mix could go on the SACD layer and the stereo mix on the regular CD layer. I'm sure Doug could do a great multichannel mix for the original film recording as well.

If they instead went the route of offering a separate Blu-ray Audio edition, I would point out that both the film and album recordings (in whatever mixes) could all fit on a single Blu-ray disc.

In fact, while working at the Santa Fe Opera this past summer I decided as music buyer to test a single copy of a Blu-ray Audio release. It had a brand new mastering of the complete Solti Ring cycle (we're talking like 16 hours of music here), all on a single Blu-ray disc! It was priced at $80 (actually cost $30 more than the 16-CD version of the same remastering) and someone did indeed spring for it. So there's a market.

If people will pay $35 plus expensive shipping for an LP, I don't see why Intrada couldn't try SACD hybrid or Blu-ray audio versions of film music. Both formats have been successful for many classical labels. Naxos and 2L seem to have fully embraced Blu-ray Audio, and some other labels have dipped their toes in (over 120 classical releases in the format so far):
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/lis ... st_id=3567

Others have continued to stick by SACD like Chandos, Harmonia Mundi, Ondine, BIS, MD&G, Dacapo, Pentatone, Tudor, 2L, Reference Recordings, Dutton, Linn, Praga, CPO, Audite, Ars Produktion, Channel Classics, Telarc, Alia Vox (Jordi Savall's label), and more, plus the house labels for the Royal Concertgebouw, London Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, and Mariinsky orchestras...over 3000(!) titles in print currently:
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Alb ... um_group=4

It's a shame the "big" labels like Sony and Deutsche Grammophon gave up on the format so early because the big boom in popularity for classical music on SACD (which is still going strong) seems to have started just a year or two after they stopped production in the format. (I'm sure it didn't help that early on for the format they didn't produce hybrid versions that could play in regular CD players and get ripped in iTunes.)

Yavar

It also didn't help that many labels -- such as Varese, not to mention Telarc and Naxos who also gave them up -- released both standard CDs along with the SACDs at higher price. Most of the labels that have been successful with it it kept their same price for SACD as they did for CDs, if they did both.

I have a decent collection of SACDs, mostly classical, rock and jazz stuff. Despite reservation about the common PCM-to-DSD workflow affecting purity, which ultimately goes back to PCM again if you have your AV receiver perform meaningful room correction, I enjoy it. My first SACD player was a Denon DVD-2930CI, and I've been buying SACD-capable players ever since. You can't beat OPPO for multi-format players.

My preference is with Blu-ray Audio given its many capabilities and the pure nature of keeping audio in high-resolution PCM throughout the entire transfer/mix/master/delivery chain. Oh, and Blu-ray Audio tracks can be ripped into full quality files with relative ease.