Octave Record's new DSD recording studio is nearly complete. Find out how the entire chain works and learn about the Pyramix recording system it is based upon.
Wow! Setting up and going through the process of learning that system shows the ultimate in dedication to the audio arts! You have my total respect sir!
In an effort to maintain revenue Sony developed dSD many years ago when their licensing stream for the CD was expiring. PCM has improved greatly over recent years and the PCM problems that DSD was supposed to address no longer exist. DSD has serious technical problems. Such as very high noise levels just above audible range requiring sophisticated filters and the need to convert to analog or PCM to edit and mix. When a PCM file is played on a native DSD single-bit converter, the single-bit DAC chip has to convert the PCM to DSD in real-time. This is one of the major reasons people claim DSD sounds better than PCM, when in fact, it is just that the chip in most modern single-bit DACs do a poor job of decoding PCM. A good DSD and a good PCM recording can be audibly indistinguishable.
Of course PCM can easily sound as good or better than DSD-64. We are not in 2 decades ago and PCM is not limited to red book specs only. This topic is a bit silly since all modern digital mixing/mastering can only be done in PCM and a transcoding to DSD will always be lossy or inferior.
99.9% are PCM converter are actually SDM, PWM.....etc it is 1bit. DSD is just the binary format for this 1 bit converter. DSD is free, but using the trademark is not. DSD and PCM conversion has no loses and produce exact waveform digitally in the correct conversion sampling. However DSD is the good for class D amplifier. Your iPhone may already, PCM to DSD/PWM driving directly to SDM/DA. SDM/DA to DSD/PWM then to PCM. In short only PCM for data, the rest are all "DSD".
Paul the naysayers will always say your not doing it right.The silly comment about DSD sounding better with a "PCM" base is the same rhetoric when cd's came out. As you remeber it went like this. Having a analog base makes CD's sound better. All that was really happening was you were adding pleasant noise. Someone got smart in the digital field and figured it out. They simply added dither to the signal which adds the smooth distortion most listeners like. Dither sounds like a breakthrough it's simply pleasant noise. Or how about the Tempest Vacuum Tube CD player. Simply a Phillips CD player with a slightly upgraded analog section. It had a fancier neat looking front face plate.The tubes softened up the digital sound. No hifi system comes anywhere close to the sound of a real 100 piece orchestra and even if it did your room will not come anywhere close to the sound of a real performing hall. It's all about make money which is alright with me. Most talky audio people have never gone to an unamplified musical event much less a live Symphony Orchestra. I still have fun with the audio toys but now days I simply enjoy music. Paul you do a great job helping consumers. Thank You. John Mastroleo
No, it was Google. Their algorithm decided that it was a hostile company as maybe one day, the troops of evil Google chips would loose a battle in a market Google would one day possible maybe enter.
Wonderful vid, nice to hear more about the system. I used to share Paul's view on bad recordings, but there has come much doubt to me on that. I agree on DSD, I really like it, even though my main DAC is not capable to play it. On the subject of recordings, Hans Beekhuyzen (he is on CZcams) once opposed to me that most recordings are pretty good, yet most gear is pretty bad. After upgrading my system (I suppose it is a revealing system, customised based on AudioNote DAC, Accuphase Class A Amp, JBL XPL and a De Groef (based in city of Groningen) passive pre), I must admit that Hans Beekhuyzen could be on the right track... It's the same on HiRes, though 24bit sounds better than 16 bit, anything above 48khz seems ridiculous to me, but I would love to hear otherwise. If now only I could get the AudioNote people to build me a DSD Dac.....
I am curious about the converters that you would build...I have a few converters including merging technologies converters, and I really like what I am hearing from them when I am doing some mastering work. And DSD 11.2 is what my ears like...
Sorry for the interruption Sr,if eventually ps audio staring with the creation of a/d converter could be oriented to have the vast and least amount of flexibility or re-create the most faithful linearity for the capture and distribution of audio streams across the d.a.w, what could be a good perspective about audio capture and final end process 👍
it makes sense that you don't use so called industry standard monitors , Mix on exactly what your audience is using to listen on, that makes sense to me. As a mixer my job is to make sure my mixes translate to all types of different configurations. And that's one of the reasons why I hold on to my ns10s .
@@Wizardofgosz I remember in the late 80s and 90s most people had a decent stereo system. Nowadays the average listener uses earbuds, I hate earbuds, every now and then I check my mixes on a pair of AKG earbuds.
Advice: buy everything under one roof. Stereo components “designed” to work together. Some guy that lives in Colorado specializes in just that..🤗👍😀😎🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵
The aim at mastering optimally against audiophile high performance speakers such as FR30 and not care about how it sounds on cheap junk is what I like about Paul’s mission with his studio. For example, I hate music made to sound reasonable on tiny phone speakers by adding extra harmonics (distortion) to the sub bass just to make the bass audible…but this DSD obsession is not my cup of tea. PCM is not a concern when used optimally.
AKM chip have a new product AK4499EX is their latest one, and AKM is not the best, you must include ESS sabre and even ROHM chips is amazing, it depends how the engineer tailored to make a great products
Finally. For decades we've all listened to all but randomly recorded, mixed and mastered music by people who just don't care - with their million dollar studios, fancy monitors and all that. Finally it dawned on somebody to do things right. Oh, the arrogance...
I won't go that far and say that they don't care. I personally know some of these guys and good at what they do. I blame a lot of the crappy records on the loudness War.
Translation between different listening sources would include the 95% majority listening on crappy ear buds, the 4.9% listening on semi decent home systems and the 0.1% listening on Audiophile systems.. You can't make everyone happy, and to say "doing it right" would be a misnomer if a song tracked/mixed/mastered on PS audio speakers were to translate terribly to shitty earbuds.
@@mixinginthebox Agreed.. thought the loudness war (minus a lot of EDM music) has sorta fizzled out in the past few years with acoustic based music.. granted their are genres (metal) that due to their overall loudness and inherent compression.. (distorion) can still benefit from some of the loudness.. (Though I prefer a dynamic mix in my metal, and I mix metal that way.. but hey, to each their own)
@@Wizardofgosz How much popular music (which is nearly all the music sold, by volume) have you listened to over the decades? There is a rather large swath of pop music that _is_ poorly recorded.
@@mixinginthebox Like Richard W. writes: Sarcasm eluded you. I was paraphrasing Paul, who pretty much said that before he came along, nobody cared about music properly. If that's not the stupidest thing... That's why I ended on noting something about arrogance. And not only is it arrogant to say like Paul does. It's painfully idiotic.
And WHY do YOU PAUL, like "Blue coast music" when it almost sounds like they just threw in the mic in to the piano and closed the lid,,, terrible. I will probably not like Octave Record recordings, I guess they will be technically over worked. How sad.
Interesting... Blue Coast Music is our DSD download store where we sell music from a lot of labels. Which piano sound are you referring to? Many of the piano recordings I didnot record are for sale. If you are talking about "Blue Coast Records" then yes, I did all the piano recordings. Micing a piano is a matter of taste. The lid is never closed on my recordings. I took 10 years to arrive at a sound that I prefer on my 1885 Steinway B. I've had numerous pro audio magazines feature my piano recording technique.. another extensive article on how I mic the piano (with many pictures) is coming in the fall. Originally, I modelled the sound after ECM, one of my favorite labels. I was after a more jazz or contemporary sound since at my studio we do a lot of pop/rock/folk/new age sessions. Art Lande is a great example of our piano sound... no added effects, no compression... a performance of jazz ballads by a master musician with many records on ECM (personally, I prefer my sound). bluecoastmusic.com/art-lande/while-she-sleeps Here is another example of a New Age recording by Fiona Joy Hawkins... the same mic / preamp technique, but much different player and mixing with more effects... bluecoastmusic.com/fiona-joy-hawkins/story-of-ghosts All albums at Blue Coast Records are recorded direct to DSD or tape. PCMfilters the sound of a piano's dynamics in a way I can't listen to. DSD doesn't.
DSD? The saying “flogging a dead horse” comes to mind. DSD is technically inferior to PCM and was obsolete the day it was invented. Many of todays finest recordings are recorded with PCM and distributed in 16/44.1 CDFormat. Poor recordings are down to sloppy production methods during recording and has little to do with the choice of recording format. If you think DSD sounds better then that’s fine. Just be aware that you could be buying Megabytes of high frequency noise.
PCM 24 bits can contain megabytes of dynamic range headroom never used as DSD contains megabytes of ultrasonic noise. Either way, I agree, actual music fidelity can be excellent with PCM and some people today can still argue that a 44.1kHz 14 bits Marantz CD-54 CD player from 1984 is the best sounding CD player ever. Yes, 14 bits for CD playback was once cool.
@@ThinkingBetter Yes, 24 Bits gives a theoretical dynamic range os 144dB, way, way more than possible or desirable. 16 Bits gives at least 96dB which is more than enough for quality recordings.
Can you please give some background on the basis of your expertise? I experienced DSD to be truly amazing even on cheap gear, which seems to be a proof of concept to me.
Wow! Setting up and going through the process of learning that system shows the ultimate in dedication to the audio arts! You have my total respect sir!
In an effort to maintain revenue Sony developed dSD many years ago when their licensing stream for the CD was expiring. PCM has improved greatly over recent years and the PCM problems that DSD was supposed to address no longer exist. DSD has serious technical problems. Such as very high noise levels just above audible range requiring sophisticated filters and the need to convert to analog or PCM to edit and mix. When a PCM file is played on a native DSD single-bit converter, the single-bit DAC chip has to convert the PCM to DSD in real-time. This is one of the major reasons people claim DSD sounds better than PCM, when in fact, it is just that the chip in most modern single-bit DACs do a poor job of decoding PCM.
A good DSD and a good PCM recording can be audibly indistinguishable.
Of course PCM can easily sound as good or better than DSD-64. We are not in 2 decades ago and PCM is not limited to red book specs only. This topic is a bit silly since all modern digital mixing/mastering can only be done in PCM and a transcoding to DSD will always be lossy or inferior.
99.9% are PCM converter are actually SDM, PWM.....etc it is 1bit. DSD is just the binary format for this 1 bit converter. DSD is free, but using the trademark is not. DSD and PCM conversion has no loses and produce exact waveform digitally in the correct conversion sampling. However DSD is the good for class D amplifier. Your iPhone may already, PCM to DSD/PWM driving directly to SDM/DA. SDM/DA to DSD/PWM then to PCM. In short only PCM for data, the rest are all "DSD".
Paul the naysayers will always say your not doing it right.The silly comment about DSD sounding better with a "PCM" base is the same rhetoric when cd's came out. As you remeber it went like this. Having a analog base makes CD's sound better. All that was really happening was you were adding pleasant noise. Someone got smart in the digital field and figured it out. They simply added dither to the signal which adds the smooth distortion most listeners like. Dither sounds like a breakthrough it's simply pleasant noise. Or how about the Tempest Vacuum Tube CD player. Simply a Phillips CD player with a slightly upgraded analog section. It had a fancier neat looking front face plate.The tubes softened up the digital sound. No hifi system comes anywhere close to the sound of a real 100 piece orchestra and even if it did your room will not come anywhere close to the sound of a real performing hall. It's all about make money which is alright with me. Most talky audio people have never gone to an unamplified musical event much less a live Symphony Orchestra. I still have fun with the audio toys but now days I simply enjoy music.
Paul you do a great job helping consumers.
Thank You.
John Mastroleo
Rumour has it the fire was started by SABRE.
Rumor has it that you are a rumor maker 🧐
@@ThinkingBetter LOL stop spreading rumours 🤣😂
No, it was Google. Their algorithm decided that it was a hostile company as maybe one day, the troops of evil Google chips would loose a battle in a market Google would one day possible maybe enter.
@Kyron But what if the rumors are true?
That folding plastic table really stood out to me - what a contrast to everything else there.
I am impressed you are keeping up. I do my best too. Great video Paul.
Love that you chose real speakers for monitors. In the 60s-80s at least single but often double 15" or 16" speakers were the "standard" in studios.
Fascinating and super duper interesting... Thanks Paul.
Thanks!
Thanks, Paul.
(For me) This is a gem.
I, just, downloaded it - I’m “In Search Of...’ 😉
Wonderful vid, nice to hear more about the system. I used to share Paul's view on bad recordings, but there has come much doubt to me on that. I agree on DSD, I really like it, even though my main DAC is not capable to play it.
On the subject of recordings, Hans Beekhuyzen (he is on CZcams) once opposed to me that most recordings are pretty good, yet most gear is pretty bad. After upgrading my system (I suppose it is a revealing system, customised based on AudioNote DAC, Accuphase Class A Amp, JBL XPL and a De Groef (based in city of Groningen) passive pre), I must admit that Hans Beekhuyzen could be on the right track... It's the same on HiRes, though 24bit sounds better than 16 bit, anything above 48khz seems ridiculous to me, but I would love to hear otherwise. If now only I could get the AudioNote people to build me a DSD Dac.....
Very true mic placement is where it's at. Look up Al Schmitt. Awesome video thank you.
I am curious about the converters that you would build...I have a few converters including merging technologies converters, and I really like what I am hearing from them when I am doing some mastering work. And DSD 11.2 is what my ears like...
Sorry for the interruption Sr,if eventually ps audio staring with the creation of a/d converter could be oriented to have the vast and least amount of flexibility or re-create the most faithful linearity for the capture and distribution of audio streams across the d.a.w, what could be a good perspective about audio capture and final end process 👍
Is there any chance that we can further enhance the quality on recording 2 channel audio by multi channeling??
What kind of XLR cables are you using in the studio?
@2:21 "These are all our favorite A > D converters, which are AKM"
I thought that your favorite converters were Ed Meitner custom converters?
AKM is the company that makes the converter chip that goes in the converter called Hapi which is made by Merging Technologies
Your theories are sound Paul, theres always gonna be a nay sayer or two out there no matter what ya do. Let the FR-30 speak for itself man!
it makes sense that you don't use so called industry standard monitors , Mix on exactly what your audience is using to listen on, that makes sense to me. As a mixer my job is to make sure my mixes translate to all types of different configurations. And that's one of the reasons why I hold on to my ns10s .
Its so true that every one of Octave records customers has a set of PS Audios $30,000 speakers in their home listening set ups..
@@Wizardofgosz Genelec are good. I use the white speaker in the black box because I'm used to them.
@@Wizardofgosz I remember in the late 80s and 90s most people had a decent stereo system. Nowadays the average listener uses earbuds, I hate earbuds, every now and then I check my mixes on a pair of AKG earbuds.
why the high noise on your on your dsd files and PCM, over 40 kHz you get a hump of about 20 DB of noise that's not very good is it lol
how dare you not be cookie-cutter!
Advice: buy everything under one roof.
Stereo components “designed” to work together. Some guy that lives in Colorado specializes in just that..🤗👍😀😎🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵
The aim at mastering optimally against audiophile high performance speakers such as FR30 and not care about how it sounds on cheap junk is what I like about Paul’s mission with his studio. For example, I hate music made to sound reasonable on tiny phone speakers by adding extra harmonics (distortion) to the sub bass just to make the bass audible…but this DSD obsession is not my cup of tea. PCM is not a concern when used optimally.
PCM sounds like crap, it's perfect for boardcast and speech but horrid for music.
AKM chip have a new product AK4499EX is their latest one, and AKM is not the best, you must include ESS sabre and even ROHM chips is amazing, it depends how the engineer tailored to make a great products
Chat-ta-nooga, sir. Not Chat-nooga. ;)
Finally. For decades we've all listened to all but randomly recorded, mixed and mastered music by people who just don't care - with their million dollar studios, fancy monitors and all that. Finally it dawned on somebody to do things right.
Oh, the arrogance...
I won't go that far and say that they don't care. I personally know some of these guys and good at what they do. I blame a lot of the crappy records on the loudness War.
Translation between different listening sources would include the 95% majority listening on crappy ear buds, the 4.9% listening on semi decent home systems and the 0.1% listening on Audiophile systems..
You can't make everyone happy, and to say "doing it right" would be a misnomer if a song tracked/mixed/mastered on PS audio speakers were to translate terribly to shitty earbuds.
@@mixinginthebox Agreed.. thought the loudness war (minus a lot of EDM music) has sorta fizzled out in the past few years with acoustic based music.. granted their are genres (metal) that due to their overall loudness and inherent compression.. (distorion) can still benefit from some of the loudness.. (Though I prefer a dynamic mix in my metal, and I mix metal that way.. but hey, to each their own)
@@Wizardofgosz How much popular music (which is nearly all the music sold, by volume) have you listened to over the decades? There is a rather large swath of pop music that _is_ poorly recorded.
@@mixinginthebox Like Richard W. writes: Sarcasm eluded you.
I was paraphrasing Paul, who pretty much said that before he came along, nobody cared about music properly. If that's not the stupidest thing... That's why I ended on noting something about arrogance. And not only is it arrogant to say like Paul does. It's painfully idiotic.
FIRST again I get 🥇🏆🍾🥂👏🇳🇱 and everlasting fame! I was so fast to click!
czcams.com/video/gCCD40eB-cU/video.html
And giving your own useless comment a thumb's up is pathetic.
probeer eens steeds 'het beste commentaar' te leveren ;) lol
And WHY do YOU PAUL, like "Blue coast music" when it almost sounds like they just threw in the mic in to the piano and closed the lid,,, terrible.
I will probably not like Octave Record recordings, I guess they will be technically over worked. How sad.
Interesting... Blue Coast Music is our DSD download store where we sell music from a lot of labels. Which piano sound are you referring to? Many of the piano recordings I didnot record are for sale. If you are talking about "Blue Coast Records" then yes, I did all the piano recordings. Micing a piano is a matter of taste. The lid is never closed on my recordings. I took 10 years to arrive at a sound that I prefer on my 1885 Steinway B. I've had numerous pro audio magazines feature my piano recording technique.. another extensive article on how I mic the piano (with many pictures) is coming in the fall. Originally, I modelled the sound after ECM, one of my favorite labels. I was after a more jazz or contemporary sound since at my studio we do a lot of pop/rock/folk/new age sessions. Art Lande is a great example of our piano sound... no added effects, no compression... a performance of jazz ballads by a master musician with many records on ECM (personally, I prefer my sound). bluecoastmusic.com/art-lande/while-she-sleeps Here is another example of a New Age recording by Fiona Joy Hawkins... the same mic / preamp technique, but much different player and mixing with more effects... bluecoastmusic.com/fiona-joy-hawkins/story-of-ghosts All albums at Blue Coast Records are recorded direct to DSD or tape. PCMfilters the sound of a piano's dynamics in a way I can't listen to. DSD doesn't.
@@soundconnex Blue Coast Music "Test Your System with Free Downloads"
The downsampled PCM files are badly brickwalled (freq.), which makes the piano sound overly inclosed.
DSD? The saying “flogging a dead horse” comes to mind. DSD is technically inferior to PCM and was obsolete the day it was invented. Many of todays finest recordings are recorded with PCM and distributed in 16/44.1 CDFormat. Poor recordings are down to sloppy production methods during recording and has little to do with the choice of recording format. If you think DSD sounds better then that’s fine. Just be aware that you could be buying Megabytes of high frequency noise.
PCM 24 bits can contain megabytes of dynamic range headroom never used as DSD contains megabytes of ultrasonic noise. Either way, I agree, actual music fidelity can be excellent with PCM and some people today can still argue that a 44.1kHz 14 bits Marantz CD-54 CD player from 1984 is the best sounding CD player ever. Yes, 14 bits for CD playback was once cool.
@@ThinkingBetter Yes, 24 Bits gives a theoretical dynamic range os 144dB, way, way more than possible or desirable. 16 Bits gives at least 96dB which is more than enough for quality recordings.
@@geoff37s38 And vinyl playback is equivalent to 12 bits of PCM when the disc is not too over-used or dusty.
Can you please give some background on the basis of your expertise? I experienced DSD to be truly amazing even on cheap gear, which seems to be a proof of concept to me.