| Site review by Christine Tham November 5, 2009
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Performance: Sonics (S/MC): / |
Never have I been more (pleasantly) surprised with a review disc than I have just been with this title!
This disc arrived from IsoMike about a week ago, and to be honest I did not look forward to reviewing it. "High Altitude Drums"??? Is the listening experience akin to suffering from high altitude sickness? I half imagined that the disc contains recordings of high school kids in marching bands playing Sousa waltzes, with "Danny Boy" or "The Sound of Music" thrown in as bonus tracks.
Also, the disc seems to suggest "audiophile demo material" - anyone remember the Sheffield "Drum" and "Track" records? Audiophiles love showing off their systems using "demo discs" with excellent recording quality but questionable musical quality, and this disc seems to fit into the same category.
When I inserted the disc into my player and started spinning it, I didn't read the "Volume Control" instructions on page 10-11 of the booklet first, and as a result I was initially completely underwhelmed. The sound was tinny and distant. I thought "What are these? Toy soldiers playing miniature instruments?"
Here's the scoop: the album has been recorded at an extremely low level in order to capture the full dynamics of a drum and bugle corps with no compression or peak limiting, so to hear the recording at a "normal" listening level requires turning up the volume control. Way up. On my system, I normally play multi-channel SA-CDs with the volume control at the 9 o'oclock or 9:30 position (in comparison to an analog clock), and the highest I have ever had to turn up the volume was to a 10:30 position (for an uncompressed recording of a symphonic orchestra). For this disc, I had to turn the volume control all the way up to 11:30!
The first track "Prelude" is useful as a volume level calibration track (according to the liner notes) - the volume level is adjusted until the crescendo sounds natural and peaks at a loud but comfortable hearing level.
After doing that, all I can say is "Wow!" This disc truly is "audiophile demo quality" - the music comes alive in such a truly remarkable way that if I closed my eyes I could well imagine I am in the field surrounded by the musicians. In the background, I can even hear distant sounds of motor traffic and snatches of conversation.
As for the instruments themselves, being used to listening to synthetic compressed drums I never imagined that the drum as a musical instrument can be so subtle and alive. The bugles also sound wonderfully nuanced and realistic.
It's amazing hearing these instruments uncompressed because they sound so natural and amazingly realistic. The loud passages are really loud, so loud that they literally take my breath away, and yet not painfully loud (unlike what happens when the volume control is turned up on compressed recordings) and my ears remained open and not "clamped down" at the end.
What about the music? No, I did not hear Danny Boy, or the theme from Hawaii Five O rendered by amateur musicians - what I heard was intelligent, interesting, articulate music played by a group (actually two groups, the Blue Knights and the Troopers Drum & Bugle Corps) of very professional musicians.
This recording also dramatically showcases the advantages of the SA-CD format - the 4.0 surround recording has a truly enveloping soundscape, and the high resolution of DSD means the music sounds incredibly detailed and alive despite being recorded at a very low level - I can hear a very palpable loss of resolution on the CD version.
In summary, if you are into audiophile demo discs, this is the one that will rule them all. Even if you are not, you will enjoy about 40 minutes worth of great music, thrilling to listen to.
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Copyright © 2009 Christine Tham and SA-CD.net
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| Site review by Castor November 10, 2009
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Sonics (MC): |
It is difficult to work out exactly who this disc is aimed at. Is it Drum Corps anoraks (nerds)? Is it those wishing to impress their friends with the sonic qualities and indestructibility of their hi-fi system? Is it to spread the word about Ray Kimber’s remarkable IsoMike recording system? The last of these questions is much better answered by some of the earlier releases on this label in which the recording technology is placed at the service of the music and allows the listener to focus on not just the sound but also the musical qualities of the performances.
These recordings, made in Ogden Utah in 2007 and 2008, showcase performances by the Blue Knights Drum and Bugle Corps and The Troopers Drum and Bugle Corps.
The programme on this disc begins with a short ‘Prelude’ played by the Blue Knights, which allows the listener to select a suitable volume setting that will best demonstrate the impressive sounds to come, while at the same time avoiding amplifier and speaker conflagration or permanent hearing damage. Remember these recordings are free from any compression or peak limiting, so their full dynamic range is retained.
I was unprepared for the shock of the next three tracks that condensed some of Shostakovich’s 10th Symphony and 1st Piano Concerto into eleven excruciating minutes. The composer would have been spinning like a top in his grave had he been able to hear what was being inflicted on his music by these horrendous arrangements.
Tracks 6-9 feature the Troopers Drum and Bugle Corps. There is much impressive drumming, and the use of additional percussion including tubular bells in numbers such as ‘Ghost Train/Canyon of Heroes’, ‘Sasparilla’ and ‘The Great Revival/Ghost Riders in the Sky’. The Blue Knights return for the final seven tracks starting with the solo drumming of ‘Square Push’ and ‘Street Beat’ that, though two of the shortest on the disc, are among the most spectacular. By the time Track 14, Ravel’s ‘Jeux D’Eau’(which the notes writer tells us is ‘literally translated as “laughing rain”’), was reached I had almost lost the will to live, but managed to last to ‘Amazing Grace’ without recourse to valium.
The 4.0 channel recording does provide an amazingly realistic picture of music played in the great outdoors and though some will question the discs meagre playing time of 39’ 45” be assured it is more than enough.
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Copyright © 2009 Graham Williams and SA-CD.net
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