Audio: Listen to this article.
What a week, and I’m far from complaining. After spending three days upgrading my immersive audio system, I headed to Chicago for Axpona on Thursday. Full articles about each experience are coming soon.
Today is the first day I’ve had a chance to sit down at my keyboard and collect my thoughts about what’s going on and what I’ve been dying to post about for days. The first one that is killing me, is the Audirvana on Linux announcement. I don’t think most people understand how big this release is, mainly because of how Damien and team elected to implement it. What I mean by that is this, Audirvana on Lunix isn’t just another app that can run on Linux (we have a few of those), but it’s offered as a headless application. This is what takes the announcement from “neat” to “huge” in my opinion.
There’s a big difference between running a full Linux desktop, requiring keyboard, mouse, and monitor and running headless. Sure, headless isn’t for everyone because as it currently stands with Audirvana it will require a bit of tech savvy. But, for those with the interest and a little time to get it running, a headless server is absolutely ideal.
I also love what this signals to the audiophile community. The team at Audirvana isn’t resting on its success with desktop apps, but rather it’s looking to push further and offer many of us an option we greatly appreciate. The entire time I was at Axpona, I was thinking about the different ways I’m going to run Audirvana on Linux and how best to use it as a solution to existing audio needs.
I can’t wait to start digging into Audirvana on Linux!
Immersive Audio in Munich
Last week we also received news of a fantastic series of events taking place at the Munich High End show in May. Check out this press release. If you’ve been paying attention to immersive audio, even a little bit, you’ll realize how special this is.
Acclaimed musician and producer Steven Wilson will be presenting his most recent album "The Harmony Codex" in immersive audio reproduction at the HIGH END 2024, taking place from May 9 to 12 at the MOC Event Center in Munich. In cooperation with the organiser of the international audio show and the company PMC, which has exhibited at the HIGH END for many years, Wilson will be holding a series of seminars on all four days of the event, sharing his vast knowledge and experience of mixing in spatial audio with his guests.
At the presentations, visitors will have the unique opportunity to become familiar with the creative use of reference level audio, guided by the Grammy-nominated spatial audio mix engineer and one of the world's leading songwriters and producers. Wilson, no stranger to the HIGH END, having been brand ambassador in 2019, will give a series of talks about the use of immersive audio in the creation of his music and share his experience as a sought-after remixer of classic works by other artists. During each presentation, he will be demonstrating his immersive mixes, with a special focus on his latest album, "The Harmony Codex", and some of the other artists mixes he has produced, including works from Tears for Fears, Ultravox and Roxy Music.
The system, provided by PMC, includes loudspeakers from the manufacturer that are found in the best recording and mixing facilities in the world, e.g. at the BBC, Metropolis, LP:ME Dubai and numerous other studios. PMC has established itself worldwide as a specialist for Atmos music mixing. The programme that Steven Wilson is presenting at the HIGH END 2024 consists of two different presentations:
“Intro to spatial audio + examples + Q&A”
“The Harmony Codex full album spatial audio playback + Q&A”
One of the premiere immersive engineers in the business, Steven Wilson, will be at Munich High End and is offering two different events, and into with examples and a Q&A, and playback of his latest album in its entirety with Q&A. For me, it’s seriously worth traveling to Munich solely because of this, but I planned on being there for the entire show already.
And More…
I returned home from Axpona to see three Blu-ray Discs with TrueHD Dolby Atmos, waiting to be unwrapped. The mailman delivered Alan’s Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill, Hootie and the Blowfish Cracked Rear View, and Mark Knopfler’s latest One Deep River. A little tidbit of information about Cracked rear View: It was named after the line “There was a life that I was living, In some cracked rearview, Where no future was given, To a heart untrue” in John Hiatt’s wonderful track Learning How To Love You (Tidal).
A good friend asked me about the progress of immersive content. Of course I told him that nearly every new popular release offers an Atmos mix, but it would’ve been nice to say that I had three TrueHD albums waiting for me at home. In addition, two more Blu-ray releases from Rhino are on the way, Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours and The Best of the Doors. In fact, I have so many Blu-ray Discs and pre-ordered TrueHD downloads coming that I literally can’t remember all of them. I have to search my emails often, to make sure I ordered specific albums. It’s a great time to be an audiophile, whether one is into mono, stereo, multichannel or immersive audio.
OK, one last post before I shut up and start listening on my upgraded system to new albums. I know it can get old buying the same albums over and over on new formats, but the immersive releases are something far different from a remaster of the previous remastered remaster. These are all new mixes for immersive listening, that have never existed before today. We are buying something new, to hear some great music in an entirely new way. The price is currently $24.95 directly from Rhino. Think about that. There’s isn’t anything in this world that can be had for less than $25, that we can enjoy for decades, as many times as we want, when we want, with family/friends or without, rain or shine, etc… For that, I’m happy to pay whatever it costs.
About the author - https://audiophile.style/about
Author's Complete Audio System Details with Measurements - https://audiophile.style/system
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