isoMike / Kimber Recordings

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hey guys anyone listened to any of the isoMike / Kimber recordings? I've been listening to Joe McQueen & Friends and I really like it. I will be doing a full review in the near future, as well as reviewing the Kimber USB cable (so far really nice!). Here is a link to the Joe McQueen & Friends disc. Quite an interesting recording technique.

 

http://www.isomike.com/joe.html

 

[machinehead]

I purchased a sampler at RMAF, mostly done at Weber St. Uni. in Utah. Kimber gave the intro at the show, apparently, they redirected air traffic, auto traffic and shut off all of the chiller towers during the recordings, the man must have pull in Utah!

 

He said the recordings were done without any mastering or compression. It came with a making of DVD, proceeds wen to Weber St. Univ. funny, I just got a call thanking me for my donation and wishing me a Happy Thanksgiving, and it was a live person! Courtesy is not dead!

 

Jeff

 

[bdiament]

Hi machinehead,

 

"...He said the recordings were done without any mastering..."

 

They are indeed wonderful recordings. But make no mistake, if they were not mastered, there would be no discs to purchase.

 

Sometimes folks confuse mastering with twiddling knobs and making changes to the audio. While mastering, being the last step in production, is the last chance to make any sonic changes, it is also the first step in manufacturing, where the program is formatted and provided to the replicator in a way that can be used to create the discs we buy.

 

The use of a baffle between the microphones dates back to early experiments by Alan Blumlein (before he arrived at the technique for which he is commonly known). Since then, there have been numerous other variations, including Jorge Jecklin's "Jecklin Disk" (a variation of which I use in my own recordings) and now Ray Kimber's isoMike.

 

All achieve basically the same thing, adding a type of localization cue to the recording that we use in real life but that without such a baffle, will never make it to the recording. We use three types of cues for localization: amplitude (level), timing and frequency. Many minimal mic techniques tend to utilize one over the others, sometimes two. As I mention in my article "Recording in Stereo"

www.barrydiamentaudio.com/recording1.htm

my feeling is if Nature could have gotten by with fewer types of cues, it would have. In my experience, providing all three types of cues in a recording helps a great deal in making it more "convincing".

 

Best regards,

Barry

www.soundkeeperrecordings.com

www.barrydiamentaudio.com

 

 

[4est]

I have to wonder if there is that much traffic in Utah.

 

[barrows]

Fry Street Quartet recordings are very good for those who like string quartet music. I have been told by folks I trust that the Robert Silverman Mozart box (solo piano) is one of the best piano recordings ever. I find that the Isomike baffle arrangement produces some of the best sound I have ever heard from a minimal microphone purist recording setup. Often purist type recordings lack detail and air, but produce some of the best spatial qualities one will ever hear. To my ears the Isomike arrangement retrieves more detail (close to the level of close miking) while still preserving the wonderful spatial qualities of most purist techniques.

It is also important to note that the Isomike recordings are pure DSD all the way through, and are best appreciated through a really good 4 channel surround system (some of the very few surround recordings that actually make a good case for multi channel).

I hope one day Ray will offer a 24/176.4 wav file option for us computer audiophiles!