Ask questions to Blu-ray Music insider "Alexander J"

[iceman]

This thread is dedicated to asking questions of industry insider "Alexander J" (Surround Records) who has graciously taken the time to participate here. Alexander J and all our insiders do this out of their free time and to try to keep us informed to their best abilities, and therefore are to be treated with respect and courtesy.

Before asking a question, please skim at least the last weeks worth of posts in order to make sure that the question hasn't already been asked or answered. Using the search function is also always a good idea. Please conduct your inquiries in a professional manner and avoid asking "chicken little" questions or asking when unannounced titles will come out.

Alexander J - Surround Records - Track posts

[Alexander J]

Glad to join the forum.

I am the artist and producer of the new line of Blu-ray audio titles:

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movies.php?studioid=51

This is a new product and many of you may have questions.

This is the thread where I will be glad to answer these questions and share my thoughts and visions for Surround Sound Music on Blu-ray media and showcase some samples.

Alexander Jero
Surround Music Artist / Producer
Surround Records/ Surround Magic Studio

[Big Daddy]

Welcome to Blu-ray.com.

Why don't we see more music releases or even movies with all the HD audio codecs (PCM, Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD MA) on the same disc? After all, the blu-ray discs have enough space on them. There are still quite a few blu-ray players that cannot handle DTS HD MA.

[Heart&Soul]

What releases do you have planned for the next sixth month?

[JadedRaverLA]

Welcome to the forum!

A few general questions to get them out of the way early:

1) Were you around for the previous SA-CD vs DVD-A battle? Do you see potential for Blu-ray surround high resolution audio to succeed in the market where the previous formats largely failed?

2) Does you company have a specific speaker-placement recmmendation based on how you record the audio in the studio? Are your titles designed with 5.0, 5.1, 7.0, 7.1, etc. channel placements in mind?

3) What do you use (if anything) in terms of visuals to complement the surround audio on your discs?

4) Any plans you can reveal for upcoming titles/ideas coming from your company?

Thanks for coming by and answering questions.

[alexakajeff]

Welcome to BD!

[Cinema Squid]

Originally Posted by Alexander J

This is the thread where I will be glad to answer these questions and share my thoughts and visions for Surround Sound Music on Blu-ray media and showcase some samples.

Thanks for your presence Alexander, your company offers a very intriguing product.

Have you been in negotiations to have your titles carried by Netflix or another rental outfit?

Also, it would be helpful to have some published reviews of your 3-D Sound Reality and Acoustic Reality Experience releases for the undecided, so hopefully you have arranged some review copies for this site and others. Of the popular Blu-ray reviewers, I believe Svet Atanasov at this site or Daniel Hirshleifer / Jeffrey Kauffman at DVD Talk would be most helpful for providing reviews with their previous experiences reviewing Opus Arte Blu-ray opera releases.

[Paul Cordingley]

Hi Alexander,

Thank you for joining the forum. I for one am *most* interested in high quality surround albums on BD. As much as I love and continue to buy SACD, I do believe that in the long term, BD Audio is the true high-resolution surround medium for the future, if nothing more than the installed user base will grow and grow as it becomes the standard disc format.

I have pre-ordered Rachmaninov Piano Concerto's 2&3.

Are these genuine multi-channel productions, and is 7.1 a true mix or synthetically derived from a 5.1 mix?

Some great questions have already been asked, so I will throw in some more!

Are these discs 96KHz? Any plans for 192KHz?

Will they start immediately on insertion? I think that a BD music disc should do just that, with no pre-amble, and not require a display to use.

Thanks for answering my questions. Good luck with your productions!

[4K2K]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

Welcome to Blu-ray.com.

Why don't we see more music releases or even movies with all the HD audio codecs (PCM, Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD MA) on the same disc? After all, the blu-ray discs have enough space on them. There are still quite a few blu-ray players that cannot handle DTS HD MA.

Even if there was enough space on the disc, they all count towards the maximum bitrate even if they're not being used. So for movie titles you'd have less bitrate available for the picture.

[Fatboymart]

Off the top of my head i'd love to hear Eagles Hell freezes over - DTS HD MA and anything pink floyd.

Its got to be DTS HD MA all of the time for me

[Slec]

Originally Posted by Paul Cordingley

Hi Alexander,

I have pre-ordered Rachmaninov Piano Concerto's 2&3.

Are these genuine multi-channel productions, and is 7.1 a true mix or synthetically derived from a 5.1 mix?

Some great questions have already been asked, so I will throw in some more!

Are these discs 96KHz? Any plans for 192KHz?

Will they start immediately on insertion? I think that a BD music disc should do just that, with no pre-amble, and not require a display to use.

Thanks for answering my questions. Good luck with your productions!

Can't wait to hear what he comes back with. I've been looking at Bach, Vivaldi, and Rachmaninov. On the Bach title, what works are featured? I understand that its a soundfield work using synthesized instruments, but the works still would drive the purchase.

[Deciazulado]

I think it has the following:

1 - BWV208, Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd!
2 - BWV1, Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, No.3 Aria
3 - BWV5, Wo soll ich fliehen hin, No.1 Chorus
4 - BWV10, Meine Seel' erhebet den Herren!, No.1 Chorus
5 - BWV33, Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, No.1 Choral
6 - BWV225, Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, No.1 Singet dem Herrn
7 - BWV525, Trio Sonata No.1 in Eb, No.1 Allegro
8 - BWV530, Trio Sonata No.6, No. 1 Vivace
9 - BWV592, Concerto in G, No.1 Allegro Assai
10 - BWV812, French Suite, No.1 in D
11 - BWV831, French Overture, No.3 Gavotte

[Slec]

Thanks Deci, looking over the list, I recall having seen it previously (amazon maybe). Thanks again

[Alexander J]

Thank you for the warm words and welcoming to the forum.

I will try to sum all my answers in one post without forgetting about anybody.


Regarding Bitrates and variety of Audio Codes
I m totally agree with this:

Originally Posted by 4K2K

Even if there was enough space on the disc, they all count towards the maximum bitrate even if they're not being used. So for movie titles you'd have less bitrate available for the picture.

where is always will be a compromise between delivering audio and video in terms of the codec and bitrate used that is up to producers of the titles to make a decision.

In the next six months we schedule to release Bach Brandenburg Concertos and suites, Mozart Piano concerto K 503 and Piano Sonatas.
For people interested in electronic music I will be also releasing several titles with my electronic music compositions:
The Way to Paradise (that is already available for preorder), Spatial Dynamics,
2002 Surround Music Awards winner - Space or Dream of Life, and my new title - Africa each title featuring different music stile from Ambient, Space Electronic to Dram and Bass and Techno. All electronic music titles will be accompanied by 1080p VC-1 slideshow imagery of futuristic 3D artworks, surrealistic Graphics and Photo Art.

It was a great excitement in the beginning of the decade around SACD DVD-A development. During these times I produced my first Surround Music Project "Space or Dream of Life", this is an article from ProSound News with more information about my background and the project.

special hardware required to experience High Definition Audio. Lossless Audio codec’s like PCM, DolbyTruHD, DTS-HD MA becoming standard features of Blu-ray players and PS3. However for major labels and production companies who need mass commercial output it may be the right decision to wait for deeper penetration of Blu-ray media to consumer market to stay out of disappointment happened with SACD and DVD-A.

Producing our titles we are following industry standard set up for speaker placement for 7.1 Surround Sound but they can be experienced in both 5.1 and 7.1 configurations respectfully.

I believe that classical music is an universal language and listener should be left along with composer creation and let your imagination to evoke your own images from the music along. However my electronic music titles following the concept developed for DVD-Audio featuring High Resolution slideshow imagery suitable for entertainment venues and events where whey can be experienced.

We defiantly will try to present our titles to video rental companies like Netflix and also looking forward to receive requests for screeners from all on-line and print publication delivering news and information about High Definition Media.

There is no synthetic delivery from 5.1 to 7.1 in our releases.
Our "Acoustic Reality Experience" Classical titles reproducing stage in front channels and natural ambience in all surround channels delivering better perception of Acoustic environment compare to 5.1 mixes that is especially making big difference in large Home Theater rooms.
Our Electronic Music Releases holding unique Audio information in each surround channel to produce virtual environment where each sound can have a unique location around the listener.

We need to stick with 96K for now in terms that no original sourced were recorded in 192K resolution but I have plans to originally record myself Organ Performance in the Cathedral next year and will be looking forward for possibilities to deliver this recording in 192K 24 bit 7.1 Audio.

Then I developed the concept for our titles I wanted to create High Definition Music Disc that will be similar to the user experience of CD and SACD.
Disc start playing right a way upon insertion, you will have chapters and FF feature and that many of you may find very useful that it will loops by itself going from the end of the last to the beginning of the first track.

To produce the new 3-dimensional mix of Pink Floyd "The Wall" was my creative dream since College and looking to the future I will try to do everything to make it happened

I will try to get some time to answer all your questions.

Enjoy Surround Music!

Alexander.

[Bobby Henderson]

Hi Alexander,

Glad to see you in the forum, but even better to see someone willing to pursue high quality next-generation audio production as an alternative to the miserable iPod "low-fi" madness. If only the major music labels could pull their heads out of their backsides on this thing.

Blu-ray can make next-generation audio standards a reality in millions of homes where DVD-A and SACD could not. The disc format is far superior in data capacity to DVD. Blu-ray players are multiple purpose devices (especially the PS3). DVD-A and SACD were merely single purpose players. The main attraction for Blu-ray is HD-quality movies, and that's going to sell many millions of players. As the install base of players grows into the tens of millions a very big potential market for high definition music will emerge.

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

Why don't we see more music releases or even movies with all the HD audio codecs (PCM, Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD MA) on the same disc? After all, the blu-ray discs have enough space on them. There are still quite a few blu-ray players that cannot handle DTS HD MA.

Technically, a music producer can get away with supporting only one format. Any Blu-ray player at least has to offer built-in decoding for lossy Dolby Digital and DTS and be able to output either in 2-channel form. This is why many BDs from Fox and New Line have DTS-HD as the only audio format on the disc. Almost anyone with an existing 5.1 surround setup will at least be able to play lossy DTS and Dolby Digital, unless his receiver is a model over 10 years old (and possibly a cheap one at that).

Of course the support for both Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD is a little spotty within various 1st generation Blu-ray players and a few 2nd generation players too. Support of both DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD is much better within new audio-video receivers and surround controllers. Lack of DTS-HD support will be a temporary thing, just as equipment lacking DTS support began to disappear in the late 1990s.

It would be less expensive in terms of licensing costs for a music producer to choose either Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio exclusively. By supporting only one of the two lossless formats less disc space would be used, making it easier to fit the project on a BD-25 instead of using a more expensive BD-50.

I think the greater priority in a high resolution music product is supporting multiple audio mix-downs. Any high resolution music release on Blu-ray should feature the mix in 2.0 channel stereo and 5.1 (or 7.1) surround. If the disc capacity can support 2.0 and 5.1/7.1 mixes in both Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio -and leave enough space for on screen video/graphics content and other extras then that would be great.

[Big Daddy]

Hybrid SACD's have a huge advantage over Blu-ray or DVD-A. Millions of people can play them in their cars, computers, and with their portable players.

As far as HD audio codecs are concerned, my hope is that every furture release will be like 2L's Divertimenti. My copy is on order.

[Alexander J]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

Hybrid SACD's have a huge advantage over Blu-ray or DVD-A. Millions of people can play them in their cars, computers, and with their portable players.

As far as HD audio codecs are concerned, my hope is that every furture release will be like 2L's Divertimenti. My copy is on order.

Great Showcase release to start your collection because it featuring all available audio codecs. And 2L label done wonderful job producing the title. I am highly recommend to have a copy. But the goal of my production is to produce not just one Showcase release but variety of titles featuring lossless 7.1 High Definition Audio utilizing more simple and affordable solution:






Like I mention in my previous post more titles are coming.

[pro-bassoonist]

Hello Alexander,

And welcome to Blu-ray.com.

Please check your PM-box!

Thanks,
Dr.A

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by Alexander J

Great Showcase release to start your collection because it featuring all available audio codecs. And 2L label done wonderful job producing the title. I am highly recommend to have a copy. But the goal of my production is to produce not just one Showcase release but variety of titles featuring lossless 7.1 High Definition Audio utilizing more simple and affordable solution:


Like I mention in my previous post more titles are coming.

Great selection. I will eventually buy all of them. I am a bit old school and a lover of classical music and jazz. Please don't tell anybody. I hate Apple for creating that little i-Something and in the process contributing to the destruction of high end music.

[Kilian]

It should be made clear at the outset in discussions like this and in marketing info such as the product description on Amazon that these classical titles were originally recorded, produced and released by Naxos, a budget classical label, as SACD and DVD-A in 2003-2004. The BDs are upmixed (5.0 or 5.1 to 7.1) and up-sampled (48KHz to 96KHz, at least for the Grieg and I presume the rest also) tracks, whichever way you want to spin it. It's not a big deal and I don't see doing it this way is the way forward. The folks at sa-cd.net don't think much of it either. You could play the Naxos SACD in the 60 GB PS3 and it gives you 24-bit 176KHz PCM and the receiver upmixes it to 7.1.

There is no need for three parallel uncompressed (PCM) and losslessly encoded (Dolby TrueHD and dts-HD MA) tracks, except as a novelty and demo disk. Routine inclusion of more than one merely perpetuates the myth that they are fundamentally different. We don't need to have movie BDs with parallel encodes in mpeg-2, VC-1 and AVC do we?

For music-only BDs, PCM and dts-HD MA or dts should cover most people's needs at present and the foreseeable future. Having dts-HD MA only isn't such a good idea at present and there is space and bandwidth to fit about two hours of 7.1 96/24 PCM and dts-HD MA on a BD-25. At the end of the day it's about the actual musical content that matters most, not the codec, spec or gimmicks.

I'm all for classical music on BD but we need the major premium labels to come onboard to make any real impact, because they have the very best artists and a large catalogue together.