Contigo en La Distancia " 192-24 9ch Immersive Surround Production BTS

"Contigo en La Distancia ~ even if far away ~"

192-24 9ch Immersive Surround Production BTS

By Mick Sawaguchi C.E.O UNAMAS Label. Mick Sound Lab

"Contigo en La Distancia ~ even if far away ~" of the Hi-Res music production label
RME Premium Recordings operated by Synthax Japan was released on June 20, 2017.
In this work, recording with the violin and Apf 's duo formation album using Gut strings was done at the Mitaka Art and Cultural Center "Wind Hall" on November 29 - 30, 2016.
I participated as an engineer in the production of RME Premium Recordings,
so I will introduce behind the scenes of 9CH Surround Production in "Wind Hall".

This Album has awarded The 24th JAPAN MUSIC RECORDING AWARD as Grand Prize and Best Mastering Studio by Hi-Res Surround category on 6th December TOKYO JAPAN.

       

1-2 Naoki Kita Profile 

After graduating from Kunitachi College of Music,
Then studied under tango violinist Fernando Suarez Paz in Argentina.
After that, joined Kirin Tsunodetsu [gt], Yuji Tsuyoshi (oud), Keigo Minigawa (Vc) and so on.
Starting from 2011, He will start Kita Naoki Kita Quartet as the main project.
The unique world created by the fusion of tango and various music is highly appreciated by its deep spirituality. Majority also participated in the project of Toru Saito (Cb) focusing on improvisation. Collaboration with dancer and Asian traditional music player, there are many performances activities in Europe.

1-3 Nobumasa Tanaka Profile 

Starting at the age of 4, he changed to a classical piano at the age of 16, including an electronic organ.
Department of Music, Kunitachi College of Music. Studied classical piano with Yuko Odan, jazz piano with Eiichi Fujii, Kazuko Hashimoto, Masahiko Sato.
1993 Yokohama Jazz Promenade was awarded the Grand Prix and Individual Prize Best Player Award at the first competition. The freedom and improvised performances that we create with co-stars are not only in Jazz format but also in various ways. The solo piano by original and original arrangement is highly evaluated as unparalleled one and only performance. Beginning in 2014.

２　Production Concept
2-1 ART
Leader Naoki Kita is a person who is approaching taking Jazz's improvisation in mind while tango as a base and spreading free image. Tanaka Nobumasa is a Jazz pianist and has a reputation for accompaniment of songs. In this work, it is a Duo album that supports the supple music of Latin American tango and bossa nova with free improvisation like Kita style.

The balance is determined depending on what kind of dialogue the two people will talk about how to understand the performance of the duet. Are they bumping energy with each other equally? Or are you expressing yourself by point while sustaining the reed instruments? This time, I chose the latter relationship. How can I express these two people in the hall? 

I participated in a rehearsal held before recording and examined the design drawing of the sound field. "Noble Son Whistling a Flute on a Single Boat on the Lake Surface in the early morning" That was the image of this time. In other words, it is a composition called Vn as a spot on a slightly larger Apf that incorporates a lot of sounding of the hall. Based on this, we set up the placement of the stage and the miking.

２−２TECHNOLOGY

The RME - MICPRE - MADI transmission, which is familiar even in UNAMAS production as a
classical hall recordings. The main digital microphone KM - 133D this time, 3 Apf L - R - C, 2 Gut string Vn close pairs, Ls - Rs and top height microphones are CO-100K and CUW-180. Also EMC noise treatments and equipments of the stage and monitor room supply from the all battery.

If it is just a normal stereo recording, arrange such that the main microphone is installed slightly from the somewhat downward to the center position, with the arrangement of Apf slightly badly behind the stage, adhering to the general concert format and pointing towards the stage Vn It will be considered.
However, since the whole sound field in this work is based on 2CH - 5CH - 9CH,
I thought that I wanted to establish the line of L - C - R in parallel with the stage, not diagonally.
This work is an improvisation incorporating the Jazz essence, I thought that arranging the breaths in the same way, looking at each other's eyes, so I thought that it would be nice to arrange the breath so I put it somewhat before the usual concert stage arrangement Let Vn be the place where the pianist and the line of sight oppose behind Apf. This was also asked to Mr.Kita of Vn who participated in the preliminary inspection at the venue beforehand, and Vn also performed the test at the place, so it would be fine. It was confirmed that I was able to implement it.

The Vn of Gut strings is very delicate, and in ordinary live recording etc.,
With a contact microphone attached. However, because it is a session recording at the precious hall, I will set up a digital mic to capture the detail of the Gut string.

２−３ENGINEERING
How do you realize 9CH height surround with duet? The "wind hall" had the reverberation time of 1.8 seconds at the time of vacancy, and had the same characteristics as Karuizawa Ohga Hall, which are the fixed point of UNAMAS label recordings. When I rehearsed I tried to listen to the sound by moving the audience seat but it was a very uniform spreading characteristic. I planned to install a microphone for the height at the second floor, but I heard the rehearsal and the volume of the Gat string was so soft, that I could not record S / N well in the reverberation, I changed point that the stage end Height mics which aims at audience seats.　
Ls-Rs is Sanken CO-100 K x 2, Top Front-L.R Top Rear Ls.Rs is CUW-180 x 2.

We used Apf diffusion panel this time. Because I wanted to fly Apf's extended sound to the hall. I used it also in the Ohga Hall where I recorded the previous work "Dimensions" but I installed a silk diffuser made by Acoustic Revive under the piano. Mr. Yasushi Yasuda, who was in charge of tuning, was also interested in "I'd like to use it at a concert."

3 2CH / 5CH / HPL-9 / MQA production
The number of recording channels this time is 12CH. Since MIX independently according to each format,
so-called DOWN MIX is not done. Especially 2CH MIX uses only the minimum necessary microphone, because phase interference will occur when all microphones are used and the sound becomes muddy.
Then 9CH MIX follows 5CH MIX and MIX is done with less CH number. Some people do 9CH and 5CH first and then 2CH MIX in the last, I think that which one is not the correct answer, I am starting from 2CH MIX, because It is easy to check the balance of each CH collectively, so I started with 2CH MIX.

Since surround MIX produces sounds from all CHs, it may be misunderstood to balance the channel's satisfaction by itself. The localization of this duet is only ambience of the hall because the real sound is only at the front, so surround will be. Vn recorded with a narrow A - B pair, so I stereo a little inside with L - C - R pan and spill a little real sound to the hard center. Vn can be localized to the hard center with a real sound monaural if recording a monaural of Vn with a single monaural, but in this work I recorded it with an A - B pair in order to capture the detail of the Gut string.

We will create an HPL format for binaural rendering when the master of 5CH and 9CH is completed, but this time we will verify which one of 5CH master and 9CH master is binary rendered and effective for headphone playback We asked RME Premium Recordings to listen to the sound source that was test rendered in two types and we got opinions and finally we made binaural rendering from 9CH master and made it HPL-9.

As for MQA coding, this work was also released as MQA-CD from OTTAVA Records 192-24 2CH master converted to 176.4-24 of the CD family on the Pyramix, which sent data converted to MQA 44.1-16 Flac.
After receiving the data, after that, it creates a DDP file, which is an ordinary routine and becomes a CD press. The point to note is that once MQA Flac has become data it will not do any process afterwards. Be sure to do everything before MQA encoding and once you have MQA data, do not do anything! It is a point to note.

４　DSD 11.2 /PCM 768 KHz direct recording by first trial ADI - 2 PRO

In this recording, recording was performed at DSD11.2 and PCM 768 kHz as test operation using the ADI - 2 Pro that was compatible with DSD 's recording and playback for the first time as RME,
and was done by Syntax Japan. Stereo one point microphone (Blue Microphones) standing on the stage is transmitted to the control room as it is, recorded by two ADI - 2 Pro.
It was recorded as a document to verify the difference in sound quality between DSD and PCM.
The results of these tests are realized in the form of releasing from RME Premium Recordings as the
DSD 11.2 first album in roots music recording in Okinawa Taketomijima half a year later.

There are also three PVs on YouTube, so please have a look. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM8rCdB67GM 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPKlDQznf3o 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqCWDlBOQRk

Production staff

Recording Date 29^th-30^th November 2016 at Mitaka KAZE-Hall

Producer Naoki Kita

A&R Michiko Mikata

Venue Organizer Seiji Murai

Recording Engineer: Mick Sawaguchi

Assistant Engineer Tomomi Aibara

Mix/Mastering Mick Sawaguchi

Recording Equipment:

Digital Mic KM-133D as MainMic (Sennheiser JAPAN K.K) Sanken CO-100KX2 Sanken CUW-180X2

MADI Rec by RME DMC 842/Micstasy M/MAD face XT/Fireface UFX+/MADI Router (Synthax Japan Inc)

DAW: Pyramix V-10 192-24 Rec-Master. Magix Sequoia V-13

Peripheral Facility: Kiyotaka Miyashita (JINON)

Battery Power Supply: PowerYIILE PLUS (ELIIYPower co.ltd)

Cover Photographer: Toru Tsuji Photographer: Tadao Hosomi

Art director: Nao Masaki (Lifedeco)

Designer: Koichi Fujimoto (fujimotogumi)

Special Thanks: Ryuichi Sasaki (OTTAVA) Norman Renger (Pixel Arranger)

Online High-Resolution music distribution http://www.synthax.jp/RPR/