Surround Professional 2003 Workshop:
“Recording solo guitar to big band to orchestra in 5.1” - Mark Waldrep, AIX Records

Composer, teacher, recording engineer, and producer Mark Waldrep is the guiding hand behind AIX Records, one of the few companies actively concentrating on building up a catalogue of brand new high resolution digital recordings on DVD-Audio. During his Friday morning workshop at Surround Pro 2003, he provided some fascinating glimpses of several current projects, as well as discussing his overall approach to recording.

Waldrep hit his main point early on, one that he is quick to emphasize to all who will listen: The success of the high-resolution formats depends on recording new material. Though he agrees that high-resolution re-masterings of classic recordings are wonderful and of great value, AIX deals almost exclusively in new projects, because it is the most convincing possible showcase of the technology’s capabilities. As he commented, “Every time I’ve played a skeptic one of our new recordings, they’ve been won over. Every single time.” He went on to talk about some recent recording sessions with legendary singer-songwriter Paul Williams. After a marathon session, Waldrep sat Williams down in the center of the playback room to hear the tracks. Williams, who has heard all sorts of whiz-bang approaches over the years, was wondering what all the fuss was about. According to Waldrep, after the first playback, Williams turned around in amazement and said, “I get it! I get it!”

While having nothing on principle against DSD, Waldrep pointed out that he has slowly over the years built up his studio of equipment in the PCM format, and that he can’t afford to pitch it all and convert to DSD. “Although,” he mischievously added, “I’m not saying I wouldn’t accept it if Sony suddenly dropped by and offered to convert my studio for free!” Committing to DVD-Audio led him to decide to make the most of the medium, with one side of each AIX disc being pure DVD-A in an aggressive 5.1 multi-channel mix, and the other side having DVD-Video (with multiple camera angles) in stereo, along with a conservative mix in Dolby surround, and a DTS 5.1 aggressive mix, with instruments surrounding the listener. Waldrep does full sound and video takes instead of editing together snippets, and he uses neither equalization nor any artificial reverberation. He works in 24-36 tracks, trying to capture as purely as possible an experience in sound – though not necessarily as a mere document of a performance. Interestingly, he also records each discrete area with a pair of microphones instead of a single one. He feels that this approach gives him a greater depth of sound, even if the tracks ultimately come out of only one speaker for that area.

To put the proof behind his words, Waldrep then proceeded to demo some of his upcoming projects. First was an instrumental Christmas album rehearsed and recorded in one day. It featured a handsome clarity of sound and a remarkable warmth, attributable not only to high-resolution technology and skillful engineering but also specifically to the hall in California where AIX frequently records. He also demonstrated the perspective difference between his conservative Dolby and aggressive DTS mixes on the DVD-Video side of his disc of the guitarist Laurence Juber.

Waldrep’s real coup, however, was his unveiling of a track from the Paul Williams project, where Williams was joined by the great Willie Nelson in a warm yet wistful performance of the classic song ‘Rainbow Connection’. Waldrep encouraged workshop participants to move to the center of the room for full effect of the track, recorded just a few days earlier. Nelson and Williams played and sang the song tenderly, and the warmth of AIX’s aggressive 5.1 DVD-Audio mix was astonishing, capturing the vibrancy and emotion of Nelson’s craggy voice in the front left channel and the sad velvet of Williams’ voice in the front right, with accompanying instruments spread to the center, sides, and rear. The track brought a smile to everyone’s face, and the album will be eagerly anticipated.

Waldrep’s approach has already bore impressive fruit, as his Surround Music Awards attest. It remains to be seen how many other companies follow his lead in exploiting the wide range of possibilities in DVD-Audio production.


Mark Jordan 21/12/2003.

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Surround 2003 Report Index
Last update: 27th February 2004

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