MIDEM: Virgin Records has announced that they will be releasing the entire Peter Gabriel catalog on Super Audio CD disc in Europe early this year during this week’s 37th MIDEM Conference. The release will consist of 10 Stereo SACDs of Gabriel’s well known catalog albums as well as a Multichannel SACD of Gabriel’s latest album entitled “Up”. The Multichannel SACD of “Up” will be released by Virgin in Europe in March 2003.

The MIDEM announcement follows a similar announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that Gabriel’s catalog will be released on SACD disc in the U.S. market by the Universal Music Group’s Geffen label. Geffen has rights to the Peter Gabriel catalog in the U.S.

According to officials at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios, “we started evaluating Super Audio CD and its key enabling technology, Direct Stream Digital (DSD) in 2001. The first trials focused on the stereo form of Super Audio CD and have resulted in the re-mastering of the first ten Peter Gabriel albums, which are scheduled for release on Super Audio CD in the early part of 2003 in Europe on the Virgin record label.”

Real World worked with Metropolis Studios in London on the transfer of Gabriel’s albums from their analog master tapes to DSD in preparation for their release on SACD disc. Key players in the transfer work included Metropolis engineer, Tony Cousins, and Peter Gabriel’s recording engineer, Richard Chappell.

Up Is Gabriel’s First 5.1 Release
The “Up” album is Gabriel’s first 5.1 release. It was recorded, mixed and edited at Real World Studios. As with the Gabriel catalog albums, “Up” was mastered for Super Audio CD release at Metropolis Studios.

According to Mike Large of Real World Studios:

 

“We went with Super Audio CD for the new album because we feel it sounds great and it can be 5.1. Ultimately, it was Peter’s decision to mix in multi-channel. Why, because it’s exciting.”

 

Peter Gabriel commented that

“I remember very well the day when I first put on a pair of headphones and got a great sense of stereo for the first time. I’m getting the same sense of excitement from 5.1. With a lot of my work, which uses many textures to create pictures in sound, it’s often hard to hear all the information. With 5.1, it’s possible to put people right inside my music.”