Andreas Spreer, owner of TACET and highly-regarded recording engineer, has provided High Fidelity Review with details of the company’s most important DVD-Audio project to-date.

Andreas told us: “The Beethoven project with the ‘Auryns’ is the first big mountain we want to climb using TACET’s Real Surround technology. The first session has already taken place so Op. 59 No.1 and Op. 95 have been completed. The recording venue was the concert hall of Deutschland Radio in Cologne, Germany.”

“Different to most other ‘co-productions’ of German record companies (co-production meaning ‘together with broadcast stations’) TACET is solely responsible for the recording technique and technology. One reason for this unusual procedure is that the broadcast stations do not normally have the equipment required to record in surround sound (because most can only broadcast in stereo).”

But that’s the not the only reason; Andreas mentioned that TACET also wants to avoid any limitations of bandwidth, sampling frequency and the like which might occur when using the broadcast co-production technique. Another important aspect of the recording is that TACET has always been a supporter of tube (valve) technology, not only through their ‘tube only’ LPs and CDs but also the general use of tube microphones for all their recordings. TACET’s tube microphone collection includes the famous Neumann U47, U67, M49 and SM2.

TACET did consider releasing Compact Disc versions of the Beethoven string quartets, as the Auryn Quartet has a large following across all formats, but the focus is on multi-channel as they are especially interested in the company’s Real Surround Sound approach. This is said to be because the technique is particularly suited to being able to capture and convey all the complexities of Beethoven’s music.

Andreas: “With TACET’s Real Surround Sound every listener can understand much better what the composer intended. The listener experiences musical structure
‘physically’ – without knowing any theories.”