MASTERS & MAESTROS

It is axiomatic that the first production models of devices developed using a new technology are quite expensive. This was true with color television and with videocassette recorders, and most assuredly was the case with Compact Disc players. We all remember the kilobuck-plus CD players, many of which left a great deal o be desired in respect to performance.

It is also usually true that the prices of these products generally decline in direct relation to their popularity in the marketplace and the speed with which high-volume production is achieved.

Certainly the success of the Compact Disc has been beyond even the most rosy-hued, optimistic projections. In just over three years, the overwhelming popularity of and demand for CD players have brought their price down to levels of little more than $100! Unfortunately, in spite of the mass appeal of the CD, there has not been a commensurate decline in the price of software (though the proliferation of D manufacturing plants has helped o alleviate some supply problems). In most major markets, CDs cost $10 to $15 each--roughly two to three times he cost of vinyl LPs.

While a great many people are buying CDs at their current prices, and many justify these prices in terms of the quality of the product and its wear-free longevity, no one has any doubts about the market constraints imposed by expensive CD software. Even now, reports are creeping into the trade press about overproduction and sub sequent costly warehousing of low priced CD players. Everyone agrees that if the price of CDs could be reduced by 25 to 30%, the warehouses would be emptied in very short order.

The normal production of CD masters is a complex photo-optical pro cess which must be carried out under clean-room conditions, and the associated equipment in the plant adds up to about $2 million. Other, experimental CD production techniques have been tried, one being a "continuous web" process in which CDs could be stamped out in cookie-cutter fashion.

However, there doesn't seem to be any further promise in this approach, and none of the other production schemes have borne fruit.

Well, friends, Teldec is now working on a new CD processing technology which may ultimately be the first step in reducing the cost of Compact Discs.

As far back as the mid-'70s, Teldec was experimenting with cutting video signals onto discs. In fact, at Decca Records in London, the great Arthur Haddy showed me some of these discs and their associated equipment.

In later years came an offshoot of this technology, Teldec's Direct Metal Mastering process. Now it seems that some aspects of the DMM technology can be applied to the mastering and production of CDs.

In Teldec's new CD process, just as in DMM, a blank disc is electrolytically plated with copper. The copper is amorphous and must be used within a few days; the blank disc cannot be used if the copper has changed to a crystalline structure. Neumann has built a lathe somewhat similar in appearance to a standard disc-cutting lathe. Mounted on it is a CD cutterhead which works on piezo-electric principles and drives an embossing tool.

The incoming signal causes the tool to emboss the soft copper of the CD blank with sufficient force to create a series of wedge-shaped pits whose walls are angled at 45°. An elaborate control system maintains the proper depth of the embossing.

Teldec claims many advantages for this system. The V-shaped information pits are easier for the laser to track and afford better error correction; the V-wall pits also allow better molding of the polycarbonate CD. The cutting need not be under clean-room conditions; it is done directly onto the cop per substrate, and this can be easily silvered with standard electroplating equipment. Incidentally, the amount of recording time on a CD made in this process is comparable to that achieved with the standard photo-optical process.

The Teldec CD-cutting process, said to be 80% cheaper than systems currently in use, is undergoing tests by several American record companies.

One thing is certain: If the system really works well (and all indications seem to say it does), it will be a great boon to many of the independent cutting labs in this country. Without the necessity of clean-room conditions, it will mean much wider availability of less expensive CD processing. Apparently, this new Teldec technology will eventually bring us less expensive CDs.

Now let me tell you about a significant new advance in recording technique introduced by the redoubtable Tom Jung of Digital Musical Products.

Tom has a justly deserved reputation for his superlative CDs. He is an engineer and a consummate mixing artist who most assiduously searches for ways to improve the sonic quality of his digital recordings.

Tom sent me an advance copy of a very special CD project he has been working on for some time. The album features pianist Billy Barber and is entitled Lighthouse. Well, Billy does play the piano here, but he is heard along with some of the most complex and exotic and dynamically exciting sounds you can imagine, all the product of Tom Jung's fertile mind and dazzling technology. Here is a glimpse of how Tom recorded this music.

First off, Tom hired himself to the famous Carroll Musical Instrument Co. in New York. This company is known for its comprehensive collection of percussion instruments, including many rare and exotic items. Next, he recorded a large array of these instruments with a pair of omnidirectional Bruel & Kjaer microphones. A Kurzweil synthesizer with an added PCM processor sampled the mike waveforms at 50 kHz per second, and these were stored on floppy disks with a Macintosh computer. Eight other synthesizers were linked, all with preset programs.

Billy Barber, wearing earphones, heard all the outputs of the Kurzweil and the floppy disks with the percussion programmed, and the outputs of the eight linked synthesizers. He played the piano along with all this, and Tom recorded him with a pair of B & K omni mikes. The signals were routed to Tom's new mixing console, which is equipped with all Class-A electronics. The dual output of the mixer was fed into the two channels of a Mitsubishi digital recorder.

You just have to hear this CD to believe the quality of the sound. Bass synthesizer frequencies, the impact and timbre of the assorted percussion instruments, and the piano are heard with an immediacy of presence, and the transient responses are the sharpest and cleanest I have ever heard.

The use of Class-A preamps must con tribute a great deal to these immaculate sonics. Literally, the clarity of all musical elements is quite breathtaking.

Tom is exploring other areas of re cording with a view toward improving quality, but he believes the input con sole's electronics are vitally important.

To this end, he has just taken delivery on a 26-input unit, with all Class-A electronics. He also has acquired some new ribbon microphones which he feels will mate well with the Class-A preamps.

Now if we can only get some of the classical recording people to get be hind some of these fancy new con soles!

(adapted from Audio magazine, Dec. 1986; Bert Whyte)

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