Blue Coast Records to Demonstrate Direct Stream Digital Recording at 2011 California Audio Show (July 15-17)

The 2011 California Audio Show (CAS) will feature world renown audiophile producer Cookie Marenco and her Blue Coast Records team recording a series of acoustic performances live to Direct Stream Digital (DSD).  The sessions, using her proprietary Extended Sound Environment (E.S.E.) recording technique, will be open to the public, so fans can experience first-hand how Blue Coast’s world-class musicians are recorded in a natural setting, without headphones or overdubs.  Marenco’s recording technique was featured in the July 2011 issue of Keyboard Magazine and newly launched pstracks.com which centered around Vijay Iyer’s critically acclaimed release called Solo.  

CAS takes place the weekend of July 15th at Crowne Plaza SFO in Burlingame. The live recording events will be hosted by Blue Coast in the Plaza One Ballroom.  Veteran audio consultant and dealer Tim Marutani will share the space.  Blue Coast Artists Jane Selkye, Chris Kee, Chi McClean, Gregory James, Houston Jones, Frank Tusa and more will be performing live in the Blue Coast room. Gus Skinas from the Super Audio Center will also be present demonstrating the Sonoma DSD editing system.  Observers will be encouraged to ask questions about the equipment, techniques and recording process.


This three day exposition will introduce the next generation of high-end audio to audiophiles and the general public, with a list of exhibitors and panelists including Acoustic Science, Music Interface Technologies, Blue Coast Records and many others.  Confirmed media sponsors include Dagogo, Stereophile Magazine, Wired.com, KCSM (Jazz FM 91.1) and KOIT (Light Rock FM 96.5).  A full list of participants can be found at www.caaudioshow.com/.


Blue Coast Records founder, president and producer/engineer Cookie Marenco is a five-time Grammy nominee known throughout the music community as an A&R representative during the “golden years” of Windham Hill Records and pioneering recording engineer for Liquid Audio.   Blue Coast has been mixing and releasing audio files in DSD for more than ten years.  The DSD format provides a stunning difference in sound when compared with industry standard Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) for high resolution audio distribution.  

Blue Coast Records has always been and remains committed to preserving audio at its highest quality, even under the most difficult and challenging of circumstances.


For more information on the event please visit:

BlueCoastWorld.com
Caaudioshow.com
ActMusic.downloadsnow.net/solo
http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/newbay/kb_201107/#/38
CookieMarenco.com

Thank you PSTracks.com for This Article!

Reflections on Recording Vijay Iyer’s latest album

Featured Music — 21 May 2011

To Read the complete article at PStracks.com please click here!  

Written by Cookie MarencocloseAuthor: Cookie Marenco Name: Cookie Marenco
Site: http://www.bluecoastrecords.comAbout: With more than 20 years in the music industry, Cookie Marenco’s creative and technical skills have touched almost every aspect of the business. She is widely known for the quality of her audio engineering skills and for drawing out passionate performances from the artists she produces. She has engineered or produced 5 Grammy-nominated records, several Gold records and an Academy Award-winning documentary. Her artist credits include Max Roach, Brain, Kenny Aronoff, Vijay Iyer, Kai Eckhardt, New Monsoon, Brady Blade, Tony Furtado, Tony Trischka, Dirk Powell, Rob Ickes, Charlie Haden, Tony Levin, Alex DeGrassi, Turtle Island String Quartet, Steve Rodby, Buckethead, Ralph Towner, Paul McCandless, Ernie Watts, Glen Moore, Mary Chapin Carpenter, John Jennings, Pat DiNizio, Keith Greeninger, Houston Jones, Kristin Hersch, Brad Mehldau, Matt Rollings, Kevin Kern, Art Lande, Luis Bonfa, Clara Ponty, Chanticleer, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Mark Isham and Michael Tolcher. Her production and engineering skills can be found on projects for Monterey Jazz Festival, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Marinfest, Midem, Hard Rock Cafe, Windham Hill Records, Verve, Rounder Records, Om Records, Sony, Warner Bros. and others.See Authors Posts (1)

Vijay Iyer is an international artist of the highest caliber and reflects the new sensibilities of jazz’s next generation of players.  Though considered a ‘youngster’ in the world of jazz, Vijay has been recording albums for more than 15 years.  Vijay was named 2010 MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR in the Jazz Journalists Association Annual Jazz Awards!  I’ve had the great fortune of recording all but one of his releases.  It’s been a pleasure to watch him grow and see him grace the covers of notable magazines such as Downbeat and Jazzwise. He was recognized with a Grammy Nomination for Best Jazz Recording.
Though Vijay is a resident of New York City, he chose to fly to the San Francisco area to record at OTR Studios, my commercial recording facility of 25 years.  Because this would be his first solo piano effort, his decision to use my studio was based around the 1885 Steinway that lives at OTR along with my personal bias to record on analog tape and mix to DSD (Direct Stream Digital).  Light or heavy action, key grip, pedal noise, and you name it variations between instruments make it a challenge for any pianist to perform at their best.

Vijay is always keen to ‘future-proof’ his music by recording with the highest fidelity audio gear and format available.  We used the E.S.E (Extended Sound Environment) techniques devised for Blue Coast Records’ projects.  We simultaneously recorded to tape, DSD and 44.1khz/24bit.

Vijay’s choice of songs showed his wide appreciation for all great artists.  From Michael Jackson’s Thriller he performed a version of ”Human Nature”, my personal favorite.  Over the three-day recording period, he applied his unique interpretive style to works by Ellington, Monk and many other well-known composers. Most of you are familiar with analog tape and have heard of Direct Stream Digital recording.  DSD is a one-bit digital recording format that offers 2.8 million samples per second.  I realize there are numerous opinions on this subject of preference, but, in my view, DSD comes closest to tape and is our format of choice for multitrack recording.  Thanks to Gus Skinas and the Super Audio Center, we have a Sonoma System at OTR studios for use with EMM Labs ADDA converters.

To Read the complete article at PStracks.com please click here!

Valentine's Day Rebate from Blue Coast Records and Artist Connex!

Happy Valentine's Day to our audio friends!  We're sending you virtual hugs for supporting high resolution audio. 

Starting friday, we will be offering a 20% rebate (discount) on all products sold at Blue Coast Records and through the entire Artist Connex catalog. In celebration of Valentine's Day, any purchase of downloads through the end of the day on February 14th, 2011 will be eligible.  Rebates will be credited back to your account no later than February 18.

Our DSD catalogue includes some of our favorites
http://bluecoastrecords.com/blue-coast-collection
http://bluecoastrecords.com/while-she-sleeps
http://keithdayan.downloadsnow.net/

There are plenty of new titles in the Artist Connex Music Discovery module from various labels. 

If you have not been at the site recently, we are pleased to announce that there are 3 DSD songs available for free download.  In conjunction with Korg and their wonderful AudioGate software, we will offer one new download to guests registered at the site.

http://audiogate.bluecoastrecords.com

There will always be 3 songs in DSD available for collectors of high resolution audio.

This is a good time to begin collecting the downloads.

You can get AudioGate free from Korg here.

http://www.korguser.net/audiogate/en/index.html

Watch for next month's newsletter, we have a very special announcement to make....

If you can guess what that announcement is, I'll give you a free download of any song in the catalog!

Happy Valentine's Day
We love your all!

Cookie Marenco
Blue Coast Records
founder and producer

Congratulations to Rob Ickes for Winning the United States Artists Fellowship!

Congratulations to Blue Coast Artist, Rob Ickes! United States Artists, an organization dedicated to supporting America's finest artists working across diverse disciplines, announced the selection of Rob Ickes as the 2010 United States Artists Cummings Fellow at a ceremony tonight at the Lincoln Center. The USA Fellows program awards a $50,000 grant to fifty artists each year in the disciplines of music, theater arts, visual arts, dance, literature, media, crafts/traditional arts, and architecture/ design. United States Artists was formed by the Ford Foundation in 2005 with $22 million in seed funding from The Ford, Rockefeller, Rasmuson and Prudential Foundations, with a mission "to invest in America's finest artists and illuminate the value of artists to society." USA Fellowship nominations are made by an anonymous group of arts leaders, critics, scholars, and artists chosen by USA. An expert panel for each discipline then chooses the USA Fellows to be recommended for approval by the USA Board.  Previous USA fellows from the field of music include Michael Doucet, Bill Frisell, Ali Akbar Kahn, Terry Allen, Lionel Loueke, violinist Leila Josefowicz, jazz musician Muhal Richard Abrams, and interdisciplinary artist Meredith Monk. Katharine DeShaw, USA Executive Director, described the 2010 recipients as follows:  "Chosen for the caliber and impact of their work, the USA Fellows for 2010 hail from 18 states and Puerto Rico, range in age from 32 to 71, and represent some of the most innovative and diverse creative talents in the country." Ickes is the first artist with roots in bluegrass music to be named a USA Fellow. His work spans multiple genres, and Ickes plans to use his fellowship to continue to explore "the vast musical potential that the dobro has to offer," and to raise the visibility of the instrument.  WATCH THE ANNOUNCEMENT AND CELEBRATION , STREAMING LIVE FROM JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER AT 8pm ET:  The 2010 USA Fellows will be announced tonight at 8:00pm, followed by a celebration with special performances by several Fellows from prior years.  Watch a live stream of the announcement and celebration at www.unitedstatesartists.org (a video will also be archived and available for viewing on USA's website after the event). About Rob Ickes A Northern California native, Rob Ickes moved to Nashville in 1992 and joined Blue Highway, the highly esteemed bluegrass band, as a founding member in 1994. He is recognized as one of the most innovative Dobro players on the scene today, contributing signature technique and greatly expanding the boundaries of the instrument's sonic and stylistic territory. He won the International Bluegrass Music Association's Dobro Player of the Year award for a record-setting twelfth time in 2010, and is the most awarded instrumentalist in the history of the IBMA awards. An active session player and touring musician, he has collaborated with a wide range of artists, including Merle Haggard, Earl Scruggs, Tony Rice, Charlie Haden, David Grisman, Alison Krauss, Willie Nelson, David Lee Roth, Dolly Parton, Patty Loveless, Peter Rowan, Claire Lynch, andMary Chapin Carpenter. His most recent release is Road Song (ResoRevolution), a dobro-piano jazz album. He has also released four acclaimed solo albums on Rounder, nine albums with Blue Highway (Rounder, Ceili, Rebel) and a CD with Three Ring Circle (Rob, Andy Leftwich & Dave Pomeroy). The youngest dobro player on The Great Dobro Sessions (Jerry Douglas & Tut Taylor, producers), which won the 1994 Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album, he was also on the Alison Krauss & The Cox Family album, I Know Who Holds Tomorrow, which won the 1994 Grammy for Best Southern Gospel. Rob is also a gifted resonator guitar teacher; in 2007, he founded ResoSummit, a three-day annual instructional event in Nashville, featuring leading Dobro players and luthiers as faculty.

To schedule an interview or for more information:publicity@resorevolution.com      615-656-5306 www.unitedstatesartists.com     |    www.resorevolution.com CD Quality and High Resolution versions of his song are available on his Downloads NOW! page. http://robickes.downloadsnow.net/ Recorded by Cookie Marenco, Producer and Founder, Blue Coast Records

New DSD Title from Blue Coast World -- Vijay Iyer "Solo" -- ACT Music

As Thanksgiving approaches, we are compelled to thank all of your for your support of our high resolution audio efforts!  We are very, very grateful to you all!

As our way of saying "Thanks!" we wanted to give you the first opportunity to purchase our new DSD Downloads!

From now until Nov, 24, we are offering a 20% rebate or choice of any high resolution album when you purchase our DSD files (see details below or in our backstage area on how to claim your rebate).

We have added Vijay Iyer's critically acclaimed album, "Solo", as our second DSD title.  While it's distributed by ACT Music in Germany, the recording was done in the Extended Sound Environment (E.S.E.) fashion at our studio in the Bay Area.  Cookie Marenco was the engineer and co-producer.  It was recorded to analog 2" tape and mixed to DSD.  The recording has received numerous accolades in the New York Times and other media.

http://actmusic.downloadsnow.net/solo

Our first DSD release, Blue Coast Collection, is available now as DFF or DSF files as well.
http://bluecoastrecords.com/blue-coast-collection

More great news, Korg has announced free downloads of their Audiogate software making DSD easier for most computer systems.

http://www.korguser.net/AudioGate/


Many of you support our venture of higher quality audio through DSD and 96 24 high resolution files.  Blue Coast Records has become the first label in the USA (that we are aware of) to release native DSD files... meaning masters recorded to analog tape or DSD and mixed to DSD. Our files can now be downloaded as DFF or DSF files, depending on the player you have at home.  If you've never tried to hear DSD audio, we suggest joining our Backstage area where we have free DSD downloads for you to try.  These are recordings of our favorite Blue Coast Artists captured in ive performances at CAS.  Unadulterated by effects.  If natural is your preference, this is what a showroom at a convention sounds like!  All recordings were direct to DSD on the Sonoma System.

Thank you and all the best throughout the Holiday season!

The Crew

Blue Coast Records
Blue Coast World
Downloads NOW!

How to get your rebate or free download!
To Register for our Backstage area
Go To 
http://bluecoastrecords.com/dsd-disc-burning
and look under "Member's Chat" for Information!

 Rebates and downloads will come to you before Nov 29.

Blue Coast Records Releases Downloads in High Rez Extreme Format DSD

Blue Coast Records announces the release of the critically acclaimed “Blue Coast Collection” in Direct Stream Digital (DSD) format.  The launch date is expected to be October 14, 2010 and will be announced at the Rocky Mountain Audiofest in Denver Oct 15-17.  Blue Coast Records is one of the first labels to release high resolution music on DSD.  DSD is considered by many to be the highest quality digital audio available to date.

bluecoastrecords.com/blue-coast-collection

"We originally recorded the tracks on analog tape as well as DSD for SACD (Super Audio CD).  After numerous requests from adventurous audiophiles for DSD, we have figured out a relatively easy way to deliver them electronically through the internet.  We had always intended to do this once the broadband and delivery mechanism was in place.  Now it is," says Cookie Marenco, founder and producer of Blue Coast Records.  "Gus Skinas, from Super Audio Center and one of the original members of the DSD development team for Sony, was a great supporter and activist for our releasing DSD."

In August 2010, Skinas joined Marenco at the California Audio Show where they put on live recording demonstrations and burning DSD to Disc for playback in Sony’s Playstation PS3.  The room was packed with eager audiophiles who wanted to hear and learn more.  With free DSD downloads of the live recordings available from Blue Coast Records, the incredible success of the program led to the decision to release the full length Collection.

Blue Coast Records has been challenging the norm for some time, first gaining critical acclaim for its proprietary recording technique, E.S.E. (Extended Sound Environment) and creating what has now become a new sonic standard for acoustic recording.  Manufacturers and audiophiles praise the label for its realistic sound combined with skillful, passionate performances.  Thousands of people around the globe now own the original Blue Coast Collection SACD.  Earlier this year the Collection was released in China as a 24 Karat Gold CD which includes a booklet containing images and stories from the original recording sessions.

In 2008, Blue Coast Records partnered with Downloads NOW! to release CD Quality downloads.  In 2009, the label released the Collection as 96kHz 24bit audio downloads.  "The demand was so great for 96 24 downloads, we started recording live Special Events as the Artists came into town.  We use our E.S.E. recording technique and have been able to post live recording events for fans within 3 hours of the performance and available worldwide," Marenco continues, "Our 96 24 high resolution audio outsells the CD Quality by 20 to 1.  It plays easily using iTunes, Windows Media and other players.  DSD will be more of a challenge for the audiophile.  It requires new players and new thinking, but the end result is worth it!"

DSD is the format created for music released on SACD.  With the slowdown of manufacturing physical discs, Marenco and many other producers felt it was important to keep sound quality at the highest level possible for future generations to hear these artists.  "Speed of the broadband has always been a delivery barrier.  These are huge files.  With broadband and storage more accessible, we are looking into the music recorded and mixed on DSD to be released in that format.  It's a tragedy to give the consumers mp3s. And more a tragedy, for these artists whose legacy will be lost in mp3 sound. Future generations will thank us later."

There are some complications with DSD playback.  For consumers without a DSD setup, like the Sonoma System, Blue Coast Records is making DSF files available as an ISO disc image in the DSD Disc Format, which can be burned to DVD for playback on Sony’s Playstation PS3 and other devices that support the DSD Disc Format, including Korg's Audiogate software.  Single song downloads will be in the DFF format for computer-based playback using the DFF Decoder plugin for the popular free music player software Foobar.  Blue Coast is prepared for the onslaught of enthusiasm and “how to” questions and is offering information at its website.

www.Bluecoastrecords.com

Conspicuously, Blue Coast Records has not released the Collection on mp3.  "Mp3 has a purpose.  It's convenient, accepted by the masses and we use it to stream full length previews at a higher rate than they will allow us to sell.  At best, the mp3 services are a great solution for personalized radio.  We're not ruling out distribution in the future, just like we're not ruling out releasing the Collection on vinyl."

More information on how to listen to DSD data files is available at the Blue Coast Records website.
Or contact 
support(a)bluecoastrecords.com

If you're interested in having your music available in a high resolution format, please visit
downloadsnow.net
for information.

How to Playback your DSD data files on a Sony Playstation

Originally posted July 24, 2010 

Updated Sept 12, 2013
These pages may have broken links due to upgrade of our recent website.

Because of the wider acceptance of DFF and DSF files, Blue Coast Records is no longer selling ISO image discs.  However, if you would like to experiment, we recommend downloading Korg's Free Audiogate software.  Links for the software can be found at http://audiogate.bluecoastrecords.com along with free DSD downloads to test.  With Audiogate, you can create ISO image discs.  

Not all Sony Playstation 3's play DSD ISO files.  We recommend reading the pages at http://ps3sacd.com/ where serial number information might be found as to whether your Playstation works with DSD ISO images.

From these humble beginnings, there are now more than a 100 devices ready for playing DSD audio.  You can find out more information at DSD-Guide about these devices.

Thank you!
The Blue Coast Crew

DSD Disc Burning

We're excited to begin offering our music in the new DSD Disc Format. DSD Disc is an open format and does not require an SACD transport system to hear the full quality of the Blue Coast Recorings. DSD Discs can be played in any Sony Playstation 3 (PS3), Sony's SCD-XA5400ES and their upcoming SCD-XE800. DSD Disc files can also be played using Korg's AudioGate software which accompanies their MR series DSD Recorders. We are hopeful that additional manufacturers will be adding DSD Disc Format capability in future.

If you are already familiar with burning disc images you may not need the instructions below. If you're not we have set-up a step-by-step procedure for the burning the downloaded ISO disc image file to DVD, including a free (and very simple) image-burning application for Windows users. If you need support please contact us.

NOTE: It will not work to simply copy the ISO file to DVD media. The ISO file must be burned to the disc as an image, which contains the formatting and file structure necessary for the PS3 and other units to read the DSD Disc Format.

Burning the ISO file with a Windows PC (XP/Vista/7):

1. Download the ISO image file of the DSD_DISC from our website.
2. Download Free ISO Burner. (freeISOburner.com, download link at bottom of page)
3. Install Free ISO Burner & open the application.
4. Insert a blank DVD-R (DO NOT use a CD-R/RW).
5. Click the [Open] button and select the ISO image file you downloaded.
6. Check the box labeled "Finalize Disc".
7. Click the [Burn] button to start the disk burning.

Burning the ISO file with a Mac:

1. Download the ISO image file of the DSD_DISC from our website.
2. Start Disk Utility (usually found in Applications\Utilities).
3. Insert a blank DVD-R (DO NOT use a CD-R/RW).
4. Click the Burn button with the black & yellow icon.
5. Use the file browser to select the ISO image file you downloaded.
6. Click the [Burn] button.

You can play DSD Discs on any PS3, including those that are not SACD-compatible. DSD Discs also play on Sony's SCD-XA5400ES and their upcoming SCD-XE800.


Resource Links

• Super Audio Center
• PS3/SACD DSD Disc FAQ
• freeISOburner.com