MusicTAP (Matt Rowe): Give us a little background on yourself? How did you come to be involved in the distribution of SA-CD?
Colin Cigarran (Sony SA-CD): Before I joined the SA-CD group, I worked at Sony Classical, the classical division of Sony Music Entertainment, for about five years. I was in the A&R department and my duties were to oversee the studio production of reissues from the vast Columbia/CBS catalog. Among the very first SA-CD titles in the marketplace were the stereo reissues of landmark albums from Bruno Walter, Vladimir Horowitz, Glenn Gould and Leonard Bernstein. I met David Kawakami, the Director of the SA-CD project, around this time. I would take the test pressings of those early releases down to his office where I spent some time listening to them, on a nice system, which really made me appreciate SA-CD almost immediately. I became so captivated by my work on those titles and how good they sounded that I wrote to David one day saying I would be very interested in working for him on the project and eventually it came to be.
MT: SA-CD is representative of a faster growing segment of the music industry. Do you see it as becoming the de facto standard whereby CDs disappear altogether at some point? Is it the agenda of the labels that produce SA-CD titles to eventually replace CD?
CC: Due to its outstanding performance and widespread acceptance, I would say SA-CD has already become a de-facto standard in the industry. However, it will take a long time before CDs disappear altogether, if ever. If you walk into a Tower Records or a Virgin Megastore and see just how many CDs are out there now, it’s staggering. I think that every label that releases SA-CDs now does so because they appreciate the difference in sound quality and they are keen to offer their titles in such a way that they sound their best. That is of foremost interest; the appeal of high-resolution multichannel is also a significant factor.
MT: How can the labels help to push the format more toward mainstream acceptance? Bill Hunt of The Digital Bits and myself discussed this issue at length. We agreed that it certainly couldn’t hurt if the labels took their best selling artist and converted their best selling product into SA-CD. They could then give the recording to the artist along with a top of the line SA-CD player and let the artist pitch the format on their own. If say, a Snoop Dogg or an Eminem, was wowed by the beauty of a DSD recording, their raving would then be communicated to the record buying public and it could eventually help to turn the tide in favour of SA-CD. Plausible?
CC: Working with labels from UMG, EMI and Sony Music, we have done a great deal lately to push SA-CD into the mainstream. A good example is the promotion we put together in the Rolling Stone® 500 Greatest Albums issue where we placed a hybrid SA-CD sampler into the hands of over a million and a half people who were probably not very familiar with the format. Our goal was clear: we want people to say to their friends, “You have to hear such and such cut on SA-CD. It’s incredible!” For SA-CD to continue to catch on, it has to inspire more and more people to get back into the enjoyment of listening to music. Music is more than just background filler and something that gets you through your daily commute; I’d like to think SA-CD forges a deeper bond with the listener and offers a very engaging experience that invites extended concentration on music and its myriad details and nuances
MT: What is the difference with recordings converted to DSD from the PCM realm versus those recorded in the DSD realm in the first place? Would the end result be more noticeable?
CC: The best type of recording is one done directly in Direct Stream Digital (DSD) which is the core technology that makes Super Audio CD what it is. It has a more life-like quality than PCM technology. And it’s not just a subtle, audiophile thing. Everyone I have demonstrated SA-CD to hears this difference right away. The marketplace has begun to offer more and more titles that are pure DSD, from beginning to end, and I think listeners are going to be very impressed.
MT: Logically, how long after mass acceptance, do you envision many of our recorded music to become SA-CD? That is to say, how long before all the Roxy Music, the Wishbone Ash, the Leonard Cohen titles are converted.
CC: If you’re talking about catalog reissues, we have already seen a huge increase in the number of them that are available as SA-CD’s. The Rolling Stones series from ABKCO Records set the bar very high, in terms of sound quality and devotion to detail, and we have now seen the same treatment of Bob Dylan’s catalog as well as many other artists whose albums are in the works. As for new frontline recordings, there are a number of professional DSD recorders now entering the market. So we hope to see more and more recordings done directly in DSD.
MT: What is the process for creating an SA-CD recording? How long does it take to make one available to the public from boardroom discussion to sending to the retailer?
CC: There is no one timetable for an SA-CD title to come to market. A straight-ahead stereo reissue of a catalog title can be done in only a couple of day’s time. Others can take much longer, depending on the condition of the tapes, whether the original mix notes are available, etc. A multichannel re-mix usually takes at least 4 or 5 days, though it can certainly take much longer. It really depends on the producer and the engineer and the vision they have for the re-mix. A good multichannel re-mix must be carefully thought out and finely tuned and that can take time.
MT: Are there enhancements considered for the format such as the rumoured SA-CDII which would allow for the inclusion of video content, etc.
CC: I am not involved with the technical specifications of the format so I am unable to answer this question.
MT: I’ve read that you officially catalog the SA-CD releases. If so, how are you made aware of the many releases being converted or recorded in DSD/SA-CD format?
CC: As a service to SA-CD enthusiasts, we issue an industry-wide catalog three times a year that keeps track of all the latest SA-CD releases. Before we begin each update, we’ll send out a mass email to all of the labels who issue SA-CD’s in order to obtain from them information on their most recent releases. However, the amount of new SA-CD titles coming to market is growing so quickly that sometimes we learn about them first on the many audiophile websites and chat rooms that we visit quite regularly.
MT: How long before the workstations that produce DSD recordings such as the Sonoma console are common and affordable for many labels to produce SA-CD recordings?
CC:There is now a variety of equipment available to produce DSD recordings at various price points.
MT: Do you have a title, maybe two that has not been announced yet but you could reveal that is on the SA-CD track?
CC: No, but I can say that I have heard the multichannel mix of one title I am sure will be a huge success on SA-CD and that is The Allman Brothers Band's “Eat a Peach.” It will not be released for a few more months (July 13) but I can say for sure that it will be worth the wait.
MT: What percentage of a label’s budget is earmarked toward SA-CD advancement?
CC: That’s a difficult question to answer -- it varies from label to label.
MT: Who ultimately decides which recording gets the treatment? Not to complain about certain SA-CD releases but why not a Springsteen title instead of say, Five For Fighting? Doesn’t it make more sense to release a Springsteen title in the hopes that such a recording might spur a market’s acceptance quicker than an obscure title?
CC: The question of who determines which titles are released on SA-CD is the same question concerning any format. Depending on the title, the decision is made by a variety of people including label representatives, producers, engineers, artist managers as well as the artists themselves.
MT: With the conversion and excitement over the Dylan titles, is it safe to say that full conversions of catalogs for other artists are eminent? An example would be the U2 catalog or the Bruce Springsteen catalog.
CC: I certainly hope so. The Dylan campaign generated such an incredible amount of enthusiastic praise -- both among the press and among fans -- that other labels should be keen to duplicate this success.
MT: Do you think that SA-CD may end up being just a niche market after all with the bulk of music purchases being done online via a downloading service? It would be like the singles market all over with several songs from any album selling the largest. Which brings up another question. If the future of SA-CD is compromised by the efficacy of downloads, might that impact the output of any band? Might it be that downloads become the sales of new releases while us oldtimers clamour for the release of high resolution old material? If so, might it also become possible that this year’s downloader become next year’s SA-CD purchaser, having developed a greater desire for his favourite to sound better than 128k that he/she grew up with?
CC: SA-CD exists, and will continue to exist, as the best possible way to reproduce music in the home environment. And given the ever-increasing popularity of the format, I would say that it is clearly moving beyond a specialized market into the mainstream more and more. I don't know much about downloading, as I have never done it in my life and I get a headache just hearing about every fly-by-night new way to do it, but I am aware of its importance and presence in the marketplace. However, to me, it is something that is done strictly out of convenience and something that one would most likely grow out of at some point. The demand for quality and real value, in anything, is a constant and that is what Super Audio CD represents and what I think people see in it.
