Current Issue Details
Published: 2022/04/27
Photo by Jason Myers
American record producer, T Bone Burnett has announced a new medium for recorded sounds, a disc format dubbed Ionic Originals. The new format is said to advance the art of recorded sound exponentially and was tested by Bob Dylan, who re-recorded a number of his iconic songs as a way of testing Burnett’s technology. While the recordings are not available for public listening yet, the advancement marks an exciting development in the digital consumption of music and the first of its kind in 70 years.
In a statement, Burnett described Ionic Originals as “the pinnacle of sound recording.” He stated, “It is archival quality. It is future proof. It is one of one. Not only is an Ionic Original the equivalent of a painting, it is a painting. It is lacquer painted onto an aluminum disc, with a spiral etched into it by music. This painting, however, has the additional quality of containing music, which can be heard by putting a stylus into the spiral and spinning it.”
The Grammy and Oscar winner then added, “When describing the quality that raises analogue sound about digital sound, the word ‘warmth’ is often used.” He continued to say, “Analogue sound has more depth, more harmonic complexity, more resonance, betting imaging. Analogue has more feel, more character, more touch. Digital sound is frozen. Analogue sound is alive.”
In conjunction with the Ionic Originals announcement, Burnett has also formed a new company, NeoFidelity, Inc., which aims to carry out his mission to advocate for the sonic excellence of analog sound. The new company will record artists across a wide range of musical genres and supply a distribution platform for Ionic Originals.
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