Quartet Equinox
Quartet Equinox - Philip's Wish
SACD
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Featuring DSD 5.1 Multi Chanel
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Stereo DSD (Direct Stream Digital)
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CD quality Redbook (44.1kHz/16 bit)
This CD can be played on any Standard Compact Disc Player and can be heard in SACD Stereo and
5.1 Surround with a SACD multichannel system. Review on SA-CD.net below
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About the Recording
Recording Date
January 14, 2009
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Location:
Media Hyperium Studios, Los Angeles, CA
Mixed on an API Vision 5.1 True analog Mixing Console directly into Pyramix, the leading recording software for DSD.
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DSD allows users of Pyramix to make recordings that truly mimic those using the best analogue gear without any of the limitations associated with using 'linear' equipment. DSD uses a method of encoding an analogue audio signal using PDM (Pulse Density Modulation) which means that the effective samplerate of a DSD256 signal becomes 11.2 MHz, which is 256 times higher than the one used by CD (44.1 kHz).
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The album was recorded utilizing the most renowned recording microphones such as the AKG C12, Neumann U47, U87, Telefunken, etc.
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All instruments are acoustic and have been recorded simultaneously.
Media Hyperium Studios, Los Angeles
Quartet Equinox
Dirk K (Germany)
- guitar
Andy Suzuki (Finland/ Japan)
- Saxophone, Flute, Bass Clarinet
Dean Taba (Hawaii)
- Upright Bass
Cristiano Novelli (Brazil)
- Drums/ percussion
About the Music
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Quartet Equinox was founded in 2007 and is the brainchild of guitarist and composer Dirk K. The album features his compositions which are a unique blend of Flamenco and Jazz. The first album Quartet Equinox - "This Is Flamenco Jazz", (link here..) was released in 2007. It was followed by a tour throughout USA and Europe which led to this second album "Philip's Wish."
Dirk K known for his unique approach to Jazz and Fusion was first introduced to Flamenco in the early 2000s. He studied together with guitarist Jose Tanaka in Los Angeles and found a great appreciation and admiration towards this amazing Art form. Immediately he started to include Flamenco style groove concepts into his Jazz style of composing which led to the idea and creation of Quartet Equinox.
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In addition to writing the compositions, he also started to develop a concept for instrumentations and arrangements which could cross over those two styles of music. The first conceptual idea was that all instruments have to be acoustic, including the bass. The second idea was to find a drummer/ percussionist who would be able to play a hybrid kit with a strong emphasis on Cajón. The last challenge was finding a great reeds player who would be able to play multiple instruments such as saxophone, flute and bass clarinet.
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Bassist Dean Taba and Dirk K were working together on and off and Dirk brought up the new concept to Dean and he immediately suggested reeds player Andy Suzuki which turned out to be the perfect fit.
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Cristiano Novelli, percussionist and drummer from Brazil just moved to Los Angeles and was also suggested as a great fit. He was able to create the hybrid kit which complimented all of the required styles of music. On the last song of the album "The Traveler" we even started to integrate a Brazilian style groove over Flamenco.
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This creation of this album was an amazing musical and spiritual experience. All songs have been recorded live in the studio on January 14th of 2009.
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Lastly the album art work photograph was created by our great friend Gil Mares. Entitled Hull with Anchor. Artwork was designed by Dirk K's wife Irene Kleutgens.
Dirk K, not only a guitarist and composer is also a recording engineer and producer. Around 2008, Dirk K was approached by studio owner and producer Herbert Waltl. Herbert himself a former classical pianist founded Media Hyperium in order to mix and create the highest quality sound possible especially for surround sound mixing all done in DSD. Herbert won 2 Grammy Awards for his participation on Ray Charles album "Genius of Love"which was mixed and partially recorded at Media Hyperium. Dirk K became the A1 recording engineer at Media Hyperium later this year where he mixed albums for artists such as Jeff Beck, Hillary Duff, Nikka Costa, and many more in stereo, 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound. In January of 2009 a few days opened up in the studio schedule and Dirk K was able to create this record not only as a guitarist and composer, but as a sound engineer as well. The album was also mixed by Dirk at Media Hyperium in stereo and 5.1 surround sound the very next day.
The Mastering was done by Graemme Brown at Zen Mastering. The premier Mastering studio for SACD's.
About The Studio
Quartet Equinox - Flamenco Jazz
The debut album available here.
CD $20 + free shipping (USA only)