New record label is dedicated to preserving the art of high-fidelity recordings and compensating musicians fairly
PS Audio has announced the launch of Octave Records, a new audiophile record label that supports the livelihood of musicians in a unique way. Its premiere release, Out of Thin Air by GRAMMY-winning pianist and composer Don Grusin is a solo piano recording engineered and mastered by Gus Skinas using the Sonona DSD high-resolution recording system. It is available on a two disc limited edition SACD/CD disc set containing pure DSD, hi-res 192kHz/24-bit PCM and CD formats.
“Along with our dedication to producing the best-sounding recordings available today, Octave Records offers a different kind of business model,” states Paul McGowan, PS Audio CEO. To support musicians, Octave covers 100% of all studio, mixing, mastering, production, distribution and marketing expenses so that artists may directly share in retain sales revenues – while also retaining ownership of their music.”
Out of Thin Air features Don Grusin performing a variety of jazz-tinged original solo piano compositions, ranging from the introspective opener, “Classical September” to the playful “Willow Dance” and “Grusin Likes Gershwin,” the artist’s tribute to the beloved composer.
Octave Records exclusively employs the Sonoma multi-track recording system, which uses pure one-bit Direct Stream Digital (DSD) technology. Out of Thin Air was recorded “live” and mixed at Grusin’s Moose Sound studio in Colorado using the Sonoma system, AEA R88 and Sanken CO-100K mics, Forsell Technologies and Integer Audio mic preamps, EMM Labs ADC8 Mk IV A/D and DAC8 Mk IV D/A converters and other state-of-the art equipment. No compression was used in the mastering. The result is a natural-sounding recording with extraordinary clarity and realism, with the tonal and dynamic range of Grusin’s Yamaha C7FII grand piano captured with remarkable presence and nuance.
Octave’s engineer Gus Skinas has worked on hundreds of recordings including titles from the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Nat King Cole, George Harrison and numerous others. He also helped design the Sonoma system. “We find that the Sonoma system has not only exceptional fidelity and resolution but also retains the character and ‘feel’ of analog tape,” he notes. “It eliminates the distortions in the time domain that other types of digital recording can suffer from, and which can’t be easily measured but the brain knows isn’t quite right.”
Too often, musicians have to absorb the costs of production, leaving them little or any earnings or even putting them in debt. “We want to respect the musicians by paying them fairly, and respect their music by bringing it to life in the highest quality possible,” states Gus Skinas. Future Octave Records titles will be released on a regular basis.
The limited edition Out of Thin Air can be purchased on Octave Records’ website for $29 with free shipping within the United States and a $15 flat rate everywhere else.