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Tacet Recordings: The Tube Only Night Music

Category: Music

I had the pleasure of listening to my first recording from a company called TACET

http://www.tacet.de/main/seite1e.htm

Out of curiosity I purchased "The Tube Only Night Music" album and to my delight enjoyed not only one of the best engineered pieces of vinyl I have ever come across, but one of the most spirited and "natural" renditions of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik I have ever heard, from the Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra.

TACET seems to go out of its way to produce recordings of amazing detail, not only for vinophiles but also lovers of SACD, DVD-Audio and of course CD. They also have albums that were recorded using and array of different microphones (I think they're a little obsessed - thank goodness!)

This particular recording was created using equipment that only employed tubes, some of it from the early 50's, and I quote:
"lovingly preserved historic microphones, a mixing desk consisting of nostalgic V72 amplifiers and W85 regulators, the analogue M5 Telefunken tape recorder - each item a legend in itself! May we proudly present this illustrious combination of equipment, here to preserve beautiful music “TUBE ONLY”, in other words without transistors."

If you close your eyes you'd swear you were right there as the orchestra plays - absolutely amazing!

I haven't yet put my finger on it yet, but there is something very engaging about this recording - maybe it's the nature of recoding with only two "Tube Microphones" (?) or maybe the fact that everything in the signal path was tube, but it was extremely smooth and very pleasing to listen to and far superior to any other vinyl recordings I have.

If there was one thing I found a little unsettling, it was the amount of static generated by this vinyl as it played - none of my other albums suffer from static at all. I now have to go get a Nostat brush!

The stereo image of this album was amazingly three dimensional and appeared very deep and "floated" well behind my speakers - it was really quite eerie.

You should at least try to audition an album from TACET, you may end up being as pleasantly surprised as I was.

My Rating: Absolutely Outstanding!
williewonka
2 responses Add your response
williewonka OP
3,066 posts
 
Why can't domestic labels meet this high standard?

Money, Demand (or lack of it) & Record Executives - that's why

The smaller labels like NAXOS, CHANDOS, TACET etc...

- seek out the lesser known artists to save money.

- attract the best sound engineers (where sound is their passion) and they won't be asked to cut corners

- Execs who are passionate about the music and the sound - not so much about $$$

As for Demand:
- no one has or makes the time these days to actually sit down and listen to music
- what else should we expect from a "general population" (OK - all the younger people I know) that believe MP3 produces amazing sound?
They actually wonder why I bother with those funny black discs or the smaller silver ones - JUST DOWNLOAD! into your phone and boogie on.

Ask yourselves a Question:
- how many people do you know (relative or friend) that you did not meet as a direct result of music, or introduce to the finer points thereof, that also share in your interest?

I have only met two. A fellow Brit and my Brother-in-law (the rest of the family think we're NUTS!)

The rest just want to plop on a CD on their boom-box or mini-system for background music.

Thanks to disposable income - Hi-Fi - is having a revival!
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Not surprising. TACET DVDA are without doubt the best multichannel discs, particularly the series of chamber music. Why can't domestic labels meet this high standard?
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