1.  From Alex Case: Just a quick note to let you know that my book, "Sound FX - Unlocking the Creative Potential of Recording Studio Effects", has just been released. You should be able to find it wherever you shop for books. For more info: www.fermata.biz/FX.html provides the full table of contents, and a link to Amazon for easy acquisition.

2.  So you think the classical recording business is dead in the water? Think again. The recent reissue of 55 out-of-print Chicago Symphony Orchestra titles by the online classical music store ArkivMusic points up how Web-based options are helping to fill the void created by the shuttering of Tower Records and other retail shops that once devoted extensive shelf space to classical music. ArkivCDs are deleted or otherwise hard-to-find recordings that ArkivMusic makes available to its customers as "production on demand" compact discs. The company has a database of nearly 3,000 such recordings. Potential customers navigate to the www.ArkivMusic.com Web site, search the available titles and place their order. Recordings are packaged in standard jewel boxes with the original cover art and are shipped by mail. ArkivMusic charges its customers between $14.99 and $16.99 per disc, a few dollars more than one would ordinarily pay for a new top-line CD through other online stores. But the sound quality of the custom Arkiv discs I've heard is excellent - fully comparable to that of the original CDs - and many titles come with reproductions of the original booklets. (Customer complaints have prompted ArkivMusic to add liner notes and texts to some earlier reissues that did not include them). John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune 11 July 2007

3.  Recently I transferred a 48 kHz DAT to the computer. There is a right way and a wrong way--I decided to investigate. My soundcard (M Audio) and editing program (Fast Edit) each have settings for 44.1 and 48 kHz. With record and playback that's 16 possibilities. After trying all, I found that the soundcard setting made no difference on record--the editor set the sampling rate. Once it was in the computer it was labeled as 44 or 48, regardless of the original sampling frequency. When I played back, there was a warning if it tried to play it at the wrong sampling rate. A 48 recording loaded in as 44 played slow. A Boston recording engineer accidently set the switch on his A to D convertor to 48, then processed it as usual. He edited it and sent a CD copy to the conductor and the conductor said "there is something strange about this." It was playing 10% slow. A clue during editing would have been that all the timings were off--10% longer. After loading the file as 48, I changed the sampling frequency to 44 using DC Six which has a "Master" quality converter with 32 bit interpolation. That's one part per billion.

President, Boston Audio Society

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