Water Lily
Before his death, Steve Jobs was working on a project which would create a music format that has 20 times the fidelity of digital formats, including MP3s.
Listening to music was one of the things Steve did for relaxation. It was ironic that Steve, one of the pioneers of digital music, did not enjoy the sound quality of digital formats he fashioned. When he was home, he would listen to vinyl records. An astute record collector, Steve was a big fan of Neil Young, and rock and roll. The music icon Neil Young himself revealed this in a recent interview. Neil added that he was working with Steve to develop a format that would contain 100 percent of the data of music as it is created in a studio, as opposed to five percent in compressed formats including Steve’s Apple AAC (advance audio encoding).
Steve did not live long enough to bring the project to fulfillment. Neil is hoping that some rich audio enthusiasts would continue Steve’s obsession for high fidelity music reproduction — one that would come close or even surpass that of music recorded in vinyl.
That vinyl is more superior to any other modern-day music formats is no longer news to an audiophile community which has never switched preference, despite the hype and marketing clout of compact disc (CD) which started “replacing” vinyl as the preferred music medium in the early 1980s.
More than 20 years have passed; the CD is dead, digital formats are in their death throes, and vinyl has made a grand comeback.
Every day, I receive e-mails from curious readers, asking me to recommend places that offer good bargains on old long-playing records (LPs). Some seek advice on how they can either resurrect an old turntable or which brand-new unit to buy.
Before any of you get lost in the euphoria over this new format, let me caution you: not all LP records are created equal. There are terribly recorded LPs, just as there are masterfully crafted ones. But one thing is for sure: even badly recorded LPs still sound better than MP3s. Unlike CDs and other digital music, which are recorded in automation, vinyl still has to contend with human errors.
This brings us to Water Lily Acoustics and its founder, Kavi Alexander. If you happen to own recordings made by this label, treat them with great care because chances are they contain the most engaging and beautiful music ever recorded. Kavi employs an unfussy technique to record Asian Indian, Arabic and Chinese music, and also American blues performers. His work fuses the old and the new, the traditional music of Eastern cultures with modern recording technology. His dedication to sound quality affords us to hear the amazing beauty and intricacy of this unique music.
He shuns the usual multi-mike; multi-track recording practices done by other big-name record labels. Microphones are simply placed near the performers in a church that has good acoustics. He doesn’t process them to make his music pure and unadulterated. He captures the beauty of the music as it is played live. His recorded music is so gentle that you will not be distracted by edgy highs. The quality of sound is without roughness, making the music sound so pure that listening to it wdoes not tire you out. You can discern stringed instruments being plucked, a particular detail that comes from a non-polluted signal chain and not from an equalizer boost. Cymbals clash with a sugary, shimmery sizzle, while saxophones are smooth and full-bodied. Tabla, a South Asian percussion instrument, dives deep and wraps you with its primitive flavor.
In Water Lily’s recordings, the stereo imaging is precise, airy and robust, and full of powerful dynamics. There is an undeniable musical excitement; an exhilaration that is truthful and absorbing.
The recording industry and those of us who push for fidelity in sound reproduction owe a lot to Kavi Alexander. He has inspired other Indy record producers to create something out of the ordinary.
So, are you are ready to take the analog plunge? All it takes is passion; that will be your guide to finding the kind of vinyl music, which Neil Young describes as “ethereal.”
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For comments or questions, please e-mail me at audioglow@yahoo.com or at vphl@hotmail.com. You can also visit www.wiredstate.com for quick answers to your audio concerns.
