Artists Stand up for High-fidelity Audio

As the digital era with its mighty ruler – the Mp3 are swallowing everything around leaving no room for other contenders, artists are coming together to have their say in this and save high-fidelity audio formats. Adhering to “la resistance” are artists like Neil Young, Trent Reznor (NIN), John Mellencamp and T Bone Burnett.

Burnett (photo right) has done more than oppose the death of high fidelity formats – he founded Code, with which he intends to set standards that would guarantee top quality sound. According to Rolling Stone, the first album to be released by Code is John Mellencamp’s Life, Death, Love and Freedom (produced by Burnett), and is due on July 15th. The album will be offered in a special package containing a standard CD and an audio-only DVD with superior sound quality compatible with any standard DVD player. Additionally, the package will also “throw in” iPod-playable AAC files ripped straight from the masters, which according to Burnett offers better quality sound.

Further on, Burnett seems confident about his venture and not at all “intimidated” in his initiative by the ever growing popularity of iPods. Even with past negative examples of better-than CD formats such as SACD failing, the experienced producer and musician relies on the impact the superior quality of sound will ultimately have on the public - “Nobody knew they wanted high-definition television until they saw it,” and calls on fellow artists to give up being passive about it “We need musicians to stand up for pure sound. It’s unthinkable that we’re still hung up on this 25-year-old technology of CDs

Blu-ray discs, on the other hand, are preferred by Young (a well-known opposer to digital sound) as they have a larger storage space than even DVDs: “CD quality is very low-resolution, just a step above MP3s” (…) “That was a crime, to make that a standard for so many years” said the artist.

You can check for more on this issue here - “The Death of High Fidelity: In the Age of MP3s, Sound Quality Is Worse Than Ever”