Potential music history being made tonight at midnight
4YearGraduate
2,945 Posts
New PUTS album Highlighter will be released in HD-AAC. As far as I can tell this is the first commercial release to ever use this technology, which is basically a 24bit/48k album directly playable through itunes/ipods, etc.
I may be wrong but as far as I can tell there have only been hd-mp3 releases, all of which came from the 44/16 file, so it's basically a lossless CD. This is something entirely different, in that it comes off the master tapes at 24/48, no cd ever involved.
Extremely excited (and nervous)
more info on this revolutionary codec here:
http://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/en/bf/amm/produkte/audiocodec/audiocodecs/hdaac/
I may be wrong but as far as I can tell there have only been hd-mp3 releases, all of which came from the 44/16 file, so it's basically a lossless CD. This is something entirely different, in that it comes off the master tapes at 24/48, no cd ever involved.
Extremely excited (and nervous)
more info on this revolutionary codec here:
http://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/en/bf/amm/produkte/audiocodec/audiocodecs/hdaac/
Comments
Where do we get it?
http://pl70.net/products/format/limited/pre-sale/
The download link is going to get mailed at to everyone at midnight PST. Hopefully the servers can hang, it's a BIG file. But it's futureproof too, which is kind of rad. It's at the same sample and bit rate that everything was recorded so aside from having to play the loudness game, it's pretty much a direct representation of what we were listening to when we made it. When we a/b's it with traditional MP3 the difference was CRAZY!
That's exciting.
nice werk
do the beats bang ?
Nah, the CD will be a standard, dither 16/44 version, that the crazy thing about this format - you are basically playing backwards compatible 24/48 files out of your ipod/iphone/itunes.
hopefully it will hang in there!
Tell me in simple words why this is an important shift in music formats. Tell me why this is better. And for the love of god, explain what the ratios mean. [/layman]
What I'm saying is, explain it to me like I'm a 16-year-old. Tell me why this is better in terms the average 16-year-old will understand and want to get behind.
b/w
I work in marketing, and I consider Thes, Mike, and Brendan friends. Can you feel me now?
Your music will sound better when you are on drugs.
But seriously, I thought that explanation was pretty "lay". Teenagers are smart, no?
The higher bitrate of an mp3 is 320 Kbps, and AAC goes up to 768 Kpbs. What Thes is offering is a bitrate of 48000 * 24 * 2 = 2'304 Kpbs, but can play on small devices that have been made to play tiny files. That's why it is so cool and revolutionary.
Sorry for the maths...
Teenagers are no less or more intelligent than the rest of us. Messaging to the masses is about striking the right balance between technical explanation and general understanding. It's all about the greatest clarity of messaging to the greatest number of people. I'm doing what I can to encourage a successful messaging of the benefits of this different medium. And I'm doing it publicly because it brings the discussion into the public forum and generates discussion and attention. Feel me now?
that comment made literally lol
I feel you, I'm just not as sharp about advertising. Sorry, it's not my line...and I don't have a teevee and don't watch Mad Men!
See my first suggestion and represent drug-induced euphoria with a sex metaphor like someone doing an "o" face while listening. (I'm kidding.)
As far as i can tell, that Tom Petty download, while high res, is not using the codec that would allow it to actualyl play hi res in, say, an Iphone.
@DB Cooper
put simply:
1) The record labels release on CD at 44/16, an ancient (80's) bit and sample rate that is pretty much the lowest common denominator. It costs about 20 cents to make a CD and although almost all studios in the world START recording at at least 24 bit, 48k, they have to eventually have to succumb and truncate thier high res audio to the shitty format that is CD.
2) Most people listen to MP3's - in itunes etc. now, if not just as much as CD's. These MP3's are coded from a CD format, so you can see how it is like two stages down now from the actual high res source.
3) This new codec allows us to go into our master sessions and actually output the music in the same resolution and bitrate we recorded it in AND have it play in itunes/iphones/ipods at that full 24 bit resolution. Which means that this MP4 is and will always sound better than any CD or MP3. As players increase in playback capability and resolution, the release will hold up because it will always be at it's source resolution. It is, as far as i'm concerned, the future.
or simply, it's like audio Blu-Ray (but more rad because you don't need a new player)
and as a footnote, I think someone like radiohead would have benefited more audio wise from this format than a bunch of couple of knuckleheads sampling old vinyls, but hey, f it. Someone had to try it. GOD DAMN THOSE VINYL CRACKLES ARE CRISP (you'll be saying)
and now for some math:
Cd=16bit, HDAAC=24 bit
The resolution of a 16-bit system can be calculated by using 2^16 which gives a value of 65,536. A 24 bit system 2^24 has a resolution of 16,777,216.
B/W
Forward thinking like a motherfucker. People really shot themselves in the foot so concerned about space.
THIS.
It'slike Blu-Ray but you don't need a new player.
This album will aurally shit all over every single CD you already have in your collection.
Thats's not just geek talk - you can ACTUALLY HEAR the difference.
But it is even better than that - It won't just sound better. it will sound EXACTLY like it sounded in the studio.
And you can play it AT THAT QUALITY on your fucking iPod.
For the first time.
Ever.
So the next time some asshole with a stereo setup that cost more than your house pulls out some wack album and tries to tell you it's the shit,
Play Highlighter by People Under the Stairs and melt his fucking face off.
Then walk away.
LIKE. A. BOSS.
I think we jsut broke the inernet. and mobileme went down too. and we trending.
WTF INTERNET GODS! HELP MEH!
Update your facebooks and your twitters.
GIGABYTES FLYING OUT THE DOOR< THE DOWNLOAD HAVE BEEN ROLLED OUT IN WAVES AND STILL WE IMPLODING!
COME ON SERVER! YOU CAN DO IT.
b/w i wish php would have integrated better with S3. aGGHGHHGGGHGGHG
Copped and downloading. Here's hoping the download will complete during the workday with this crappy work internets.
This really seems like a great idea, hope it catches on. No more going backwards.
It could potentially be a really great medium, here's hoping to the future - and faster downloads!