Dr. AIX

Mark Waldrep, aka Dr. AIX, has been producing and engineering music for over 40 years. He learned electronics as a teenager from his HAM radio father while learning to play the guitar. Mark received the first doctorate in music composition from UCLA in 1986 for a "binaural" electronic music composition. Other advanced degrees include an MS in computer science, an MFA/MA in music, BM in music and a BA in art. As an engineer and producer, Mark has worked on projects for the Rolling Stones, 311, Tool, KISS, Blink 182, Blues Traveler, Britney Spears, the San Francisco Symphony, The Dover Quartet, Willie Nelson, Paul Williams, The Allman Brothers, Bad Company and many more. Dr. Waldrep has been an innovator when it comes to multimedia and music. He created the first enhanced CDs in the 90s, the first DVD-Videos released in the U.S., the first web-connected DVD, the first DVD-Audio title, the first music Blu-ray disc and the first 3D Music Album. Additionally, he launched the first High Definition Music Download site in 2007 called iTrax.com. A frequency speaker at audio events, author of numerous articles, Dr. Waldrep is currently writing a book on the production and reproduction of high-end music called, "High-End Audio: A Practical Guide to Production and Playback". The book should be completed in the fall of 2013.

16 thoughts on “A Morning Listening Session..What A Treat!

  • Great column, Mark. Yes, those DVD-A tracks in the Acura are great, as are the Acura Demo Discs. There are actually 4 versions of Acura Demo discs. You can see them here (http://www.quadraphonicquad.com/QQWBRhinoGalleryP4.htm) along with a few other demo DVD-A’s from WB.

    As a footnote, those still interested in the “America Homecoming” DVD-A, that album is being released next month by Audio Fidelity as an SACD. Can’t play it in the Acura, but you can listen to it and with the right equipment, make your own DVD-A for the car.

    Keep up the great work on keeping us all informed on REAL High Resolution audio. Your columns are a wealth of knowledge

    Reply
    • With The right equipment? Except he first generation P3 there is no medium out-there to rip a SACD. I have still 60 SACD’s I would love to rip. Please tell me the right equipment.

      Cheers

      Reply
    • Mike Hobart

      Thanks to Mark for the column mentioning the Accura demo disc. I managed to pick up one via eBay and am enjoying it. Thanks for the followup comment pointing out that there are several versions šŸ™‚ I enjoy well crafted demo discs šŸ™‚

      Reply
  • Try “Drive Home” by Steven Wilson in 5.1 on the bluray edition of his album, “The Raven That Refused to Sing”. Nice and loud-ish. Good use of deep bass, dynamics, musical emotion. Steven uses ‘stage mix’, is a surround sound fan and practitioner with some engineering skills.

    Reply
    • Thanks for the recommend…I know Steve’s work and he’s one of the best.

      Reply
  • Is it posible to buy downloads of the 5.1 from your own recordings?

    Reply
    • Yes, all of my albums/tracks are available at iTrax.com.

      Reply
  • What is “the album that shall not be mentioned???” šŸ™‚

    Reply
    • That’s why it’s called the “album that shall not be mentioned” because I can’t mention it.

      Reply
  • Joe Whip

    All I will say is that it is a good one!!

    Reply
  • Sergio Suarez

    Mark:

    Your column today struck a familiar chord and raised a question in my mind – I recently went back to digitize some of my old LP’s and I came across that old 1982 ‘Nightfly’ recording by Donald Fagen. (I am using an Apogee Duet-2 [@ 192/24bits, for extra data for ‘declicking’ etc.] and find that it yields results as good as many download sites.)

    The vinyl LP liner notes state: “Recorded and mixed entirely on 3M digital 32 track and 4 track machines at Soundworks Digital Audio/Video Recording Studios, N.Y., Village Recorders, L.A. and Automated Sound, N.Y.”

    Since this recording was chosen by Warner for the first track of the Acura demo disk and a 5.1 surround mix was created for the DVD-A, I was curious about the sample rate and bit depth of that recording given the date of the recording in 1982.

    I found in this article in the Spring 2008 ARSC Journal ā€œThe Dawn of Commercial Digital Recordingā€ by Thomas Fine [page 10] that the 3M Digital recorder was ā€œā€¦a 32-track self-contained linear recorder that used special-formulation 1-inch tape moving at 45 inches per second. The 16-bit system featured a sampling rate of 50KHz and allowed for over-dubbing and editing.ā€

    http://www.aes.org/aeshc/pdf/fine_dawn-of-digital.pdf

    Thus, it would appear, that the ā€˜provenanceā€™ of the recording [@ 50KHz/16-bit] cannot be considered High-Resolution by your definition if we apply that consistently ā€” although I certainly enjoy the music and Iā€™m sure most music fans wouldnā€™t care about this minor technical detail.

    Regards,

    Sergio Suarez

    Reply
    • Sergio, thanks for the information. I think was vaguely aware that the album was recorded digitally. I’m certainly aware of the 3M machine and it’s legacy. I actually remember seeing one all those years ago. It was 50 kHz and 16-bits. The files on the DVD-Audio sampler were 48 kHz/24-bits…certainly not high-resolution by my definition…and the track sounded really amazing.

      Reply
  • Mark,

    I know you have already DF in your list of songs to play, but honestly without Babylon Sisters from the DVD-A your presentation is not complete. Also, Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells (re-recorded in 5.1) is a blast for demonstrating surround.
    Just saying.

    Reply
  • Byron Bahr

    Dr. AIX-
    I just read your 3/1/15 post. I still drive a 2005 Acura TL with the ELS DVD-Audio surround sound system factory installed. It now plays much softer than it previously played. I was told by someone who seemed to know what he was talking about that I need a new amp but he said whatever amp he could get wouldn’t be quite right. Do you know if the original parts are still available and who repairs these systems? I am in Orange County, Ca. I don’t really trust the dealer to do this work and so far I can’t even find out from them if the parts are still available. Thank you for your assistance.

    Reply
    • I still drive my 2004 Acura…with 240,000 miles! The amplifier could be repaired by a competent technician. That would be my suggestion.

      Reply

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