Variety Bob Dylan Has Re-Recorded Classics With T Bone Burnett for New Medium - Variety Bob Dylan Has Re-Recorded Classic Tracks With T Bone Burnett to Introduce New Analog Disc Technology Producer T Bone Burnett has long promised the development of a new analog format that he promised would improve on both vinyl and CDs, as well as digital streaming and any other existing recorded music medium. Now, he appears closer to reaching that goal with the news that he has been in the studio with Bob Dylan, re-recording some of the legendary singer-songwriter’s classic songs with the purpose of introducing the new ultra-high-fidelity medium. Details are scarce about when the Dylan recordings might come out — not to mention the new hardware that will be required to play them. But Tuesday’s announcement about the completion of Burnett’s heretofore secret recording sessions with Dylan is one intriguing way for the producer to tell the world that he means business with this new technological development. Burnett’s newly formed company, NeoFidelity Inc., will release a series of “Ionic Originals,” starting with the Dylan release, or releases, according to the announcement. Although the discs coming out in the format will someone resemble vinyl albums, they are not traditional LPs, but a whole new medium. A photo released Tuesday shows Burnett holding up a sample of the aluminum platters that the company will be using for its exclusive releases — described in the announcement as “newly developed discs that advance the art of recorded sound and mark the first breakthrough in analog sound reproduction in more than 70 years.” The announcement included no information about what material Dylan re-cut with Burnett for the project, other than to say the artist “revisited a personally chosen set of his iconic songs for the first time in decades.” Said Burnett in a press release, “An Ionic Original is the pinnacle of recorded sound. It is archival quality. It is future-proof. It is one of one. Not only is an Ionic Original the equivalent of a painting, it is a painting. It is lacquer painted onto an aluminum disc, with a spiral etched into it by music. This painting, however, has the additional quality of containing that music, which can be heard by putting a stylus into the spiral and spinning it.” Burnett has long expressed his dissatisfaction with what he sees as the aural limitations of current analog as well as digital formats, although he clearly has a preference for analog, and the Ionic Originals are a next step in that technology. The announcement contends: “Drawing from the sonic history of recorded music, Burnett has developed an analog disc that possesses a depth, resonance and sonic fidelity that exceeds that of vinyl, CD, streaming or any other means of experiencing recorded music. … By forming a new company, NeoFidelity, Inc.. to record artists across a wide range of musical genres and provide a platform of distribution for Ionic Originals, Burnett is also determined to reset the valuation for recorded music.” Said Burnett, “When describing the quality that raises analog sound above digital sound, the word ‘warmth’ is often used,” Burnett further notes. “Analog sound has more depth, more harmonic complexity, more resonance, better imaging. Analog has more feel, more character, more touch. Digital sound is frozen. Analog sound is alive.”
Intrigued, to say the least. Good for T-Bone...maybe he can redo some of his aurally squashed recordings of the past 25 years, too!
That was my first thought. Also shocked that there aren't already 100 people in this thread commenting
Is this a joke? Just what we need, another format. T-Bone has been a advocate of audiophile sound for a long time. So I always wondered why at least some of his productions sound uh, not so great. I always thought The Union was especially disappointing.
For additional info - Tim Pierce talked about being part of the recording sessions around a month ago on his YouTube channel. Talking about the sound of T-Bone’s productions, my introduction to him was listening to Life. Love.Flesh. Blood by Imelda May. That record sounds wonderful to my ears and I will often put it on if I’m suffering with ‘inertia’ over what to listen to, simply because it sounds so good.
I was under the impression that he played on the sessions for Shadow Kingdom, but I guess they might have been for this project (or both???).
Said Burnett in a press release, “An Ionic Original is the pinnacle of recorded sound. It is archival quality. It is future-proof. It is one of one. Not only is an Ionic Original the equivalent of a painting, it is a painting. It is lacquer painted onto an aluminum disc, with a spiral etched into it by music. This painting, however, has the additional quality of containing that music, which can be heard by putting a stylus into the spiral and spinning it.” Come on, that's got to be a joke. That's just the description of an acetate. And that language sounds nothing like Burnett.
''Said Burnett, “When describing the quality that raises analog sound above digital sound, the word ‘warmth’ is often used,” Burnett further notes. “Analog sound has more depth, more harmonic complexity, more resonance, better imaging. Analog has more feel, more character, more touch. Digital sound is frozen. Analog sound is alive.” Where's the bathroom?
Mixed feelings...I'm in no (financial) mood to buy a new media player. Mastering CDs in the digital realm can sound good if you do it right. The nuances of these audio luxuries are beyond my pay grade. As long as I can hear the Dylan session in a "layman" media format - either from the company or audio hackers - then they can ionize Ionic and Pono all they want.
New Dylan recordings (whether SK sessions or even more recent) = fantastic news in my book. Bring it.
So we're supposed to buy bespoke, one-off lathe cuts by the sound of it! And how much will these objet's d'arrrrrt sell for? From the one supplier, which is him? Feh! This isn't the first time this guy has been peddling his artisinal snake oil. Beware of guys who wear shades indoors.
It is. They have Bob Dylan show up at your door and sing while sitting five feet away from you... but it sounds like he's three feet away from you. Pretty incredible tech.
Can someone please PM me if those Dylan recordings eventually come out on good old CD........if not, then it's clearly not for me.
Can't wait for Kind of Blue and Hendrix catalogue on their new format packed in Louis Vuitton Suitcases.
A very strange article, which seems to be based entirely on the press release. Was the type of, "someone" instead of, "somewhat" made by Variety or NeoFidelity? If the latter, not a great sign of quality control reassurance. I couldn't care less about making music sound better, the sound quality really has virtually nothing to do with my enjoyment of music. Nothing will make me upgrade from playing MP3s, flacs, and streaming into a $100 receiver into whatever speakers are sitting on my desk or my little bluetooth football. But, I am very interested in whatever Dylan does and can't wait to hear the new songs - that is very exciting. Burnett has everyone's number, so hopefully this is an ongoing project and we get tons of quality new recordings from many artists. That's a thrilling proposition.
