About the Recording

The recording was made at the Concert Hall of the Slovak Radio, in Bratislava, Slovakia, from March 13 through March 20, 2000.

The technical production team was R.E.C.: Producer Milos Betko, mixing engineer Otto Nopp, and editor Ladislav Krajcovic.

The main microphones were a pair of Neumann U-87’s, modified by Stephen Paul Audio of Burbank, California with 1.0 micron (as compared to 7.0 micron of the stock version) Mylar diaphragms deposited with an ultra-light layer of proprietary alloy. Additional stock U-87’s and Schoeps MK-4’s were employed as spot mikes, and the combined audio signals were fed into analog-to-digital converters by Apogee Electronics of Santa Monica, California for a high definition recording in 24-bit word length and 96-kHz sampling rate. Apogee’s UV22HR High Resolution CD Encoding was used in the CD mastering process.

Cassandra Records is highly interested in releasing this recording eventually also on DVD-Audio or another high-resolution format, through which the consumers can finally experience the full potentials of our master recording. However, it may be some time yet for demand to mount sufficiently (not only for the format, but also more basically for this recording) to justify making this plan a reality.

As an interim solution, we are offering a limited edition of analog cassettes of this recording, duplicated on TDK metal tape in real-time on Nakamichi BX-300 discrete three-head deck directly from the 24-bit/96-kHz master, with input and bias levels meticulously tweaked. Other than the presence of a nominal tape hiss, the cassette version, played back on the Nakamichi, actually sounds much closer to the high-definition master than it does to the CD version. The cassette is available only as a special order item directly from us. Please write to us at info@CassandraRecords.com for further inquiry.