As the Xinghai Concert Hall concluded its 25th Music Season recently, the Shanghai Quartet celbrated its own 40th Anniversary Residency performance. The concurrent milestones were marked with concert recordings made using Merging Technologies’ DXD/DSD format.
The first recording used the control room of Xinghai Concert Hall’s studio, with recording engineer Cai Yamin, Professor Li Yi from Sun Yat-sen University and other audio professionals. They used a 7.1.4 panoramic sound system in 96kHz, 24-bit format, capturing the hall’s exceptional acoustics and the musicians’ outstanding performances.
In preparation for the Shanghai Quartet anniversary, it was decided to record in the Tianjin Juilliard Schoolconcert hall, where the quartet members teach. Professor Yang Zhen felt a deep connection to the project upon hearing the news.
Equipped with a Merging Technologies’ DXD/DSD recording system, the team travelled from Beijing to the Tianjin Juilliard School in April, where the concert hall’s VIP room served as the control room for the recording, prepared by Professors Zou Xiang, Liu Yuezhe, and Cui Kaiqi. The team was welcomed by Liu Xinrui, a senior recording engineer from Tianjin People’s Broadcasting Station, who was informed about their arrival through his connections at Juilliard.
Under Yang Zhen’s guidance, the team carefully set up microphones and equipment. The Merging Horus interface facilitated the transmission of 24-channel AD-converted DXD signal to a Pyramix audio workstation in the VIP room.
On the morning of the recording, as the artists of the Shanghai Quartet arrived at the hall, they were surprised to see microphones and cables – jokingly suggesting that each microphone was assigned to a specific person. The lighthearted atmosphere of Tianjin influenced even the serious and focused artists. With the recording begun, the Horus preamp captured a clear and transparent signal, complemented by the high-sampling DXD format, offering an immersive experience of the Juilliard Music Hall’s ambiance and gentle reverberation through stereo monitoring and headphones.
The team followed a rigorous recording process to achieve the highest sound quality. The artists performed tirelessly, often engaging in intense arguments and discussions to perfect every detail. As the album’s producer and recording engineer, Yang Zhen provided inspiration and guidance based on his understanding of the music and the works being recorded. Although they had limited recording time over three days, the memories and recordings made will stand as a record of the event and the anniversaries that inspired it.
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