Meyer Sound in Berkeley, Calif., collaborated with mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe and pianist Craig Terry for the album release As Long As There Are Songs, a collection of America’s greatest classics. This is the first full album to be recorded using a Meyer Sound Constellation acoustic system and features a proprietary recording technique developed by company CEO and co-founder John Meyer.
The technology provided a performance environment optimized for the artists, while giving listeners of the record an exceptionally accurate sense of being “in the room” with the performers.
“We live in a digital age when most people listen to music with high compression and limited bandwidth, and this is an issue close to musicians’ hearts,” says Meyer. “My job is to give artists like Stephanie the tools that bring her closer to her audiences. With this recording, we returned to what some may consider the ‘old school’ recording style, where musicians play together in the same room, and listeners can trust that they are hearing the performance at its fullest—nothing more, nothing less.”
The recording took place in Meyer Sound’s 57-seat Pearson Theatre. Using the room’s Constellation system with its variable acoustic capabilities, Meyer Sound engineers worked closely with Blythe and Terry to create a customized acoustic environment. During the recording, they performed comfortably without close-field microphones or headphones.
Full takes were recorded natively at 24-bit/96kHz resolution. A third of the songs were captured as entire, unedited takes, with minimal edits made to the other tracks. No post-process filtering or compression was done during the capture or mastering process.
“The Meyers’ incredible spirit of generosity combined with their technology allowed us to create a recording with a sound that is honest, generous and real—a disc that magically transports listeners from their car or couch to the feeling of being at our actual live performance,” says Blythe.
The collaboration between Blythe and Meyer Sound began with an introduction of the two by Cal Performances Director Matías Tarnopolsky, who continues to serve as an advisor. Evans Mirageas served as executive producer, and Ian Watson was music editor. John Meyer led the technical team as recording consultant, working with engineers John Pellowe and Miles Rogers, both of Meyer Sound.
John Meyer has been devoted to building audio technology that faithfully reproduces and delivers sound of the highest quality to audiences worldwide. His 2005 recording of Aashish Khan and Zakir Hussain’s Golden Strings of the Sarode was nominated for a Grammy Award.
Learn more about Meyer Sound’s Constellation System.
Find more information about Stephanie Blythe’s As Long As There Are Songs from Innova Recordings.
