TRPTK’s motto has for a long while been “Recording the extraordinary”; recording extraordinary immersive experiences with extraordinary artists from all over the world. These immersive experiences in pretty much all cases have been recorded of acoustic performances, in concert halls, churches, and other places with beautiful acoustics. We simply record what’s happening in that moment, in the most transparent way possible.
But what if the music demands a different approach? What if the music is written in such a way that it’s not about recreating a live performance, but rather an imaginary soundscape, with beautiful and strange elements, layers that go deeper than any acoustic performance can create? These questions form the basis of our new label, TRPTK X.
The album that started it all
Last summer, we started working on a project we could never imagine turn out into the scale it did. Maya Fridman, long-time TRPTK Artist, composer and cellist, ventured out to write her debut album with tracks by herself rather than other composers (which she has been doing for over a decade). The album, based on her poetry, consisted of eight tracks, each with their own sonic signature to them, but each of them heavily layered with elements such as her cello and voice, but also with synthesizers, piano, vibraphone, orchestral and choral samples, effects, and so much more. The album would be titled The Power of Indifference.
Writing the album took the lion’s share of the last two years, and its production almost two entire months of hands-on producing, engineering and mastering. The further we progressed throughout this production, the more we realized we had strayed very far from what TRPTK usually does — creating true-to-life immersive experiences by recording in the most transparent way possible — and that the album would need its own place in our ever-growing catalogue. We also realized that there are many more artists who want to create something more “produced” and layered, yet don’t want to sacrifice sound quality.
Because even though albums like The Power of Indifference are more heavily produced with effects, synths and electronics, the TRPTK sound signature is still there. We applied virtually no dynamics compression or limiting at all (and when we did it would only be in a creative context, rather than “just pump it up to 11”). EQ was used only sparingly, and when we did, we used ultra-high-fidelity linear-phase and minimum-phase equalizers by companies such as MAAT Digital. The album was recorded at 352.8kHz 32bit floating point, and its mixing and mastering stage was all done at 64bit floating point. And, of course, surround and immersive mixes/masters will be made available on TRPTK.com and various platforms. All in due time, of course.
A true carte-blanche approach, from conception to release
This all was what kickstarted our new label, TRPTK X: extraordinary music made by extraordinary artists who are given full and complete carte-blanche when it comes to the album. TRPTK X gives the artist complete free reign over the music, as well as the way it’s produced. The end result should be a one-to-one match with the sonic landscape the artist has in mind. More synths? No problem! Heavily processed robotic voices? Let’s go! On one condition, and one condition alone: the sound has got to have TRPTK’s signature transparency and openness in sound. Everything recorded in at least DXD 32bit and with a fully 64bit floating point signal path throughout. The artwork of the albums are also fully carte-blanche, which is why you’ll instantly notice a difference between TRPTK X and our regular catalogue. It must fully reflect the artists ideas and concepts. We’re merely there to support them and help them create it.
Just have a listen for yourself!
We encourage you to take a listen for yourself. TRPTK X albums are, like all our others, available in resolutions up to PCM 352.8kHz 32bit and DSD 512fs. Soon, there will be surround and immersive masters too, of course, but as you can imagine, when the stereo mix alone takes months, just think of how long surround and immersive take…
We hope you enjoy TRPTK X and its debut album The Power of Indifference by Maya Fridman. It’s a deep, very deep, very dark album that we think is just the perfect example of what TRPTK X can do. Up next is Sky-Cut by Turkish composer/cellist Ayşe Deniz Birdal, with pieces for solo cello and voice, as well as multi-tracked cello octet.
For now, we’re just so excited about this new road we’re taking, and hope you are too!
Introducing TRPTK X
TRPTK’s motto has for a long while been “Recording the extraordinary”; recording extraordinary immersive experiences with extraordinary artists from all over the world. These immersive experiences in pretty much all cases have been recorded of acoustic performances, in concert halls, churches, and other places with beautiful acoustics. We simply record what’s happening in that moment, in the most transparent way possible.
But what if the music demands a different approach? What if the music is written in such a way that it’s not about recreating a live performance, but rather an imaginary soundscape, with beautiful and strange elements, layers that go deeper than any acoustic performance can create? These questions form the basis of our new label, TRPTK X.
The album that started it all
Last summer, we started working on a project we could never imagine turn out into the scale it did. Maya Fridman, long-time TRPTK Artist, composer and cellist, ventured out to write her debut album with tracks by herself rather than other composers (which she has been doing for over a decade). The album, based on her poetry, consisted of eight tracks, each with their own sonic signature to them, but each of them heavily layered with elements such as her cello and voice, but also with synthesizers, piano, vibraphone, orchestral and choral samples, effects, and so much more. The album would be titled The Power of Indifference.
Writing the album took the lion’s share of the last two years, and its production almost two entire months of hands-on producing, engineering and mastering. The further we progressed throughout this production, the more we realized we had strayed very far from what TRPTK usually does — creating true-to-life immersive experiences by recording in the most transparent way possible — and that the album would need its own place in our ever-growing catalogue. We also realized that there are many more artists who want to create something more “produced” and layered, yet don’t want to sacrifice sound quality.
Because even though albums like The Power of Indifference are more heavily produced with effects, synths and electronics, the TRPTK sound signature is still there. We applied virtually no dynamics compression or limiting at all (and when we did it would only be in a creative context, rather than “just pump it up to 11”). EQ was used only sparingly, and when we did, we used ultra-high-fidelity linear-phase and minimum-phase equalizers by companies such as MAAT Digital. The album was recorded at 352.8kHz 32bit floating point, and its mixing and mastering stage was all done at 64bit floating point. And, of course, surround and immersive mixes/masters will be made available on TRPTK.com and various platforms. All in due time, of course.
A true carte-blanche approach, from conception to release
This all was what kickstarted our new label, TRPTK X: extraordinary music made by extraordinary artists who are given full and complete carte-blanche when it comes to the album. TRPTK X gives the artist complete free reign over the music, as well as the way it’s produced. The end result should be a one-to-one match with the sonic landscape the artist has in mind. More synths? No problem! Heavily processed robotic voices? Let’s go! On one condition, and one condition alone: the sound has got to have TRPTK’s signature transparency and openness in sound. Everything recorded in at least DXD 32bit and with a fully 64bit floating point signal path throughout. The artwork of the albums are also fully carte-blanche, which is why you’ll instantly notice a difference between TRPTK X and our regular catalogue. It must fully reflect the artists ideas and concepts. We’re merely there to support them and help them create it.
Just have a listen for yourself!
We encourage you to take a listen for yourself. TRPTK X albums are, like all our others, available in resolutions up to PCM 352.8kHz 32bit and DSD 512fs. Soon, there will be surround and immersive masters too, of course, but as you can imagine, when the stereo mix alone takes months, just think of how long surround and immersive take…
We hope you enjoy TRPTK X and its debut album The Power of Indifference by Maya Fridman. It’s a deep, very deep, very dark album that we think is just the perfect example of what TRPTK X can do. Up next is Sky-Cut by Turkish composer/cellist Ayşe Deniz Birdal, with pieces for solo cello and voice, as well as multi-tracked cello octet.
For now, we’re just so excited about this new road we’re taking, and hope you are too!