Chasing the Dragon II Audiophile Demonstration CD

Chasing The Dragon II CD

This audiophile demonstration album contains 17 tracks, including a microphone comparison, the giant organ at Temple Church, and a fantastic drum solo, which will test your loudspeakers to the limit!

This selection of tracks will take you and your Hi-Fi system on an interesting journey.

Features:
- Audiophile Demonstration CD
- Mastered at Air Studios in London
- Produced/Engineered by Mike Valentine

This audiophile demonstration recording samples classical compositions by Vivaldi, J.S. Bach and Corelli, alongside a drum solo improvisation, a choir performance, microphone comparison of male voice recording, and more.

The recording path has been made as simple as possible, and this will become clear when you play the album. The artists are performing right in front of you, between your loudspeakers.

Tracklist

1. Syd Lawrence Orchestra
"Hawaiian War Chant"

What better way to start our disc than with a live recording of the Syd Lawrence Orchestra playing Ted Heath's "Hawaiian War Chant"? The sheer jump factor of the orchestra playing this as their opening number was really great. Recorded with just 2 microphones.

2. Choir
"Nolo Mortem Peccatoris" - Darbourne Ensemble

Jonathan Darbourne is one of the UK's rising stars. He was a choral scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford, and has assembled a wonderful choir here to perform "Nolo Mortem Peccatoris" by Thomas Morley. Written in the 16th century, this piece sounds just as fresh today.

3. Drum Kit
Drum Solo Improvisation

The dynamic range of our drum recording should push your speakers to the limit! Producer and engineer Mike Valentine has used relatively few mics on the kit in an effort to present a more natural sound. Your system should sound pretty much as if you were standing in the studio on the day. Enjoy!

4. Clare Teal with The Syd Lawrence Orchestra
"Too Darn Hot"

5. Piano
"Sonata No 15" - Mozart

There are many different ways of recording a piano. Here, Mike Valentine found the most involving approach was to use the Neumann Binaural Head. Although designed for headphone users, it provides a very natural, full sound of the piano on the loudspeakers as well.

6. Church Organ
"Toccata and Fugue in D" - Bach

This great organ piece is probably one of the world's most loved. This Chasing The Dragon recording was made in Temple Church, London. A spaced pair of valve omnidirectional mics were used to capture the majesty of this performance and placed where you can see the white disc.

7. London Underground
"Mind The Gap!"

8. Lute
Anonymous Piece

Lynda Sayce is one of the UK's leading musical scholars. Here she performs an anonymous piece on the lute. The acoustics of the Temple Church add to the beauty of this instrument and again, just a simple pair of microphones were placed in front of her, in order to capture a natural reproduction of the performance.

9. Theorbo
"Chaconne" - Robert de Visée

What an amazing instrument! This piece was composed over 300 years ago and performed at the court of Louis XIV. Lynda Sayce plays this evocative music beautifully. You might consider it one of the most interesting tracks on the album.

10. Interpreti Veneziani Chamber Orchestra
"Cello Concerto RV 419" - Vivaldi

This is the final movement from Chasing The Dragon's live recording of Vivaldi's Cello Concerto in A major. It is performed by the leading Venetian chamber orchestra, Interpreti Veneziani, in the wonderful San Vidal Church. The acoustics here are beautiful, perfectly reflecting Vivaldi's music.

11. Cello
Rehearsal with Davide Amadio

12. Interpreti Veneziani Chamber Orchestra
"Concerto Grosso Op 6 No 4" - Corelli

Corelli's joyful piece is performed here "con brio", literally meaning "with spirit". It is one of the orchestra's favourite encore pieces and with good reason. Mike Valentine has recorded it here with a very simple microphone technique, which he hopes captures the "brio" of the evening.

13. Male Voice
Microphone Comparison

Mike Valentine thought it would be interesting to compare the sound of 2 microphones. Note the subtle differences between the 60-year-old valve-powered AKG C12, and the modern transistor design DPA 4006.

14. Syd Lawrence Orchestra
"Anvil Chorus" - Glenn Miller

15. Mozart Concert
"Symphony No 29 in A Major K 201" - Mozart

16. Soprano
"Zartlicheit and Schmeicheln" - Mozart

17. The National Symphony Orchestra
"Capriccio Espagnol" - Rimsky-Korsakov

Chasing The Dragon have become known as one of the leading producers of audiophile recordings. The UK label owned by Mike Valentine offers Direct Cut LPs. Audiophile LPs, CDs, and Master Tapes which will demonstrate the potential of your Hi-Fi system.

Chasing The Dragon's releases are so detailed, if you take the time to familiarise yourself with the subtleties of these reference-level recordings, the next time you make any changes, big or small, to your Hi-Fi system, the differences will be notable.