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Production Processes: MASTER TAPES

In the exclusive realm of uncompromising analog listening, Hemiolia Records operates with a single objective: the preservation of analog truth, which means maintaining that indissoluble bond between the emotion of the original performance and its magnetic imprint, without ever altering its balances or tonal naturalness.

Each of our Master Tapes is not a simple copy, but the result of a scientific and artisanal protocol that eliminates any compromise between the original sound event and the final listening experience. The creation of our products is a rite of engineering precision and absolute devotion, a challenge against time that defines the intrinsic value of every release: the fruit of a deep passion for music and an unconditional love for the excellence of what we do.

1. Genesis: The Origin and Nobility of Sound

The prestige of a Hemiolia Master Tape stems from the nobility of its origin. Our catalogue is structured along several lines, each characterised by privileged access to sources of inestimable value:

Hemiolia Native Productions: We capture the unrepeatable energy of live events with our analog mobile studio or the controlled acoustics of our fixed studio in Lido di Savio, Ravenna, Italy. In both contexts, chain control is total: from microphone placement to the final tape recording.

Historical Archives and Private Collections: We have the honour of working with tapes of inestimable value, such as those granted by the Luciano Pavarotti Foundation, accessing the Session Tapes from the Maestro's private collection, as well as the prestigious Jazz Collection in collaboration with Ermitage, where we use first-generation Production Tapes.

2. The Hemiolia Process: Technical Recovery and Analog Mastering

When working with tapes from historical archives or external collections, the source enters the technical and artistic domain of our sound engineer, Pietro Benini. In this phase, the work is divided into three distinct moments that guarantee the authenticity and excellence of every release.

A. Magnetic Tape Recovery

Tapes that are decades old are fragile and precious elements. Before they can be used, they must undergo an indispensable safety protocol. Without this phase, the medium would be completely unusable, and any attempt at playback would cause permanent damage:

Cleaning and Stabilisation: Removal of surface deposits or any fungal growth to prevent impurities from compromising reading quality or causing permanent abrasions to the magnetic layer.

Sticky-Shed Syndrome Recovery: We intervene on tapes that have lost their structural integrity. The medium is placed in a special high-precision temperature-controlled oven for a process of controlled thermal stabilisation. Baking times and temperatures vary significantly based on the state of degradation of each individual reel.

Mechanical Overhaul: Accurate inspection of the splices, verification of their hold and possible replacement, together with a deep cleaning of the layers to guarantee fluid rotation and constant tension.

B. Analog Integrity Control: A4P Validation

While the purity of Hemiolia native productions is guaranteed at the source, every tape we receive from archives or third parties is subjected, always and without exception, to a rigorous analysis process before any further processing. Our primary responsibility is to establish the actual nature of the source.

Every Hemiolia Master Tape is accompanied by the A4P (Analog Four Phases) certificate, which attests to the integrity of the analog path through the phases of Recording, Mixing/Editing, Mastering, and Duplication. Each certificate is signed by hand on every single copy.

C. Remastering: Sound Exegesis and Signal Nobilitation

This phase highlights the fundamental difference between Hemiolia and other competitors in the market: we are not mere duplicators. All Master Tapes in our catalogue are entirely remastered through a process that involves the studio at full capacity for long periods.

Drawing on a forty-year career, Pietro Benini performs a work of sound exegesis: he intervenes on the sonic fabric to extract its maximum dynamic potential, correcting tonal drifts and micro-aberrations accumulated over the years, without ever distorting the artist's original intent.

3. Production Protocol: The Perfection of the Copy

Raw Tape Screening: Every blank tape is individually tested and discarded if it does not demonstrate absolute structural and magnetic perfection.

1:1 Production and Ad-Hoc Recalibration: Since 2017, we have moved exclusively to 1:1 duplication. Every single copy is a unique event in real-time. For every blank tape used, the slave recorder is recalibrated and optimised ad-hoc.

Dedicated Monitoring: Each tape is individually monitored, ensuring that the recording remains constant and accurate from the beginning to the end of the reel.

The Value of Consistency

The integration of technical recovery, A4P validation, the authorial work of Pietro Benini, a catalogue unique in the world for the importance and prestige of its titles, and the global quality of our products, is what firmly places Hemiolia at the pinnacle of the global market.

Every activity we perform is strictly governed by our internal Quality Manual. Through written instructions and codified procedures, we guarantee absolute quality consistency in every process, transforming methodological rigour into an art of meticulous care and the pursuit of perfection.

We are dedicated to the preservation, certification, and nobilitation of sound because we are convinced that our goal is not simply to produce music to be heard, but music to be felt.

VINYL

Vinyl is the place where music stops being an invisible vibration to become matter. It is a profound sensory experience that begins with the eyes, moves through the touch, and even feeds on the scent of polymer and paper, in that opening ritual that every collector lives as a sacred prelude.

At Hemiolia, we do not just produce a medium: we restore to sound the body and truth that only the purity of analog can preserve. We have treated every groove as the purest reflection of the Master tape, bringing together a borderless network of excellence to transform listening into an absolute reference.

HEMIOLIA TEAM - THE CHAIN OF EXCELLENCE

From vision to imprint: a journey through artisanal mastery

THE HEART | Hemiolia, Italy – Mastering and creation of the Production Master tapes

The starting point of every one of our productions. Here, Pietro Benini’s profound technical knowledge and forty years of experience in the analog domain merge to shape the mastering and generate the Production Master tapes intended for the creation of the lacquers. His intervention is not a simple execution, but an act of mastery that combines engineering rigor and artistic sensitivity: every tape intended for lacquer cutting is created in full respect of the original content, guaranteeing an exceptional result where sonic integrity, timbral coherence, and pure emotion converge into a single, unmistakable sonic signature.

THE STROKE | AB Mastering, Germany – Lacquer Cutting

Andreas Bauer. At this stage as well technical competence is married with a rare interpretative sensitivity. On his legendary Neumann VMS 80 lathe, Andreas Bauer translates the breath of the Production Master tape with devotion into the groove. An operation of extreme precision, the result of decades of experience and great skill, with which Andreas Bauer preserves the balance of the original sonic message so that every nuance is transferred into the vinyl with the maximum fidelity. His signature guarantees coherence, dynamics, and vitality that restore the energy of the Master tape into the groove with surprising effectiveness.

THE METAMORPHOSIS | Stamper Discs, United Kingdom – Galvanic Process, Creation of the Stampers

Across the Channel, the journey of sound completes its most delicate and definitive passage: the transformation of matter. In this phase of pure technological alchemy, the sublime mastery of the Stamper Discs team operates with an almost ceremonial rigor to convert the original lacquer into the first and only metal carrier. Through the exclusive One-Step process, intermediate duplications are waived to preserve the absolute purity of the groove. It is a moment of no return, where the fragility of the lacquer engraving is sealed in nickel, giving life to a stamper capable of restoring sonic transparency and detail without compromise.

THE IMPRINT | RPM Records, Denmark – Pressing on Virgin Vinyl

The journey reaches its completion in Denmark, where the sound finally takes a physical and definitive form. In this crucial phase, the rigor and professionalism of the RPM Records team are expressed through meticulous control of every single pressing cycle. Through their technical ability, the team ensures that the integrity of the groove is preserved with absolute precision, governing the pressure and temperature dynamics of the legendary WarmTone pressing on 100% virgin vinyl. It is an act of extreme artisanal care that allows the dynamic energy and the silence of the original source to be sealed within the medium.

THE ESSENCE | THE DESTINATION – A TIMELESS WORK

This long and passionate journey, which has crossed borders and united the best European masteries, reaches your hands today. Every passage, from the care of the tape to the galvanic transformation and the final pressing, has been guided by a single vision: to overcome the limits of the medium to deliver an exceptional listening experience. It is not just a record, but the result of an absolute dedication, designed for those who seek the pure emotion of sound in its most authentic form.

ONE-STEP: THE MAXIMUM MECHANICAL RESOLUTION

One-Step technology represents the pinnacle of sonic fidelity on vinyl. In the traditional three-step method (Father-Mother-Stamper), every duplication introduces inevitable generational losses and an increase in background noise.

That system was originally developed to satisfy the needs of large-scale productions, capable of producing up to 100,000 copies from a single original lacquer. An industrial logic that Hemiolia has chosen to radically discard to put the truth and integrity of the original sonic message back at the center.

The One-Step process overcomes these limits by excluding every intermediate passage: the original lacquer is converted directly into the final stamper. This linear path preserves the integrity of every engraved micro-detail, guaranteeing a sonic resolution and dynamics that only physical contact with the master can offer.

LIMITED EDITION | THE GUARANTEE OF EXCELLENCE

To guarantee constant and uncompromising performance, we have limited this series to 1,650 numbered copies. A choice that stems directly from our quality protocol: every record is the result of a controlled process that cancels any deviation, offering from the first to the last copy the same, extraordinary resolution.

Three Matched Lacquer Pairs: To avoid the natural decay of the engraving source, we produced three identical lacquers for each side of the vinyl, engraved on the same day and coming from a batch of virgin lacquers selected with extreme care. This technical synchrony cancels any possible physical or timbral shift between the different sets of pressings.

The Limit of 550: During the vinyl pressing phase, the Stamper is subject to progressive wear that inevitably alters its precision. Although the market standard allows reaching 1,000 copies per stamper, we have chosen to set a rigorous limit of only 550 copies. This wide safety margin prevents the Stamper from undergoing the mechanical stress typical of industrial productions, preserving the micro-dynamics of the original master intact.

Consistency of Quality: Thanks to this method, copy number 1,650 offers exactly the same resolution as the first copy of the series.

FROM TAPE TO GROOVE: A 100% FULL ANALOG CHAIN

Our work is based on the continuity of the analog chain, recognizing the magnetic tape as the absolute timbral and dynamic reference. The starting point is 1/4" two-track or mono first-generation «flat» production master tapes, free from any manipulation or corrective processing certified and verified as purely analog.

This integrity is rigorously preserved throughout the entire chain: both in the Mastering phase and in the lacquer creation phase, the signal does not undergo any digital conversion or contamination, moving exclusively in a 100% analog domain through the use of this reference hardware chain:

MASTERING:
Tape Machine: Otari MTR15 Recorder
Mixing Desk: D&R Merlin – Full Analog 96-channel console
Outboard Processing: Maselec, Tube-Tech, Drawmer, Studer

LACQUER CUTTING:
Playback Machine: Studer A80 MKII – 1/4" preview playback machine
Cutting Console: Neumann SP-79 – 4-channel full analog console
Disc Cutting Lathe: Neumann VMS-80

BEYOND THE LIMITS OF MONO: THE HEMIOLIA SIGNATURE IN AN EXCLUSIVE STEREO PERSPECTIVE

In this project, we wanted to push beyond pure conservation to touch the deepest chord of listening. Saxophone Colossus is, by genesis and history, a masterpiece conceived in monophonic format: a source that we treated with the maximum respect, starting from the original 1/4" mono Production Master tape.

We are fully aware that the stereo reimagining of a native mono work is an operation often viewed with skepticism by technicians and audiophiles; however, it is precisely this challenge that pushed Hemiolia to seek a further dimension.

Far from invasive manipulations, Pietro Benini has operated a refined evolution of the sonic message through a precise and rigorous use of phase rotation. This intervention allows the instruments to breathe in a wider and deeper soundstage, where the rest of the precious remastering operations led to the final result.

Without ever betraying the timbral essence and the original dynamics of 1956, we have restored to the listener the vibrant warmth of Rollins’ breath and the physical tension of every note. With this last, delicate passage, our work is completed, offering you a living and pulsating encounter with the history of Jazz: not just a record to listen to, but an emotion to live.

The Hemiolia journey into sound ends here, at the exact moment your music begins.

STAMPER DISCS - UK
RPM RECORDS - Denmark
Enjoy the music

SACD / CD BOX SET

FROM MAGNETIC TRACE TO THE DIGITAL BIT: THE HEMIOLIA ANALOG SIGNATURE IN THE DIGITAL DOMAIN

The DNA of Hemiolia is indissolubly linked to the purity of the analog domain. An extensive and deeply focused effort, animated by authentic passion and absolute dedication, takes shape in this production to guide the sound beyond the physical boundaries of the tape, preserving intact the soul of the original analog source within the digital formats presented here.

The entire process follows a vision without compromise: preserving the integrity of a purely analog chain until the instant of conversion into the digital domain. Not a simple transfer, but an act of highest precision designed to preserve the dynamics, energy, and warmth of the Master tape directly into the digital medium.

Every single bit thus becomes the transparent reflection of the source, a synergy where the emotion of the analog material and the precision of the digital converge in a listening experience that elevates fidelity and naturalness to a new reference standard, imprinting the Hemiolia Analog Signature in the digital domain.

THE CHOICE OF MEDIUM: A DIGITAL STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE

In a constantly evolving technological landscape, Hemiolia reaffirms the value of the Super Audio CD medium. Beyond market trends that see physical formats alternating with different solutions, we continue to consider it a digital medium of excellence, capable of offering sound performances of the highest profile.

This choice stems from the desire to offer the enthusiast a listening experience that represents the state of the art in high-end reproduction. The native DSD encoding of the SACD allows us to convey the complex harmonic texture and the extended dynamics of our original analog source with a transparency that honors the work performed in the studio, guaranteeing signal integrity that few other media can match.

THE HEART: EXCELLENCE WITHOUT COMPROMISE OF THE DUAL-FORMAT APPROACH

The philosophy of Hemiolia rejects the logic of qualitative compromise inherent in common hybrid SACDs. Although a dual-layer disc represents a simpler and more economical commercial solution in every respect, it imposes inevitable technical limits that prevent reaching absolute excellence in both formats. For this reason, we have chosen the most rigorous path: two separate physical media for two uncompromised listening experiences.

At the center of this process lies a highly sophisticated technical operation where, starting from the original analog Hemiolia Production Master, Pietro Benini has carried out two distinct and format-specific remastering processes. Each track has been analyzed and treated individually to enhance the dynamic and timbral characteristics proper to the CD and the SACD, optimizing the signal for the specific needs of each format.

This separation of signal paths allows each medium to express the maximum of its native potential. An act of absolute fidelity that transforms the digital domain into the perfect reflection of the source, preserving intact the Hemiolia Analog Signature.

FROM THE MAGNETIC TRACE TO THE BIT: THE OTARI MTR-15 RECORDER AND CONVERSION EXCELLENCE

In this transfer path, the Otari MTR-15 recorder represents the fundamental link between the analog heritage and the digital future. Chosen for its superb mechanical stability—an indispensable prerequisite for a perfect and stable tape playback—and for its onboard electronics capable of exemplary transparency and linearity, this machine is the instrument that allows for the extraction of even the finest nuances imprinted in the coils of the Hemiolia Production Master, translating the magnetic energy into an electrical signal of the highest precision.

Every harmonic detail and the entire dynamic range of the source are thus preserved to face the final and most delicate step: the analog-to-digital conversion. To guarantee maximum fidelity according to the destination medium, we have selected two high-precision conversion paths:

For the CD format
the signal is entrusted to the Studer D19 Mic AD. This converter is famous for its Valve-Drive input stage, where the passage through vacuum tube circuits allows us to preserve the roundness and harmonic richness of the tape even in the 16-bit/44.1kHz domain. The result is a CD that moves away from common digital harshness, returning a fluid, deep, and tactile listening experience.

For the SACD format
we use the flagship technology of the Merging Anubis Pro. This system represents the state of the art of contemporary conversion, capable of operating in native DSD with a dynamic range exceeding 130 dB. The Anubis Pro acts as an «open window» on the source, capturing the DSD bitstream with such transparency that the boundary between the tape and the digital medium becomes imperceptible.

Not a simple transposition of data, but a faithful capture of the soul of the tape, ensuring that the Hemiolia Analog Signature retains its full authority in every single moment of the final listening.