OUR RECORDING PHILOSOPHY
We get a lot of e-mails from audio fans from all over the world and they ask always the same question: what is your motivation to make such beautiful recordings and mastering, well here we go.
The first reason is that we like music very much, it is a wonderful way to express feelings and communicate with other people on a same level.
We like also the sound of musical instruments, played in fine acoustic surroundings, they sound so pure and warm. Unfortunately most CD, LP and Reel to Reel tapes are bad recorded, with a harsh sound to close and without ambience.
For this reason we started with STS Digital twenty years ago to do something totally different and the results are our recordings with a fine selection and series like: Extended Dynamic Experience, Celebrate the Art & Spirit of music, Siltech Test Demo CD, The Absolute Sound Reference lots of LP’s and Reel to Reel tapes.
We give in these series and products every musical instrument the space they need, so the original sound can be developed her typical sound of various instruments with the help of good ambience.
A sax will sound like a sax and not like a clarinet and a piano sounds like a piano and not a keyboard.
Now you understand how important it is to record music in a good sounding concert room or church and not in a dry studio with close miking.
To get the best out of our microphones Schoeps we use golden/silver cables from Siltech/copper cables from Van den Hul and we clean up AC currency with our own developed 6 pack AC Power Block. We use our ears by first listening in the concert room or church where an orchestra/band/singers etc. is playing for some time and then go back to our recording room to get the sound, what we first heard in the concert room/church, as natural as possible.
It is usual dictated by placing the microphones not to close, we also put a lot of effort in mixing and mastering the recordings, we guard the whole recording process with our ears like a wolf in the night.
Every step we check the results and compare the process with the original recordings.
We understand that regular CD, LP and Reel to Reel Tape recording companies can’t effort such Rolls Royce treatment. We can do that, because we ask the best brand audio manufactures, for their financial support, they help us to go as far as we possibly can go to reach that High End standard.
We are very thankful for the support of our sponsors as Grandinote, C.E.C., Quintafila, Dr. Feickert Analogue, Siltech, Van den Hul, Metrum Acoustics, HiFi Racks Ltd., Audioquest and Nessie.
If you listen to our productions remember that we did our out most best to get for you all the benefits of our effort to go far beyond the best of the best.
STS Digital
Fritz de With
Hello I’m Fritz the Founder, Technical Director and CEO of STS Digital. I’m both an audiophile and Recording Engineer, with the knowledge and experience gained from my time as a recording engineer from way back in the 1970s to the present day. I’m responsible for the A&R and (the critical) quality control …. of course I also make all the recordings with the use of my own unique MW Coding Process, and work on the final mastering process together with my colleague Arjan Rietvink from Arjan Rietvink Online Mastering.
In a STS recording, you will find:
1. The warm sound, that acoustic instruments posess on their own, but is often not captured by sound-technicians.
2. Acoustic placing and recognition of the musicians in the recording space.
3. Phase purity of a recording, both the electric phase (good cable/fibre connections etc), and the acoustic phase must be acquired through proper placing of the microphones.
4. Symmetry in the recording; this means always placing the microphones in such a way that on both the left and the right side there’s an equal division of signal, and not placing mono support microphones on the extreme left and right.
5. Transparency and clarity in a recording. This does not mean an overly sharp recording, but one of softness in tone and clarity, in which especially the 3-dimensional recording-space is being displayed.
