Nimbus Records
Encyclopedia
Nimbus Records is a British record company specializing in classical music recordings.
Nimbus was founded in 1972
by the late bass singer Numa Labinsky and the brothers Michael and Gerald Reynolds and has traditionally been based at the Wyastone Leys mansion site, near Monmouth
and the English/Welsh border. A core technical aspect of the company's recording philosophy was the early adoption of the Ambisonic
surround-sound system invented by a group of British researchers including the late mathematician
and recording engineer Michael Gerzon. The recordings have been made with a single-point array of microphones developed by Dr Jonathan Halliday, which is equivalent to a form of soundfield microphone
, encoded into stereo-compatible 2-channel Ambisonic UHJ Format
and released on conventional stereo media.
An Ambisonic decoder is required to experience such recordings in their truest, surround-sound, form. These have never been widely available, so Nimbus recordings are typically experienced as undecoded UHJ which is compatible with normal stereo reproduction.
The emergence of home-theatre systems with increasing emphasis on surround playback offers opportunities for domestic listeners to experience at least some of Nimbus' many hundred Ambisonic recordings in their original condition. For example, the company has issued a series of "DVD Music" recordings in which the original 2-channel UHJ masters have been decoded to loudspeaker feeds and issued on conventional DVD-Audio
/Video surround format discs. In addition, Nimbus recordings are now often recorded in Ambisonic B-Format which can be decoded directly to a multichannel surround format compatible with conventional multichannel discs such as DVD
or DTS-CD
.
A large sub-label of Nimbus Records is the vocal series Prima Voce. This label specialises in the transfer of vocal records on 78 rpm disc dating from 1900. The method of transfer involves the use of thorn needles and a giant acoustic horn on a carefully restored gramophone. No electronic processing is used: instead, the gramophone is placed in a living room environment and recorded ambisonically, in surround-sound, from a typical listening position. Although controversial, the technique is capable of producing remarkably life-like results - particularly for recordings made "acoustically" prior to the arrival of studio microphones in 1925.
Nimbus Records was the first company to master and press Compact Disc
s in the UK, and developed and sold equipment for these purposes. It became part of the Mirror Group in 1987. Following the demise of Robert Maxwell
, the equipment company was spun off and the intellectual property rights to the Nimbus Records catalogue were ultimately re-acquired by the original owners under the name of Wyastone Estate Limited. Wyastone Estate operates Wyastone Business Park, Wyastone Concert Hall and the Nimbus Foundation, Nimbus Records, and Nimbus Disc On Demand. The latter is a short-run disc manufacturing capability which has enabled Nimbus Records to make virtually all its catalogue of recordings from the earliest times available to record-buyers. The CD covers were designed by Trevor Hatchett of Manchester design consultancy Barron Hatchett.
Another activity Nimbus Records is known by is the use of advanced "piano roll" techniques to recapture on CD the recordings once made by famous composers and pianists before the breakthrough of the 78 rpm disks. This involves restoring and even improving the mechanisms used by the Aeolian company once sold under "Duo Art" or the "reproducing piano". This original German inventions from the early 20th century was widely introduced in the USA in the 1920s and permitted individual key dynamics and real "una corda" pedal effects. The Aeolian Company folded during the depression, but many rolls from artists like Hoffmann, Friedmann, Percy, Lamond, Paderewsky, Cortot and many others still exist and have been faithfully transferred to a series of CDs, e.g. "The Grand Piano Series".
Nimbus was founded in 1972
1972 in music
-Events:*January 17 – Highway 51 South in Memphis, Tennessee is renamed "Elvis Presley Boulevard"*January 20 – The début of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon at The Dome, Brighton, is halted by technical difficulties,...
by the late bass singer Numa Labinsky and the brothers Michael and Gerald Reynolds and has traditionally been based at the Wyastone Leys mansion site, near Monmouth
Monmouth
Monmouth is a town in southeast Wales and traditional county town of the historic county of Monmouthshire. It is situated close to the border with England, where the River Monnow meets the River Wye with bridges over both....
and the English/Welsh border. A core technical aspect of the company's recording philosophy was the early adoption of the Ambisonic
Ambisonics
Ambisonics is a series of recording and replay techniques using multichannel mixing technology that can be used live or in the studio. By encoding and decoding sound information on a number of channels, a 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional sound field can be presented...
surround-sound system invented by a group of British researchers including the late mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
and recording engineer Michael Gerzon. The recordings have been made with a single-point array of microphones developed by Dr Jonathan Halliday, which is equivalent to a form of soundfield microphone
Soundfield microphone
The Soundfield microphone is an audio microphone composed of four closely spaced subcardioid or cardioid microphone capsules arranged in a tetrahedron. It was invented by Michael Gerzon and Peter Craven, and is a part of, but not exclusive to, Ambisonics, a surround sound technology...
, encoded into stereo-compatible 2-channel Ambisonic UHJ Format
Ambisonic UHJ format
Ambisonic UHJ format is a development of the Ambisonic surround sound system designed to allow Ambisonic recordings to be carried by mono- and stereo-compatible media. It is a hierarchy of systems in which the recorded soundfield will be reproduced with a degree of accuracy that varies according to...
and released on conventional stereo media.
An Ambisonic decoder is required to experience such recordings in their truest, surround-sound, form. These have never been widely available, so Nimbus recordings are typically experienced as undecoded UHJ which is compatible with normal stereo reproduction.
The emergence of home-theatre systems with increasing emphasis on surround playback offers opportunities for domestic listeners to experience at least some of Nimbus' many hundred Ambisonic recordings in their original condition. For example, the company has issued a series of "DVD Music" recordings in which the original 2-channel UHJ masters have been decoded to loudspeaker feeds and issued on conventional DVD-Audio
DVD-Audio
DVD-Audio is a digital format for delivering high-fidelity audio content on a DVD. DVD-Audio is not intended to be a video delivery format and is not the same as video DVDs containing concert films or music videos....
/Video surround format discs. In addition, Nimbus recordings are now often recorded in Ambisonic B-Format which can be decoded directly to a multichannel surround format compatible with conventional multichannel discs such as DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
or DTS-CD
5.1 Music Disc
The DTS Music Disc , DTS Audio CD or 5.1 Music Disc is an audio Compact Disc that contains music in surround sound format. It is a predecessor of DVD Audio. Physically, it conforms to the Red Book standard, except for the way the music is encoded on the CD...
.
A large sub-label of Nimbus Records is the vocal series Prima Voce. This label specialises in the transfer of vocal records on 78 rpm disc dating from 1900. The method of transfer involves the use of thorn needles and a giant acoustic horn on a carefully restored gramophone. No electronic processing is used: instead, the gramophone is placed in a living room environment and recorded ambisonically, in surround-sound, from a typical listening position. Although controversial, the technique is capable of producing remarkably life-like results - particularly for recordings made "acoustically" prior to the arrival of studio microphones in 1925.
Nimbus Records was the first company to master and press Compact Disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
s in the UK, and developed and sold equipment for these purposes. It became part of the Mirror Group in 1987. Following the demise of Robert Maxwell
Robert Maxwell
Ian Robert Maxwell MC was a Czechoslovakian-born British media proprietor and former Member of Parliament , who rose from poverty to build an extensive publishing empire...
, the equipment company was spun off and the intellectual property rights to the Nimbus Records catalogue were ultimately re-acquired by the original owners under the name of Wyastone Estate Limited. Wyastone Estate operates Wyastone Business Park, Wyastone Concert Hall and the Nimbus Foundation, Nimbus Records, and Nimbus Disc On Demand. The latter is a short-run disc manufacturing capability which has enabled Nimbus Records to make virtually all its catalogue of recordings from the earliest times available to record-buyers. The CD covers were designed by Trevor Hatchett of Manchester design consultancy Barron Hatchett.
Another activity Nimbus Records is known by is the use of advanced "piano roll" techniques to recapture on CD the recordings once made by famous composers and pianists before the breakthrough of the 78 rpm disks. This involves restoring and even improving the mechanisms used by the Aeolian company once sold under "Duo Art" or the "reproducing piano". This original German inventions from the early 20th century was widely introduced in the USA in the 1920s and permitted individual key dynamics and real "una corda" pedal effects. The Aeolian Company folded during the depression, but many rolls from artists like Hoffmann, Friedmann, Percy, Lamond, Paderewsky, Cortot and many others still exist and have been faithfully transferred to a series of CDs, e.g. "The Grand Piano Series".
External links
- Wyastone Estate web site
- Nimbus Records web site
- Nimbus Records - label history, artist roster, discography