Respighi LP Gets Five Stars from Audiophile Audition
Our latest Reference Mastercuts LP, Respighi, gets a five-star review from Audiophile Audition‘s John Sunier: “This is fantastic orchestration and impressing sonics that are of demonstration quality. Engineer Keith O. Johnson’s efforts on this got a Grammy nomination for the Best-Engineered Classical Album. Also lovely artwork on the LP cover and plenty of space inside for detailed notes in large enough print to actually read.” —John Sunier, Audiophile Audition Read the full five-star review on…
GameMusic.net review of The Banner Saga
The Banner Saga Soundtrack gets compared to a novel in a rave review from GameMusic.net: “The Banner Saga is mainly a turn-based strategy, therefore combat music native to slashers wouldn’t be a very wise choice. The interesting thing about this album is that there is no typical battle track. The cause of such situation is related to the process of album creation which, to be honest, is even more surprising. Particular parts from the game’s…
The Daily Album Reviews The Banner Saga Soundtrack
Sean Elliot, of The Daily Album has a thorough review for Austin Wintory’s The Banner Saga score: Wintory’s The Banner Saga is a wonderful experience on its own. A union of classical string and wind sections, ethnic instruments like the didgeridoo, and some fine vocal talents are at Wintory’s disposal, and to say he makes good use of them would be understating things. Wintory runs the emotional gamut here and even as the pace slows,…
Pioneers Unite on The Banner Saga Soundtrack
“Prof” Keith O. Johnson & The Banner Saga Recording Team Multi-faceted, multi-media composer Austin Wintory and Reference Recording’s Chief Engineer, audio wizard, inventor and entertainment technologist Keith O. Johnson have combined their talents in the production of the official soundtrack for The Banner Saga video game created by Stoic Studios. Austin’s previous game score, Journey, is noteworthy as the first video game soundtrack nominated for a Grammy® (2013), charting in the Billboard Magazine Top 200…
AllMusic Rave Review for Pittsburgh Symphony Strauss
AllMusic.com tabbed our Strauss CD with the Pittsburgh Symphony a January Editor’s Choice, with critic, Blair Sanderson, saying “Richard Strauss’ Don Juan, Death and Transfiguration, and Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks receive the finest sound on this hybrid SACD.” “If any music seems ideally suited for the multichannel super audio format, the lavish orchestral tone poems of Richard Strauss must be at the top of the list. This hybrid SACD of Strauss’ Don Juan, Death and…
Now Available Worldwide on CD: “The Banner Saga” Official Soundtrack!
The Banner Saga Austin Wintory, composer The Dallas Wind Symphony Maluka and Peter Hollens, vocals; Taylor Davis, violin GRAMMY®-nominated,*BAFTA-winning composer Austin Wintory created an earthy, multi-layered orchestral score for the single player role-playing tactical game from Stoic Studios, currently available on PC and Mac. The soundtrack score features the Dallas Winds (America’s Premier Windband), recorded by GRAMMY-winning engineer Keith O. Johnson and the Reference Recordings team at the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, TX. In…
Doug MacLeod and There’s A Time Win Blues Music Awards!
Last night was The Blues Foundation’s 35th Blues Music Awards, and Doug MacLeod won the Acoustic Artist of the Year, and his Reference Recordings release, There’s A Time won Acoustic Album of the Year! Below are some pictures from the event, and congratulations to Doug MacLeod!
Original Sound Version Reviews The Banner Saga
Original Sound Version‘s Patrick Gann reviews The Banner Saga and the Austin Wintory Soundtrack behind it: “The Banner Saga sports a 71 minute magnum opus, most of it recorded by a group of musicians known as ‘The Dallas Winds.’ So it’s a wind orchestra, and they’re from Dallas, TX. And they sound absolutely amazing. … Listening to the score over and over reveals one point I cannot stress enough: painstaking care was put into balancing…
RPGFan Reviews The Banner Saga Soundtrack
Just one more week before the CD release of the Official Soundtrack for The Banner Saga and the reviews are rolling in: “These are voices raised to comfort those on a harrowing journey and instruments played to ease the pain of tough travel. Warm horns stoke the fire inside, woodwinds soothe, and drums make marching seem like a part of something larger: a song or a work of art. … After a few tracks, everything…
The Arts Desk Reviews Miraculous Metamorphoses
The Arts Desk‘s Graham Rickson has a new rave for Kansas City Symphony’s Miraculous Metamorphoses recording: “If you’re not familiar with the [Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber] piece, start here. … Michael Stern’s Kansas City Symphony performance shows what can be achieved when a band on inspired form makes the effort to play what’s actually written. …It sparkles, abounding in oft-hidden detail. … And I’ve never enjoyed the chirping winds which…
There’s A Time Wins a “Gruvy Award”
AnalogPlanet’s Michael Fremer has launched a new feature called “The Gruvy Awards” for analog products ranging from records to record cleaners, and Doug MacLeod’s There’s A Time LP is a first-edition New Records category Gruvy Award winner! “Yes it was recorded digitally (at 176/24) on the Skywalker Soundstage so it’s not exactly an “intimate” club date, but if anyone can warm up an empty room and the musicians accompanying him it’s Piedmont style blues specialist…
Doug MacLeod Creates A Blues Fan
Doug MacLeod has been touring all over Europe lately, and in a new review from the UK’s Blues In The Northwest, reviewer Jane Edwards talks about how Doug MacLeod turned her from someone “knowing little about blues music, and nothing about Doug” into a fan: “I went along to Liverpool Marina having seen posters on the door advertising Doug Macleod. What a treat. Knowing little about blues music, and nothing about Doug, I wondered what…
Classical Ear Reviews Elgar/Vaughan William SACD
The Classical Ear iPhone Review App has a new review for our Kansas City Symphony Elgar and Vaughan Williams SACD! “The Wasps makes a dashing curtain-raiser – and what a treat to hear the other irresistible numbers in Vaughan Williams’s inimitably titled ‘Aristophanic Suite’. Stern also masterminds a commendably sensitive, scrupulously prepared traversal of Elgar’s vernally fresh masterpiece… the engineering, which is of simply splendiferous, demonstration-worthy realism… Recommended if…you feel like giving your hi-fi components…
Photos from The Banner Saga Recording Sessions
Some absolutely fantastic pictures (taken by Scott Rosenkrantz) from The Banner Saga recording sessions with the Dallas Wind Symphony and Austin Wintory, courtesy of Stoic Studios! Post by Stoic. First 100 CD Orders get copies signed by Austin Wintory and Keith O. Johnson! Pre-Order Today!
Signed Copies of the Banner Saga for first 100 CDs!
We’re excited to announce that the first 100 Copies of The Banner Saga ordered through the RR site and the Austin Wintory Site will be signed by both Austin Wintory and Keith O. Johnson! Pre-Order Today!