On the occasion of the upcoming High End Vienna 2026, Hemiolia Records officially announces the launch of its new technological and editorial project: “Hemiolia on Vinyl & SACD”. For the first time, the label’s extraordinary catalogue of original Master Tapes evolves and takes new shape in 180g AAA Vinyl formats and in an exclusive digital box set containing Single Layer SACD and CD media.
When we gave life to this project, over two years ago, we set ourselves an extremely ambitious and avowedly uncompromising goal: we wanted to transfer into the new physical media the maximum possible amount of information, dynamics, and breath enclosed within our original tapes, preserving their detail, soul, and deep emotional charge intact. The objective is to create vinyl and SACD editions of such excellence as to establish themselves as the new reference on the market, just as our Master Tapes have been for years. We are aware that the final judgment does not belong to us, but to our customers and to all the reviewers who will analyze these works; however, today we can proudly declare that we are fully satisfied with the result we have managed to achieve.
The cornerstone for achieving this milestone was the meticulous and passionate mastering work, guided by the experience and sensitivity of Pietro Benini, which was tailored into specific paths for each respective medium, a choice that is technically indispensable but, above all, essential to maximize its native potential. To ensure that this intent translated into reality without any compromise, we elevated every single link in the chain to excellence, creating a perfect symbiosis between the finest hardware technology and the irreplaceable sensitivity of the human factor. While for vinyl our chain gives life to editions strictly classifiable as AAA, for SACD and CD we can proudly reaffirm the historic AAD classification, rarely used for digital formats today, since the original signal from the magnetic tape flows entirely in the analog domain through the entire mastering chain, up to the last useful stage where the conversion electronics intervene exclusively to translate its breath into bits. The final result for both formats redefines listening standards, delivering a physical proximity to the sonic event that impresses with its realism and naturalness.
The Vinyl Debut (AAA): “Saxophone Colossus” and a bold audiophile choice
The vinyl catalogue will debut in Vienna with the iconic “Saxophone Colossus” by Sonny Rollins (Prestige, 1956), whose presentation will pave the way for a second, major release at the end of June: “Time Out” by Dave Brubeck.
| For all the series and releases of this new editorial line pressed on 180-gram pure virgin vinyl, ONE-STEP Pressing technology is permanently adopted. By eliminating the intermediate steps of traditional plating (Father-Mother) and reducing background noise to the lowest physically possible level, this process cancels the generational losses between the lacquer cutting and the final stamper, preserving to the maximum possible extent the integrity of the complete sonic message of the original tape. |
| This result of excellence is the fruit of a long journey lasting over two years of testing, listening sessions, and fine-tuning, which led to the birth of a truly transnational team of professionals, where every figure contributed decisively to the chain. In order to guarantee maximum coherence, uniformity, and acoustic consistency from the first to the very last of the 1,650 copies of the total run, Hemiolia has codified a strict and specific permanent production protocol: |
| Three sets of mirrored lacquers: To ensure absolute homogeneity among the stampers required to complete the entire limited edition of 1,650 copies, three sets of identical lacquers are produced for each side, cut consecutively on the same day and drawn from the same batch of blank lacquers selected with extreme care. |
| The strict limit of 550 pressings: Although the industry standard tolerates significantly higher production runs per stamper, we have set a mandatory discard of the stamper after only 550 copies, preserving its groove from any mechanical stress or qualitative degradation of the pressing, thereby defining three distinct, identical production batches of 550 copies each. |
| Double manual progressive numbering: As certification of this rigorous process and the collector’s value of the work, all copies of our limited series are strictly hand-numbered. Each copy features a double progressive numbering that identifies, on one hand, the original source lacquer (Lacquer 1, 2, or 3) and, on the other, the unique serial number of that specific copy within the production run. |
| A synergetic path without borders that sees the finest European excellences collaborating at every stage of the analog chain: |
| Mastering (Italy): Pietro Benini on an Otari MTR-15 tape recorder, a 96-channel D&R Merlin analog console, and reference outboard gear (Maselec, Tube-Tech, Drawmer, Studer). |
| Lacquer Cutting (Germany): Andreas Bauer (AB Mastering) on a Neumann VMS-80 lathe, a Neumann SP-79 console, and a Studer A80 MK-II tape machine (preview playback machine 1/4″). |
| Galvanics (UK): One-Step metal stampers engineered and produced by Stamper Discs. |
| Pressing (Denmark): RPM Records using Canadian Warmtone presses by Viryl Technologies. |
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The Hemiolia Signature: Beyond the limits of Mono |
| The real technical and artistic challenge that we present to the specialized critics with this edition lies in the choice made on the Master of Saxophone Colossus. Despite starting from the original Mono tape (first-generation flat Production Master, 1/4″), the historic title breathes new life today thanks to an exceptional piece of acoustic engineering curated by Pietro Benini. The heart of this meticulous Stereo remastering process lies in a precise, rigorous, and purely analog use of phase rotations, integrated within an uncompromising chain of dynamic and tonal optimization. |
| We are fully aware that among demanding critics and purist listeners, stereo rechanneling operations performed on a natively mono source are often viewed with legitimate skepticism, if not openly opposed. To be completely honest, we ourselves questioned this opportunity at length and with severity, and we chose to embark on this path only after countless trials and hours of careful, rigorous listening. |
| The philosophy of Hemiolia in this operation moves on a track of absolute respect and non-intrusiveness. There is, of course, no digital manipulation, artificial intrusion, or alteration of the original timbres captured in 1956. Through this delicate, comprehensive analog intervention, we have not sought a forced transformation, but rather a natural acoustic evolution: the contribution of the calibrated phase rotations, masterfully orchestrated alongside Benini’s fine expressive balance, translates into a greater sense of spatiality between the various instruments and an extraordinary sensation of air and openness within the virtual soundstage. The quartet now breathes in a dimension that gains enormously in terms of enjoyment, realism, and listening fluidity, restoring the physicality and acoustic proximity of Rudy Van Gelder’s historic session in Hackensack. An out-of-the-choir approach where, as always in high-end audio excellence, the only true verdict is left to the listening experience: seeing, and hearing, is believing. |
| The Value of Exegesis: The Listening Guide by Enrico Merlin |
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Every publication in this new catalogue is designed not merely as a sonic reference, but as a complete editorial work. For this reason, we wished to entrust the writing of the liner notes and extended structural analyses to a figure of absolute international prestige: jazz historian and music criticEnrico Merlin. Regarding historical and philological insight as an indispensable completion of our customers’ experience, Merlin has created a true mini listening guide. An exclusive critical and structural essay, meticulously developed to accompany enthusiasts during their listening sessions, revealing the compositional plots, historical context, and performance secrets enclosed within each masterpiece. |
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The Hemiolia Analog Imprint on Digital Media: The Deluxe Box Set “Kind of Blue” |
| Simultaneously with the vinyl launch, Hemiolia will present the worldwide premiere in Vienna of the first, monumental release of the reference digital line: the immortal “Kind of Blue” by Miles Davis (1959). |
| Offered in a luxurious Deluxe Digipack Box Set with Slipcase, containing two discs (SACD + CD) and limited to just 1,000 numbered copies, this project embodies the philosophy of the absolute rejection of commercial compromise:No hybrid discs, two separate physical media: To avoid the physical and optical limitations of historic hybrid media, the most rigorous path was chosen by including a Single Layer Pure DSD SACD disc (without DST encoding) and a standard Audio CD in the box.Two dedicated analog and conversion paths: The starting point lies in the creation of two distinct analog Production Masters by Pietro Benini, optimized respectively for the physical and dynamic specifications of the SACD and CD formats. Both masters were recorded on 1/4″ magnetic tape (RTM SM900) using an Otari MTR-15 tape recorder. The same machine was subsequently employed in playback to send the signal to the dedicated hardware conversion chains: for the CD format, the analog signal was entrusted to the historic Studer D19 Mic ADtube converter, while for the SACD, the native conversion into pure DSD was guided by the universally recognized reference system, the Merging Anubis Pro. |
| A Worldwide Discographic Revelation: The tape at original correct speedThe historical significance of this digital project lies in the very nature of the analog source utilized. As is well known to historians, music critics, and the most attentive enthusiasts, almost all editions of Kind of Blue published over the last thirty years have had to deal with the famous speed-accuracy issue of the three-track Ampex recorder used during the March 2, 1959 session for Side A of the album. As is well known to jazz historiography and audiophiles, the primary three-track recorder used during the first recording session of Kind of Blue suffered from a mechanical drive defect. This defect, which altered the original pitch by about a quarter of a tone, was discovered in 1992 by the esteemed sound engineer Mark Wilder, who restored the correct speed by intervening, however, in the digital domain. From that moment on, the industry continued to draw from sources derived from that master or from subsequent digital corrections.Hemiolia presents, for the first time on both the national and international stage, an edition that uses as its source an analog tape recorded at the correct speed from the very beginning. We did not have to perform any speed variation or restoration: the source used is a first-generation flat Production Master Tape, derived directly from a different Session Tape than the one used by Wilder in 1992, recorded at the correct speed, the one originating from the backup three-track Ampex recorder utilized during the recording sessions. The irrefutable proof of the philological value of this source lies in the outro of So What: not having been shortened or manipulated by subsequent historical handlings of the Columbia tapes, the structure of the track extends here for a full 13 bars compared to the mere 5 present in all current editions. We find ourselves before an unprecedented discographic event: listening to Kind of Blue in its absolute, native, and uncontaminated analog truth.Miles Davis’s legendary sextet thus reclaims its native acoustic space, delivering a sculptural realism, freshness, and expressive transparency that radically redefine the listening horizon for this masterpiece.Digital Manufacturing in Germany: The Total Sonopress ChainIn order to guarantee a standard of production excellence without compromises on a purely physical level as well, the entire engineering and manufacturing of the media and packaging has been entrusted to Sonopress GmbH. A world leader and absolute benchmark in the high-precision optical digital printing sector, the German company handles every single aspect of the release entirely within its facilities in Germany: from the physical production of the SACD and CD media to the manufacturing of the refined containers and the entire printing and editorial apparatus that safeguards the work. A high-level industrial synergy that ensures perfect qualitative consistency and an impeccable collector’s value over time. |
