{"id":5011,"date":"2022-07-01T16:04:19","date_gmt":"2022-07-01T16:04:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/?p=5011"},"modified":"2022-10-18T17:00:09","modified_gmt":"2022-10-18T17:00:09","slug":"the-pinnacle-of-recorded-sound-a-unique-2021-recording-of-bob-dylans-blowin-in-the-wind-created-using-groundbreaking-ionic-original-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/2022\/07\/01\/the-pinnacle-of-recorded-sound-a-unique-2021-recording-of-bob-dylans-blowin-in-the-wind-created-using-groundbreaking-ionic-original-technology\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The pinnacle of recorded sound\u2019: a unique 2021 recording of Bob Dylan\u2019s \u2018Blowin\u2019 in the Wind\u2019 created using groundbreaking Ionic Original technology"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For a song reportedly written in just 10 minutes, it has had remarkable longevity. Bob Dylan penned \u2018Blowin\u2019 in the Wind\u2019 in double-quick time in a Greenwich Village caf\u00e9 in 1962. In the decades since, it has come to be regarded as an out-and-out classic \u2014 and been covered by dozens of artists, from Stevie Wonder and Sam Cooke to Dolly Parton<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the 1990s, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

Dylan himself recorded it on 9 July 1962, for his second album, The Freewheelin\u2019 Bob Dylan<\/em>. Almost exactly 60 years later, a special re-recorded version of the song is being offered in The Exceptional Sale<\/a> at Christie\u2019s in London on 7 July, as part of Classic Week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2021, Dylan took to the studio for a special session with his friend and long-time collaborator T Bone Burnett, the multiple Grammy award-winning producer. The result was the first new studio recording of \u2018Blowin\u2019 in the Wind\u2019<\/a> since 1962. <\/p>\n

That wasn\u2019t all, however: Burnett produced it using groundbreaking technology that he has newly patented. Known as Ionic Original<\/em>, it is a high-fidelity analogue format in which a one-off aluminium disc is painted with lacquer and etched with the sound recording. <\/p>\n

The Ionic Original<\/em> disc of \u2018Blowin\u2019 in the Wind\u2019 by Burnett\u2019s company NeoFidelity, Inc. \u2014 presented in a custom-made walnut and white oak cabinet \u2014 <\/em>is unique. It is the only copy of the new recording.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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According to Burnett, the new technology surpasses the sonic excellence and depth for which analogue sound is renowned, while at the same time boasting the durability of a digital recording.<\/p>\n

The Ionic Original format marks \u2018the pinnacle of recorded sound\u2019, he says. \u2018It is future-proof. It is one of one.\u2019 <\/p>\n

Dylan fans, audiophiles, musicologists and others have recently had the chance to experience the technology and hear the Ionic Original<\/em> version of \u2018Blowin\u2019 in the Wind\u2019  at exclusive listening sessions in Los Angeles and New York. The same experience will be offered at Christie\u2019s in London, from 2 July, in the run-up to the auction.<\/p>\n

Bob Dylan was still an aspiring folk singer, aged just 20, when he wrote \u2018Blowin\u2019 in the Wind\u2019. He debuted it at Gerde\u2019s Folk City, a music venue in Greenwich Village, that same evening.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Its melody was adapted from a 19th-century African-American spiritual called \u2018No More Auction Block for Me\u2019<\/a>. Its lyrics consist of a series of questions \u2014 \u2018How many roads must a man walk down, before you call him a man?\u2019 and \u2018How many times must the cannonballs fly, before they\u2019re forever banned?\u2019 \u2014 followed by the repeated response that the answer is blowing in the wind.<\/p>\n

The song soon became an anthem for the US Civil Rights movement in the 1960s and has been sung by myriad members of other social movements since. The serial questions in Dylan\u2019s lyrics have widely been understood as anti-establishment in nature. <\/p>\n

However, part of the song\u2019s success may be down to the multiple interpretations it leaves open. <\/p>\n

Where Dylan\u2019s previous work had often dealt with specific narratives or people, this track \u2018was different\u2019, according to the music critic Andy Gill: \u2018For the first time, he discovered the effectiveness of moving from the particular to the general\u2026 \u2018Blowin\u2019 in the Wind\u2019 could be applied to just about any freedom issue. It remains the song with which Dylan\u2019s name is most inextricably linked.\u2019 <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Burnett made his breakthrough in the music industry as a guitarist on Dylan\u2019s Rolling Thunder Revue tour in 1975-76. He went on to enjoy an illustrious production career, working with the likes of Elton John and B.B. King, as well as on a number of film soundtracks (including that of O Brother, Where Art Thou?<\/em>, which won five Grammy Awards).<\/p>\n

Ionic Original<\/em> discs look similar to vinyl LPs and are playable on existing vinyl playback equipment. They owe their sonic quality to recent advances in nanotechnology and material sciences \u2014 Burnett describes Ionic Original<\/em> as a \u2018re-addressing of analogue sound technology\u2019, which had largely ceased to be explored after the 1980s, when digital recording took off.<\/p>\n

He says his team also drew on \u2018methods used to protect parts of the International Space Station exposed to the direct heat of the sun, and to make the damage-resistant glass on mobile phones\u2019. Employing a technique known as \u2018ion-assisted deposition\u2019, they \u2018were able to create an acetate [disc] that maintains pristine sound for over 1,000 plays\u2019. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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The 2021 recording was made in Los Angeles and Nashville, with Dylan joined by Greg Leisz on mandolin, Stuart Duncan on violin, Dennis Crouch on bass, Don Was on bass, and Burnett himself on electric guitar. It was recorded by Michael Piersante and Rachael Moore and mixed by Michael Piersante.<\/p>\n

Six decades after Dylan wrote it, \u2018Blowin\u2019 in the Wind\u2019 is making musical history once again.<\/p>\n

The opportunity to listen to t<\/em>he Ionic Original recording of \u2018Blowin\u2019 in the Wind\u2019 will take place during the pre-sale exhibition at Christie\u2019s in London, 2-7 July. (McIntosh audio system provided by KJ West One)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For a song reportedly written in just 10 minutes, it has had remarkable longevity. Bob<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5013,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5011"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5011"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5014,"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5011\/revisions\/5014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peymantaeidi.net\/stem-cell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}