CEDAR's first customer becomes CEDAR's latest customer
8 May 1998
The man who, in 1989, was the first in the world to use CEDAR for commercial releases has upgraded his original CEDAR Production System to a 4-channel CEDAR for Windows system.
Michael Dutton became a world leader in audio restoration in February 1989 when he re-mastered a 1953 recording of Holst's 'The Planets' for PRT Records. The subsequent CD was released in May 1989 to great acclaim, and was featured on the BBC News, ITN, and Channel 4 News. Dutton later moved to EMI's Abbey Road Studios where he used CEDAR to restore Volume 1 of the Gramophone award-winning "Elgar Edition" CD box set. In 1992 he set up his own company, Dutton Laboratories, and two of his first three releases - again CEDAR processed - were nominated for rosettes in the Penguin guide, and one was nominated for a further Gramophone award.
Dutton says, "The public no longer accept CDs or broadcasts with crackle and pops, if only because people now know what can be achieved using CEDAR. It's therefore imperative that we continue to offer recordings with the best possible audio restoration. I'm delighted with my new upgrade to CEDAR for Windows, which in my opinion was the best direction to continue the development of the existing CEDAR system. CEDAR for Windows provides very high resolution, and still offers unmatched audio quality and restoration capabilities. My new system will be used to continue Dutton Labs' classical work and to continue our re-issuing of the Vocalion label. The new noise reduction package on CEDAR for Windows, NR-3, will allow us to restore and re-issue many more important dance, jazz and popular music recordings from the '40s and '50s. We have held some of these back because their restoration eluded even the earlier CEDAR System, but NR-3 is the answer to these lingering problems."
Vocalion is a registered trade mark of Dutton Laboratories, and the series has been acclaimed in the audiophile and vintage recordings press. Furthermore, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 3 recently referred to these recordings as "a breath of fresh air". Dutton Labs uses bespoke transcription equipment to achieve the best possible copies from the original masters. The audio is then passed through CEDAR before being loaded onto a SADiE editor for pre-mastering.
For further information visit Mike Dutton's web site at www.duttonvocalion.co.uk