Our visit to Northstar Studio, The Netherlands

bart

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Last week, we were lucky enough to be invited by Bert van der Wolf, recording engineer with 3 decades of experience.
Thank you, Ben van Leliveld, for arranging this visit!

We were thrilled about this event, as we enjoy his albums so much.
We own dozens of them, and listen in multichannel in our living room.

He started his own label, Turtle Records some 2 decades ago.
He has worked for almost all the major labels in the world, and has been on the payroll of dCS.
Since dCS left the pro-world, he is working with Merging Technologies, like many recording engineers do.
Lately, he's also the importer of Merging Technologies for Germany, Austria, The Netherlands and Belgium.

I won't repeat information that has been everywhere on the web.
Like this good interview here: https://www.psaudio.com/article/bert-van-der-wolf/

His studio is situated in a quiet neighbourhood in a little town in The Netherlands.
You wouldn't expect that behind a very "normal" looking facade, some of the greatest recordings of the world are being mixed.

Bert was waiting for us, with good coffee and tea, and started to tell about his career, but also his children.
You can easily sense Bert's passion.
The love of the music is the driving force in his life.

The place he's working in is the fruit of steady improvements and adjustments.
It's a warm and welcoming room.
I could see myself functioning here, it is inviting.
Room treatments have evolved from Bert's own efforts till the RFTS devices that Ben himself has installed.

This is the studio when it is cleaned up, a couple of years ago.
Bert sent it to us after our visit.
Maybe to give a tidier impression?

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The other pictures are taken by my wife Meta, my faithful audio companion.
I do prefer his studio like this, it is much cosier.

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9 Avalon speakers, of which the Eidolons are the left and right front speakers.

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Bert told us a couple of anecdotes.
Like the circumstances in which he sometimes has to record orchestras.

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Sometimes, you arrive, and the orchestra's waiting impatiently in the concert hall.
Then you have 30 minutes to set up the microphones, acoustic devices, and your own little surround system, somewhere in a small room.
It's sheer experience that steers you through such rough circumstances to still capture the qualities of the orchestra.

Very often, your reputation alone, is already enough to soothe the stress that ensembles often have when they are to record.
They only have limited time in that expensive recording studio, will they succeed?
And you enter, they relax and you see them thinking: Now everything will be alright!

.
 
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My 5 large Avalon speakers are already more than 10 years old, says Bert.
So, with newer designs, I could maybe reach even better sound, but I'm so used to this system, that I will not change them now.

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A turtle on every Avalon.
A statement, not a voodoo device.

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These are not your most common artefacts: the Merging NADAC stack.

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Lots of wires of course.

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Bert knows from experience that cables do matter.
But also that very often, in recording venues, not the best wires are used.
It would simply cost too much.
You try to sit as close as you can to the orchestra or ensemble, but that ca still be dozens of meters away.
 
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Enough talking!
How does it sound?!
Bert let me take place in the master and commander seat.

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We started with this:

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Only three musicians, but also here, having sound coming from 5 equidistant speakers (the floor has a pattern of a star ad the chair is placed exactly in the middle), shows it added value!
 
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It sounded really good.
I mean, really good!
Very lifelike.
You can put here all the audiophile words that are usually written in a review of good gear.
I will content myself in saying: "Yes, I can imagine the musicians in this room, playing at this very moment."

When I bent a little forward, it became even better.

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Yes, that's how I am positioned when I'm working, said Bert.
 
Next recording:

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Gunar Letzbor is one of my favourite violinists.
Don't expect smooth playing from him.
His interpretations of Biber, Vivaldi, and these Mayr pieces will not caress your senses, but excite them in a slightly edgy way.

Again, impressive reproduction of music.
 
How would a bigger ensemble fare in this room?

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La Mer sounded how it has to sound.
Just right!
Impact, soundstage, separation of instruments, it was all there.
This comes from a music lover, who attends some 20 classical concerts per year.
 
More goodies?
Oh yes!

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The live atmosphere perfectly recorded and reproduced.
I adored it!
Where the source (the performance and the recording of it), the gear and the room are all terrific, you get this kind of an experience...
 
Last one with the Merging NADAC + power but without the clock:

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This is a recording I have listened to a lot of times.
But it still touched me more than at home.
The textures of the violin were so lifelike, it was amazing.
The orchestra... all instruments in the right places...
Could I live with this system?
Hell yeah!!!
 
So far, we were listening to the stack without the clock.
We are talking about a 8-channel DAC, streamer and preamp in 2 boxes (you can buy the DAC/pre/streamer without the power, and that sounds already very decent!) that retail for 22-23K.
Still within reach for some of us.

But now we got into other territory.
The Merging clocks are quite new.
There will be 3 levels.
They all have extremely rare and expensive, selected crystals.
Level 1 will set you back 20K. It delivers 95% of what the top clock offers.
Level 2: 40K.
We listened to level X, not yet on the market, but in the testing phase here in this studio.

We went back to the Beethoven recording:

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Oh my goodness...
I cannot describe what happened to me.
No.
Simply not able.
Audiophile words won't do it here.
But it did happen.
And I was in tears.
Just like when we attend a good concert. (When I haven't shed a tear during a concert, I consider it as a one that didn't make any impression on me).
Well, let me try to express what I experienced that moment.
That clock helped me to time-travel.
I came closer to Liza Ferschtman than I thought could be possible.
In time, and in space.

Bert told me he tested all the best digital from today.
The top dCS, the MSB Select II.
With the clock, Merging beats them all, he said.
And it is still way less expensive than the others.

He is the importer of Merging, so you can be sceptical.
I tend to believe him...
 
Of course, you can't appreciate how good this recording is from a simple video.
But let me tell you, it doesn't get much better than this.
This was a recording that Bert undertook with the clock, for the first time.
Most gain is to be expected on the playback side, but putting the clock in the recording equipment adds a few percent, Bert said.

If you visit Bert's website, you will see that you can purchase SACDs and downloads.
If you want his whole catalogue, I'm sure you can get a nice package price. :D
 
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