Rives is around the globe

Rives continues to expand the market around the globe. Currently there are active projects in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing, India, England, Poland, and Bulgaria. Most of the overseas projects are level 3, our highest level of design.

Richard Bird, president of Rives Audio expresses his thoughts: "This is really nothing I expected at this scale. We felt that Rives Audio would be primarily a domestic and Canada based design solution. Our method of delivering designs and communicating over the internet effectively has transformed our market to really be global. We are very excited about this continued expansion and are now in the process of training Rives Audio agents in other parts of the world to facilitate this expansion.

How Can Rives Help?

Did you know Rives Audio is one of the only companies that can deliver and work through design issues remotely. Our years of experience allow us to do this AND do it in a very cost effective manner. But even if you don't hire us to do design work for you, please don't ignore the room. Use our valuable resources on our website that are FREE!

We have also published many papers on the web, such as this paper: "Designing a Media Room" on the Audioholics website. This is just one of the many free resources.

In fact there is a whole section on the Rives Audio website devoted to those that want to "do it yourself" with many free resources.

The most important thing is getting started. Rives can even help you for free there too. By just filling out the application form and faxing it in you will be contacted by one of our engineers to discuss what direction you might take. There is no obligation to hiring us from this form. You may decide to, or you may use the preliminary information we provde to design the space yourself. You have nothing to lose.

Check out new examples and Gallery Page

What do you listen to?

Part 21
Hi Res Downloads

Recently I got a call from David Chesky of Chesky records. He told me about a new company he was working with and was in the process of launching. It sounded interesting as it was to electronically distribute high resolution music. Now, I've always been a fan of the Chesky label, but this was much broader in scope.

To introduce this new label they have put together the HDtracks Ultimate Download experience with has 8 demo tracks--and guess what--it's free (but you have to act fast--normal disclaimer right?)

“The HDtracks Ultimate Download Experience,” free to visitors to www.HDtracks.com who register with only an email address, offers eight spectacular audiophile-quality recordings across different genres, all hand-picked to prove just how great music downloads can sound. Those who download The Ultimate Download Experience will also receive a promotional code for 20% off their next HDtracks purchase.

I was concerned about what made HD tracks different. Didn't a some other people do something like this? I asked David.

HDtrack is unique among digital music stores for its combination of CD-quality music files unencumbered by digital rights management (DRM)*, the ability to download in any of three file types to match most playback devices, and a reliable, easy-to-use interface that makes browsing and downloading a pleasure. The site features thousands of artists representing 60 of the world’s best independent record labels, and all albums are priced at $11.98 and come complete with PDF liner notes (a first among digital music sites). Tracks may be downloaded as CD-quality uncompressed AIFF files or lossless FLAC files, or MP3 files ripped at 320 kilobits-per-second (kbps) — some 2½-times the rate of typical music-store downloads. Ultra-high-resolution 96kHz/24-bit downloads are planned as well.

“Musicians and sound engineers create incredible performances and amazing, lifelike recordings, only to have people download their work at 128 kbps from the popular music stores,” said HDtracks co-founder David Chesky. “This completely destroys the nuance of the recording and often introduces audible distortion. Our free “Ultimate Download Experience” album should prove to listeners once and for all that they can hear the difference between a CD-quality or high bit-rate file and a conventional download, even on an iPod®.”

I couldn't agree more and imagine most people that are interested in music and top quality playback will appreciate this launch.

Richard Rives Bird
President, Rives Audio