Legendary US producer and guitarist T Bone Burnett is developing a new, ultra-high-fidelity medium for physical music distribution.
Using both lacquer and aluminium, the disc format, dubbed Ionic Original, combines technology from both CD and vinyl manufacturing.
"An Ionic Original is the pinnacle of recorded sound,"
Burnett said in a statement. "It is archival quality. It is future proof. It is one of one. Not only is an Ionic Original the equivalent of a painting, it is a painting. It is lacquer painted onto an aluminum disc, with a spiral etched into it by music. This painting, however, has the additional quality of containing that music, which can be heard by putting a stylus into the spiral and spinning it."
Burnett, once a bandmate of Bob Dylan's, said he's re-recorded some of Dylan's music onto the new medium, though there is no release date specified.
"When describing the quality that raises analogue sound above digital sound, the word "warmth" is often used," his statement continued. "Analogue sound has more depth, more harmonic complexity, more resonance, better imaging. Analogue has more feel, more character, more touch. Digital sound is frozen. Analogue sound is alive."
Burnett has started a new company, NeoFidelity Inc., to distribute Ionic Original, which he hopes will "reset the valuation for recorded music."