DMP Digital Music Products was one of the first digital recording labels, generally specializing in

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

artists. DMP was founded in 1983 by engineer Tom Jung after leaving

Sound 80 Sound 80 is a recording studio in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States founded by engineer Tom Jung and composer/musician Herb Pilhofer in 1969. Largely involved with local artists, the studio is best known for recording portions of Bob Dylan' ...

recording studios in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The label's first releases in 1983 featured pianist

Warren Bernhardt Warren Bernhardt (November 13, 1938 – August 19, 2022)''WBGO'', (Newark, NJ)"Warren Bernhardt, pianist with Steps Ahead, Steely Dan and other bands, dies at 83" August 24, 2022. Retrieved on August 24, 2022. was an American pianist in jazz, pop ...

Jay Leonhart Jay Leonhart (born December 6, 1940) is a double bassist, singer, and songwriter who has worked in jazz and popular music. He has performed with Judy Garland, Bucky Pizzarelli, Carly Simon, Frank Sinatra, and Sting. Leonhart is noted for his cl ...

, and the group Flim & the BB's. These were among the first non-classical recordings released on compact disc. DMP was one of the few labels to release commercial DAT recordings, was at the forefront of introducing numerous digital recording technologies, and was a pioneer in the Super Audio CD (SACD) digital audio format. DMP issued the first multichannel SACD, ''Sacred Feast''. Notable artists who recorded for DMP include

Lynne Arriale Lynne Arriale is an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and educator. She is Professor of Jazz Studies and Director of Small Ensembles at the University of North Florida. Awards and honors *"The Lights Are Always On" (2022) #3 on JazzWeek ...

Joe Beck Joe Beck (July 29, 1945 – July 22, 2008) was an American jazz guitarist who was active for over 30 years. Biography Born in Philadelphia, Beck moved to Manhattan in his teens, playing six nights a week in a trio setting, which gave him an opp ...

, Flim & the BB's,

Chuck Loeb Charles Samuel "Chuck" Loeb (December 7, 1955 – July 31, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist and a member of the groups Steps Ahead, Metro and Fourplay. Early years and education Loeb was born in Nyack, New York, near New York City. At a ...

, Thom Rotella Band,

Bob Mintzer Robert Alan Mintzer (born January 27, 1953) is an American jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger, and big band leader. Early life Mintzer was born and raised in a Jewish family in New Rochelle, New York, on January 27, 1953. He attended the Inter ...

Joe Morello Joseph Albert Morello (July 17, 1928 – March 12, 2011) was an American jazz drummer best known for serving as the drummer for pianist Dave Brubeck, as part of the Dave Brubeck Quartet, from 1957 to 1972, including during the quartet's "classic ...

, and

Ali Ryerson Ali Ryerson (born 21 October 1952 in New York City) is a flutist with a background in both classical and jazz, as well as being an instructor. She has performed and toured worldwide with a wide range of artists including Billy Taylor, Kenny Barro ...

History

audio engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...

, Tom Jung co-founded the recording studio

in Minneapolis in 1969. By 1977, the studio was making digital recordings with a prototype of a recorder from 3M. Jung was attracted to

digital recording In digital recording, an audio or video signal is converted into a stream of discrete numbers representing the changes over time in air pressure for audio, or chroma and luminance values for video. This number stream is saved to a storage de ...

in part by the desire to reduce the noise created by recording in analog. Digital could eliminate wow and flutter. In 1979, he got a job offer and moved with his family to New York City. He worked as a freelance engineer, recording albums, commercials, and soundtracks. Some of the musicians he encountered wound up on the roster of DMP. * 1983 – Flim & the BB's ''Tricycle'' (CD-443) is the first jazz compact disc available to consumers. The dynamic music together with a live-to-2 track digital recording made ''Tricycle'' a global demonstration disc that would win CD of the Year honors in ''CD Review'' magazine. * 1987 – DMP utilizes high-end recording technology from Cello on two breakthrough recordings by Warren Bernhardt (''Hands On'', CD-457) and ''Flim & the BBs'' (Neon, CD-458) * 1989 – DMP's mascot, a black cat, is photographed for ''A Taste of DMP'', (CD-466) cover and would soon become a cult figure. * 1991 – DMP is first to utilize 20-bit recording and conversion technology on

's recording ''Balance'', (CD-484). * 1995 – DMP implements a compatible surround sound technology in its DMP Big Band Tribute series, ''Carved in Stone'' (CD-512), ''The Glenn Miller Project'' (CD-519), and ''Salutes Duke Ellington'' (CD-520). * 1996 – ''Big Band Trane'' (CD-515) is the 10th consecutive recording by the Bob Mintzer Big Band for DMP * 1997 – ''Alto'' (CD-521) by Joe Beck & Ali Ryerson is the first commercial recording captured with Sony's DSD recording technology which samples music at 2.8224 MHz (64 x the 44.1 kHz compact disc). * 1998 – ''Just Jobim'' (CD-524) by

Manfredo Fest Manfredo Irmin Fest (May 13, 1936 – October 8, 1999) was a bossa nova and jazz pianist, keyboardist, and bandleader from Brazil. Legally blind, he was born in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, and he died at 63 years old in Tampa Bay, ...

is the first project captured with the new Meitner DSD conversion technology * 2000 – DMP releases world's first multichannel SACD, Gaudeamus: ''Sacred Feast'' (SACD-09)

Discography

References

External links

DMP catalog listing

{{Authority control Jazz record labels