Does the world need more videos about audio, particularly with so many already posted on YouTube? And if so, is there anything we can do with our videos that’s not merely different from what our competitors are producing, but better?

Those were the questions we asked ourselves before we embarked on our latest video project. We decided that, yes, the world could use more videos about audio, and that, yes, we could do something different from and better than our competitors, so long as we had the talent and resources. Only then was the project a go.

There were many reasons we felt that the world could use more videos, but the overriding one was that hi-fi is constantly changing and evolving. There’s always something new -- a company, a product, a technology -- that will interest enthusiasts around the world. So just as our online publications feature new content every month on a variety of subjects, we’ll never run out of topics for our videos.

But we knew that doing something different from and better than what is already out there would prove trickier. It’s relatively easy to produce a video in the amateur fashion of most of what’s visible on YouTube and various audio sites. It takes substantial effort, significant investment, and tremendous talent if you want the end result to be top-shelf, let alone set a new standard. That’s why we stopped producing videos a few years ago. While we wanted to create new videos, we just didn’t have the talent to make them to the standard we wanted.

Chris Chitaroni

Thankfully, that changed earlier this year, when we met Chris Chitaroni, a multi-talented videographer based, like the SoundStage! Network, in Ottawa, Canada. Chris not only understands our desire to produce top-quality videos, he shares our desire to produce something decidedly better than anything on the market right now. Most important, he possesses the skills to do so. Therefore, as of February, Chris is leading our new video project.

We chose the name SoundStage! InSight for its double meaning. First, our new videos are intended to give viewers insight into audio companies, their products, and their people. Second, videos put the SoundStage! Network plainly in sight of viewers. It’s not just verbal descriptions any more -- you can see what we’re describing.

Muraudio's listening room

Although we could have picked any one of many companies as the subject of our first SoundStage! InSight video, we chose a new name on the hi-fi scene: Muraudio, in business only since May 2013. This was partly because Muraudio, too, is based in Ottawa, which made starting up our video production logistically simpler, but mostly it was because the company’s unique loudspeakers incorporate groundbreaking electrostatic technology, and they have a fantastic production and design facility replete with an anechoic chamber and a machine shop, a team of interesting personalities, and a compelling story to tell. A single company with all these things so close to us seemed the perfect place to start.

Shooting in the machine shop

Chris and his team shot the video over four days in February, then edited it over the next two weeks to fine-tune the narrative and the overall look -- the latter being particularly important, because we knew this first video would set the standard for the ones to follow. Everything was shot in 4K resolution -- the state of the art. The result, posted online in mid-March, isn’t something that I feel needs to be expanded on here -- a successful video speaks for itself. Please, click on the link below to view it, and see what you think. If you have an opinion about it, good or bad, feel free to e-mail me using the address link under my name at the end of this article.

By the time you read this, we’ll be well into producing the second SoundStage! InSight video -- or perhaps even the third. However, unlike almost every other time we’ve significantly expanded the SoundStage! Network, we’re not dedicating a specific website to our videos -- at least, not yet. Instead, the InSight videos will be featured in special spots within the numerous sites that already comprise the SoundStage! Network -- you’ll run across them easily enough as you browse our world. They’re also available on our YouTube channel, which you can access by typing one of these URLs into your browser: youtube.com/soundstagenetwork or soundstageinsight.com.

SoundStage! InSight took some time to come to fruition. Now that it has, we’re excited about the directions it can take us in, and what it can offer our readers worldwide in the future. We hope you’ll enjoy watching these videos as much as we’re enjoying creating them -- videos that we hope will bring something new and interesting to an already crowded table.

. . . Doug Schneider
das@soundstagenetwork.com