Ken Ishiwata was born in Japan in 1947, and joined Marantz in 1978 when he was just 31. Marantz, at that time, was one of the “big” names in HiFi and Ken Ishiwata had been able to work at the heart of the development of the Marantz sound over a continuous period of forty years. He made the classical audiophile tweaking habit a rule for his Special Edition versions of Marantz components. These were standard, well established products to which he applied higher quality components to enhance performance and sound quality. He also designed a whole range of CD players and amplifiers, under the name “KI-Signature” or KIS, for short, where KI stands for Ken Ishiwata, of course.

MARANTZ KI Pearl Lite – Inspired By Desire released 2010 by STS Digital. These were collections of nicely recorded jazz tracks, mainly, choosen by Ken Ishiwata himself. Both discs derived from the original 24/88.2kHz PCM master, processed through MW Coding Process (by STS Digital).

Just as it’s four predecessors did, the compilation „closer to the music Vol.5 “ provides an aural overview of the latest and the forthcoming Stockfisch productions - this time for 2015. More than 79 minutes of unusual recordings and fascinating music.

Closer to the music Vol.4 offers more than 73 minutes of musical highlights to get in first touch with Stockfisch artists as well as sound and/or just for enjoyable listening:
„I fell in awe in front of the swift charms of this compilation, a collection of highly enjoyable pearls from the Stockfisch catalogue. The artistic excellence and the stupefying tonal quality of the ensemble will make it a gourmet´s choice for any soundsystem ...“ There were so many positive and even enthusiastic feedbacks on our „closer to the music“ compilations volume 1 to 3, that we decided to release Vol.4 in 2011.

You will listen to recent recordings of known artists like Sara K., Allan Taylor, Eugene Ruffolo and David Munyon , but also to new Stockfisch-discoveries like Dennis Kolen (NL), Paul O´Brien (CDN), BEOGA (IRL), Carl & Parissa (AUS), Beo Brockhausen (D) and some more - 18 tracks with a total playing time about 76 min.

Just like Vol. 1, this second Stockfisch collection closer to the music Vol.2 offers on its 15 individual tracks a wide musical variety. Different as they may be, they are bound by an invisible thread, a common ground for all of them, the guitar based arrangements. This special sound, the “trade mark” of nearly all Stockfisch productions, is where they all meet. Always energetic, but at the same time gentle and never lacking transparency, that’s how the artists and their fellow musicians skilfully present their music. These recordings, as any listener will experience, exemplify once again the Stockfisch philosophy: closer to the music!

The first sampler released by Stockfisch-Records with a collection of 17 tracks. Although taken from different CD productions, these titles reveal a close relationship to sound and interpretation. 73 pleasant minutes illustrating clearly the philosophy of Stockfisch-Records: closer to the music!

Naim began when Julian Vereker started Naim Audio Visual in 1969 and created a sound-to-light box that he hired out to film production companies. He designed his own power amplifier. The company Naim Audio was incorporated in 1973.

This very special sampler is a celebration of the TRUE STEREO process for recording Naim has used for the majority of their releases over the last ten years. “True Stereo” is one of the most faithful techniques that exists to capture music in a recorded format. The final sound results from recoding with just a single pair of microphones set up in a space with good natural acoustics. The end result offers the listener a ‘live’, acoustically realistic perspective on the music without processing or electronic manipulation of any kind. Because the sound is recorded direct to stereo, there is no opportunity for mixing or manipulating it after the recording has been made.
The positioning of the microphones is critical for this kind of recording: microphone placement represents the only opportunity that our engineer, Ken Christianson, has to adjust the levels. For example, more or less bass is achieved by positioning the bassist closer to or further from the microphones.
Ken’s techniques – developed over a period of many years – are illustrated in the booklet which accompanies the True Stereo Sampler. There are diagrams showing the placement of instruments and microphones, and details on the specific sound characteristics of the room that was used for the recording.

Nine more superb contemporary and jazz tracks from Naim Label artists including Thea Gilmore, Guilherme Vergueiro and Carlos dos Santo, Fred Simon, Antonio Forcione, Ted Sirota's Rebel Souls, Janvier Jones, Charlie Haden and Mike Melvoin, Union, and Kai Eckhardt.