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Chameleon Audio’s collaboration with Heaven Music!
Heaven Music discovers its musical choices through the sound machines of Chameleon Audio!
In the past three years, top proposals for speakers, amplifiers, and digital systems have passed through the professional premises of ANT1 Group / Heaven Music in perfect cooperation with advertising sponsors in the hiendnews.gr information environment. The group of Mr. Kyriakou recognizes the qualities and respects all good recordings, now trying to convey the message that the enjoyment of music should have no limits in pursuit.
No serious deprivation – as much as possible – both in production and, of course, during playback! Here we are, consequently.
Mr. Stamoulis’ office has periodically received ‘invasion’ from top high-end audio names. Sometimes less known to the general public, other times famous as in the case of Focal.
In its current state, Chameleon Audio and its owner Mr. Nikos Kostadimas have curated an excellent audiophile system with push-pull tube amplifiers from Audio Hungary, multi-way speakers from AudioSolutions, digital systems from SoTM & Metrum Acoustics, cables from TelluriumQ, and turntable-cartridge from Reed Turntables/ Shelter.
Many of these names might be encountered for the first time by some in the professional music industry, so it’s an opportunity to get to know these companies by clicking on their names and understand their class before enjoying them up close. Home audio companies that create masterpieces, respect, and offer sound that stimulates all senses. Sound that transports you with the music and musicians on an idyllic journey, a journey where the “vehicle” and the “place,” although known to you, seem as if you had never “enjoyed” it in its true grandeur – until today. With great pleasure from both sides, the CEO of Heaven Music granted an all-encompassing interview to our magazine and our editors, Mr. Tony Pothitos and Mr. D. Dravopoulos.
We present it to you right away.
– D. Dravopoulos, hiendnews.gr
Good morning from us at hiendnews.gr (Tony Pothitos & D. Dravopoulos) starting with the first and most essential question…
1. You listen to a lot of music, but now with Chameleon Audio’s high-performance sound system, do you also enjoy it in your workplace?
Of course, I listen to a lot of music, both because of my occupation and for entertainment. Consequently, my day is filled with music almost throughout!I’ll tell you the last two works I listened to and truly enjoyed. With these, I particularly understood the dynamics and qualities of the machines that came to my office.
The first is the latest album by Angelika Dusk, a perfect production made in London. I listened to it on vinyl. The album is titled “Beautiful Mess.” Believe me, I felt like I was in the studio with Angelika!
The second album I listened to and was excited about the production is the latest album by Natassa Theodoridou titled “I Never Left Here.” I listened to this in digital format, i.e., wave files from the studio master. Indeed, we did an excellent job in the studio for Natassa Theodoridou, and I realized this to the fullest extent with the sound system in my office, which delivers the highest possible resolution and fidelity in the space.
2. How do musicians and producers perceive such a level of playback of their recordings, as well as those of other familiar and unfamiliar artists?
If we wanted to determine the impressions bet with a 99.9% success rate, let me tell you this: there is no artist, producer, manager, radio person, or television person who has visited my office in the last six months and hasn’t been left open-mouthed seeing and hearing the high-end audio exhibits of Chameleon Audio. And I am not exaggerating at all; I mean it literally.3. You are a record company where big names of Greek artists have passed and participated, including Haris Alexiou, Alkistis Protopsalti, Giannis Ploutarchos, Antonis Remos, etc. Do you pay attention to and strive for the perfection of every recording that bears your label?
If you don’t take care of your product, you’re fooling the customer. This is the one and only truth. If you want to sell anything – not just music – but anything. We are very careful with what we produce, and this system in my office helps me often to detect some special points in production, better some “little things,” very very small in detail, which a simple sound system cannot easily approach and bring to the surface comfortably and correctly, with realism – if there is a recording with qualities. Above all, however, it must be the quality of our music; otherwise, we are fooling the customer. Whether what we do has a response in the outside world is something history and the musical tastes of each person will judge, but at least we must ensure our product has high standards. Such high standards are also possessed by high-end audio machines as implementations of analysis and enjoyment. You can’t ‘fool’ them if the primary material is mediocre or bad in places.4. What is your position, your opinion regarding the “Digital Productions” era we are experiencing?
It is true that we now live in an era that we have named “Digital.” Everything comes from there, digitally in many or all its stages. Even there, however, you must have high production standards. One cannot overlook – and this is the truth – that if you want to make a recording of a high-level musical work, a recording with very high standards, it will also be a difficult production. The difficulty lies in all points, and it will certainly include natural instruments, especially wind instruments – guitars, bass – acoustic non-amplified instruments.There, you must have the appropriate machines and the right people to manage many different sources and aspects with their knowledge and taste. Subsequently, high-end sound systems can offer a pleasure that is not perceptible if you have not ‘tasted’ in your life the limits they approach to satisfy you. To be satisfied are those who seek to come closer to the actual event in their personal space. To chase the absolute and offer ‘magic’ with any well-recorded music you put on the program. You come closer to the recording moment, you bond with the music that gains a higher meaning, and the artists who suddenly find themselves constantly closer to you with the creation they interpret.
5. A given question from hiendnews.gr and I believe expected from you as well: How do you ‘deal’ with vinyl as a medium that is making a strong comeback from the past, but also more broadly the more analog approach?
It is true that vinyl has made a remarkable comeback in the music world, and this is something I can personally attest to. Many of our artists have expressed a desire to release their work on vinyl, which not only pays homage to the past but also brings a different listening experience that digital formats sometimes cannot fully replicate. Vinyl offers a warmth and richness in sound that many audiophiles and casual listeners appreciate. Our collaborations with companies like Chameleon Audio, which emphasize high-quality analog playback systems, have highlighted the resurgence of this format. Analog sound, with its continuous signal, can capture nuances that are often lost in digital formats, bringing a sense of realism and depth that resonates deeply with listeners. Therefore, we embrace vinyl and analog approaches, acknowledging their unique contributions to the auditory experience.5. A question from hiendnews.gr and I believe expected by you: How are you dealing with vinyl as a medium that is making a strong comeback from the past, and more broadly, with a more analog approach?
It is true that vinyl has made a strong comeback not only in Greece but worldwide. Its demand increases year by year, and its sales are steadily rising. In contrast, CD sales, as we know, are declining year by year. This is because CDs as a medium for music came and went.Vinyl is something else. It is more than the quality of music. Vinyl is music. Vinyl has become a trend now and is loved again by younger generations who did not experience it in its time, and of course, by us who knew it as one of the two most widespread music reproduction media (cassette-LPs).
Compared to the CD, it carries the legacy of the music industry within its “DNA.” In this construct, you can more easily find the dreams, hopes, and passions of each artist. The interaction with it has a superior charm, from the large cover and readable track titles to the rarity and collectible value it acquires. The history it carries has a class, an aura, a magic that will follow it forever. How long it will last in the future, I don’t know, although I want it to last.
Although I am a staunch supporter of the digital that exists on the planet today, because very simply, this digital that some see as an enemy has made our music a small neighborhood. The whole planet is a “music neighborhood” now, where recordings are selected and pass into our soundscape in a few seconds. In this journey of digital and streaming, many have learned their lesson and produce high-resolution recordings (96 or 192 / 24 or DSD) which, slowly but steadily, have demand and in the right system make every musician “breathe” in the space.
6. With the current composition of high-end audio proposals from Chameleon Audio of Mr. Nikos Kostadimas in your office, are you truly satisfied, and to what extent?
The high-end audio proposals from Chameleon Audio, I’m sorry to say to those who might be disappointed (I am, however, biased because I love what I see-hear, I love what I live) are “for me.”I don’t know if they are for the few or the many. I don’t know if quality has a measure or if you can put it in molds. But I know that everyone wants and takes from life what they ultimately seek.
I feel very lucky to live and hear my music through these high-end audio products, amplifier, and speakers, and I would like many people to have the opportunity to experience this experience that I have. Because once they experience it – and I’m talking about those involved with music – only then can they understand what it means to hear what any creator has really thought.
It is a huge new perception of music enjoyment, composition, and understanding. I have lived this story and have no intention of detaching from it!
7. Tell us some musical works-albums you could live with for a very long time without getting bored… Are there any in your acoustic memory as points of reference?
A question I could answer for days… So I will stick to 2 works which I can listen to again and again and again and still on the vinyl that I love so much, I will not get bored. I’ll take you to West Side Story / Leonard Bernstein, a wonderful job done by Deutsche Gramophone in 1985. A vinyl printed in Hungary. Then changing the music profile… to take you to the concert held at Central Park by Simon & Garfunkel, and the magic is captured in the Concert in Central Park 2LP, released in 1982 by Warner Bros. A wonderful double album that, believe me, has not stopped playing on the turntable.8. Known as a radio producer, how did you decide to move into the recording industry? A brief description of your career in the music business?
The reason I decided to move from radio to the recording industry was because very simply it was an opportunity for me to complete myself personally and professionally as much as possible.I wanted to have a complete picture of the music industry from start to finish. Radio is the mouthpiece of music, it is the final stage. So, I had to live the Source in the so-called music business “galaxy.” The source is the record company. Everything comes from here. It was a move that gave me a lot of energy, a new motivation, it renewed me and I have to admit it suits me too.
I have been in this music industry for 24 years. There are many people who have “marked” me. There are people who have left a mark on me, there are people from whom I always take something. I like to take things from people and make them as much mine as possible, the good things from all those who have passed through my life.
There are others I will refer to a little later. You never know what the future will bring. There is someone who completed me, gave me the ability to stand on my feet, to see who I am. He is still teaching me, he is truly a mentor to me. He is not Greek; he is Danish, and his name is Eric Hansen. He has taken over ANT1 Music not only in Greece but in all the other countries where we have radios as a group ANT1. He is the reason I am here. He created me. He helped me spread my wings and he is the one who scolds me whenever necessary. I don’t know if it’s a father-son relationship, because we have a certain age difference, but it is certainly a teacher-student relationship. A relationship that has brought me many positives. It has made me rethink many things and broaden my horizons. It made me a better person, I believe.
9. What does “musical success” mean to you and to the artists you promote more broadly?
Qualitatively speaking, musical success means hearing something that has already been finished in the studio and satisfying you. To fill you, to make you feel good about it. To have a small smile on your face and you feel proud of what you are ready to release.From there, the customer decides, and the customer is the listener, the user, the viewer. Your job ends. Once you leave this office, everything else is marketing and positive energy.
The truth is that artists who come here, when they hear their music from these high-end systems, are surprised. Most of them are positively surprised because there are some who do not appreciate it. Some sing or judge quality music with in-ear headphones in their ears but cannot see some things beyond playback, because very simply they are inside it. It is not easy for them to distance themselves. That is why they are artists, perhaps.
But because, when they come to my office and we listen to the result of their music, they smile, it means that something good is being done from the production side and something good comes out of this office we refer to.
10. Returning to the current ‘sound’ of your office, how would you characterize or judge it?
Many sound systems have passed as exhibits and of course as demonstrations in my office with the support of hiendnews.gr. I must admit that what I now live with daily and has been provided to us by Chameleon audio is by far the best to my ears – there is no comparison. I understand this from the artists who come here and enjoy what they hear. They come here and we notice together even the smallest mistake that might have been made. In the production part (for the artists again), it is very important that what they hear they like very much. Great importance in production for this final stage of appreciation, everyone agrees that there is perfection. Everyone wants to be proud of their product because they know very well that this is their true image.11. The future of your work? The future of the recording industry and those who love music as a profession, hobby, and, of course, as entertainment?
The music platform has changed. Whether it is for the better or the worse, I clearly lean towards the version of “not just better, but much better.”We are in the age of streaming music. This is the new trend in the global music industry, and it means that music had, has, andwill have a huge horizon.
From what we lived in the past, music found its way and blossomed. All companies are looking for quality now. There is not the same ‘mass production’ mentality as before, at least not for the major companies. There is a pursuit of a better, higher-quality approach, which from every aspect brings great results, as long as it continues.
From the perspective of those who love music as a hobby, I want to say that I do not consider those who love music professionally to be a different breed from those who love music as a hobby.
For me, there is no difference between the professional and the hobbyist in music. There is no greater joy than seeing someone who loves music make it his profession. It means that he has the gift, that he has the courage, that he has the love to do something more important than what he started with. Everyone should strive to find a career that makes him happy, makes him proud, makes him passionate. That is the future.
Thank you very much for this wonderful discussion. It was very helpful and creative. Always with you.
– Spiros Stamoulis, CEO of Heaven Music / ANT1 Group