This might sound like a silly feature request, but if it is easily done I would apreciate it.
On every ECM album the first track always starts with 8 seconds of silence. I can not figure out why, but I like to decide myself when the music should start playing. Because of this actually I often do not play the first track on ECM albums.
Is it possible to make a feature, so that Roon will skip silence in the beginning of an album?
That’s an interesting observation. I sampled about 20 ECM albums and the majority do have about 8 seconds of silence at the start. That said, some just had a few seconds, so it isn’t a hard and fast rule.
It’s Manfred Eicher’s show, we are just guests in it 
More seriously, Eicher is such a stickler for detail that the short initial pause must be intentional. Such a pause is not unusual in live classical concerts, and some live jazz, as the performers use the quiet to summon attention to the music to come. Producers like Eicher approach the album as a unit, rather than as set of tracks that might be played separately. The initial pause makes sense in that context, but it would be annoying in a playlist or track streaming setting, which many listeners prefer.
So the first 8 seconds are the best part of the album;)
Edit: i am not a fan of ECMs lofty and airy sounds, I can honestly not stand it. The music is often either very free or too pop-like. Even though there are many very good albums recorded at ECM no doubt, I am not a fan of what makes the typical ECM sound.
Edit2: didn’t want to derail discussion.
I’m not a fan of the lofty and airy ECM sound either. Not at all. Eicher obviously prefer to hear jazz-concerts in cathedrals. I prefer to hear them in jazz-clubs. Each to his own taste. There’s nothing I - or Roon - can do about this.
But perhaps Roon could give us the opportunity to skip this initial silence. For me it is artificial to justify it with summon attention, because I know that the recording was made several month/years ago. What attention does the musicians need in my living room right now?
Are these files you own or files you’re streaming? If you own them (and it bugs you enough to be worth the hassle!), you could load the file into a DAW and strip the first 8 seconds. That’s a lot of hassle, but if it really bugs you …
Or use Audacity or Audition, etc etc
That’s an interesting observation and I certainly agree there is an ECM sound. On that basis, I’m usually not a fan of their jazz albums, yet do love the ECM jazz recordings of artists such as Dina Saluzzi & Enrico Rava.
However, I do think that particular sound works for many of the minimalist artists that I really love and much of the classical/neo classical work, especially by artists such as: Anja Lechner & Eleni Karaindrou. Oh and Kim Kashkashian!
Thanks for this, will check it out.
This describes the sound signature to some extend. But even in a concert hall you can produce a more dry, warm and direct sound, which I like. It does not always have to be the smokey Jazz basement even though I really miss going to a smokey bar and listen to some Jazz.
The ECM music, musicians, projects and sound could very well deserve its own thread as it is undoubtedly one of the most significant jazz labels in history.
I made this feature request only to suggest a (perhaps simple) solution for those of us who prefer to decide ourself when the music starts in our living room.
Excellent - hope there’s something in my choices you find to your liking. 