A Proper Procedure
There is a proper procedure for taking advantage of any investment.<br>
Music, for example. Buying music is an investment.<br>
To get the maximum you must
LATEST ADDITIONS
Do you own, or have you ever owned and used an open-reel tape deck?
Clearly, many of you still cherish your cassette decks, but what about <A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reel-to-reel_audio_tape_recording" target="new">open- reel</A>? Do you own, or have you ever owned and used a reel-to-reel or open-reel tape deck?
Recording of February 2010: Orchestrion
<B>Pat Metheny <I>Orchestrion</I></B><BR>
Pat Metheny, guitars, orchestrion programming.<BR>
Nonesuch 516668-2/-1 (CD/LP). 2010. Pat Metheny, prod.; eng. AAD? TT: 52:06<BR>
Performance ****<BR>
Sonics ****
The Recording Angel
Back in the last century, I mused in this space about the essential difference between recorded sound and the real thing. I had been walking to dinner with friends when I heard the unmistakable sound of live music coming from a window. But here was the kicker: rather than the instruments being of the audiophile-approved acoustic variety, they were two amplified electric guitars. Their sounds were being reproduced by loudspeakers, yet it was unambiguously obvious that it was not a recording being played through those loudspeakers, but real instruments.
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Meeting Jimi Hendrix
A group of people sit along an old, grimy bar, doing things. Watching, waiting, aspiring. Every single one of them, in one way or another. Watches, waits, aspires. One of them—the strangest looking one of all—is a black dude with hair like the wind through a California Cypress. Eyes like two half moons. With more care and concern than any of the others, he watches. He watches the man on stage, a fellow named Henry Vestine. Henry is playing guitar, bass, and drums all at once, all by himself.
Sunny Mornings
I love my job, I love my office, I love a whole lot of other things. But, when the sun is shining through my living room windows the way it was this morning, it is very hard to leave home.
2009 Records To Die For
A crime of passion? Depraved indifference to the importance of tuneage? Death by music? The simple fact is that most audiophiles got that way by having too many records. That's right—very few got into this rewarding, non-contact sport because they were aroused by shiny brushed-steel boxes or supersexy speaker grilles. It's because they wanted to hear their piles of music—their Mahler, Monk, or Rick James—sound the best it could. (And, okay, yes: It <I>is</I> cool to show drooling friends your designer gear.)
Naim NA CDS CD player
"A reasonable man adapts himself to the world around him. An unreasonable man expects the world to adapt to him. All progress, therefore, is made by unreasonable men."
Recording of April 1990: Dvorák: Symphony 9
<B>DVORÁK: Symphony 9, "From the New World"<BR>
WAGNER: <I>Flying Dutchman Overture</I>, <I>Siegfried-Idyll</I></B><BR>
Jascha Horenstein, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra<BR>
Chesky Records CD 31 (CD only). Bob Katz, remastering eng.; David & Norman Chesky, executive prods. (Original 1962 recordings: K. E. Wilkinson, eng.; Charles Gerhardt, prod.) ADD. TT: 67:30
Do you still use a cassette deck?
In his <A HREF="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/">blog</A>, Stephen Mejias reports on the resurgence in cassette-only releases and is now looking for a good deck. Do you still use a cassette deck?