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Todd Garfinkle of M•A Recordings—A World Citizen Page 2

Scull: So you have DAT tapes with a number of takes on them...?

Garfinkle: Yes, and remember, they're 96kHz takes. So I have to do a sample-rate conversion.

Scull: What do you use?

Garfinkle: I've had access to an English unit made by Audio Digital Technology. And I'm now using a unit that I absolutely swear by from DB Technologies, an American company. It's called the 3000S 96kHz Digital Enhancer, and it does many things, including down- and upsampling. To my ears, when I use the 3000S, the sonic integrity of the 96kHz signal is quite well preserved. But I won't use CDR…

Todd Garfinkle of M•A Recordings—A World Citizen Page 3

That recording's not jazz, it's not classical, but something in between; it even has some elements of traditional Portuguese music. The point is that people should at least open up and lose their traditional concepts of what music is supposed to be.

Scull: But most of the artists you work with are on the same wavelength, yes? You're not just an engineer recording musicians. You're deeply involved.

Garfinkle: Yeah, that's true.

Scull: So are the performers aware of participating in that specialness that makes it art?

Garfinkle: Well, yes, it seems so. They keep…

Todd Garfinkle of M•A Recordings—A World Citizen A Selected M•A Discography

Sidebar: A Selected M•A Discography

A small selection of M•A recordings to whet the appetite:

J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations (M024A)
Japanese pianist Ito Ema's masterful performance on her own 1903 Steinway D concert Grand.

Dusan Bogdanovic: Untitled (M036A)
This fifth M•A recording by guitarist Bogdanovic emphasizes the classical repertoire, including Spanish composers Luis de Milan and Tarrega, plus Brazilian composer Villa-Lobos.

Peter Epstein Quartet: Staring at the Sun (M041A)
Veteran sax man Peter Epstein plays "Music from the young and energetic…

Craig Kallman of Atlantic Records: Listen Closely

Label heads—those at the very highest positions of power at music companies. To anyone who's spent time near the record business, they're a mythical breed. Like gnomes. Or dragons. Often, it's their vision that spells success or failure for the label they run. And what they say goes. Over the years, many a legendary creature has assumed the title: Goddard Lieberson, Clive Davis, Mo Ostin, to name just a few of those who have survived and prospered. The list of those who did not is at least twice as long.

Several years ago, the head of publicity at Atlantic Records engineered (…

Craig Kallman of Atlantic Records: Listen Closely Page 2

Like all record heads, Kallman remembers the musicians who made the first records he ever bought—in 1978, at the Musical Maze in Midtown Manhattan. Led Zeppelin, Parliament/Funkadelic, and Fleetwood Mac were among the choices. He became "the music guy" of his class at Trinity High School, at 91st Street and Columbus Avenue, and deejayed school dances. By the tender age of 17, Kallman had talked and spun his way into deejaying in New York clubs, beginning with the Mansion and working his way up to Friday and Saturday nights at the most infamous of all New York dance scenes, Danceteria. In no…

The Fifth Element #42

The recording project I've mentioned before in this column, that of documenting the historical and significant pipe organs of Rhode Island, is finally (!) in the can. (Except that today, of course, we no longer use cans. Or tape, for that matter.) It has been a learning and growing experience for us all—more than a dozen remote-location recording dates, spread over eight months.

But before sending any PMCD master files off to the pressing plant, it's necessary to give them a few very careful listens. Some tools for doing so are the subjects of the first part of this column: a high-…

The Fifth Element #42 Page 2

Ultrasone Edition 9 headphones
Ultrasone's earlier top-of-the-line model, the Edition 7, was a limited edition. The Edition 9 ($1500) does not appear to be such. Which is all to the good. I can imagine quite a few headphone listeners falling for the Edition 9's ultra-rich, lush, seductive sound.

The Edition 9s are dynamic, closed-back headphones. The drivers are 40mm titanium. The headphone cord is a nondetachable Y running to both sides. A hinge-and-pivot arrangement allows the earpieces to flop flat for storage in the provided mock-Anvil transit case. The earpieces can…

The Fifth Element #42 Page 3

Oppo DV-970HD universal player
A few quick words about this inexpensive universal digital player ($149), which punches far above its weight class. At the time of writing, I had no idea what Wes Phillips said about it, but his full review was published in the May issue. Judging only by its two-channel audio performance, the Oppo DV-970HD is a very respectable player. Taking its price into account, it is an exceptional bargain.

Oppo thoughtfully includes an Audio Only function on the remote control, which disables the player's video functions. However, I could hear no difference, even…

The Fifth Element #42 Contacts

Sidebar: Contacts

Cardas Audio, Ltd., 480 11th Street SE, Bandon, OR 97411. Tel: (541) 347-2484. Fax: (541) 347-2301. Web: www.cardas.com.

Brian Cheney. Web: www.briancheneytenor.com.

Oppo Digital, Inc., 453 Ravendale Drive, Suite D, Mountain View, CA 94043. Tel: (650) 961-1118. Fax: (650) 961-1119. Web: www.oppodigital.com.

Pearl Microphone Labs, Independent Audio, 43 Deerfield Road, Portland ME 04101. Tel: (207) 773-2424. Web: www.independentaudio.com.

RudiStor Sound Systems, AudioResearch Alliance LLC, 3422 Old Capitol Trail, Wilmington, DE 19808-6124.…

Chesky's 24/96 DVDs & HI-FI '98

"What the heck is that icon trying to tell me?" I had switched on Denon's new DVD-3000 player—a cute "Welcome to DVD World" message scrolled across its display—and put a disc in its drawer. The icon, which looked at best like a Japanese character and at worst like a child's drawing of a house (complete with windows), was lit up in light blue on the display. But the game was given away by the magic words "96kHz 24 bit" illuminated in red below the mysterious icon. For this was no DVD movie, but a test pressing of Chesky's new Super Audio Disc, The Super Audio Collection & Professional Test…