Sonic Booms
Steam Locomotives, Jet Fighter Aircraft, Military Exercise (with live ammunition), WWII Aircraft, Comic Relief I & II, West Mountain Inn, Diesel Train, Steam Train with Rain & Thunder
Bainbridge BCD6276 (CD only). Produced & mixed by Brad S. Miller. DDD. TT: 58:00
While we will all acknowledge that music is the raison d'etre of high fidelity, serious audiophiles have known for years that the only real challenge for a no-holds-barred system is nonmusical sounds. Like noise. Loud noise. Ungodly racket, in fact.
Things like thunder, trains, pile…
People of my generation have learned that change is certain. You can't know what the change will be, but you can bank on the fact that there will be serious change over the next ten years. Look at the historically most important change in ten years: microcomputers.
In 1982, Apple was a significant company, but tiny compared to its current giantism; a partnership with mega-dominator IBM would have caused a serious number of deaths from laughter. Stereophile bought its first computer that year, sensibly choosing a solid Hewlett-Packard running the dominant operating system of the day, CP/M—…
As fascinating as the design of high-end hardware can be, it goes without question that without musical software (or firmware, as our more computer-minded readers would have it) of an appropriately high standard, the whole business would be pointless. Stereophile's interviews have therefore often featured engineers and producers whose recorded work reveals sound quality to be a major concern. I interviewed Performance Recordings' James Boyk back in Vol.9 No.6; J. Gordon Holt spoke in Vol.10 No.3 with Doug Sax and Lincoln Mayorga, of Sheffield Lab, and with Keith Johnson of Reference…
It's been, I believe, a somewhat tempestuous relationship. It hasn't been all smooth by any means. We've had some ups and downs and difficulties, Lord knows, and not everything has turned out equally well, but by and large, when things work well with Keith's techniques, they're superlative. I think they're the best I've ever heard.
Atkinson: I would have thought that the relationship between producer and engineer always features a degree of conflict because the two are actually looking for different things from a recording.
Henderson: That certainly is the situation in our case…
Many people would be surprised that it is so immediate sounding and so dynamic. Some will like it, some won't. I like it a great deal—it's an exciting sound. It hasn't so far been a big success in the marketplace, though. Most audiophiles say, "Ugh, harpsichord, echh. It's dull and boring, it has no bass drum, so forget it."
Atkinson: Was Professor Johnson's Astounding Sound Show [RR-7] from 1979 the first Reference Recordings album to have been engineered by Keith?
Henderson: No, though that was the first one that got a fair amount of notice. We did two prior to that. Steven…
The reason CD has become the dominant medium must have to do with the lack of noise, the lack of ticks and pops and groove skips, etc., that we are too well acquainted with. And the relative permanence of CD is certainly very attractive. It's convenient, it sounds the same for many years, it doesn't deteriorate.
Atkinson: And you don't notice the lack of what you should be getting.
Henderson: Precisely. You get accustomed to the sound; that sound is satisfying by and large, so it's good enough.
Atkinson: If you say that some of the problems with digital sound are due to…
Assuming that this recording is successful, and that the reaction is positive, I do want to do at least one classical piano project in this manner. I'd like to do all the Chopin études. Note-perfect direct-to-disc! It's finding the right artist to do that.
Atkinson: Reference Recordings has an amazing roster of artists, from Red Norvo to The Blazing Redheads to Albert Fuller to Minoru Nojima. How do you choose artists to record?
Henderson: What motivates me is to get a wide variety of kinds of music. I couldn't possibly be happy working in this business having to deal with the…
Robert Deutsch reviewed the Eileen Farrell CD in November 1989 (Vol.12 No.11):
Eileen Farrell: Sings Harold Arlen
Eileen Farrell; Loonis McGlohon, piano & arrangements; Joe Wilder, special guest artist
Reference Recordings RR-30 (LP), RR-30CD (CD). Keith O. Johnson, eng.; J. Tamblyn Henderson, Jr., prod. AAA/DDD. TT: 47:36
In an interview with JA in the June 1989 issue, Reference Recordings' Tam Henderson describes working with Eileen Farrell as "more than a dream come true." Endowed with one of the glorious soprano voices of our time, Farrell is best known for her…
If you asked me to name a single specific high-end audio component that could make or break a system, I'd name the Linn LP12 turntable. Of all the thousands of hi-fi products I've heard over the years, not a one of 'em—not a speaker, amplifier, or digital processor—has been able to draw me into the music, no matter what the associated componentry, like the LP12. I've heard the most highly regarded speakers/amps/processors fall flat in certain situations due to a lack of synergy with their surrounding systems, but I've never heard an LP12-based system that didn't put a smile on my face and…
But there's "quite liveable" and then there's "YEAH!" In comparison with similarly priced analog setups, the WTRP/Blue Point Special combo sounds terrific, offering truly high-end sound for under two grand. The $6000 Linn rig, however, offers a much more detailed, rhythmically powerful, rock-solid sound. That's why, when I reviewed eight promising affordable cartridges in Vol.16 Nos.3 and 4, I used the Linn rig as my He-Man reference. Because while the best cartridge of the bunch, the Sumiko Blue Point Special, sounded better than even the best digital I've heard yet when mated with the WTRP…
