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We started issuing recordings on the Stereophile label at the end of the 1980s, both to make available some of test tracks that we were using in our reviews and to enable readers to have access to recordings where the provenance was fully documented. That way the "Circle of Confusion" that Bob Katz discussed on the Stereophile website in 2017, where the sound quality of an audio component couldn't be judged using a recording with unknown sound quality potential, could be avoided. As Bob wrote, "How can any reviewer make a judgment about a transducer without knowing what a recording is…
Molto Molto: the Music & the Musicians
Molto Molto—Works for Jazz Orchestra by Sasha Matson Stereophile STPH-023
The Music
Concerto For Piano & Jazz Orchestra (CD Tracks 1–3; LP 1, Sides A & B)
Adam Birnbaum, piano
I: Find the Pocket 7:14
II: Distant & Sweet 7:02
III: Molto Molto 8:44
Capt. Trips 8:12 (CD Track 4; LP 1 Side B)
Steve Cardenas, guitar
Symphony No.3 For Jazz Orchestra (CD Tracks 5–8; LP 2, Sides A & B)
I: Vamp Till Ready 4:52
II: Song Torch 6:32
III: Bossa Alla Calli 5:20
IV: Life…
Molto Molto: John Atkinson on the Studio, the Sessions, Mixing & Mastering
I got down to studying the scores Sasha sent me, learning the instrumentation, deciding on possible editing points, and wondered where the project could be recorded. I had played bass in the 1970s with what we used to call a "rehearsal band," and I still remember how loud it was. Using the minimal microphone technique I prefer for conventional classical works, we would need an enormous space, like a concert hall, for the sessions.
Sasha Matson
Capt. Trips, Matson's tribute to Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia, represents a return to his roots. He grew up in Berkeley, CA, playing keyboards in a psychedelic band and listening to groups like the Grateful Dead.
"We viewed those kinds of groups as our big brothers. They were a slight generation older than we were, and we were just young teenagers absorbing all everything they had absorbed. Jerry, I think, could have been a really fine, straight-ahead jazz player. His background was mainly bluegrass and folk, but the way that he phrases stuff, the…
Several traditional hi-fi dealerships have shuttered in recent years: NYC's Lyric Hi-Fi and Chicago's Audio Consultants are prominent examples. A few new brick-and-mortar shops have opened, but it's rare to see a next-generation owner breathe new life into a long-established dealership. Christopher Brewer (above) is doing exactly that with New England Hi-Fi.
New England Hi-Fi was founded as the New England Music Company by Derek R. Burt (footnote 1), in 1965—on the early side of hi-fi's heyday. Back then, the store carried the 1965 KLH line and other pioneering products, with a self-…
It turns out that PVC, or polyvinyl chloride—the stuff used to make Starbucks gift cards, imitation leather wallets, inflatable pool unicorns, the pipes under your sink, and Billy Idol's pants—is also the main ingredient in phonograph records. And today we're living in the silver age of PVC. Not the golden age, since records are no longer the dominant medium for recorded music, but these days we're lucky to again have access to a remarkable amount of music stamped on top-quality hot plastic.
Better still, as listeners have become more knowledgeable and demanding, vinyl releases…
For years now, I've wanted to learn more about what I was hearing and just what was encoded on those great-sounding early records—and about why that sound seems to elude engineers today. When you write about things, sometimes having preferences and opinions isn't enough, so I reached out to four mastering engineers. This turned out to be a mistake. For starters, engineers love master tape, which sounds better than records and digital but is largely off limits to those of us who listen at home. How many audiophiles have even heard a master tape? Second, three of the engineers are, or have…
Since the 1980s, I've been asking every speaker designer I meet, "What amplifier do you recommend using with your speakers?" Annoyingly, they always say, "My speakers are easy to drive. Any amp will do." Whereupon I'd whine, "Aww, come on man, don't feed me that. What amp did you use when you were designing the speaker?" The closest any manufacturer came to providing a real answer was Wendell Diller of Magnepan, who, when I reviewed his .7 quasi-ribbon speaker, said, "We used an amp of our own design. It's not for sale. But any amp that doubles its power into 4 ohms will be fine." Wendell's…
The most exciting part of listening to this unusual album is how it slowly builds its own universe—inside the headphone listener's head—becoming more visual and emotionally associative with each track. Its progression of tracks and successions of tempos represent a musical promenade through the 16th to the 19th centuries in Spain, played on guitars that might have been used to play these works by the composers themselves. Played on guitars that had not been played in generations. When this album is reproduced in its full colorful pulsing vibrancy—like it was for me with the Diana TC—it…
On Friday, May 5, 6–9:30pm, AV Therapy of Nashua, New Hampshire, will host its annual spring event. This year, the company proudly celebrates its 10th anniversary with a Cinco De Mayo Party!
New products will be displayed in multiple demo spaces with featured guests from Luxman, Sonner, Focal/Naim, KEF, Linn, Nordost, and Paradigm/Anthem available throughout the evening to demonstrate products and answer questions from attendees. The event will be held at AV Therapy, 216 Daniel Webster Highway, Nashua, New Hampshire. RSVP by phone at (603) 759-7183 or by email at info@avtherapy.…