AUDIO INSIDER

And even if we did manage to quantify those feelings, what would we conclude?

Here’s a good one for the measurement nerds in us all. How to quantify emotional engagement. How is it that a technically inferior technology like vinyl can often better engage us emotionally than a technologically superior format like DSD? And to make matters worse, a vinyl reproduction of a DSD master like those we have […]

Read More
AUDIO INSIDER

“Holy crap!” I said, “This is the best I have ever heard a drumkit.”

It is always difficult to have to reject the hard work of anyone but, in the long run, it’s critical to maintain standards. While auditioning a candidate recording we made of a wonderful musician for Octave, I had the unfortunate task of saying no. No, it’s not good enough. No, it serves neither the music […]

Read More

ART PEPPER: The Complete Art Pepper at Ronnie Scott’s 1980′ (7xLP box set including 16 page booklet)

The Complete Art Pepper at Ronnie Scott’s 1980′  (7xLP box set including 16 page booklet) (Including seventeen performances previously unavailable along with all the tracks on the two Mole Jazz albums Blues For The Fisherman and True Blues) “Art Pepper was booked to appear at Ronnie Scott’s during the last two weeks of June 1980  […]

Read More
AUDIO INSIDER

Transparent sound occurs when the sonic clutter between instruments and voices disappears.

The dictionary defines the word paradox as a statement or proposition that, despite sound reasoning from acceptable premises, leads to a conclusion that seems senseless, logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory. Such is the nature of audio transparency. Invisible sound. A seeming paradox. On the one hand, we can never hope to see sound. So the idea that some sound appears […]

Read More

CHEAP VINTAGE CD PLAYERS SHOOT OUT: Akai / Hitachi / Marantz / Meridian / Mission / NAD / Philips / Sony / Yamaha (Part 2 of 2)

TO RECAP: In this, my latest experiment, I decided to buy as many pre-owned / low cost CD players as I could afford for the investigation and NONE over £40 each from the major auction site. Part #1: I wanted to determine if via my reference £100 system, I could (a) here and worthwhile improvement […]

Read More

Memphis ― a blues capital no more

MEMPHIS, June 2 ― It was once the cradle of blues and rock for America and synonymous with the magic of B.B. King. But Memphis is not the musical beacon it used to be. With the death of the legendary blues guitarist King last month, the city has lost of one its last favourite sons. […]

Read More

WAGNER: A-Z – A is for Alberich

Stephen Ross writes: A stands for Alberich, antisemitism and Apocalypse Now. A is for Alberich, the vertically challenged, sex-crazed villain whose theft of the gold at the beginning of Das Rheingold – the prelude to the Ring Cycle – triggers a train of deranged events, which concludes four evenings and 15 hours later with the […]

Read More

JACK BRUCE: Sunshine of Your Love: A Life in Music (2CD)

Very special highlights collection of Jack Bruce’s work will be available this autumn with the release of Sunshine of Your Love: A Life in Music. The career spanning 35-track 2CD anthology will feature the greatest works from the legendary musician, composer and bass virtuoso. The anthology celebrates the highlights of Jack Bruce’s career and covers […]

Read More

MILES DAVIS: Birth Of the cool. It made him a star. It also made him incredibly difficult to live with for the people who loved him most

Miles Davis – horn player, bandleader, innovator. Elegant, intellectual, vain. Callous, conflicted, controversial. Magnificent, mercurial. Genius. The very embodiment of cool. The man with a sound so beautiful it could break your heart.  The central theme of Miles Davis’s life was his restless determination to break boundaries and live life on his own terms. It […]

Read More