Copper
Plus Ça Change….
The full expression is of course, plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. If your French is as bad as mine, that may be meaningless—but it translates literally (more or...
Show on Show on Show
The title is of course an allusion to “In the Bleak Midwinter”. Make of that what you will; it just came to mind, unbidden, while thinking yet again about audio...
Immersion
You’ve probably already figured this out, but I am innately distrustful of fads, buzzwords, and whatevers du jour. I never read a book while it’s on the NYT bestsellers list....
Intelligence Inside
Way back in Copper #26 I wrote “The IoT is Not For Me”, in which I bemoaned the unnecessary inter-connectedness of every damn thing from cars to refrigerators and dishwashers. As I...
Everything Matters; Nothing Matters
Audio is art and science. It is art. It is science. It is both. It can be neither. After spending most of my life in this biz, it is evident...
Is It Worth It?
I want to consider a topic seriously, minus my usual snark. It’s not a feel-good topic; if anything, it’s the opposite of that. Why do successful, widely-admired artists keep killing...
Multiple Personality Disorder
A few years ago I spotted a bizarre trend in popular music. I’m not sure if it’s “blue car syndrome”—how if you talk about blue cars, suddenly it seems as...
They Have to Hear It to Want It
Following last issue’s column on audio evangelism, I’ve spent a lot of time pondering the requirements of that role. I was reminded that I rant about this subject periodically; in an interview with Jana...
Believing Our Ears
There are times when I regret having named this column “The Audio Cynic”. Some days, “Skeptic” would be more appropriate. Other days, my younger coworkers would likely vote for “The...
Shhhh....
What was that movie— where if you fell asleep, you died? Getting home after a long flight is similar: if you return during daylight hours, you CANNOT go to sleep,...
Why Do We Even CARE??
After a zillion years in this business, you’d think I’d have a sense of just how disconnected the audio biz is from mainstream reality. Short answer: yeah, no. Think what...
Cynically Yours
I won’t beat around the bush: putting Copper together is a lot of work. I don’t recall my exact response when the idea of the magazine was pitched to me by Ye...
Whatever Happened to Tone?
During the way-too-many years that I’ve been involved with audio, a number of terms that were first used by JGH, HP, JA , and other initialed Editors, have risen to...
Bad Sound
…is in the ears of the beholder. I chose the image above because for me, the worst kind of bad sound is that which has a massive amount of harmonic...
Who's Minding the Store?
Much has been made of the decline in number of independent audio retailers; blame for the phenomenon generally falls upon Amazon and big box stores like Best Buy. We commented upon the phenomenon...
Murders and Acquisitions
As a callow child waaay back in the early ’60’s, I became obsessed with two closely-related themes: seeing the unseen, and buried treasure. The first part may have had its...
Persistence of Memory
Uncle Jim was a chemist who worked for General Mills for over forty years, developing food products (I know, I know—the organic-eating Coloradan in me shudders a bit at that...
The IoT is Not For Me
I’ve worked in tech fields most of my life: high-performance audio, racing engines, and medical imaging. In spite of that, I admit that in some ways I am a Luddite. The...
Leaving Las Vegas
Here’s Leebens’ Law of Life: Things Change. Period. THAT’S IT. You either adapt to the situation, or you violently oppose it. Either one can be difficult. When the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) started...
Arnie Nudell: RIP
At the very beginning of 2017, I wrote about the passing of friend and colleague Ken Furst . I’d hoped to get through the rest of the year without having to write...
Ken Furst: RIP
It’s no secret that 2016 sucked. I’ve already written about the number of musicians who have recently passed from this earthly vale of tears. I’ve also written about the passing of two...
Creation and Recreation
After writing this column for issue #22, which pondered why any of us get into designing or building audio gear, I encountered a piece by Michael Lavorgna on AudioStream that gave me pause. That’s not...
Why Do We Do ...
Aside from the fact that it sounds like the chorus of an unreleased Sinatra flop,I think the title presents an interesting question. Why bother? What is it that drives people...
"Snakebit"
A few decades ago I went through the rough patch to top all rough patches. Injury? Chronic illness? Death in the family? Economic stress? Check, check, check, and check. They...
Black Friday
I wondered when the term “Black Friday” came to mean the launch of the Christmas/Hanukkah selling season on the day after Thanksgiving. In my mind, “Black Friday” referred to the...
Where Will We Go?
Gentrification. Some view it as imperialism incarnate, a way for big companies to force out long-established, historically-important businesses and create yet another outlet for their overpriced, overhyped goods. Cynics and...
RMAF: Lucky 13
I promise to step away from the topic of audio shows after this. I can imagine that for non-attendees, reading about audio shows must be a little like reading a...
RMAF Past, RMAF Present, RMAF Yet to Come
In years past I looked forward to RMAF as an opportunity to escape the perpetual swampy humidity of Florida, enjoy some actual crisp weather, and see leaves changing color. It...
That’s Show Biz!
In Copper #7, I wrote about the passing of Richard Beers, the promoter of THE Show-Newport. In #8, I asked, “how many shows are too many?” Consider this column the...
Wes Phillips: RIP
This has been a terrible year for musicians— we all know that. We’ve lost Bowie, Kantner, Martin, Prince, and I don’t know how many more. Is there something about an...
It’s the (Crappy) Music, Stupid
As may be obvious after 13 of these columns, I like to ask questions. Part of the reason is that I am honestly curious to understand how other folks think;...
Letting Facts Get in the Way of a Good Story
If the internet is good for nothing else, it’s great at destroying a good story by providing factual evidence to the contrary. The flip side is that by widely and...
It's No Contest
The long-running television show American Idol was often accused of single-handedly destroying American popular music. In its fifteen seasons AI (no, not “artificial intelligence”, although that might seem apropos) yielded...
Is It Worth It To You?
During election season, we hear a lot of talk about “values”. We are not (thank goodness!) going to pursue the subject of personal values, the much-abused term that is at...