PS Audio recently launched its record label, Octave Records. (Read about
Octave’s first release, Don Grusin’s Out of Thin Air, in Issue 113.) Octave will be releasing records regularly in audiophile-quality DSD and SACD stereo discs. Octave’s business model also ensures that artists retain a greater portion of earnings than standard record label deals.
Copper will give you a head start on upcoming releases (starting with
Clandestine Amigo, our next one), the stories behind the artists and the technical details of the recordings – in a column yet to be named.
That’s where you, the readers, come in!
Octave Records is having a contest to name the column. The winner will receive a 16 x 24 photo on canvas of
Copper photographer James Schrimpf’s photo of musicians Dale Watson and Chris Crepps, used as
Issue 105’s Parting Shot. James’s work has been featured in many galleries, shows and publications and he has worked for more than 30 years as an artist, photojournalist and photographer.

Simply submit your suggestions for the column name to
letters@psaudio.com. The contest will run from now through October 31. Then we’ll choose the lucky winner!
In other news: we welcome a new staff member, writer Steven Bryan Bieler. Steven is a novelist living in Portland, Oregon, with his wife, his dogs, and his CD collection. He blogs about music at rundmsteve.com.
Bob Stuart, inventor of Meridian Lossless Packing digital audio technology and MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) digital audio encoding has been awarded the Prince Philip Medal. The medal is given biennially by the Royal Academy of Engineering to an engineer who has made an exceptional contribution to engineering as a whole through practice, management or education. Congratulations Bob!
In this issue: Don Kaplan takes a fresh approach on
how to listen. Roy Hall looks back on the
Munich HIGH END show. J.I. Agnew concludes his interview with
acoustic design consultant Philip Newell. Jay Jay French drinks in
British blues singers. Anne E. Johnson considers the music of
Thomas Tallis and
ZZ Top. Alón Sagee tells a story of
two hands clapping. Don Lindich interviews
Bill Voss of Technics, and John Seetoo wraps up his series with
Quilter Amps/QSC Audio founder Pat Quilter.
Tom Gibbs is thrilled to hear a
good-sounding Stones reissue, among other new releases. New contributor Steven Bryan Bieler
hears voices. WL Woodward is
home for the pandemic. Robert Heiblim concludes his series on
bringing products to market. Ray Chelstowski has an explosive look at
K-tel Records. Ken Sander offers a
Stories story. I find that
audio systems are consistently inconsistent. Reader Adrian Wu takes us on
an audio journey encompassing continents, and decades of gear. We round out the issue by
staying in our room, experiencing
changing weather and
going to Nepal.