Issue 208

Loudspeakers have come a long way since their inception. From the early days of horn speakers (and yes, there are still horn speakers in use today, but this is a history piece, so…) to today’s high-fidelity masterpieces, the journey of loudspeaker development is a story of innovation, technology, and the ever-elusive pursuit of audio perfection.

As someone who has been witness to the last 50 years of audio history, and deeply embedded in the world of high-end audio, I've witnessed firsthand a small portion of the remarkable evolution of these devices. I find it fascinating to review some of the history we’ve been through, history that has led us to where we are today, capable of making speakers disappear, soundstages come to life, and in a darkened room, three-dimensional magic.

But it sure didn’t start out that way.

The Early Days: Horn Speakers

The birth of the loudspeaker can be traced back to the early 20th century with the advent of the horn speaker. These early horns were purely acoustic devices, acting as mechanical amplifiers of the grooves in phonograph records. Invented by Thomas Edison, the phonograph used a needle to trace the grooves of a record. The vibrations from the needle were transferred to a metal diaphragm, which in turn vibrated to produce sound. However, these sounds were often faint and lacked volume.

To address this, a horn was attached to the diaphragm. The horn acted as an acoustic amplifier, using its shape to efficiently direct and amplify the sound waves generated by the vibrating diaphragm. This was purely mechanical – there were no electrical components involved. The shape of the horn was crucial, as it allowed for a more effective conversion of the diaphragm's vibrations into audible sound, thus significantly increasing volume and clarity.

The next major leap in loudspeaker technology came with the introduction of electrical amplification. The first electrical versions of horn speakers began to emerge in the 1920s, transforming the audio landscape. Pioneers like the Magnavox Company played a significant role in this evolution. In 1915, Magnavox introduced one of the first practical loudspeakers, which used electrical amplification to drive the diaphragm.

These early electrical horns still relied on the basic principle of a diaphragm and horn but added an electromagnetic coil and magnet assembly. The audio signal, now electrical, passed through the coil, creating a magnetic field that caused the diaphragm to move. This movement, amplified by the horn, produced sound. This method offered unprecedented volume and clarity, setting the stage for further innovations in loudspeaker design.

Moving Coil Loudspeakers

The introduction of the moving coil loudspeaker in the 1920s and 1930s, developed by Chester W. Rice and Edward W. Kellogg, marked a significant milestone in the evolution of audio technology. This revolutionary design addressed many of the limitations of the earlier horn loudspeakers, which also utilized moving coils, and laid the foundation for modern loudspeaker technology.

Edward W. Kellogg and Chester W. Rice with the first moving coil driver unit in 1925. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/W.T. Meenam/public domain.

One of the primary differences between the moving coil (or dynamic driver) loudspeaker and the horn loudspeaker lies in their fundamental design principles. Horn loudspeakers rely on a horn to couple the vibrations of the diaphragm to the air, acting as an acoustic transformer to increase efficiency. The horn's shape and size play a crucial role in determining the loudspeaker's performance characteristics. In contrast, moving coil loudspeakers are direct radiators, with the diaphragm directly coupled to the air without the need for a horn. This design allows for a more compact and versatile form factor, enabling the creation of smaller and more aesthetically pleasing speakers suitable for various applications and environments. (Note that a distinction must be made between a pure horn loudspeaker and a horn-loaded dynamic-driver design such as the Klipschorn, which uses a moving coil/dynamic driver operating into a specifically-designed acoustic chamber.)

While horn loudspeakers are generally known for their high efficiency due to the horn's ability to match the high acoustic impedance of the diaphragm to the low acoustic impedance of the air, the moving coil design developed by Rice and Kellogg achieved comparable efficiency without the need for a horn. This advancement allowed for the development of loudspeakers that could produce high-quality sound while consuming less power, making them more practical for widespread use.

Cutaway view of a moving coil/dynamic driver woofer showing 1) magnet, 2) voice coil, 3) suspension or spider, and 4) diaphragm or cone. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Svjo.

Another significant advantage of the moving coil loudspeaker over horn loudspeakers is its ability to reproduce a wider range of frequencies. The size and shape of the horn in horn loudspeakers limits their ability to accurately reproduce low frequencies, resulting in a less balanced and natural sound. Moving coil loudspeakers, on the other hand, can reproduce a more extended frequency range, including better low-frequency response, resulting in a more accurate and faithful reproduction of the original audio signal.

In terms of sound quality, moving coil loudspeakers offer significant improvements over horn loudspeakers. The direct radiator design minimizes distortion and coloration, providing a cleaner and more transparent sound. The absence of a horn eliminates the potential for resonances and other acoustic artifacts that can negatively impact the listener's experience. This enhancement in sound quality made moving coil loudspeakers more appealing to audiophiles and music enthusiasts seeking a more accurate and immersive listening experience. (That said, there are still horn loudspeaker aficionados who insist on nothing else, and new horn speaker designs continue to be introduced.)

Advancements in Materials

The development of the moving coil loudspeaker marked a significant turning point in the history of audio technology. As the basic design principles were established, engineers and manufacturers shifted their focus to improving the materials used in the construction of these speakers. This focus on materials science led to significant advancements in loudspeaker performance and durability.

Early loudspeakers often utilized paper diaphragms due to their affordability and ease of manufacturing. While paper proved to be an effective material for sound reproduction, it had several inherent limitations. One of the primary drawbacks of paper diaphragms was their susceptibility to humidity. Changes in ambient moisture levels could cause the paper to absorb or release water, leading to variations in the diaphragm's stiffness and mass. These fluctuations would result in inconsistent sound reproduction and could even cause permanent damage to the diaphragm over time.

Moreover, paper diaphragms had limited durability, especially when subjected to high-power audio signals or extreme environmental conditions. The repeated stress and strain of vibration could cause the paper to fatigue and eventually deteriorate, compromising the loudspeaker's performance and longevity.

As the 20th century progressed, advancements in materials science opened up new possibilities for loudspeaker design. Engineers began experimenting with a variety of polymers and metals to create more robust and stable diaphragms. These new materials offered several advantages over traditional paper diaphragms.

Polymers, such as polypropylene and mylar, exhibited excellent resistance to humidity and moisture, ensuring consistent performance even in challenging environmental conditions. They also demonstrated improved durability, withstanding the rigors of high-power audio signals and prolonged use without significant degradation. The use of polymers allowed for the creation of lightweight yet rigid diaphragms, enhancing the loudspeaker's transient response and reducing distortion.

Metals, such as aluminum and titanium, also found their way into loudspeaker design. These materials provided exceptional stiffness and low mass, enabling precise control over the diaphragm's movement and minimizing unwanted resonances. Metal diaphragms could maintain their structural integrity even under extreme operating conditions, ensuring reliable and consistent sound reproduction.

The incorporation of advanced materials in loudspeaker design had a profound impact on the audio industry. By utilizing polymers and metals, manufacturers could create loudspeakers with improved frequency response, lower distortion, and enhanced power handling capabilities. These advancements allowed for more accurate and detailed sound reproduction, bringing the listener closer to the original performance.

The Rise of Electrostatic and Planar Magnetic Speakers

In the quest for even higher fidelity, engineers began exploring alternative technologies to the moving coil design. Two notable innovations are electrostatic and planar magnetic speakers.

Electrostatic speakers use a thin, electrically charged diaphragm suspended between two conductive grids. When an audio signal is applied, the diaphragm moves, producing sound. These speakers are renowned for their clarity and detail, although they require high-voltage power supplies and can be more challenging to integrate into typical listening environments.

Planar magnetic speakers, on the other hand, use a diaphragm embedded with a conductive wire pattern placed within a magnetic field. This design offers many of the benefits of electrostatic speakers, such as excellent transient response and low distortion, without some of the practical drawbacks.

PS Audio’s Aspen Series loudspeakers employs planar magnetic drivers (as do a few others such as Magneplanars) to deliver, if I may boast for a moment, an extraordinary listening experience, combining the strengths of both traditional and alternative technologies to achieve a balance of precision and musicality.

Exploded diagram of a PS Audio Aspen Series planar magnetic driver.

The Future of Loudspeakers

The evolution of loudspeakers has been a remarkable journey, from the early days of horn speakers to the high-fidelity audio systems we enjoy today. However, this journey is far from over. As technology continues to advance at an unprecedented pace, we can anticipate groundbreaking innovations that will redefine the boundaries of audio reproduction.

One of the most promising areas of development lies in the realm of materials science. As researchers continue to explore novel materials with unique properties, we can expect to see loudspeakers that exhibit extraordinary performance characteristics. From graphene-based diaphragms that combine exceptional stiffness and low mass to piezoelectric materials that convert electrical energy directly into mechanical motion, the future of loudspeaker design is brimming with possibilities.

Moreover, the integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning into loudspeaker systems holds immense potential. Imagine a loudspeaker that can analyze the acoustic properties of a room and automatically adjust its output to provide the optimal listening experience. Or a system that can learn from user preferences and adapt its sound profile to suit individual tastes. The convergence of audio technology and AI promises to revolutionize the way we interact with and experience sound.

The journey from horns to high fidelity has been a remarkable one, and at PS Audio we are thrilled to be part of the ongoing evolution of the loudspeaker. Here’s to the next chapter in the pursuit of perfect sound.

Header image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Billy Hathorn.

When I first attended a T.H.E. Show in Las Vegas, it was the 5th anniversary of this event. Their June 2024 show in Costa Mesa was their 28th. Time flies.

The organizers chose to use the Hilton Orange County/Costa Mesa again this year, an excellent choice because it has many large exhibit rooms, friendly staff, and relatively wide hallways (which were properly air conditioned this time). The hotel is well maintained, close to both the freeway system and John Wayne Airport, within walking distance of a broad selection of reasonably-priced restaurants, and it has plenty of parking (albeit expensive if you’re not staying at the hotel). Fortunately, there is more parking in a pleasant residential neighborhood a couple of blocks east, which is free.

My audio buddy, Amnon Silberger, and I decided to grab a room at the host hotel this year, and after a snafu at the front desk – which the capable Amy sorted out – our stay was quite comfortable. We had a nice view from our room, and I spent an hour relaxing on the balcony (from where I took the shot above).

Many of us can’t start a good day without a good cup of coffee. Fortunately, Kean Coffee was on hand to provide same. The gregarious, very knowledgeable barista had lots of stories and information to share. Amnon (in the checkered shirt) is as particular about his coffee as I am about my scotch and he had many questions, while the amiable Jeff Smith of Silversmith Audio looked on. Jeff lived in San Diego for many years while he was in the Navy, but moved to Wyoming when he retired.

I felt that Peter Noerbaek’s PBN Audio system offered the best sound of the show last year. That system utilized only the center columns shown here, which were placed in a room half this size. Those four 18-inch JBL woofers were more than enough to fill that room.

He said that the 10 woofers used in this system were capable of saturating the entire floor. “Show me?” I requested, but Peter demonstrated the kind of restraint that eludes many Aquarians. He only let them fly after show hours, which was truly a thrill. They filled the room like a real orchestra, which gave me goosebumps. With this system, you’ll never wonder if you’re getting the full impact of the music. Neither the midrange nor the high end suffered for it as they held their own, revealing details with surgical precision and no audible distortion.

If you insist on hearing concerts at your convenience, this is as close as you’ll get to concert hall sound without a ticket.

Remarkably, all the electronic components in this system were built by Peter personally (except for the computer and the dbx speaker management system – which controlled the response of the sub towers). That insures quality and perfect component matching.

It seemed reasonable to assume that this would be at least a million-dollar system, but to my surprise, the combination can be bought for $350,000 including the four speakers. That’s less than some companies charge for a pair of speakers. If you want only the four towers, you’re looking at $160,000 — less than the price of some turntables.

It was nice to see Merryl Jaye and her outstanding paintings back again this year. Her ability to capture the spirit of famous musicians is remarkable. Apparently, she sells prints of her paintings now, so if you’re eager to have an artistic image of your favorite musical artist on the wall, you can check them out at merryljaye.com.

The first lecture at the show was presented by Norman Varney of AV Room Service. He emphasized the importance of room acoustics in the overall sound of a system, and that appropriate wall treatment can mitigate room modes, first order reflections, and reverberation times. I couldn’t agree more. My feeling is that poor room acoustics limit the potential of an audio system like bald tires undermine the handling of a Ducati.

Fuse Audio sells a number of interesting products including vintage-looking table radios and Bluetooth speakers, and functional vertical record players (for about $200) – unique gifts.

If you want a simple, unobtrusive system that produces outstanding sound, the Danish Børresen 2.5-way C3 speakers might be for you. The woven carbon fiber drivers presented startling dynamics and deep bass. The planar tweeter sounded clean and accurate. The speakers sell for $38,000 per pair. and the Axxess Forté 3 amp/DAC/streamer for $11,000. The music source was Qobuz.

This system proves that you don’t need a tall rack of equipment to get great audio. Many $50,000 systems I’ve heard couldn’t touch this sound, let alone fill a huge room. The enthusiastic presenter was a delight to watch in action.

The AGD Productions room featured $30,000/pair Ocean Way speakers. The designer, Alan Sides, wasn’t there this year, which is a shame because I always learn from his considerable studio experience. These speakers are the same as were presented last year, and all the same superlatives apply.

The Ocean Way speakers were powered by $40,000 AGD Gallium nitride tube electronics. They aren't tubes in the classic sense because they were filled with solid-state electronics. The resolution of the bass was compelling, so the amps must have exercised a powerful grip on the speakers.

In an effort to broaden the scope of the show, Emiko Carlin, T.H.E. Show CEO, included cars (below) and some items of interest to the ladies. It’s a brave foray into the unknown and only time will tell if this new idea pans out.

Neither John Garrett nor I could figure out what the hell this thing is. It was located in one of the hallways and we presumed it was a piece of art, but who knows, maybe it’s a kid’s toy or a baby carriage. It didn’t take us long to give up trying to figure it out.

I met John, a professional photographer and photo restorer, at the show and for some reason, we just hit it off. I’m not sure why because he looks like a retired pirate, but hey, he’s got a great sense of humor and we shared a lot of drinks er…laughs. I look forward to seeing him at the next show.

Many of us have to deal with WAF, the "wife acceptance factor,” the one area where the PBN system may not excel. I can hear it now: “Sure, you can buy those four towers, so long as you keep them in the garage.”

On the other hand, I can’t imagine any spouse objecting to these Steinway Lyngdorf Model B speakers. The piano-black finish is stunning. That’s not chrome gleaming along the vertical sides of the baffle, it’s polished black enamel. This active, $120,000 speaker is a 4-way dipole design with an aluminum baffle and frame.

So how does it sound? I have no idea. They are reputed to be indistinguishable from a live Steinway piano, but nobody played them during the times I visited. Located in a giant, noisy hall along with a bunch of other vendors, my guess is that this was a static display intended to attract customers to the nearby Atlantic Home Entertainment store.

OC Autosource, a retailer of high-end vehicles, is located across the lobby from the hotel. They invited attendees to their private showroom to enjoy the cars and appetizers.

Amongst the Italian, German and British motorcars was this fine Mustang. At the time it was introduced, I’d have given my left……..well, you can read the rest of the story in last month’s coverage of the La Jolla Concours d’Elegance (in Issue 207).

Last year, the affable Ozan Turan from High End by Oz let us down. He promised an evening audition of the German-made Lansche Audio 5.2 speakers ($60,000/pair) with the plasma (ionic) tweeters, but his room was locked all evening. My guess is he met some old friends and found they had a lot of catching up to do. He made the right choice.

This year, he partnered with the folks from Cake Audio, and I guess they kept him on the straight and narrow because we were able to enjoy an evening audition free of crowds and distractions. It amazing how much better speakers sound under those conditions. This system presented spectacular sound: full bass, resolving midrange, and sweet highs. The associated electronic equipment (listed on the posters along the wall) retails for about $180,000.

Last year, we were gobsmacked by the $4,500 Tonian Labs speakers (the blond ones in the center). The bass and soundstage emanating from such a small box coupled with an inexpensive generic amp had to be heard to be believed.

This year, Tony Minasian introduced a bigger model at $9,500. I suggested to him that people shopping in that price range might want to make an aesthetic as well as an acoustic statement, and I’m not sure these utilitarian-looking boxes will satisfy that desire. I hope I’m wrong, after all, Harbeth, Spendor, and ProAc seem to be doing well, but America is a different market.

The Waterloo Signature speaker from JPorter Studios is an active 3-way system featuring ceramic/aluminum drivers. The cabinet is made from 32-layer Baltic birch and the woofer is mass loaded by a 62-inch transmission line. Their price includes the rolling stands, which makes it easy to place the speakers at the ideal acoustic location for active listening, then roll them out of the way when not in use.

The sound was very neutral with great bass, dynamics, and a remarkably smooth high end for a hard-dome tweeter. Vocals were highly resolving, natural and unstrained. These speakers represent great value for $15K and my guess is that Mr. Porter (shown) won’t hold that price for long.

Thoughtfully, he provided a comprehensive printout listing the equipment, prices, and features. I don't know why all exhibitors don't do that.

T.H.E. Show organizer Emiko Carlin somehow got three competing speaker manufacturers to sit down in front of an audience and expound on their audio philosophies. That was quite a coup which made for a very interesting discussion. The transcript of this meeting could fill a book so I’m not about to repeat it here (it’s probably available on the web).

Each of these manufacturers make products that I’d be proud to own. They are Richard Vandersteen of Vandersteen Audio, Bill Dudleston of Legacy Audio, and Andrew Jones of KEF, TAD, ELAC, and most recently MoFi (he just can't seem to keep a job for much more than 15 years).

For me, this panel discussion was the highlight of the show.

Emiko Carlin has been active in organizing T.H.E. Show for years. This year, she bought it and became CEO. Her energy, enthusiasm, charm, and experience mean that this event is likely to be popular for many years to come. As you can see, I’m glad she’s in charge.

Disclaimer:

As usual, I wasn’t able to audition all the systems at the show due in part to time constraints, and also to the fact that the place was so packed on Saturday afternoon it was difficult to access an optimum seating position in any room. Even when I could, it was rare to find a room free of errant conversations (that should have been conducted out in the hall). Sundays are even worse, which is why I never stay for them.

The systems I featured in this article were chosen in part because I was able to hear them on Friday or after hours, when things were quiet so I could give them a proper audition. There were many systems I wasn’t able to audition in this fashion, so they were not featured even though they might have deserved accolades. Hopefully other reviewers will cover the slack.

Lastly, all photos were taken on a cell phone because I’m sick and tired of lugging a brick around my neck. Not only that, it’s hard to wipe Bunnahabhain off the lens.

Woodwinds are among the most beautiful and expressive musical instruments, and The Art of Hi-Fi Volume 05: Woodwinds from PS Audio’s Octave Records features a variety of woodwinds and musical styles, all recorded in startling clarity. From the deep, sonorous authority of a baritone sax and bassoon to the sweetness of a flute or piccolo, The Art of Hi-Fi Volume 05: Woodwinds offers an entertaining variety of jazz, classical and pop music, played by world-class artists and captured in fantastic-sounding high-resolution Pure DSD audio.

Paul McGowan, Octave Records CEO noted: “There’s nothing quite like hearing the rich, full-bodied sound of an alto or tenor saxophone or the purity and vocal-like quality of an oboe on a high-resolution audio system. On a good recording and system, the body and presence of these instruments can sound amazingly realistic. We worked hard to capture all the instrumental textures of the woodwinds on this album, to make it feel as if you’re in the studio with the players – and having as much fun with the music as they are.”

Recording woodwinds is among the most difficult challenges for producers and engineers, because of the great variety of timbres and tonal ranges of the various instruments in the woodwind family, and because they’re acoustic instruments that move air and excite the listening room in complex ways. The Art of Hi-Fi Volume 05: Woodwinds was recorded using Octave’s Pyramix-based Pure DSD 256 recording system, and great care was taken in the use and placement of the Gefell M930 condenser mics used as the primary microphones, which were used in conjunction with Manley vacuum-tube preamplifiers. The album was recorded, mixed and produced by Paul McGowan, with Terri McGowan and Jessica Carson assisting in the recording and production duties, and mastered by Gus Skinas.

The album gets off to a rip-roaring start with Charlie Parker’s “Moanin’” by the David Bernot Quartet. David starts the song with a solo baritone sax intro, and the presence of the sax is almost tangible in the room – and then the band kicks in with some serious swinging improvisation. The Quartet contributes two more songs: a spellbinding version of “Body and Soul,” this time with David on tenor sax, and a whimsical take on “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” from Walt Disney’s Fantasia, featuring a very low, growling bassoon – you can picture Mickey Mouse being chased by the lumbering, possessed broomstick, and then breaking free in a jazz-flavored ¾-time happy dance.

David Bernot. Courtesy of the artist.

Daryl Gott offers a sublime rendition of the jazz standard “Tenderly” on alto sax, accompanied by Octave Records’ own Tom Amend on organ. This track is particularly warm and deep-sounding, from the sweetness and body of the sax to Tom’s intense Hammond B3 organ and bass pedals. Daryl follows up this cut with the original composition “Circle,” an impressionistic duet for soprano saxophone and Tom Amend on piano. Tom is heard with his quartet on the Irving Berlin standard “How Deep is the Ocean,” with Daryl Gott featured on alto sax, and on Wayne Shorter’s “Tom Thumb.” Tom Amend plays all the instruments including clarinet, bass clarinet, piano, guitar and percussion on the meditative “Gentler Times,” and on the sonic spectacular “Reel Talk,” featuring multiple recorders and some very powerful percussion and bass synthesizer.

“Hall of Ghosts” features Francesca Lujan in a solo piccolo performance. It’s a pure, elemental sound yet one that will challenge a system’s upper midrange and high-frequency capabilities. Classical music is represented by “Trois Pièces: 1 Moderato,” a duet with Jennifer Stucki on oboe and Aaron Stampfli on piano; and Ernest Bloch’s From Jewish Life B54 1: Prayer, with Jennifer on English horn and Aaron accompanying her. Both are presented in rich, spacious yet intimate sound.

Daryl Gott. Courtesy of the artist.

Jennifer Stucki. Courtesy of the artist.

The Art of Hi-Fi Volume 05: Woodwinds features Octave’s premium gold disc formulation, and the disc is playable on any SACD, CD, DVD, or Blu-ray player. It also has a high-resolution DSD layer that is accessible by using any SACD player or a PS Audio SACD transport. In addition, the master DSD and PCM files are available for purchase and download, including DSD 256, DSD 128, DSD 64, and DSDDirect Mastered 352.8 kHz/24-bit, 176.2 kHz/24-bit, 88.2 kHz/24-bit, and 44.1 kHz/24-bit PCM. (SRP: $19 – $39, depending on format.)

Along with being a writer, editor, and audio person, I’ve been a musician for 56 years. I’ve been playing in bands for almost all that time, beginning with a backyard party in my parents’ house in 1968 or maybe 1969. Since then, I’ve done hundreds of gigs, from opening for Duran Duran on their first-ever US gig (no fooling) and for the Ramones on New Year’s Eve, to playing in venues like the Voorheesville Fire Department and the Cleary School for the Deaf (again, no fooling). I’ve shared a dressing room with Madonna, and played for less than 10 people and made less than $2. I’ve been backstage with the B-52’s and taken road trips in freezing-cold vans when the heater broke. I’ve had Paul Weller of the Jam complement my playing, and been fired and told to get out of town by a furious club owner.

Over the decades I’ve seen many bands and musicians make every kind of mistake imaginable on and off stage, especially younger people starting out. I’ve also seen them reach spectacular heights of greatness. It occurred to me that I and other pros I know have a lot of advice we could give.

So, I’ve decided to start a new series. Even if you’re not a musician, perhaps it’ll give some insight into the nitty-gritty of the art of music-making, or inform your listening the next time you sit in front of your stereo, or just provide some entertainment and perhaps a life lesson or two.

This isn't going to focus on how to play an instrument per se – it'll be more of a how to of what's involved and required to play in a rock band. I'll focus on what it takes to play on a local, regional and not-rock-star level, since that's where most of my experience is and where most musicians will wind up playing, though I have played some big shows with international acts. There will be some tough love where I will have to put aside my usual genteel editor persona, and some calling out of BS.

All advice and opinions are strictly my own except where otherwise stated.

******

First of all, playing in a band isn’t easy. But when everything is on, it’s sublime.

It can be glamorous. There’s nothing like playing on a big stage, with theatrical lighting and a megawatt sound system, in front of hundreds of people, and hearing waves of applause. And it can be just as rewarding to play a weekday afternoon gig for a bunch of seniors in a library. I recently did that, and the smile on the disabled person’s face in the front row as he was blissfully singing along reminded me of why I do this.

It can be a down and dirty slog. The saying goes, “they don’t pay you to play – they pay you to load in and load out.” You come to realize the truth of that after having to set up in 102-degree heat and watching a fellow band member almost pass out, or while trying not to slip on the ice at the un-shoveled back door of a club at 2:30 a.m. on a 15-degree winter day, or when setting up on the second floor of a venue with a non-working elevator. Humping Marshall stacks might have been just another thing to deal with at age 22, but when you’re 60 with arthritis it’s another thing altogether.

They also say the mark of a professional is how they handle it when they make a mistake, and you will make mistakes, and encounter tough situations you could never have imagined. At a recent gig, a woman in front had a seizure while we were playing our closing song. When I was in college in the 1970s and played at the King of Clubs in Albany, New York, a driver high on LSD drove through the front door and smashed the façade made of glass blocks, scattering glass and panicked patrons everywhere. How do you handle situations like that? They don’t teach you stuff like that at the Berklee School of Music.

At times you will want to give up. Many have. You need to have copious amounts of grit, stamina, and determination, and a sense of humor really helps. But at other times, playing live is an adrenaline rush, a telepathic communication with the rest of the band and the audience, and you feel a mystical connection with the music where you transcend everything, including thought and body awareness, and channel some unknowable force in the creation of a wondrous and mysterious art.

I have a lot of advice and stories borne of experience. There will be a number of installments.

******

This is a fundamental idea to understand:

When you’re on a stage, you are no longer a musician. You are a performer.

You are not sitting on the couch strumming your guitar while watching TV, or rehearsing with the high school chorus, or drinking beer and jamming with your buddies in the basement. You are on stage, in front of people, in a club or bar that expects you to entertain people and keep them eating, drinking and dancing. Or it might be at a summer festival, or an assisted living center, or a high school dance, or other venue where you are the entertainment. So, you need to develop performing skills as well become adept on your instrument. The way you look, move, and interact with the audience matter. 

And this is the fundamental concept about playing in a band:

You gotta groove.

The groove is the most important thing.

Period.

You can be able to play 500 notes a minute, or play all those weird flat-5 sharp-9 half-diminished jazz chord inversions, or look like Roger Daltrey or Taylor Swift, or own a $20,000 guitar, but if the band isn’t together and doesn’t groove together, you will never sound good, let alone James Brown tight.

As an extreme case in point, I’ve seen people commit the sin of stopping during the song and scrolling to the next page of their iPad, and resuming the song. Painful for everyone involved.

That said, leeway must be allowed for playing at an open mic, especially when you’re just starting out – after all, there literally has to be a first time you perform in public, and you’ll probably be very nervous. Open mics, where people sign up for a slot to play anywhere from one to a few songs, usually have a range of people performing, from total newbies to experienced pros who just feel like getting out and playing for a night. They're a valuable training ground.

Still, take this piece of advice – don’t go to that open mic until you can play a song all the way through. This may seem obvious, but after witnessing more than a few open mic train wrecks, I simply have to put it out there. Play in front of your friends, family, whoever, first, before playing in public. You’ll gain confidence and when you get through that first performance, even if you're literally shaking from nerves (and we'll talk about things like pre-show jitters later on), the audience will applaud, and you’ll feel great. At all the open mics I’ve been to, people in the audience want to like you.

But to be a great band (or performer), you gotta groove. Think of the rock-solid rhythm section of the Rolling Stones’ Charlie Watts on drums and Bill Wyman on bass (and their tempos could fluctuate but it gave the songs their feel), or the crushing rhythm guitar of Metallica’s James Hetfield, or the hard-bop swing of Thelonious Monk, or Paul Simon’s unstoppable “You Can Call Me Al.” And the way you do this is by rehearsing and playing together and being aware that you need to be tight. When practicing on your own, play along with a metronome or YouTube jam track (there are hundreds of them). Practice really does make perfect (or close enough for rock and roll).

When I was first starting out, my timing sucked. I literally didn't even think about the concept of timing; I just played. But in college I was in a band with a great drummer, F. Lee Harvey Blotto of Blotto. (Yep, of MTV-era "I Wanna Be a Lifeguard" fame.) Let's just say my timing got better. Quickly. (Pro tip – if you’re a bass player, try to stand where you can watch the drummer’s foot as he plays the bass drum pedal, and play along with it.)

Simply being aware that the band members all need to lock in together is half the battle. In fact, being aware of anything that might happen is half the battle. (Ever have your guitar fall off the strap? Yeah, it happens, as the many guitars with repaired headstocks will attest – and yeah, there are simple ways to prevent it. Ever have to go really badly in the middle of a set? Let's just say it could happen to you.)

Record yourselves, watch your videos, and learn. It might be humbling and even embarrassing at first, but videos and audio recordings will teach you what you’re doing right, what you’re doing wrong, and where you need to improve, and make no mistake – even the most seasoned pros can always learn something new.

We all have to start somewhere.

I am fond of telling newbies this:

The more you play, the better you get.

Whether you're Beyoncé playing at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium or the guy in the corner at the local restaurant, remember that when you're at a gig, you're a performer. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Raph_PH.

Header image: Grand Folk Railroad at the 2022 Montauk Music Festival. Your editor is playing the green Don Grosh ElectraJet.

WLIR-FM (the LIR stands for Long Island Radio) made a revolutionary move when it switched from rock to a new wave format in 1982. By the late 1970s, radio rock had become bloated and boring. Disco was hardly an alternative for people like me, who hated it. So, when punk and new wave blast upon the scene in the late 1970s, many musical iconoclasts (including myself) embraced this music with a passion.

WLIR-FM began in 1959 from a basement in the Garden City Hotel, playing a musical mix that was…not rock. In 1970 it switched to progressive rock, and in the late 1970s WLIR started to bring in some new wave and punk, but by 1982 management decided a complete format change was needed. Under the tagline “Dare to be Different,” the DJs began to play a mix of new wave, post-punk, alternative, and synthesizer-driven music from bands like Talking Heads, Blondie, Depeche Mode, Tears for Fears, Howard Jones, the Cure, Blondie, Simple Minds, U2 and other cutting-edge artists. The music was fresh and fun and you could dance to it.

Oh boy, could you dance to it. The music and the clubs created a thrilling new scene for twentysomethings like me. Instead of hanging at dreary old men’s dives and singles bars, we could dress up and go to places like Spit, Spize, and the Ritz, buy import records at Zig Zag or Record Stop, see our favorite new bands in clubs…and listen to WLIR. I and many others felt like this was our music, our scene, a refuge for those of us who danced to the beat of a different (usually electronic) drummer.

WLIR broke new musical ground, playing records no other station would touch, often months before their official US release. Soon, the station garnered national and international attention from listeners and record companies as the station to hear new music.

But, the music changed, new wave inevitably fell out of fashion (as a form of music that depended on being the “new thing,” the seeds of its destruction were practically embodied in its very nature) and in 1991 WLIR changed its format to alternative rock. Other format and ownership changes ensued, and there were legal issues that came to a head, and WLIR-FM eventually ceased broadcasting on…

Well, rather than provide an inadequate historical synopsis, I heartily recommend that you watch the 2017 documentary Dare to be Different, directed by Ellen Goldfarb. As the movie’s teaser states, “In August 1982, a small group of visionaries at the WLIR radio station knew they couldn’t compete with the mega-stations in New York City. The crew and biggest artists of the era tell the story of how they battled the FCC and the record labels.”

The documentary features music and interviews from Joan Jett, Billy Idol, Mike Score (A Flock of Seagulls), Vince Clarke (Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Yaz, Erasure), Ultravox, Talking Heads, Simple Minds, Mike Peters (the Alarm), Chris Stein and Debbie Harry (Blondie), Glenn Tilbrook (Squeeze), Fred Schneider (B-52’s), Katrina and the Waves, and a host of others.

The Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame recently had a screening of Dare to be Different, along with a panel discussion featuring Goldfarb, former WLIR program director Denis McNamara, and DJ Larry “The Duck” Dunn. Their talk provided insights into the story of the station, the brightly-burning flash that was the 1970s – 1980s new wave era, and the music and radio business. Here are excerpts from the discussion, which was moderated by LIMEHoF’s Tom Needham.

Tom Needham: I think this film is an amazing piece of work because you captured Denis’s work at the station, and also so much of about what that time period meant musically on Long Island.

Larry “The Duck” Dunn: What Ellen and Denis did with the film was a great statement of a great creative period, probably one of the greatest musical periods we ever experienced. I think it was also the story of a homicide, because we never really got to the point after [the station changed format] where we could continue that creative spirit. I just knew the fun was over. So, the fun I think is captured really well in the film.

Ellen Goldfarb: WLIR has a long history and different phases, but I wanted to capture the heyday that was 1981 to ’87, when they did what no other station in the country did, playing that music and just boom, boom, breaking these bands. And these artists are so appreciative to Denis and the DJs for doing that. They couldn't wait to do the interviews [in the film]. You touched so many people and I felt privileged and honored to make this film about these amazing people.

Panelists Tom Needham, Ellen Goldfarb, Denis McNamara and Larry "The Duck" Dunn.

TN: [Denis and Larry], each of you and some of the other DJs would spend significant time finding the music, listening to the music, curating the music in ways that are really not done anymore. Can you share a little bit about what your secret was to doing that?

LD: The only way you can hear music is to listen to it in different forms and shapes and sizes. And at times it can be too much. Other times, bands can somehow magically hit that right song, and why, who knows? We were huge music fans, and that came across to people who listened to the station because you knew that we cared about the music, and what dared to be different was the music.

Let's face it, sociologically, it was a great time to have a station. But even at a good radio station, you had to work hard at it. And to be different on a musical basis and take that chance was why WLIR worked, and worked so well that we're still here talking about it.

We were always looking for the next hit, and labels were signing the bands that we were discovering, and we had different sources for our import [records], but it was always trying to find that needle in a haystack. We were spending 20-hour days. Personally, I was not hired really for my voice. It sounded like a chipmunk and it took two years of speech therapy to clean it up. But Denis hired us because we were good at what we did.

There comes a point around 15 or 16 [years old] where you can be the nicest person in the world, but you want to piss your parents off, and music's a good way to do that. So there really was an underground of people that looked out for [new] music. And the nice thing about new wave, if you want to use that term, was that people were really into the music and they liked telling other people about it, and radio stations liked playing music that other stations didn't have. So you remember what a good time it was and how exciting it was. Music was really f*cking exciting.

I think our secret too is that we had no fear. Anything went. It was a time when the no one tried to control your music. I mean, yes, they tried to control it somewhat, but there was so much Wild West to the way [we] worked with music [at the time].

The listeners came first. The record company didn't come first. I hate to say it, but the guys in the [record] stores and all the rest of it didn't come first because without a listenership, what do you have?

TN: It took seven long years to make [Dare to be Different]. One of the things that's really special about this movie is that you got the rights for a lot of the music. I don't know if people realize it, but sometimes a documentary is lucky if they can get the rights to one song, and they have to pay a lot of money for it.

EG: I co-produced the movie with Roger Senders, who's also an entertainment attorney. So he was extremely helpful in the legal department for us. But we did hire one of the best lawyers in Los Angeles who deals with fair use. And so he was able to help us navigate some of the fair use in the film, including visuals, the music…the publishing rights. Quite honestly, there were so many people in the industry that we interviewed that were huge fans of WLIR, so they were very helpful and they wanted to see this movie get made.

TN: Now that a lot of time has passed, when you look back at this era of music, do you think it's going to stand the test of time?

LD: A great song is a great song is a great song at the end of the day, right? Our youngest daughter, Jillian, her two favorite songs in the world are “Smalltown Boy” by Bronski Beat and [Billy Idol’s] “Eyes Without A Face,” which is actually number four now on TikTok. When you go to concerts and see 16-year-olds with Smith shirts, and original Blondie shirts, you realize that it [has] carried down generation to generation.

TN: You spend a significant amount of time focusing on the fans and the club scene and concerts and the culture that was part of the whole [WLIR] station experience. Why was that an important ingredient to WLIR’s success?

EG: We had the clubs, we had the fashion, we had the New York invasion, we had the British invasion. And the rise and fall of [WLIR] against the mega stations of New York City. If you didn't include all of those aspects [in the film], you wouldn't get the full picture of what we experienced. It was so important to include the guys from [Long Island club] Malibu and include all of those clips of the commercials for the clubs.

I used to go to all those clubs and that was part of our experience because we didn't we have the internet. Larry would say on the radio, I'm going to be at [the club] 007 tonight and come on down. I was like, OK! Hang out and listen to great music. There were some people, even friends of mine, that didn't “get” it. So I would go to the clubs to find those people that got it, that understood what I was so obsessed with.

TN: We can take some questions from the audience.

Audience Member: I listened to WLIR from 1976 on, and I remembered when you did the format change. I knew it was a business decision, but did you have any personal regrets about leaving that old music behind and the old friends that you made in the seventies, say bands like the Band and Hot Tuna and the Grateful Dead?

DM: Absolutely. Those are people you worked with closely. Those are people that had great successes because of their mutual relationship with the radio station. That was a very difficult decision. It was not over the course of a couple of days; that was months in coming. In the end it was done because of things that were beyond our control. And yes, that is radio and that is business. Of course, I had reservations about it. It was one of the toughest decisions I made in my life. Looking back on it, my God, it went well. I mean, it could have [gone] all wrong.

Frank Doris (from the audience): I lived through this whole era and went to [Long Island clubs] Spit and Spies and spent way too much time in Legz. And there was a real sense of the music being underground. And yeah, we felt kind of like outcasts, but who had a community where we could all gather together.

I distinctly remember when Human League’s “Don't You Want Me” became a hit on mainstream radio in 1982. And I remember thinking, “wow, that's it. New wave has broken through. It's mainstream now.” Clearly, MTV was responsible for popularizing a lot of these bands, but when did you start to see the music go from being an underground thing to being commercially accepted?

DM: Yeah. Well, the time U2 played the Nassau Coliseum [in 1985], that was like, we've come of age, right? The Cure and Depeche Mode were playing Giants Stadium. It’s the evolution of rock music. I saw the same thing happen with the Beatles, the Stones, the Who, and on and on. The B-52’s went from being a band that played at local clubs to doing weeks in Las Vegas. So that's part of rock and roll. And it's not uniquely just rock and roll. [Look at] the Swifties. Each generation has its own set of people.

At the Dare to be Different screening: Tom Needham, Kelly Leung (LIMEHoF board member), Denis McNamara, Barry Fisch (LIMEHoF manager/board member), Jeff James (LIMEHoF board member), Ellen Goldfarb, Larry "The Duck" Dunn.

******

Totally Wired: A New Wave Playlist

These songs aren’t all in the movie; they're just a bunch of favorites of mine in no particular order. You wanna re-live the era? You wanna dance? Turn it up!

The Cure – “In Between Days”
Our Daughter’s Wedding – “Lawnchairs”
Talking Heads – “Burning Down the House”
The Clash – “Working for the Clampdown”
Depeche Mode – “New Life”
Generation X (Billy Idol) – “Dancing With Myself”
Blondie – “Hanging on the Telephone”
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – “Enola Gay”
Ramones – “Sheena is a Punk Rocker”
B-52’s – “Give Me Back My Man”
Simple Minds – “I Travel”
Tears for Fears – “Change”
Positive Noise – “Positive Negative”
Classix Nouveaux – “Guilty”
Lena Lovich – “New Toy”
Duran Duran – “Planet Earth”
B-Movie – “Marilyn Dreams”
Pete Shelley – “Homosapien”
ABC – “The Look of Love”
A Flock of Seagulls – “Telecommunication”
Heaven 17 – “We Don’t Need This Fascist Groove Thing”
Human League – “Don’t You Want Me”
Howard Jones – “New Song”
Echo and the Bunnymen – “Rescue”
The Normal – “Warm Leatherette”
The Buzzcocks – “What Do I Get?”
Martha and the Muffins – “Echo Beach”
Spandau Ballet – “Chant No. 1 (I Don’t Need This Pressure On)”
Q-Feel – “Dancing in Heaven (Orbital Be-Bop)”
New Order – “Blue Monday”
Yazoo – “Situation”
Elvis Costello – “Pump it Up”
Television – “Marquee Moon”
Bronski Beat – “Smalltown Boy”
Joy Division – “Love Will Tear Us Apart”
Gang of Four – “I Love a Man in Uniform”
Devo – “Whip It”
XTC – “Life Begins at the Hop”
Thompson Twins – “In the Name of Love”
Bananarama – “Aie a Mwana”
Culture Club – “Time {Clock of the Heart)”
Sex Pistols – “Pretty Vacant”
Pigbag – “Papa’s Got a Brand New Pigbag”
The English Beat – “Twist and Crawl”
Haircut 100 – “Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl)”
Soft Cell – “Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go”
Tom Tom Club – “Genius of Love”
The Selecter – “Too Much Pressure”
The Specials – “Nelson Mandela”
Cult Hero – “I Dig You”
The Fall – "Totally Wired"

Keith, Mary Gauthier, Rosanne Cash, and Joan Jett Lead the Pack

The Power of the Heart: A Tribute to Lou Reed, had me with its opening track: Keith Richards' version of "I'm Waiting for the Man." The seminal Velvet Underground song (and one has to watch the way one uses "seminal" with Lou Reed) is about a white guy who goes up to Harlem to connect with his heroin dealer. Do you think Keith Richards is on solid ground selling this song to the listener? You better believe the needle marks and scars tattooed on his brain, if not his arms. I couldn't stop laughing from the moment I heard about it. It is the best rock and roll joke since Lou performed "Foot of Pride," the most obscure Dylan song he could find at the time, at the 30th annual Bob Dylan celebration concert in 1992. "Foot of Pride?" Son, you must be joking.

Video directed by Jane Rose

The enormity of the gesture of Keith doing "Waiting for the Man" is not sustainable, as the eco-warrior said to the oil well. As these projects go, there are some wonderful moments, but it all depends on the pairing of artist and song. Here's how my tip-sheet looks, in order, after Keith's track No. 1. The album was released April 20 by Light in the Attic Records.

2. "I Can't Stand It," which is the opening song on Reed's first RCA solo album, the 1972 Richard Robinson-produced Lou Reed, has long been a favorite. The hapless lyric: "It's hard being a man/living in a garbage can," is Reed caricaturing himself as Oscar the Grouch from "Sesame Street." At least in my home movie. This version is by Maxim Ludwig and Angel Olsen. Ms. Olsen has her alt-rock singer-songwriter bona fides, recording for indie rock label Jagjaguwar. For "I Can't Stand It," she teams up with fellow thirtysomething Ludwig, a rocker from L.A. with a rep as a party-guy, if you believe what you read online. They rock the track fine.

3. "Perfect Day" by Rufus Wainwright. Despite his talented pedigree, I'll take either of his folks (witty folk singers Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle) over Rufus' precious preference for art song, cabaret, Judy Garland, operas and the like. He's too capable to sing this song: The charm of Lou Reed's songs of yearning is in the flatness of his voice, as if he's trying to push beyond his limits. For Rufus, it's all too easy listening.

4. "I'm So Free" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. This is an excellent pairing because Jett, like Reed, has made a virtue of her contained vocal range, without ever seeming virtuous. There's no artyness, no self-consciousness, just Jett and the Blackhearts delivering the goods. The song is the title from a collection of Reed demos in what I think of as a "copyright dump," called I'm So Free: the 1971 RCA Demos, released in 2021. Jett speeds it up, toughens it, adds a rhythmic bounce. Jett could do her own whole Reed tribute album: "Sweet Jane" and "Rock and Roll" would be natural for her, and then she’d have more than 100 others from which to choose.

5. "Sally Can't Dance," by Bobby Rush. Rush is a long established bluesman with a leaning towards the frisky, but this dutiful rendition is just what we used to call "shuckin' and jivin'." It’s the inverse of Canned Heat or a British band with an early 1970s name like Slopdog trying to play the blues. Reed may have loved to listen to the blues, but what made him so distinctive for 50 years was his resistance to writing songs based on the blues- and R&B-based rock of his contemporaries.

6. "Walk on the Wild Side," by Rickie Lee Jones. On paper, a good match. But Rickie Lee's slow-walking beatnik act has been stale for years. She had a chance to open up, to, you know, go on the wild side. Instead, she slows it down to a creep. Most appalling, she cleans up the lyrics: I kept re-listening to make sure I didn't miss the song's most transgressive verse, about Candy Darling "giving head," but it appears Jones chose to leave it out. She also leaves out the "colored girls sing" background "doots" from what was, back in 1973, Reed's only charting single. I don't see the point of this.

7. "I Love You, Suzanne," by the Afghan Whigs. Acceptably average performance of an average Lou Reed song by an average band.

8. "Coney Island Baby," by Mary Gauthier. Besides Richards, the best track on the album, and the best imaginable version of this song. Gauthier sings as if it is about her own outsider adolescence, desperate to fit in, even desiring to "play football for the coach." But Gauthier finds a subtext here to which Reed's elliptical version never commits. Over seven minutes, she let's you experience the smell of the jockstraps, the nude showering, the locker room awkwardness for the high school athlete panicked by feelings never faced before, erupting like acne on teenage skin. And when the song evolves to its "glory of love" summit, it becomes a rainbow anthem no one else dared to summon. Extraordinary.

9. "Legendary Hearts," by Lucinda Williams. I loved – even, defined love – by Williams' Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, the 1998 album that was the standard of excellence for what is referred to as "Americana" ever since. But for my taste, she's never come close to that peak again. Though she has had her health setbacks and has remained a stalwart performer, this is just Lucinda being Lucinda, a personal taste more than it ever was. Your choice.

10. "New Sensations," by Automatic. A song as generic as the name of the act. Not as good as "New Sensation" by INXS, the Australian band that rocked the 1980s with something like new wave rock and mass appeal hooks. About what you'd expect from an L.A. band named after a Go-Go's song.

11. "Magician," Rosanne Cash. Cash is a superb writer, singer, and interpreter who finds fresh angles in everything she does. Reed recorded his version in the 1992 album, Magic and Loss, mourning the late Doc Pomus and not sounding too good himself: in fact, he sounded like he was dying, was sure he was dying, terrified of dying. A junkie's lament, no matter what he was or wasn't on. It was a false alarm, he still had 21 years left, even discovering a later-in-life soul mate in Laurie Anderson. Cash summons the magic on "Magician" that Reed could barely believe in; he was too caught up in the "loss."

12. "The Power of the Heart," by Brogan Bentley. A CD and bonus download track exclusive. Covered by Peter Gabriel in 2010, written, in 2008, as a marriage proposal to Anderson. Reed's own version was on a free compilation called "Love By Cartier" for a promotional campaign (also 2008) by the jewelry company.

Brogan Bentley is a San Francisco based musician who is the son of this compilation's executive producer, former Warner Records exec, and devoted Reed friend and fan Bill Bentley, to me a longtime fond music biz acquaintance. Rarely heard, here is Lou's version, from an Italian Lou Reed fan website.

Video mix by Daniele Federici

This article originally appeared in Wayne Robins’ Substack and is used here by permission. Wayne’s Words columnist Wayne Robins teaches at St. John’s University in Queens, and writes the Critical Conditions Substack, https://waynerobins.substack.com/.

I was stunned to learn of the passing of Alón Sagee on June 9, 2024 after a long illness. Alón was a Copper contributor, president of the San Francisco Audiophile Society, and someone who had grown to be a friend.

While I never had the opportunity to meet him in person, I had the pleasure of working with him quite a bit when he was writing for Copper, beginning around five years ago. He was a wonderful person, kind and understanding, a gentle soul who was a pleasure to trade ideas with. His writing was clear, elegant and passionate. Editing him was mostly looking over his work and nodding in approval, maybe checking the spelling of an exotic locale every once in a while. He’d love to bounce ideas off me, and I loved his perspectives on music, audio, travel, and other subjects.

Alón served as president and “chief troublemaker” (as he liked to irreverently call himself) of the San Francisco Audiophile Society (SFAS) from 2015 to 2019, when he retired. Under the direction of Alón and Leslie Lundin, the SFAS grew in size, had monthly meetings, created a website and initiated educational and other activities. In 2023, the organization changed its name to the Audiophile Foundation to reflect its growing influence nationwide. In June 2021, Alón received the San Francisco Audiophile Society’s first Founder’s Award, which happened during a surprise ceremony during a Zoom meeting.

Alón receiving the first San Francisco Audiophile Society Founder's Award, June 2021.

Alón’s passion for music and travel, along with his admiration for the musicians and his sense of humor, was reflected in his writing. In Issue 101’s “Sublime Moments,” he wrote:

“If you’ve ever had the surreal experience of opening your eyes at the end of a musical piece you were completely immersed in, and for a second, being surprised by where you actually were…you know the feeling of a sublime moment.

Audiophiles are ‘enthusiasts,’ which is one of my favorite words. It comes from the Greek ‘en theos,’ which translates to ‘possessed by God’ – which aligns well with these emotional moments of grace. Maybe a slight tweak for us would be En Theos Audius, Possessed by the Gods of audio…which we most certainly are.”

Alón traveled to many exotic places, and his descriptions of the countries and the people made me feel like I was there with him. Here’s an excerpt from his “Five Weeks in Mongolia” series (beginning in Issue 123):

“As a wild land, Mongolia shows its bounty of nature untouched. A dark blur on the bumpy terrain ahead caught my attention – maybe a marmot? no, too big – it was standing almost a yard tall; perhaps a species of feral dog? Since it stood in our path, Bagi actually slowed down. Holding us fast in its majestic gaze, it didn’t move as we approached, obviously unimpressed by the purring mass of steel in which we were ensconced. We stopped, three feet and an open window between its fierce beauty and my unprotected pate, the astonishingly large golden eagle locked defiantly onto my eyes, its power over me mesmerizing. As I fumbled for my camera, this regal native released its gaze and took wing, disappearing into its blue domain.”

He will be deeply missed. As a tribute to Alón, here’s a list of his Copper articles, along with links. We publish this as a tribute to him and as a resource to share with everyone who would like to enjoy his writing.

Alón's official obituary is at the end of the article.

Alón Sagee’s Copper Articles:

Sublime Moments – Issue 101
https://www.psaudio.com/blogs/copper/sublime-moments?_pos=1&_sid=017100b33&_ss=r

Two Hands Clapping – Issue 120
https://www.psaudio.com/blogs/copper/two-hands-clapping?_pos=2&_sid=017100b33&_ss=r

Five Weeks In Mongolia, Part One – Issue 123
https://www.psaudio.com/blogs/copper/five-weeks-in-mongolia-part-one?_pos=99&_sid=7517c49c1&_ss=r

Five Weeks In Mongolia, Part Two – Issue 125
https://www.psaudio.com/blogs/copper/five-weeks-in-mongolia-part-two?_pos=2&_sid=ed98a150b&_ss=r

Getting High – Issue 132
https://www.psaudio.com/blogs/copper/getting-high

Getting High, Part Two – Issue 133
https://www.psaudio.com/blogs/copper/getting-high-part-two?_pos=23&_sid=017100b33&_ss=r

Getting High, Part Three – Issue 134
https://www.psaudio.com/blogs/copper/getting-high-part-three?_pos=87&_sid=a96add238&_ss=r

The Not-So-Great Wall – Issue 138
https://www.psaudio.com/blogs/copper/the-not-so-great-wall?_pos=13&_sid=017100b33&_ss=r

Platinum Award – Issue 140 (article about Alón winning the award)
https://www.psaudio.com/blogs/copper/platinum-award?_pos=4&_sid=017100b33&_ss=r

Chinese Food for Thought – Issue 140
https://www.psaudio.com/blogs/copper/chinese-food-for-thought?_pos=90&_sid=a96add238&_ss=r

The Audiophile’s Cat – Issue 153
https://www.psaudio.com/blogs/copper/the-audiophile-s-cat?_pos=39&_sid=a96add238&_ss=r

The Audiophile’s Brain (Or, Why We Do This) – Issue 157
https://www.psaudio.com/blogs/copper/the-audiophiles-brain-or-why-we-do-this?_pos=91&_sid=a96add238&_ss=r

The Audiophile’s Opinion, Or Why You Should Join (Or Start) and Audiophile Club – Issue 160
https://www.psaudio.com/blogs/copper/the-audiophile-s-opinion-or-why-you-should-join-or-start-an-audiophile-club?_pos=72&_sid=a96add238&_ss=r

A Pre-Entry-Level Analog MP3 Killer – Issue 162
https://www.psaudio.com/blogs/copper/a-pre-entry-level-analog-mp3-killer?_pos=76&_sid=a96add238&_ss=r

Your Move (Parting Shot with Alón playing Go with a statue) – Issue 165
https://www.psaudio.com/blogs/copper/your-move?_pos=3&_sid=017100b33&_ss=r

The Colors of Music, Part One – Issue 170
https://www.psaudio.com/blogs/copper/the-colors-of-music-synesthetic-artist-melissa-mccracken-sees-and-paints-what-she-hears-part-one?_pos=26&_sid=a96add238&_ss=r

The Colors of Music, Part Two – Issue 171
https://www.psaudio.com/blogs/copper/the-colors-of-music-synesthetic-artist-sees-and-paints-what-she-hears-part-two?_pos=62&_sid=a96add238&_ss=r

Alón Sagee in Xian, China, August 2002.

****** 

Alón Sagee: April 8, 1960 – June 9, 2024

With family, as with friends, “love is the oil that eases friction, the cement that binds closer together, and the music that brings harmony." (Friedrich Nietzsche)

On the morning of June 9, surrounded by loved ones, Alón's soul passed peacefully on to its next existence. For, above all else, first and foremost, Alón loved the people in his life: his family, his friends near and far, his community, and most importantly, his cherished wife, Anya. Alon embraced the world and life's adventures, but at the end of the day, his relationships were what mattered to him and always had.

Alón was born in Be'er-Sheva, Israel, and spent much of his early childhood in both the US and Israel. These early international experiences fostered in Alón a lifelong passion for people, knowledge, travel, and music. 

With his open heart, Alón was guided by the pursuit of spreading peace and love all his adult life in order to understand and appreciate all people and the world around them. Alón was fortunate to find a kindred spirit in Anya Hankison. They met, married, and were blessed to share the next 20 years together.

An avid soccer player, Alón played in over 32 countries. The game was a conduit for international travel and an entrée to meeting many fascinating people. All his life, Alón also enjoyed "brain games," particularly chess and crossword puzzles; the more challenging, the better.

Alón was a gifted writer. He composed many articles about his adventures. Some are picturesque descriptions of natural beauty, others are adventures of challenging mountain treks, including scaling the heights of Kala Patthar, and still more are reflections on the unique yet shared cultures of the world and the people he met. One highlight was spending an afternoon with Sir Edmund Hilary in Nepal.

Kala Patthar.

Alón possessed many gifts that naturally drew people to him: he was a quiet leader, a fascinating storyteller, an inspiring team builder, and a calming presence in any situation. Coupled with his inquisitive nature and thirst for knowledge, these made Alón both a student and a teacher…a true humanist.

Alón humanism took many forms. He was a yogi who combined his commitment to yoga with his corporate experiences to become a noted Yoga business coach, who was said to have had the "most effective way of interpreting the principles of a business to the unconventional world of yoga." 

Alón was also an audiophile; not just a lover of music but also one who was dedicated to the highest quality of sound recordings. He described his passion in a memoir, "Learning to Listen." With his eyes closed, listening to the perfect recording, he was transported, "Everything disappears except the performers and music…moments of pure grace."Alón would laugh when telling others that Anya described this as his "audio porn."

In 2015, Alón helped establish the not-for-profit San Francisco Audiophile Society (SFAS). He remained its president until 2019 and received the Society's Founder's Award in 2021. Alón also wrote extensively for Copper. (To read any of Alón's articles on the site, just click on the links above or go to PSAudio.com, then the Copper Magazine tab.)

Alón accomplished much, touched many lives, and transformed what could have been a life of debilitating illness due to Parkinson's into one of spiritual beauty and brotherly love. His favorite quote by Anais Nin is an inspiration to all: "And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."

Alón described himself as an "enthusiast." He will be greatly missed, but his family and friends take heart knowing that he is now truly, and forevermore, an enthusiast. 

Header image: Alón and Hobbes the cat.

The Vinyl Beat is a new column that will dig up notable vinyl nuggets, past and present. It will be mostly new arrivals that I buy throughout my travels – some will be reissues within the last couple of years, and others are new releases, and it will often include a used record of the month.

The Horace Silver Quintet: Silver’s Serenade
Blue Note (Tone Poet series)

Around 2019, I finally took a deep dive into Horace Silver’s extensive catalog and discovered quite a few albums that have turned into favorites. One of those was Silver’s Serenade, the last full album with his classic quintet featuring Junior Cook (sax), Blue Mitchell (trumpet), Roy Brooks (drums) and Gene Taylor (bass). One thing that drew me to Silver’s music was his use of exotic and unusual chords and keys that were uncommon among his contemporaries, and Silver’s Serenade is no exception. The highlights of the five tracks are “Let’s Get to the Nitty Gritty” with its disarming start/stop opening bars that eventually give way to a chugging rhythm section (thanks to Brooks), and “Sweet Sweetie Dee” which turns a little to the funky side. The album closer, “Nineteen Bars,” winds through numerous key changes at a blistering pace, which the Quintet has no problem keeping up with. This Blue Note Tone Poet series record was remastered by Kevin Gray and released in a gatefold tip-on jacket.

War: Greatest Hits
Analogue Productions 45 RPM

This album was released a few years ago with mastering by Kevin Gray on his all-tube mastering chain, which was a fluke as he has been saving that for his own releases on the Cohearent Records label. 2024 marks another reissue of the album, this time on two 45 RPM records from Analogue Productions, mastered by Ryan K. Smith.

I was only slightly familiar with War – I had a 12-inch single from the late ’70s (“Good, Good Feelin’” b/w “Galaxy”), and a few scattered tracks elsewhere in the collection. And of course, who hasn’t heard “Low Rider” at some point in life? Sonically this record isn’t a hyper-detailed audiophile title but on the other hand, it really doesn’t need to be. What it does offer is a cleanliness and punch to these classic funk tracks, with the 45 RPM cutting offering detail that is lost on any tired used record store copy out there. In other words, this is one to put on and enjoy the music, and how good it sounds. How can you not sing along to something like “Cisco Kid” or “Gypsy Man,” or not daydream about warm summer days hearing “All Day Music” or “Summer?”

Dr. John: In the Right Place
Analogue Productions, Atlantic 75 series, 45 RPM

Here is another title from Analogue Productions, this one part of the Atlantic 75 series (celebrating the 75^th anniversary of Atlantic Records). Like the title above, it was mastered by Ryan K. Smith and is released here in a tri-fold jacket. And also, like above, this release won’t send a person to audio nirvana but it’s just a fun listen, and the cleanest you’ll ever hear this album! Any radio listener familiar with Billboard Top 10 records will recognize the album’s title cut: “Right Place, Wrong Time,” and no doubt many are already familiar with Mac Rebbenack’s gravelly N’Awlins-inflected voice. This one is another I’ve been unable to stop playing since I got it – the songs are a blast to listen to, especially with the small doses of humor peppered throughout, and a swampy sound that transports you straight to the bayou. I’m awaiting Dr. John’s Gumbo, one of the future releases in the Atlantic 75 series.

Sponge: Rotting Piñata
Music on Vinyl

Many of the records released by Music on Vinyl are allegedly digitally sourced. But what about an album that was probably recorded digitally to begin with? This popped up in my Music on Vinyl e-mail a few months ago and it was finally released just recently. Rotting Piñata was Sponge’s debut album (and in my case, a local band that made it big) which resulted in the alternative rock hits “Plowed” and “Molly,” the latter a dedication to actress Molly Ringwald, both in heavy rotation on local radio back in the day. This 30^th anniversary pressing has slight noise at the beginning of side one (which is unusual as one thing Music on Vinyl offers are dead-quiet, on-center pressings), but this is a colored vinyl release and I have had varying luck with those over the years. How does it sound? I always found the CD to have a digital glare to it, and that is pretty much gone on the vinyl release. It actually tames the sound and makes it a more inviting album to sit through.

New Release Feature

The Mavericks: Moon & Stars

Like any band that navigated through COVID, The Mavericks have had their ups and downs.  After a couple of frontman Raul Malo side projects, Moon & Stars is the first new Mavericks album in four years. The copy I purchased was direct from the band’s website and was a limited edition of 200 copies on aurora pink vinyl, autographed by the band’s four main members. The album lives up to the standards of their past albums with their trademark mix of pop, Latino, rock, and country music with a few guest appearances and more interesting songwriting. The album opens with a track reminiscent of Johnny Cash, “The Years Will Not Be Kind,” with lyrics by Bernie Taupin and Wally Wilson. Nicole Atkins guests on the sly cheating epic “Live Close By (Visit Often),” and Maggie Rose guests on the upbeat “Look Around You.” The Latin influence comes through on the title track and “A Guitar and a Bottle of Wine.” This is another fine entry in their catalog.

Vinyl Curiosity

While playing the Analogue Productions UHQR release of Steely Dan’s Pretzel Logic for the first time the other night, I noted a glaring error in this remastering. “Parker’s Band” is presented here at a speed that is almost a semitone higher than it should be! It made me jump out of my seat and check the turntable speed – it was locked to 33-1/3 RPM. I am hyper-sensitive to pitch but still, this shift moves the song from the key of C to nearly C sharp, which all but the completely tone-deaf listener should notice. (And this was further verified when I adjusted the turntable speed to about 3 percent lower to correct it, as well as a track timing that is obviously shorter than all other versions of the song.) I checked a couple of digital high-res versions on Qobuz and they have the same issue. All previous masterings, vinyl or digital, have been at the correct speed. The remaining tracks on Pretzel Logic are at the proper speed.

For a set that costs what the UHQR does, this is inexcusable. I only hope that Analogue Productions considers doing the right thing and replaces disc two for us, like they did with disc one of Countdown to Ecstasy which had a “whistling” on side one and needed to be recut.

I’ll be back next month with some more recent vinyl releases to feature. And hopefully, no more speed issues!

The NAMM Show is one of those events that is so much fun, educational, hip, and cool, that it’s hard to argue that attending it is work. Back from COVID stoppages and delays, the ever-so-popular NAMM Show returned to what had been its normal January slot from January 25 to 28, 2024 at California’s Anaheim Convention Center for the first time since 2020, with over 1,600 booths representing more than 3,500 brands and hosting over 62,000 attendees. Copper’s B. Jan Montana wrote about the show in Issue 204, with photos by Jayvee Volanski. I’m adding my take, and including photos of mostly people rather than gear here.

Because I grew up in Anaheim, NAMM was always something I wanted to attend, but didn’t have the right connections or credentials. Fortunately, that has changed, and I arrived armed with a press credential along with two first-time assistants, Benny Bergman and Daryl Sanservo. Both Benny and Daryl had long lusted after being able to attend, and I was able to make it happen. Because it was their first time, they had a great experience, rubbing elbows with music royalty, carrying this reporter’s gear, enjoying food and drink at open bars, and they provided valuable insights to the event as enthusiastic first-timers. We knew we were in for a good time when we immediately met up with Emiko Carlin, who was there as a musician, label owner, president of high-end audio show T.H.E. Show, and ready to enjoy the conference.

What is NAMM? It began in 1901 as the National Association of Music Merchants, as a way to connect musical instrument makers with customers. It’s grown to become the largest musical instrument trade show and the largest conference of the year at the Anaheim Convention Center, which is saying something. You’ll encounter halls with tubas, clarinets, old-school patch-cord synthesizers, drums, mixing consoles, guitars, fog machines, music publishing software, copyright attorneys, pedal and effects manufacturers, headphones, in-ear-monitors, and giant speaker and amp stacks suitable for the biggest music festivals. It’s a who’s who of manufacturers, rock stars, and industry people.

There are classes (NAMM University), the enthusiastic support of AES (Audio Engineering Society) and its legions of producers, engineers, mixing and remastering experts, industry people and yes, rock stars, all grooving to a beat that everyone at the conference embraces. The entire Anaheim Convention Center is filled, and off-site parties and concerts are a given. I attended the Roni Lee Rooftop NAMM Jam party on the roof of a nearby hotel, with the Disneyland fireworks across the street. There were many more.

Progressive rock keyboard legend and composer Patrick Moraz (Yes, Moody Blues) takes a Moog synthesizer for a spin.

Grammy-winning producer/engineer Jimmy Jam hangs out with Paul Peterson (Electro-Voice), and Paul Sidoti (Avid Technology).

In the courtyard of the center, flanked by two hotels, the Marriott and Hilton, a large stage sponsored by Yamaha offered an extraordinary set of free concerts that lasted from midday to evening. We were given a tour of the stage by the fine folks of DPA microphones, and were able to see everything from the stage (between acts) to the backstage trailers where engineers prepared the mixes for YouTube live broadcasts.

Some of the most anticipated events are the awards ceremonies. The legendary TEC Awards, given for technical achievements, are NAMM’s equivalent of the Oscars. My friends at Audeze were nominated for their new MM-100 planar magnetic headphones designed by recording engineer Manny Marroquin, but didn’t bring home the award unfortunately, as the award went to the admittedly amazing Sony MDR-MV1 Open Back Reference Monitor Headphones (which impressed editor Frank Doris and others at last year’s AES convention in New York). I didn’t have a chance to hear the Sony headphones yet. The Audeze MM-100 are superb, and represent one of the best values in audio.

The Parnelli Awards are named for the late Rick “Parnelli” O’Brien, who had a multifaceted career doing sound reinforcement, large touring shows, and even as production manager for a groundbreaking exhibit of Peter Max in Russia in 1991. These awards honor the people and companies who make live music possible. This year the awards went to Jim Brammer of live music titan Special Event Services, video pioneer Carol Dodds, and front of house engineer Buford Jones.

With the loss of the amazing TEC Awards house band due to COVID-related budget cuts (the band used to be a mainstay of the event and featured heavyweights like Jeff “Skunk” Baxter of Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers), the She Rocks Awards is now the most fun at the show. The 2024 She Rocks Awards, formerly held off-site, honored Debbie Gibson, Lindsey Stirling (violinist/songwriter/dancer), Bonnie McIntosh (musician), Britt Lightning (Vixen), Kelsy Karter, Holly G (comics artist and writer), Sylvia Massy (producer/engineer), Lindsay Love-Bivens (Taylor Guitars), Melinda Newman (Billboard), Laura Karpman (composer), and Jamie Deering (Deering Banjos).

The show ended with a performance by Debbie Gibson which had the crowd on their feet. For me, it was even more fun to meet Bangles front woman and solo artist Susanna Hoffs, and hear her performance. I was able to finally ask her a long-sought question. Why did the Bangles’ version of Simon and Garfunkel’s, “Hazy Shade of Winter” remove the critical lines from the song;

“Funny how my memory skips
Looking over manuscripts
Of unpublished rhyme
Drinking my vodka and lime”

She said it wasn’t planned, but just sort of happened. They loved and respected Paul Simon, so they attempted to sing the song with the lines added back, but it confused audiences, who had never heard the original and loved singing along with the Bangles’ version. She joked that when they tried performing it with the original lines added back in, they could hear the audience kind of stop, trying to figure out what was wrong, and then try to sing them, thoroughly befuddled. So, they regretfully stopped singing those lines. I suggested it was time to restore them to the rightful place. Hoffs served as one of She Rocks Awards MCs and was warm, sincere, and gracious. It was clear she was held in high-esteem by other musicians.

The ballroom was packed, and everyone had a great time. Many of the acceptance speeches stressed how far women have come in the industry, but how many hurdles there still were to overcome. It was invigorating to see the industry come out to support the organization.

A number of high-end audio companies exhibited at NAMM 2024. Here Andrew Jones of MoFi Electronics flies the audiophile flag for British electronics maker Chord.

Sennheiser is a mainstay at both professional and consumer audio shows. Here they showcase the new HD 490 Pro open-back headphones.

Roni Lee, former lead guitarist for Venus And The Razorblades and gold record co-writer of the Runaways' hit, "I Want To Be Where The Boys Are," hosted her annual Roni Lee Rooftop All Star Jam, with many of Southern California’s big rock names. It’s a fun event, with a great view of the Disneyland fireworks. The stage featured a rolling group of performers including bassist Lynn Sorensen (Bad Company, Paul Rodgers), guitarist extraordinaire Larry Mitchell, Doug Doppler, Koko Powell (Edgar Winter), Marco Mendoza (Thin Lizzy, Dokken, Journey and others) and many others, performing a classic rock playlist.

AES also holds a party every year; this year former AES president John Krivit threw it honor of Leslie Gaston-Bird, the newly elected President. Leslie is the owner of Mix Messiah Productions and the author of the book Women in Audio. A variety of industry heavyweights, students, and guests had a great time, and we joked that it was rare to see that so many denizens of the studio were out in the sunlight! [There’s a reason for the expression, “Studio Tan,” among studio musicians – Ed.] Krivit runs the popular “Hey Audio Student” Facebook group, which includes a diverse a membership of more than 81,000 members, with an international reach. AES has always been heavily invested in education and helping students, from a variety of mentoring programs to arranging for studio and manufacturer tours. Copper always covers the New York AES conferences, and we’ll be there for AES New York 2024, to be held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center from October 8 – 10, 2024.

At the AES party: Leslie Gaston-Bird (AES president), Marty Cooper (Boy Detective Enterprise) and Robin “Drace” Pantalion (Kitty Trigger band).

These and other NAMM events are a testament to the power of music in our lives. Pick a floor in a hotel, chances are you wander into a party. Mostly with great music, like the semi-underground Gritty in Pink party, held in a Hilton Hotel room, stocked with donated tequila, beer, pizza, energy, and live music. As a Philadelphian, I swore that next year I’d attend dressed as Gritty, who I know would dig the energy.

Dave Malekpour represents Augspurger. If the name doesn’t ring a bell for you, it’s because most of their loudspeakers are used in studios. In 1999, New York’s Unique Recording Studios contacted Malekpour, looking for a new speaker system that could handle the extreme playback levels desired by urban artists, while also providing an accurate sound field. This led to the first Augspurger system, built and installed by Malekpour and designed by George Augspurger, who had designed some world-renowned studios in the 1970s and 1980s and was known for his custom professional monitors. If you’ve attended consumer audio shows like T.H.E. Show, you might have met Dave in the TAD Laboratories room.

J. Rose (Augspurger), Daryl Sanservo (T.H.E. Show), and Dave Malekpour in front of a wall of Augspurger loudspeakers.

Augspurger hosts an annual NAMM event to bring together musicians, engineers, producers, techs, and others, and for 2024 they held it at Love and Laughter Music Group in Anaheim. This was a surprise to me, since even though I grew up in Anaheim, I’d never heard of it. Located in a residential neighborhood, the facility had a mix of state-of-the-art recording technology and vintage analog gear. Malekpour and his team are known for great parties, music and events, so if you get an invite, don’t miss them.

The Anaheim Convention Center has three main parts. There’s the original venue, which us Anaheim kids nicknamed the Flying Sub. Feeding off of it are the later additions that stretch all the way to back of the property, two floors with large halls, and two more floors above with meeting rooms large and small. Then there’s the new addition with two large halls across from the Flying Sub, where the pro audio, microphones, headphones, electronics, consoles, software, and other folks exhibit.

Was there audiophile equipment? Absolutely. Folks like Teac, Shure, Chord, Audeze, Augspurger/TAD, Genelec, Dekoni, Audio-Technica, Sony, Austrian Audio, Electro-Voice, Sennheiser, and so many more exhibited. Most audiophiles aren't necessarily aware of this crossover, where the professional world showcases and intersects with many of the technologies and products that exist in the consumer sector, but they’re there. Of course, the gear featured at NAMM is where music begins, from vintage tube amps with new old-stock-fabric covering to drop-dead-gorgeous award-winning guitars, to mics, signal processors, instruments of every variety, musicians, engineers, producers, retailers and so much more. It’s a complicated, messy, passionate, confusing, vibrating mess of a convention. And no one would have it any other way.

As always, here are photos of the people on and behind the scenes who make the show happen.

Artist and immersive audio engineer Dennis "ROC.am" gets on the mic with Dave Malekpour taking it in.

American record producer and DJ ArrabMusik lays down a groove. 

A few of the revelers at the Augspurger party.

Here are Monica Evans-Lombe and Holly Klarman, both of AES.

Past AES president John Krivit of Hey Audio Student hangs out with current AES president Leslie Gaston-Bird, and Case Newcomb of Hyde Street Studios.

Rachel Ludeman (Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences) enjoys a good time with broadcast producer/engineer Josh Rogosin of NPR's Tiny Desk Concert fame.

Student AES members, Jasmine Mills, Samuel Slape and Aiyanna Riley are with legendary engineer, producer and educator Lenise Bent. She is the first woman to receive an RIAA Platinum album for engineering, for Blondie's AutoAmerican.

Here are Kenya Autie (El Cerrito Records), Karen Kroboth and Boris Milan (Boris Milan Studios), and Oscar Autie (El Cerrito Records).

These guys have spent some time behind a mixing console: Colby Gustafson (Rupert Neve Designs, LLC), Michael Graves (Osiris Studio), and Dave Gardner (Rupert Neve Designs).

Musical minds meet: Seyed (musician), Martha Moke (Grammy-winning violist; Yamaha/Eventide artist and performer with David Bowie, Barbra Streisand, Philip Glass and others) and George Nicholson (Case Western Reserve University).

Samuel Friend (D&B Audiotechnik), Jordan Andreen, and Case Newcomb enjoy the show.

Header image: Roni Lee, host of the Roni Lee Rooftop All Star Jam. All photos by Harris Fogel.

There are quite a number of manufacturers that produce gorgeous speaker cabinets. That said, I personally believe that there are at least two manufacturers, France’s Triangle Hi-Fi and Italy’s Sonus faber, that stand out from the crowd.

Triangle’s cabinets are typically made from luxurious woods that are assembled according to grain structure and then varnished a seemingly unfathomable number of times. While the fronts of these cabinets stunningly show off the woods’ beauty, they gradually get darker toward the rear until they ultimately present as a high-gloss black. Talk about beauty and refinement.

Sonus faber’s gorgeous speaker cabinets benefit from its historically close relationship with Italy’s De Santi woodworking factory. In fact, in 2021, Sonus purchased De Santi, thus assuring the former of a steady supply of expertly crafted cabinets for its business.  Whether when pawing Sonus’ Omnia wireless speaker ($1,999) for my review in Sound & Vision, or its flagship Suprema speaker with external subwoofer and crossover ($750,000/pair) for my TechRadar feature, I found the cabinetry work on both products to be exquisite.

The Omnia, pictured above in my home, features a stunning Finnish birch top panel.  Inside is a four-way, closed box speaker system that contains seven drivers – two silk dome tweeters, two paper pulp cone midrange drivers, one outward firing inverted cellulose pulp membrane driver on each of the speaker’s sides, and a downward firing aluminum cone woofer that’s mounted to the Omnia’s base. Power is delivered by several built-in Class-D amplifiers that are rated to put out a total of 490 watts.

The upshot of my Omnia review is that it created both a huge sonic soundscape that extended well beyond the edges of its cabinet, and delivered solidly-placed images. It also never lacked for detail or bass extension. Just be sure to give this speaker plenty of room to breathe by placing it at least several feet from any wall or other physical boundary. If you don’t, you will never know what it can really do.

In the days before digital music, the primary medium for sound reproduction was vinyl records. Sure, there were some who preferred reel-to-reel tapes, but they were in the minority. The turntable was king, and it had to be properly set up. Any audiophile worth his (or her) salt owned at least one or two test records specifically designed for that task.

Over the years, I’ve collected a disproportionate number of such discs (it helped that I worked in record stores for much of my adult life, so I could obtain the ones I wanted at reasonable prices).

In the first part of this series (in Issue 205), the focus was on test records issued by record labels themselves. In Part Two (in Issue 206), albums from phono cartridge manufacturers were featured. Part Three (in Issue 207) looked at records issued by speaker companies. This time, LPs from publications are included, along with one from Radio Shack.

Project 3/Popular Science Stereo Test Record (1967)

Project 3 Records was a label with audiophile aspirations. It was founded by Enoch Light, a classically trained violinist, bandleader, and recording engineer. His musical career began in the 1930s. Some years later, he produced albums for one of the first quality-conscious labels, Command Records. His initial release for Command, Persuasive Percussion, was a best-seller, loaded with stereo effects that came to be known as “ping-pong” recording, with instruments bouncing back and forth between the left and right channels. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, people used these recordings to show off the separation of their stereo system with little regard for a more natural soundstage. Another innovation of his was the use of 35mm magnetic film (as opposed to conventional tape), offering higher fidelity. He was also a pioneer in the introduction of the gatefold sleeve, necessitated by his interest in providing the technical aspects of recording which led him to include extensive notes about the equipment and techniques used.

Project 3 (subtitled “Total Sound Stereo”) came about as a joint venture with the Singer Corporation (yes, the sewing machine company). Performing under the name Enoch Light and the Light Brigade, Light issued a series of big-band albums that meticulously copied the arrangements of some of the classic acts of the swing era. Many of his musicians were alumni of the most popular outfits back in the day.

This test album was a collaboration between Project 3 and the magazine Popular Science Monthly. Billed as “the complete test record,” it featured typical test tones and system evaluation tracks on Side One along with musical selections from the Project 3 catalogue on Side Two. The LP’s label featured strobe patterns for checking turntable speed at 33-1/3 and 45 RPM. The entire inside of the gatefold cover is taken up with detailed descriptions of the tracks.

The technical notes for this album are as follows: “The single frequency test signals on this record were recorded using the RIAA recording characteristic. The test frequencies were fed directly into the recording amplifier. The standard reference level used was 9cm/sec peak velocity at 1000 Hertz. The accuracy of the standard frequencies of 1,000 Hz and 440 Hz was calibrated using a Hewlett Packard 5214L counter. The master was cut in a controlled atmosphere on a Neumann 32G lathe utilizing a Westrex 3D recorder. A basic pitch of 200 lines/inch was used. However, a pitch of 12-1/2 lines/inch was required for the low frequency tracking test. The fourth passage of the high frequency tracking test contains stylus velocities exceeding 25 cm/sec.” (Have your eyes glazed over yet? …and that’s just the little blurb in the lower left corner!)

Stereo Review’s Test Records for Home and Laboratory Use Model 211 (1963) and Model SR12 (1969)

Back before the advent of subjective-listening-based publications such as Stereophile and The Absolute Sound, hi-fi aficionados turned to magazines like Stereo Review or Audio for information and technical evaluation of components and speakers. The reviews were focused mainly on measuring and reporting on frequency response, harmonic and intermodulation distortion, channel separation, and the like. For turntable reviews, wow, flutter, and rumble were the parameters under test. Rarely was heard a discouraging (or any) word about sound quality. The inference to be gleaned from such reviews was that the better the numbers were, the better the piece of equipment under review would sound.

It is therefore completely logical that these test LPs primarily featured test tones, balance and separation tests, along with cuts intended to evaluate cartridge tracking ability. Test Record 211 does have a couple of musical selections on Side Two, but Test Record SR12 has none. Both albums included a thorough booklet of instructions that went far beyond the technical notes on the Project 3 record.

I think these days we’d all agree that there are other (not necessarily quantifiable) factors influencing the sound of systems.

Stereo Review’s Binaural Demonstration Record (1970)

The magazine released this album to show off the spatial characteristics of binaural (“dummy head”) recording. As seen on the cover, a literal dummy head is fitted with microphones where the ear canals would be. Designed to be reproduced through headphones, binaural recording puts the listener in the field of sound as though you were in the place where the sounds were made.

Side One presents a wide range of sonic environments, such as city street sounds, a basketball game, a bird house at a zoo, a steel-manufacturing plant, and a parade with a marching band. Side Two features rock, jazz, and classical musical selections recorded in churches and college performing venues. The soundstage is indeed remarkable when heard through quality headphones.

The notes included with the album explain that “Max,” the dummy head, was cast from a clay model of an “average” human head. “Max underwent surgery to make the top of his head removable” to facilitate placement of the microphones at the proper position. It was also noted that, due to the impractical nature of carrying the dummy head and professional recording console in the field, most of the recordings were actually made with portable equipment, and in lieu of the dummy head for these tracks, the recording technician actually wore tiny capacitor microphones taped to his head.

Realistic Stereo Test Record for Home & Laboratory Use (1963?)

Realistic in this case does not refer to sonic veracity, but rather the brand name that was used by Radio Shack. If the title sounds familiar, you are not imagining things. This is simply a re-packaging of the Stereo Review Model 211 album. Sides One and Two are exactly as done on that previous LP. Aside from the artwork, the only differences on the cover and label are the use of an ampersand (&) in place of the word “and,” and the notation “Produced by Stereo Review Magazine for Realistic.” Even the included booklet is identical (with the addition of the word HIFI) to the Stereo Review version, with no mention of Realistic or Radio Shack.

The next installment in this series will feature test and demo records from a variety of sources, including a couple of albums that weren’t even meant to be played!

In the press run-up to the band’s induction into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in June 2024, R.E.M. made regular mention of the impact that the eclectic indie power pop group the dB’s had on their music. The public nods that R.E.M. members like Mike Mills have directed toward this North Carolina foursome could not have been better-timed. The dB’s have just announced their first set of tour dates in 12 years, and featuring all original members – Peter Holsapple (vocals, guitar), Chris Stamey (vocals, guitar), Gene Holder (bass) and Will Rigby (drums).

Through Propeller Sound Recordings, they have also reissued their 1981 debut album, Stands for deciBels on all digital platforms, on CD, and for the first time in the US, on vinyl as well. A new video for the lead track, “Black and White,” showcases the tremendous energy that their debut introduced and underscores why the band’s music continues to influence and shape the sounds of so many contemporary rock acts.

The dB's, Stands for DeciBels, album cover.

The foursome grew up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and helped define what would become the rich North Carolina indie-rock scene, but emigrated to New York in the late 1970s and formed the band, frequently appearing at CBGB, Max’s Kansas City and other influential venues.

Stands for deciBels was produced by the band in association with the late Alan Betrock, founder of the seminal post-punk publication New York Rocker, with Don Dixon, Scott Litt and Martin Rushent mixing. It was originally issued in 1981 on UK-based Albion Records, and was impossible to find stateside, either at retail or on radio. That only makes its legend larger and this reissue that much more important. (I wonder how rare the editor’s import 45 of “Big Brown Eyes” is, then?)

Peter Holsapple. Courtesy of Daniel Coston.

In late summer, the band will announce additional tour dates as well as a fall release date for the multi-format reissue of its second album, Repercussion. The dB’s’ last national shows were in 2012 on the heels of Falling Off the Sky, their studio album of that year.

We caught up with founding member Peter Holsapple to talk about the state of music today, and what it was like to make music in Manhattan back when the studios were often as infamous as the bands they recorded. We also spoke about his partnership with Chris Stamey, and what the key is to their long-lasting partnership and what spice makes their musical sauce so special.

Ray Chelstowski: The New York rock scene that helped launch your careers seems to have disappeared.

Peter Holsapple: I think that it’s really hard to imagine starting a band in 2024. We were able to move to New York City in 1978 when we were in our early 20s. Then you were able to live relatively cheaply and you could cheaply rehearse. We actually had had the advantage of cutting our teeth in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in bands for years before that, so we weren’t just appearing out of nowhere, buying our first guitar and playing our first chord. We had already recorded and were fairly far along by then. I think the last band and that could afford to live and rehearse in New York were the Strokes, and they were independently wealthy. I can’t imagine doing it today. 

RC: Are you encouraged by the interest that younger audiences are having with the music you and your peers made so long ago?

It’s interesting to see [that for] bands for the 1980s that we were friends with and played shows alongside, that there is renewed interest in their music. I’m assuming it’s coming from younger people, not people our age reliving their early 20s. I wouldn’t say that’s a bad thing but the idea that young people could become interested in music that we recorded 40 years ago is a fascinating development so I’m glad to be part of this.

RC: The dB’s have had an influence on established bands like R.E.M. and even newer acts like Vampire Weekend. What do you think your impact has been?

PH: It’s difficult for me as a member of this band to gauge whatever kind of reach we may have had. You have to remember that those first two dB’s records were not released in the United States. They were only released in Europe, and the only way they made it over here was through import copies. And the only way they made it over here on any sort of radio was through college students and independent stations that played their own personal copies of the records. So, the feeling that I have as far as reach goes is hard to know. When you have a group like R.E.M. who have similar elements of a more refined and defined sound, they were on late night television and had songs that were not only played on the radio but were also hits. They also had records that sold lots of copies, none of which happened for the dB’s. So we didn’t have the kind of “tail” that could influence a lot of bands. I like to think of us as a happy footnote, rather than any sort of pronounced influence.

The dB's rocking out in 2016. Courtesy of John Gessner.

RC: The music business has changed quite a bit since you started out. How do bands make music work as a career if they are starting out today?

PH: The business model has changed so hugely since I first started making records in the 1970s. I think it’s almost unrecognizable at this point. If you’re in a group now where members are at the age the dB’s were when they started and you have a day job that makes it easier to work for no money on a Monday night, and you have someone doing a bang-up job on your social media, then there’s no reason why you couldn’t succeed. It’s harder for older bands in some ways. For me, I’ve stopped looking at music as an income stream. Every so often I’ll get a check from BMI or something. Every so often someone will feature a song of mine in a movie. That’s great. But with streaming, labels have cut the bands and musicians out [and] we are left to take what crumbs are left over on the table and be satisfied with that.

RC: This first record was made at legendary New York City studios. What was it like recording at Blue Rock Studio and Power Station?

PH: Blue Rock was a really nice studio in Soho with a great engineer. They had just finished recording the first Tom Verlaine [lead guitarist of Television] solo record. It was a really neat place to work and we had a producer named Alan Betrock who was the founder of New York Rocker magazine. He was not a “technical” producer. He would come in and kind of do the vibe thing. Chris (Stamey) was more the person who would play with the arrangements. So we were able to make this record over a number of sessions and I later learned that that was where (Bob) Dylan had recorded “Watching The River Flow “as well as “When I Paint My Masterpiece.” Think there was a lot of jazz recorded there as well.

Power Station was cool too because we knew the history of it. Tony Bongiovi (producer) was there, a great engineer. It was the best-of-the best equipment. We went in and recorded two songs, “ask for Jill” and “PH Factor.” They had cool things there like tubular bells and chimes that we were able to use.

Original Albion Records single of “Big Brown Eyes” from the Stands for DeciBels album. Courtesy of Frank Doris.

RC: Were the reissues of Stands for deciBels and Repercussion remastered?

PH: Yes, they were remastered by a guy named Bob Weston, and the feeling is that he did a superb job with them. I haven’t listened to them. I’m not really a guy who goes back and listens to my own stuff very often. I’m proud that I did it but we had really careful listeners in Chris and Gene who are both respected engineers and producers themselves. In the words of B.B. King to Carly Simon when he did overdubs at Power Station for her: “If you likes it I likes it.”

RC: You have known and have worked with Chris Stamey for a long time. What is the secret to your partnership?

PH: When my father would drop me off to elementary school on his way to work I would see Chris getting out of his car with his cello case, and it always made me think he had to be an interesting guy. So I’ve known him a long time. We started working together at an early age and have a similar taste in music. I don’t know what he listens to now. We diverged over the years but I think we’ve become the perfect combination of oil and vinegar. We both have strengths and weaknesses and I think our strengths complement each other. I think it is the same thing with our vocals. Neither one of us is Caruso. When we sing together we have a sound that is unique and has become an earmark of the dB’s sound.

The dB's 2024 Tour Dates:

9/07    Hopscotch Festival                                   Raleigh, NC             
9/13    Atlantis                                                     Washington, DC     
9/14    Johnny Brenda’s                                      Philadelphia, PA     
9/15    White Eagle Hall                                       Jersey City, NJ       
10/11  Amsterdam Bar and Hall                          St. Paul, MN             
10/12  Old Town School of Folk Music                Chicago, IL       

Header image courtesy of Peter Holsapple.       

Copper has an exchange program with FIDELITY magazine (and others), where we share articles, including this one, between publications.

Five Answers to an Eternal Question

We’re all familiar with this: music can sometimes move us to tears. When we hear certain pieces of music or certain turns of phrase in them, it moves us like nothing else. Some of us get goosebumps or a tingling in the stomach or have to laugh out loud.

People have always been curious about the inexplicably strong effect of sounds. In early cultures, the power of music was assumed to hold magical properties – which is why it fell under the jurisdiction of the medicine man, the tribal shaman. The ancient philosophers were also preoccupied with the question of why rhythm and harmony “penetrate most deeply into the soul,” according to Plato, and “seize it most strongly.” Even Eduard Hanslick, the notorious musical rationalist who in the 19th century resisted the assumption that music should transport or trigger emotions, knew exactly: “No art can cut so deeply and sharply into our soul. The other arts persuade, music assaults us. Not only faster, but also more immediate and intense is the impact of the tones.”

But what is the reason for this? The ancient philosopher Pythagoras believed he had figured it out. He had discovered that the string lengths of tones that sound good together (harmonize) have a simple integer relationship to each other (1:2, 2:3, etc.). Pythagoras did not yet know about the natural tone series – but he concluded that the whole universe must be based on mathematics. If we hear harmonic music, he thought, then our soul begins to resonate with the tones like an instrument: music “tunes the soul to the harmony of the universe.” Musical effect as a resonance phenomenon between physics and the soul, so to speak – that’s what Pythagoras thought. Let’s try to give some other answers.

Answer 1: Hearing is a Special Sense

The sense of hearing is faster, more differentiated, more adaptive than any other of our senses. In millions of years of savannah life, it was essential for survival, being the nocturnal warning sense of homo sapiens. Hearing is already active in the unborn child, from about the 28th week of pregnancy. As we begin to hear, we experience our being-in-the-world for the first time. Familiar sounds – especially the mother’s voice – give us a sense of security even in the womb. Since the child cannot have constant physical contact with the mother after birth, her voice then becomes a substitute for cuddling. Hearing sound waves is long-distance touch. In primates, the mother’s call causes the child’s fur to stand up – this is the goosebump effect, an effect of warmth and comfort. For the community, music does something similar. At some point, human hordes became so large that each member could no longer groom the others – singing took over the function of physical closeness. Lullabies, research says, even regulate cortisol levels in infants. What we hear quite literally “touches” us.

Answer 2: Music Stimulates Hormones

Much like in a microphone, sound waves are translated into electrical impulses in the inner ear. These impulses reach virtually all regions of the brain. In fact, the flexible neural network in people’s heads is specifically “calibrated” for music – the brain has evolutionarily developed the way it is today thanks to music. The nerve impulses, for example, reach the brain stem and thus have a direct effect on muscle reflexes, breathing, heartbeat, blood pressure – rhythm drives our motions. The impulses also activate the hippocampus, where social feel-good hormones are produced – we always associate music with a sense of community. Last but not least, the impulses stimulate regions in the diencephalon that are responsible for the release of dopamine. Dopamine – that’s the thrill in life: food, eroticism, chocolate, technical toys (high-end gear or sports cars). If dopamine enters the system, we have fun and are able to learn. Music that is pleasant to us releases a whole host of opioids and endorphins. It’s like a little drug high – only the drug doesn’t come through the blood, but through the ear.

Answer 3: Music Speaks to Us

Our brain also has a specialized auditory center: the auditory cortex, the so-called “hearing cortex” in the temporal lobe of the cerebrum. This auditory cortex is more responsible for pitches and timbres on the right side, and for rapid sequences of sounds and rhythms on the left. The left side is also home to the speech center, which is particularly well-versed in sounds that follow one another in rapid succession. In fact, music and language are processed by the brain in a common, inseparable network. Evolutionary biologists assume that the original human language was a singsong anyway, a mixture of melody and consonants. It is also a known fact that in spoken language we absorb more information via the speech melody than via the text. Conversely, our speech center is always active even with instrumental music. It is constantly searching for syntax and grammar in the tones – we think we understand what the tones are saying. When the brain recognizes quasi-linguistic patterns in music, it rewards itself – with happiness hormones.

Answer 4: Tension Creates Emotions

Music controls our emotions, changes our mood – the ancient philosophers already knew that. Their theory was quite simple: fast, moving melodies make us happy; slow, descending melodies make us sad. Later, a detailed musical “theory of affect” was developed from this. Today, music psychologists tend more towards a kind of “persona” theory. According to this theory, we listeners understand a piece of music as the emotional story of a fictitious person with whom we empathize. Brain researchers, on the other hand, explain our emotional involvement entirely in terms of the “tension” of listening to music. According to this, we are constantly making unconscious predictions about how the music will progress. These expectations are either fulfilled or thwarted by surprises – both of which lead to emotional sensations. The feelings are not in the music, but we produce them in the brain while listening.

Answer 5: Our Biography Listens In

It is often familiar pieces of music that move us in particular. Just as a certain smell or photograph can evoke clear or mysterious memories, a piece of music stirs memories of experiences and the past. Every person carries around in his or her brain his or her personal network of experiences. Ultimately, the individual structure of the brain is nothing other than the result of a biography anyway. This is because activities that are performed frequently lead to special neuronal condensations and circuits in the brain. A strong reaction to music can therefore simply have biographical reasons. We associate – consciously or unconsciously – a particular memory or experience with a melody, a singing voice, an instrumental sound, a change in harmony, etc. That is why we often evaluate pieces of music very differently. By the way, the emotional associations can also be negative. Some people simply can’t stand some music.

Hans-Jürgen Schaal has been writing for many years about topics in music psychology and music neurology, most recently, for example, about music in the Brain, music and motivation, and music as an ethical model.

Header image courtesy of Pexels.com/Tirachard Kumtanom.

Audiophilia has a highly positive review of the AirLens streamer. The review notes, “As with every audio component I’ve received from PS Audio, the shipping, and care that goes into the packaging was exemplary. The AirLens is a beautiful and unassuming small marvel in a square shape, with curved sides and a beautifully designed glossy black top.” He concluded, “I can almost hear the response to this review: It doesn’t have a DAC, and what do you mean it has no screen? Are you saying it doesn’t have Bluetooth? Yes. It is USD $1,999 for a DAC-less, Bluetooth-less, screen-less streamer, but I tell you this, the clean and immersive sound you’ll get, [and] the way you’ll experience streaming with this great audio component is well worth it.”

Future Audiophile wrote an enthusiastic review of the StellarGold preamplifier. Jerry Del Colliano said, “The metalwork is gorgeous and the preamp is built like a tank...With the PS Audio Stellar Gold Stereo Preamp, you are getting a serious, meticulously designed stereo preamp that could last a lifetime.”

He continued, “The soundstage was as wide as I have ever heard in my acoustically less-than-perfect room.”

The review concluded, “The PS Audio Stellar Gold Stereo Preamp performs like a champion, and at a price that real-world audiophiles can aspire to. That alone makes it worthy of consideration...If you are looking for a preamp that can kick ass and take names, but not send you into some form of complex bankruptcy, the PS Audio Stellar Gold Stereo Preamp should be on your short list of preamps to audition. If you want to find new levels of resolution and detail in your system, again, the PS Audio Stellar Gold Stereo Preamp might just be the ticket.”

The BHK Signature Mono 300 Power Amplifier is included in The Absolute Sound High-End Audio Buyer’s Guide 2024. The listing points out, “This 300W (into 8 ohms) hybrid (tube input stage/MOSFET output stage) monoblock is the distillation of all that celebrated electronics designer Bascom H. King has learned about amplifier circuits. The result is a component so rich, natural, and highly resolving that reviewer Anthony H. Cordesman bought the review samples. A genuine masterpiece from an Old Master.”

BHK Signature Mono 300 Power Amplifier.

As conservative as Eric Clapton's playing might be for some, the electric guitar he preferred is timelessly versatile. That’s because the Fender Stratocaster was full of innovations when it was launched in the spring of 1954. In retrospect it could be described as something like the iPhone of electric guitars.

Cult Guitar of the 1960s

In fact, the design team at the Californian company is said to have had a guitar from the distant future in mind when they designed the Stratocaster. It was no coincidence that the name of the new model alluded to the lofty heights that could be reached with it. But with the finished product, the clever designers exceeded their wildest dreams. To this day, this sensually curved instrument, which seems to nestle against the player and combines ease of use with elegance, has lost none of its futuristic fascination.

When you buy a Stratocaster, you get a piece of history with it. Prominent guitarists such as David Gilmour, Jeff Beck and Mark Knopfler have ensured through their many years of preference that the Stratocaster has become the symbol of the electric guitar par excellence. However, despite its electronics, which were advanced for the time, and its then-new type of tremolo bar, which recreates the floating vibrato of a steel guitar, it is by no means a Stradivarius. [Note: Fender has always called the Stratocaster’s vibrato arm a “tremolo” unit, a misnomer which has become accepted terminology. Vibrato is a change in pitch, while tremolo is a modulation in volume. – Ed.]

A Fender Vintera II '60s Stratocaster, which duplicates the specs, look and feel of an original 1960s guitar.

The flowing guitar playing of David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) is almost unthinkable without the Stratocaster. Although the great stylist increasingly manipulated its sound with distortion, phasing effects, and compressors, Gilmour has remained faithful to the sound of the Stratocaster to this day, with just a few sideways leaps. However, his best and most famous solo at the end of “Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2” ( from The Wall, 1979) was played on a Gibson Les Paul.

Some guitarists think the sound of the Strat is so beautiful that they leave it unaltered. The New York record producer and studio musician Nile Rodgers has preferred the clear sound of the Stratocaster since the first hits of his disco band Chic. With his percussive guitar playing, the former jazz musician has left his mark on songs as diverse as David Bowie's “Let's Dance” and “Get Lucky” by Daft Punk.

Despite having illustrious players such as Buddy Holly, Hank Marvin (The Shadows) and The Beatles, sales of the Stratocaster initially failed to meet Fender's expectations. In the mid-1960s, the Stratocaster also fell out of favor amongst guitarists. Its bright, biting sound did not meet the needs of the British blues bands who were popular at the time, who preferred the denser tone of other, heavier instruments such as the Gibson Les Paul.

If it hadn't been for Jimi Hendrix, who made the Stratocaster his favorite guitar, it might have become a museum piece. Hendrix abused the tremolo arm of his Stratocaster to get previously unheard effects out of it, he explored the sound possibilities offered by the three pickups with the easy-to-operate switch, and took advantage of the light weight of the slim guitar body to strike wild poses on stage. In short: the Stratocaster was made for the virtuoso and showman Hendrix.

Under Hendrix's influence, Eric Clapton soon also played a Stratocaster and gave Stratocasters as gifts to colleagues including Pete Townshend and Stevie Winwood. In the mid-1970s, Jeff Beck also made the switch from the Gibson Les Paul to the Stratocaster: on the back cover of the LP Wired (1976), the inventive virtuoso can be seen with a Les Paul for the last time. On the front of the album, Beck is already posing with a white Stratocaster.

Crisis and Takeover

During this time, the cult around the Stratocaster, which was often copied by other companies, got rolling. This was despite, or perhaps because, the Fender company was in crisis. The takeover by media giant CBS in 1965 had led to a decline in production quality, which caused great damage to the company's reputation – and boosted demand for older Stratocasters.

It was not until 1985, after the company was sold to a new group of investors, that Fender managed to turn things around. Today, the completely restructured company offers a wide range of Stratocaster variations to cover every need of Stratocaster enthusiasts. New models are constantly being brought onto the market in various price ranges, and classics such as Rory Gallagher's original badly-damaged early 1960s Strat are faithfully reproduced, complete with extensive paint damage. The Fender Custom Shop offers models for professionals and enthusiasts. The company benefits from its modular production concept: the individual parts of the Stratocaster can be easily replaced or upgraded. This allows an instrument to be able to evolve with its owner. 

Auction Prices

Probably the most famous Strat of all time is Eric Clapton's “Blackie” which also adorns the cover of his most commercially successful album, Slowhand (1977). Clapton assembled Blacky from three different Stratocasters which he bought for about $200 to $300 dollars each in the US in 1970. In the summer of 2004, he had “Blackie” auctioned off for just under a million dollars. The money went to the Crossroads Centre, Clapton's drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility in the Caribbean.

Famous Stratocasters are now considered a good financial investment. David Gilmour recently sold his black Strat, built in 1954, for around three million pounds. The proceeds went to a non-profit organization that fights climate change.

However, an illustrious provenance is no guarantee that a guitar will find a solvent buyer. Dweezil Zappa tried unsuccessfully for a long time to get rid of the Stratocaster that his father Frank Zappa had extensively repaired after Jimi Hendrix set it on fire at the 1968 Miami Pop Festival. You can't fiddle with a collector's item too much – even if it seems to come from the future.

Here are 10 songs that would be unthinkable without a Stratocaster. (Click on the links to listen.)

Buddy Holly and the Crickets – “Peggy Sue” (1957)
The Shadows – “Apache” (1960)
The Beatles – “Nowhere Man” (1965)
The Jimi Hendrix Experience – “Purple Haze” (1967)
Pink Floyd – “Money” (1973)
Eric Clapton – “Wonderful Tonight” (1977)
Dire Straits – “Sultans Of Swing” (1978)
David Bowie – “Let's Dance” (1983)
Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Californication” (1999)
Daft Punk Featuring Pharrell – “Get Lucky” (2013)

Nick Joyce is an arts writer and a practicing rock musician. He holds a degree in psychology from the University of Bristol and currently lives with his family in Basel, Switzerland. The above article on the Fender Stratocaster is an adaptation of a piece originally published in German in early 2024.

Header image: a breathtaking bevy of all-original red 1950s and 1960s Fender Stratocasters at Davidson's Well Strung Guitars, Farmingdale. Yes, those are originals, not reissues. Courtesy of Frank Doris (who also took the photo of the 1954 serial number 0102 Strat).

This cartoon originally appeared in Issue 150.

If you’re a studio denizen or a seasoned open-reel tape user, please skip this interlude before I resume discussions about the current state of acquiring pre-recorded tapes. You will find too much of it, e.g., splicing tapes, tediously elementary. However, in keeping with my desire to create a gigantic, off-putting caveat for any who might dare to enter (or return to) the world of reel-to-reel tapes in the 2020s, it would be remiss of me not to emphasize the various routines and skill sets of the past one must learn, or re-learn, as did I, along with some other sensible practices.

Unlike used vinyl, pre-recorded tapes do not offer visual clues as to their condition. It’s safe to say, within, oh, a 70/30 ratio, that if you buy used vinyl, and the LPs still shine and are free of dirt, grit, fingerprints, or scratches, they will probably be VG+ at worst, near-mint at best. Scratch-free also suggests that a session with a top-quality record cleaning machine such as those from Clearaudio, VPI and Pro-Ject will yield restorative results beyond criticism. Not so with tape.

Aside from visible mold, even if a used tape is perfectly spooled, its ends un-chewed (or, better still, fitted with leader tape and tail), and kept with a protective inner bag, there’s no guarantee that the tape hasn’t been erased either accidentally because someone hit Record or because it was stored near magnets. A visual study will not tell you of drop-outs or repairs, especially if the repairer used clear splicing tape which doesn’t announce its presence like colored splicing tape as used by the pros. Studying a tape will not tell you if it is missing the first few inches or feet into the recorded portion. Accept that this is a gamble.

Having stopped buying when I hit around 2,500 tapes, of which around 2,440 came from eBay sellers, I cannot recall a single one which the vendor described as anything other than “untested.” As mentioned in earlier columns, tapes found on eBay or other selling sites, at garage and lawn sales, in pawn shops, or through vintage record dealers invariably got there via the heirs of the original users. Grandpa passes away, his descendants find a few boxes in the attic filled with what are clearly music albums, but on some weird medium they don’t even recognize, and they either dump ’em or realize that they might have some value.

While a collection of 2,500 tapes is hardly enough to form definitive statements about used tape, it’s a start, and I have now played through just over 1,400 of them. (I know this because I store most of them in boxes which hold 19, so it was easy to do a count.) Moreover, I can tell you that at this point, by looking at the single container I have filled with their empty spools and boxes, I have only had to write off around 30 tapes as savaged beyond playability or salvation.

If you consider that ratio, it’s a far better percentage than I would expect of 1,400 LPs amassed from various sources. If anything, it completely belies any anti-tape naysayers who insist that old tapes simply do not survive the passing of the years, many who refuse to believe even their ears, as I know from demos I have undertaken.

They too-often cite the misleading “sticky tapes” phenomenon, which as far as I can tell only affected specific defective blank tape stocks sold to professional users and studios – not the raw stock used by the record labels’ duplicators for commercial pre-recorded tapes. Tape haters go on about pre-echo and tape hiss – are they any worse than an LP’s groove-tracing whoosh? In both cases, they’re insignificant compared to the sounds with which you are rewarded.

Older hands in my circle of tape collecting friends cautioned me first about the initial playing of any used or merely old tape which probably hasn’t slipped passed heads in a half-century or more. I was warned about residue, dust or other types of schmutz which would build up on heads, guides and pinch rollers, and the wear-and-tear they would cause. Their consensus was to acquire a “sacrifice” machine, like the £50 bottom-of-the-line Sony I found at the UK’s AudioJumble. I use it to fast-forward the tape’s A-side (often referred to as Side 1), then flip it over, and play back the B-side (or Side 2) at the tape’s correct speed. I then leave it for a day or two, before playing it back for actual listening on one of my preferred machines.

At this stage, before I even put the tape on the deck for the initial high-speed run, I fit it with leader tape if it doesn’t already have some. A rough estimate shows that only one in 30 or 40 tapes has leader, let alone leader-and-tail, aside from those horrible UK mono tapes. (See Part Six, Issue 153.) Again, an indictment of the record labels for failing to do so. After the fast-forwarding, I fit the tail, and then re-spool onto the actual reel in playback mode.

As for supplies of leader tape and splicing tape, as well as splicing blocks and single-edged razor blades, all of these can be found online from specialists like tapecity.co.uk, reel-2-reel.com and numerous others, along with, yup, eBay. There are online video guides on how to do it – pretty straightforward and easy to learn – but do not for a second think that this is anything like the near-surgical skills needed to edit tapes as in studios. This no-brainer splicing is strictly for attaching leader and tail, or maybe repairing a split. I cannot even imagine what was involved in piecing together the bits of tape which created “Strawberry Fields Forever.”

It’s that first play in real time which is what’s this is all about. You learn 1) if the tape is in good condition, and 2) if the sound is as dreamily, dramatically fabulous as you hope it might be. Once the tape is played fully in real-time and monitored from start to finish, I place it in an inner bag, similar to sandwich-sized Baggies but without a Ziploc strip which makes the contents too thick and causes damage to the box, and then put it in its box. I found a supplier online for the catering industry which offers 7 x 7-inch plastic bags that are perfect for the job.

As for the boxes themselves, around one in 10 among my purchases are like new, but usually the majority require repairs as the hinges and the corners are often split. Lastly I grade each tape’s quality with colored stickers: green for pretty much perfect, yellow if it suffers only one or two drop-outs or edits, or red if seriously damaged but still in possession of some of the recording. I keep the last ones in the hope that a better copy might one day come along, though I have given up on finding a decent example of The Turtles’ Golden Hits.

At this stage, a particular irritant I must cite is something which happens all too often, and which makes my inner-OCD-self scream, because I use color-coded leader and tail: it’s finding out that the tape was flipped at some point, and that I put the leader at the beginning of the B-side and vice versa. And, yes, I am anally-retentive enough to then swap leader and tail if “wrong.” This is in addition to finding that they didn’t flip over the spool – a different issue which happens when the tape plays correctly from the start of Side 1, but the label is on the other side.

Do not, however, be too hasty when this occurs. Please note that the track listing on the tape spool’s label and that on the box are often reversed. How so? The artwork for nearly all pre-recorded tapes is the same as the corresponding LP, but for whatever reasons, A-side/Side 1 and B-side/Side 2 might have been flipped by the record company. I tend to regard the sides according to the label on the spool, not the information on the box. This swapping around isn’t all that common, maybe one in 50 tapes, but like I said, when it comes to tapes, I’m borderline psychotic.

Another issue is when the tracks have been changed to a completely different playing order from that on the box and the label. So far I have found only three or four tapes like this, and each one drove me nuts, thinking that someone had cut up the tape and spliced it in some weird order. Eventually, I bought a second copy of one of them and it was the same as the first. Which sucks for the artist if the track order was important.

From time to time, one gets lucky and a batch of tapes will include one or two tapes which are still sealed. Yes, I have now acquired around a dozen of these as-new tapes. That said, they still go through the same regimen of loosening them up with fast-forwarding, re-spooling in real time, and playing them back a day or so later. So far, every one of these virgin tapes – Live Cream, a couple from the Lettermen, a smattering of classical tapes – have been absolutely perfect. This is reflected in the prices that sealed tapes can command on eBay and elsewhere, and as such are pretty safe bets if you are offered any.

Inevitably, if you buy large quantities of tapes, you will end up with some which are home recordings. My 200 or so include lots of home recordings on Scotch and Ampex from US sources, loads recorded on BASF in Europe and the UK, but surprisingly few on Maxell or TDK. Why, I have no idea, considering that the Japanese tapes were among the best, in my experience. I stopped hoping I might find anything of value among the homemade tapes in my possession, like lost live sessions from Buffalo Springfield, or missing broadcasts [1], but the tapes themselves, given what used tapes in reasonable condition sell for online, are worth recycling.

I use the same regimen for these as I do for commercial tapes, playing them through to loosen them up. Occasionally I listen to them if the writing on the box or label suggests something interesting, but if a tape clearly contains copies of LPs, I don’t waste my time. I clean up the tapes for resale by erasing them on a 2-track professional machine in real time, I fit leader and tail, and sell them at the AudioJumble for £5 –£10, or more for 10-inch tapes on metal reels. To put this into context, branded empty metal spools can sell online for £30 – £50 (US$40 – $68), with some, like genuine Revox spools, often touching the $100 mark, so I like to think of this flea-market-priced recycling as a public service. And besides, who needs more than one 7-inch and one 10-inch take-up spool per machine?

 

That’s how I get rid of duplicates, too, such as five copies of Andy Williams’ Moon River, four of Roger Williams’ Greatest Hits, and six each of Carousel, The King and I, South Pacific, Fiddler On the Roof, and My Fair Lady. Like I’ve said before, if you don’t like MOR, soundtracks or easy listening, find yourself another format.

[1] Don’t laugh: I did find a long-lost radio program from a certain group, but it is not worth my freedom to tell you what it was.

Header image: KK’s arsenal of tape-care amenities.

This article previously appeared in Issue 154.

"Calling occupants of interplanetary craft!" Actually, we have no idea what these guys are doing, but it looks intense. From Audio Engineering, July 1950.

This is why we love going to garage sales. Purchased from the original owner on June 9, 2024, this 1970s Panasonic RE-7259 FM/AM radio looks great, still plays and lights up, and sounds pretty good thanks to its 6-inch speaker.

It might look like a matching earbud and lighter set, but it's actually a Lafayette Model TR-7 (F-480) set of hearing aids, made in Japan around 1959. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Joe Haupt.

Here are a variety of circa-1980s hi-fi-related fluids from my collection of random drawers of stuff. While the Stylast and Kontakt came into play back then, I don't remember if I had the nerve to try the Digital Touch CD fluid. Perhaps the apostrophe catastrophe in the labeling didn't inspire confidence.

This might be the coolest postcard ever...well, if you're an audio geek, that is. It's from Western Electric in 1949, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/public domain.

"I look into the past
I want to make it last
I was there
I was there"

Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day rocking the CES 2024 Harman event, Las Vegas, Nevada, January 10, 2024.