Copper

Schiit Goes B & M; RIAA Releases Music Sales Statistics
Schiit Goes B & M; RIAA Releases Music Sales Statistics
Schiit Reimagines the Company Store (Seriously) [Schiit is a love-it-or-hate-it force in the audio world. Mike Moffat and Jason Stoddard have been around the audio world for a good long while (especially Mike, who’s older than dirt),... Read more...
The San Diego Music and Audio Guild San Diego County, CA
The San Diego Music and Audio Guild is the largest and most active audio club in San Diego County. The 200+ member San Diego Music and Audio Guild is titled the way it is because our main focus is on music rather than equipment.  We strive to attend as many live performances as possible, and believe that equipment can never provide much more than a photograph of the musical event. Nevertheless, some photographs are better than others.  The improvement is often predicated more on the skill and knowledge of the photographer... Read more...
Chant: Sacred and Profane
Scholars help us understand what chant is. That’s been true for a long time. As musical tastes changed starting in the Renaissance, the old chant melodies were “corrected” by well-meaning composers who thought they sounded odd. Fortunately, the monks of the French abbey of Solesmes in the late 19th century undertook a massive research project to restore the medieval versions of Gregorian chants as well as possible. Since then, musicians interested in “authentic” early-music practice (or, as it’s called these days, HIP – historically informed performance) have contemplated the rhythm, diction,... Read more...
Bebop Deluxe
Mankind astounds with creativity, stupidity, ingenuity, and levity. The same species that invented the super-collider will drink beer with buddies in his garage and drop a frozen turkey into a vat of boiling oil, setting said garage on fire. I know a guy who did this. But once in a while as our globe hurtles through the frozen frown of space an event occurs that makes God smile. One of these events was the birth and life of Dizzy Gillespie. Born in 1917, as a teen he heard Roy Eldridge on the radio... Read more...
Anaïs Mitchell
If you were to judge purely by her quiet, breathy voice and earnestly clipped diction, you might think Anaïs Mitchell was just another mousy folk singer. You would be wrong. Mitchell is a powerhouse and a visionary. “I could tell you stories like the government tells lies.” The first line of the first song on Mitchell’s first album (Hymns for the Exiled, 2004) announces to the world this poet’s essence. She’s a storyteller with a distrust of traditional authority. One might argue those are common ingredients defining “indie.” But Mitchell specializes... Read more...
Kits!
It’s often said that we don’t build anything in America anymore. That’s clearly bunk; we just build different things than we used to. The same could be said of Americans: DIY and projects in the home are bigger than ever…we just don’t build the things shown in Popular Mechanics mags of the ’50’s, like  miniature train setups or hovercrafts powered by lawnmower engines. Or hi-fi kits. At one point, most major brands of American  hi-fi gear produced kits. Looking back from a distance, we mostly think of Dynakits (produced by Dynaco), and... Read more...
The Final Frontier
Consider for a moment the Fourier Transform, which I discussed back in Copper # 18.  Hands up if you think they’re tough to understand!  I want to open your eyes to the world of magic that lies behind it, where the Fourier Transform itself is but one single – but very productive – play in the grand game of transform mathematics. This column is going to kick off with Imaginary Numbers, and get steadily more head-splitting from there.  If you’re up for the ride, good for you!  If not, this would be... Read more...
Bad Sound
…is in the ears of the beholder. I chose the image above because for me, the worst kind of bad sound is that which has a massive amount of harmonic distortion. The result is high notes that bring to mind shattering glass, and lows that become an atonal thrum like the sound of a distant generator. Such sound is not only amusical, it’s unreal. It’s like you played your favorite music at the same time you cranked up a signal generator. —Well, not quite: harmonic distortion is at least related... Read more...
Ducks In a Row
For about six months of my life, around the time of my 18th birthday, I played in a cover band—six sets a night, and finished at 2 AM. The band’s “home base” was a club just inside the boundary of Camden, NJ. We sometimes would go to the Penn Queen diner after performing. One night early in 1975, I loaded my bass into my Volvo 164, strapped in, turned the ignition, flipped on Diaspar (as usual) and — I was, quite literally, transfixed; maybe the only time that ever happened. I didn’t care... Read more...
Professor Schenbeck Goes to a Show
Last month I was in Montréal for a professional meeting when Bill Leebens texted me: “Larry. Listen: there’s a hell of a good audio universe next door!” He was right, of course. I hadn’t been to an audio show since Axpona’s dismal Atlanta debut and demise. But here was Le Salon Audio Montréal, celebrating its 30th anniversary as le seul show de Haute-Fidélité GRATUIT en Amérique. Veteran organizers Sarah Tremblay and Michel Plante put together a show that was free to attendees. How about that? I got a kick out of an all-Audio Note room playing cellist... Read more...
Chasing the Dragon
How owning an audio system is like “Chasing the Dragon” A old friend of mine became a gambling addict. His thing was Off Track Betting. He is extremely intelligent and while we were growing up never showed any signs of a personality disorder, let alone a gambling addiction. One day i asked him how it started. He said “Well, I was hanging out with A friend of mine one beautiful spring day as he went to the local OTB and, as he was placing a bet, suggested that I put... Read more...
David Chesky
David Chesky
[David Chesky is a co-founder of audiophile label Chesky Records and download site HD Tracks. He’s established an impressive list of credits as a classical composer, jazz pianist, and producer, and is well-known as an... Read more...
Issue 30
Issue 30
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Schoenberg After Pierrot
I haven’t said much so far about Arnold Schoenberg’s craft, i.e., how he pulled the notes out of his hat. You’ll get some of that this time. It matters to musicians, who want to know just how the magician worked his magic. To audiences, it doesn’t matter quite as much. We can concern ourselves more with style, i.e., what the music sounds like and how it pulls our chains. I’ve learned something about that from seeing how my undergrads responded when they first encountered music by the Emancipator of Dissonance. Almost to a person,... Read more...
The Final Frontier
Consider for a moment the Fourier Transform, which I discussed back in Copper # 18. Hands up if you think they’re tough to understand! I want to open your eyes to the world of magic that lies behind it, where the Fourier Transform itself is but one single – but very productive – play in the grand game of transform mathematics. This column is going to kick off with Imaginary Numbers, and get steadily more head-splitting from there. If you’re up for the ride, good for you! If not, this... Read more...
Schenna
Schenna
I took the attached photograph in the town in Sudtirolean Italy where my mother was born.  Because of the bright sunlight bleaching out the display on the back of my... Read more...