Copper


Getting the Most from an A/V Receiver: Yamaha’s...

Issue 167Featured

In Part One (Issue 166), we briefly covered some of the highlights of the Yamaha Web Editor SetUp online utility, which is designed to get the best sonic performance from an Yamaha...

When Domestic Bliss is an Audio Miss

Issue 167Twisted Systems

When you walk into my apartment you stroll past the art in the foyer, and a dining room table, and enter the living room. (It’s the photo above.) Look around....

Experimental Musician Billy Yfantis Explores In...

Issue 167Idle Chatter

Recently, I caught up with virtual space traveler, traverser of the celestial world, musician, and author Billy Yfantis. He’s an experimental musician who has released five albums, the latest being The...

The Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society...

Issue 167Featured

I first met Sunil Merchant at T.H.E. Show in 2021, an audio show that took place in Long Beach, California (as it did in June 2022, and I’ll be reporting...

Reconsider Baby: Elvis, the Movie

Issue 167Featured

Among other things, Elvis Presley invented the rock ’n’ roll comeback. Up until 1968, ”coming back” from a career break barely existed in the new style since most fell short,...

Back to My Reel-to-Reel Roots, Part 19: Reports...

Issue 167Natural Born Kessler

(Please note that this installment relates directly to the previous column, published in Issue 166.) Having established that my comparison between the Tuchel and the four-banana-sockets line-level outputs on the Nagra IV-S...

AES Europe Spring 2022, Part Three

Issue 167Show Report

(Copper Issue 166 featured coverage of AES Europe Spring 2022 presentations that included a look at the intricacies of tuning high-performance audio systems for automobiles; a study on the changes in how consumers...

Hooked on Earworms

Issue 167The Mindful Melophile

“An earworm is a song or melody that keeps repeating in one’s mind.” Merriam-Webster Earworms can be found in many of the pieces and songs you enjoy listening to: all you...

The Exotic Sounds of Madagascar

Issue 167Featured

Most people’s knowledge of Madagascar comes from nature documentaries or Disney’s series of loopy animated movies. But Copper readers may also be intrigued by the music of Madagascar, which is every bit...

Paul Butterfield: Rockin’ the Blues

Issue 167Off the Charts

Have harmonica, will rock. That could have been Paul Butterfield’s slogan. Blues is at the root of rock and roll, but Butterfield’s commitment to the two genres benefited both equally....

Toshiko Akiyoshi: Founder of Big Band’s Rebirth

Issue 167Trading Eights

When one thinks of women in the big band era, it’s normal to picture a female singer backed up by an all-male band. That’s one reason Toshiko Akiyoshi is so...

Play It Like You Mean It

Issue 167

Charlie Parker said, “If you don’t live it, it won’t come out your horn.” Well, Bird nailed it in describing the tight thunder that emanates from the long horns these...

Play It Like You Mean It

Issue 167Parting Shot

Charlie Parker said, “If you don’t live it, it won’t come out your horn.” Well, Bird nailed it in describing the tight thunder that emanates from the long horns these...

Saturday Night in San Francisco on 180-Gram LP ...

Issue 167To Be Determined

In the mid-seventies, Al Di Meola was a young, hotshot jazz fusion guitarist with Chick Corea and Return to Forever. But he’d also developed a deep understanding of Latin music,...

XTC: Steven Wilson Remix/Remasters on CD and Bl...

Issue 166To Be Determined

This follow-up to Part One in Issue 165 covers the last of the currently-available Steven Wilson XTC catalog album remix/remasters in 2-disc CD/Blu-ray sets — well, almost. I’m still missing the pseudo-XTC...

Around the World In 80 Lathes, Part 16

Issue 166Revolutions Per Minute

It has been quite a while since 1989, when professional disk mastering system manufacturing came to an end. To be precise, it has been 33 years, during which the world...

Summer Concerts: Who to See and Where?

Issue 166FROM THE SWEET SPOT

After an almost two-year continuous drought, it’s quite invigorating to see live music back with a vengeance. Certainly, live streaming was helpful in filling the void, but there’s a different...

The Latest from Octave Records: Mini Brazilian ...

Issue 166Octave Pitch

The new Octave Records release, Mini Brazilian Beasts by jazz pianist Carmen Sandim, weaves a boundless wave of piano melodies, sophisticated harmonic concepts, and the musical rhythms and moods of Sandim’s native Brazil into...

A Visit to Legendary Jazz Club Arthur’s Tavern

Issue 166Disciples of Sound

Arthur’s Tavern is one of those New York City gems that have always been among the city’s best-kept secrets. It opened in 1937 as a speakeasy just after the end of...

150 Favorite Rock Albums: More Mini-Reviews

Issue 166Frankly Speaking

In Issue 150 I listed my 150 desert island favorite rock albums, and offered a first batch of mini-reviews in Issue 151. I got a range of comments and e-mails, from complements to derision...

A Loudspeaker Company Grows in Brooklyn

Issue 166Speaker Stories

It’s been a while since someone from Copper last visited DeVore Fidelity in New York City. By the time Bill Leebens went out to Brooklyn Navy Yard in 2016, John DeVore had already been...

Five Rhythm Guitarists Who Changed Rock Music

Issue 166Idle Chatter

Rock music and rhythm guitar are inseparable. Oftentimes, rock outfits feature two guitarists, one playing lead guitar and the other specializing in rhythm. Although this is not always the case...

AES Europe Spring 2022, Part Two

Issue 166Show Report

(Copper Issue 165 featured Part One of our coverage of the Audio Engineering Society AES Europe Spring 2022 convention from The Netherlands. Part One covered presentations on the use of analog vs. digital...

Going to the Consumer Electronics Show: The Ear...

Issue 166True-Life Rock Tales

The Cable Doctor Show started modestly as a live TV call-in question and answer show on tech and installation issues. Of the three TV programs I’ve hosted, this one was my longest-running...

Pilgrimage to Sturgis, Part 24

Issue 166New Vistas

Many of the renegades gathered again late that afternoon in Chip’s garage. It seemed to be a ritual. Get off work, have a beer at Chip’s, go home to the...

Getting the Most From an A/V Receiver: Yamaha’s...

Issue 166Featured

Yamaha has recently released a slew of A/V receivers in their higher-end AVENTAGE range, with upgraded power transformers, amplifier circuits and many other features. Some of them offer powerful sound-tailoring capabilities, such as...

Seeking Enlightenment

Issue 166Opening Salvo

I’ve noted before that I’m a connoisseur of silly fortune cookie sayings. I read one that said, “To truly find yourself, you should play hide and seek alone.” Maybe finding...

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Back to My Reel-to-Reel Roots, Part 18: Reports...

Issue 166Natural Born Kessler

Open-reel tape devotees are aware of the current state of support for the format, which is now entirely the province of the niche. As far as machines go – leaving...

The History of A&M Records, Part Five

Issue 166Featured

The 1980s proved to be even more successful for A&M Records than previous decades. (Previous articles appeared in Issue 160, Issue 161, Issue 162 and Issue 165.) In the late 1970s Illegal Records, a small independent...

Favorite Venues, Part Three: Madison Square Garden

Issue 166Featured

After completing my relocation back to the East Coast, I was in closer proximity to my brother and we had the opportunity to commiserate more often, usually on the front...

Cataloging a Classical Music Collection

Issue 166Sitting In

Let’s begin by setting the stage. I have a very large collection of digital music, representing the equivalent of well over 4,400 albums, most of it classical. A number of...

Far Above Cayuga's Waters

Issue 166Parting Shot

Photographed at Cornell Botanic Gardens, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. As the website states, “As a living museum, our cultivated gardens, arboretum, and natural areas serve as outdoor classrooms…and host research that seeks...

Marin Marais’s Works for Viola da Gamba

Issue 166Something Old / Something New

Marin Marais (1656-1728) lived in Paris his whole life. That is, except for the many months of the year when he was stationed at Versailles as a musician for the...

Rufus Wainwright: Personal Songs With Universal...

Issue 166Off the Charts

Rufus Wainwright’s childhood must have been wall-to-wall music. Both his parents and most of his aunts and uncles were folk singers. But thanks to an obsession with opera that gripped...

Plug and Play

Issue 166Audio Anthropology

Written by Frank Doris Revox PR 99 Mk II reel-to-reel deck, introduced in 1980. Talk about functional elegance!   Revox made it easy to adjust the left and right channel...

Musical Realism and the Performance of Our (Agi...

Sitting In

It appears my earlier essay on declining hearing (in Issue 160) touched something of a nerve, so to speak. I appreciate the many thoughtful comments it prompted. Perhaps I should not have...

Here Comes the Sun

Issue 165Opening Salvo

As a bandmate likes to say, a day without the Beatles is like a day without sunshine. Saturday, June 25 is Global Beatles Day (yes, it’s a thing) and was founded in...

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She Had a Hat

Issue 165Audio Anthropology

Written by Frank Doris Classic elegance: a circa 1960s KLH Model 24 loudspeaker, from The Audio Classics Collection.   The KLH Model 24 with the grille off. Why bother making...

The Zombies: As Alive as Ever

Issue 165Disciples of Sound

In 2019 when the Zombies took the stage at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to accept their induction and then perform a few of their biggest hits, they did so with an absolute joy that...

The Lasting Memories of Hit Summer Songs

Issue 165Twisted Systems

Another summer is now here, and I’m reminded about how, growing up, songs that were hits during the summers of my youth helped to define and more importantly remind me...

AES Europe Spring 2022, Part One

Issue 165Show Report

AES Europe Spring 2022 was held at The Hague in The Netherlands from May 16 – 19, 2022. The overall high standard that the Audio Engineering Society has maintained in...

My Favorite Venues, Part Two: Colorado

Issue 165Featured

In my article “My Favorite Venues, Part One” (Issue 164), we explored some of the larger venues on the Front Range of Colorado. While there were occasional jazz acts, these concert locales...

John Cooper Clarke: Bard of the People

Issue 165Featured

Poets are not exactly part of mainstream culture these days. I’m only familiar with a few headliners from the last 3,000 years: Homer, Geoffrey Chaucer, Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, and...

Cats and Dogs…Well, Mostly Cats (Part One)

Issue 165Featured

(Cat haters might want to hit the “Next” button, but if you do, you’ll miss a photo of Otis, my neighbor’s Golden Retriever puppy, a serious candidate for the world’s...

How Does a Vinyl Record Even Sound Good at All?...

Issue 165The Copper Interview

We began our interview with Lewis Hopkin of Stardelta Audio Mastering in Issue 164. Here, he details the factors which are essential to perfection in mastering a vinyl record, in this second part...

XTC: Steven Wilson Remix/Remasters on CD and Bl...

Issue 165To Be Determined

You probably all realize by now that I’ve been trying to grab as many of the Steven Wilson-remixed/remastered CD/Blu-ray/DVD-A sets as possible. Having come somewhat late to the game, I’ve...