Copper
Dylan Dials Up JFK, the Wolfman, and Whitman
“Murder Most Foul,” Bob Dylan’s newly released song, is long. It is 17 minutes and change, about as long as “Desolation Row” and “Like a Rolling Stone” combined. It is...
I Love LA
I sank into the plush soft leather seat and snapped on my seat belt. My surroundings were the inside of the private jet owned by WEA (Warner Music Group, at the...
Changing Perspectives
This issue's cover: Amy Winehouse (1983 – 2011) and Tony Bennett. Winehouse was one of the most unique new voices to burst upon the contemporary music scene, a voice silenced...
Elitism in Audio and Its Implications
Audio and music are passions. They can be a hobby, a vocation, a lifestyle, a love, a way to live or all of these. They are very personal pursuits and...
Tales of an Audio Forum Administrator, Part One
Internet forums are a way of life for many of us. We turn to them for information, education, camaraderie, entertainment and friendship. They provide us a place where we can...
Getting It Wrong: Confessions of a Setup Man, P...
Audio system setup is, I feel, as much an art as a science. I suppose one school of thought would insist that there’s only one way to get it “right,”...
Multichannel Hall of Fame Mk I
Recently, I’ve had more time to poke around my “record collection,” i.e., anything I didn’t stream, download or mail-order last week. I focused on multichannel music, because I love it and...
I Got Paid to Count to 50
Way back in 1976 I was on the air in Montreal radio. I got a call out of the blue from a man who wanted to meet regarding using my voice...
Grand Funk Railroad: Chuggin' Along
All over America in the late 1960s, teens were forming bands. The one started by Flint, Michigan high school friends Mark Farner (guitar/vocals), Don Brewer (drums/vocals), and Mel Schacher (bass)...
Balancing Act
This issue’s cover: Judy Garland (1922 – 1969). One of the most iconic actresses, recording artists and performers of all time. Though haunted by personal struggles, she attained greatness that...
Obsessed with Stereo, Redux
I think about my system too much. I mean, really too much. As I’ve written many times, it was stable for more than 20 years. That’s a really long while in anybody’s...
In Memoriam: Art Dudley
The audio industry lost one of its greatest with the passing of Stereophile Deputy Editor Art Dudley on April 14, 2020 from metastatic cancer. I’m having a tough time writing this because...
How to Lie with Measurements
In view of my recent series on linearity and other technical topics before that, the time is perhaps now ripe to discuss audio measurements. I will focus on what is...
Ryuichi Sakamoto: A Musical Career Overview, Pa...
Part One focused on Ryuichi Sakamoto’s work in the groundbreaking Yellow Magic Orchestra. In Part Two I look at his solo work, film scores, collaborations into different types of ethnic...
The Gear That Changed My Life – The Bass Series
I am going to explore some bass stuff for a few columns here. It’s surprising and a little disconcerting that I haven’t explored this idea yet because I are a bass player....
Audio Companies Respond to COVID-19
In a recent video Steve Guttenberg aka The Audiophiliac pointed out that Magnepan, VPI Industries, PS Audio and Emotiva have remained open during the coronavirus crisis. Like most businesses, they’ve had to adapt. It...
Ninety Minutes and Three Encores
It’s New Year’s Eve in the mid-seventies. It’s after the gig, not yet midnight, and I’m driving the group back to the hotel in a Hertz rental car. The Dayton...
Italian Progressive Rock, Part One: PFM
The major British progressive rock bands of the late 1960s and early 1970s found receptive audiences throughout Europe, with perhaps none more enthusiastic than the Italians. Italy’s symphonic and operatic...
Realistic Sound
Say what? I'll bet the creative director wasn't a woman. From Audio, February 1965. New for '73! Is there anyone who didn't own a RadioShack or Realistic product? Thanks Richard...
Immersive Sound Part Two
When I started planning this column, the task seemed simple: why not start with nominees for the 2019 Grammy for Best Immersive Audio Album? That would give us an overview of the...
The High-End in the Time of Coronavirus
There is nothing like a virus that may take down western civilization as we know it to make one’s quest for a great sound audio system seem a bit…well…insignificant… And...
You Don't Have to be...Redux
When I was a kid, my parents had a comedy record called You Don’t Have to be Jewish, which had a couple dozen bits, including “The Presidents.” In “The Presidents,” the...
VPI to the Rescue
If you haven’t heard by now, VPI industries, headed by Mat Weisfeld, has, in response to the coronavirus outbreak gripping their home state of New Jersey, taken a pause in...
A Mecca for Sunsets
Mecca Beach, the location of this shot, is not on the ocean. It's on the shores of an inland lake named the Salton Sea, the product of a Colorado River...
The Baroque in Central and South America
When we hear the term “Baroque music,” most of us automatically picture the ornate courts of Europe in the 17th and early 18th centuries, with the music of Vivaldi or Bach being...
You’re Grounded! Confessions of a Setup Man, Pa...
Hum has no place in an audio system. It’s often caused by improper grounding. When I worked at The Absolute Sound from around the mid-1980s through the mid-1990s, eliminating unwanted hum was a...
More Cool and Unusual Takes on Others’ Songs
Rich Isaacs had a great idea in Issue 107 of Copper (“Complete Recovery: Unusual Takes on Others’ Songs”). It made me realize that I have many cover versions among my collection of...
Write On
This issue's cover: of course, the Beatles in their iconic 1967 Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band garb. An album that defined a generation. I’m sitting here staring at the...
Terry Kath: Chicago's Guitarist Extraordinaire
In 1970 a dear friend, Hank Rau, introduced me to a new band, Chicago Transit Authority. I want to dedicate this column to Hank, who I’ve known since the first...
Jersey Boys Find Hi-Fi
My passion for audio was ignited in the 1960s (are we really that old?). Like most of my peers I listened to a lot of music. My two older brothers...
Linearity in Audio, Part Three
Up to now we have only talked about the most basic tube amplifier design, consisting of one triode tube in a Class A1 single-ended configuration. There are numerous configurations and...
Ryuichi Sakamoto - A Musical Career Overview, P...
Meeting one’s musical heroes can often take place in unexpected circumstances. Back in the late 1980s, a particular music hero of mine had played a rare concert at the Beacon...
Opera and Immersive Sound
This is the first of two articles I’ve planned on immersive sound. The second will follow in Copper #109, covering recent Grammy nominees in that category. Space permitting, I will survey recent...
Three Clear Winners
Roger Eno/Brian Eno – Mixing Colours Everyone knows Brian Eno; who could have missed the stylish glam he brought to the early work of Roxy Music? And his string of ambient albums...
Now Hear This!
When the Admiral speaks, they listen! They went all out on props for this photo shoot. From Audio magazine, January 1963. Just don't touch any of my records,...
Issue 108
This issue's cover: of course, the Beatles in their iconic 1967 Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band garb. An album that defined a generation. I’m sitting here staring at the computer screen...
Last Call
Lee’s Liquor Lounge, Minneapolis. Once a vibrant music venue, it closed in 2019 after 62 years.
All Together Separately
Cover: violinist Jascha Heifetz (1901 - 1987). Many consider him to be the greatest violinist ever. He was one of the most influential performing artists of all time and in...
Audio Minus 80
Books on audio weren’t plentiful 80 years ago, but the 1940 edition of Audels New Radioman’s Guide gives a glimpse of everyday audio back then. As the title suggests, the...
Audio System Revelations: Electrostatic Ecstacy
I can trace my audiophile roots back to a certain Admiral hi-fi console in my parents’ basement, back in the mid-1960s, when I first started stacking records on the changer...
CanJam NYC 2020 Show Report, Part Two
Part One of this report appeared in Issue 106. CanJam NYC 2020 took place on February 15 – 16 at New York’s Marriott Marquis and was well-attended by a diverse...
Linearity in Audio, Part Two
Another common usage of the term “linearity” in electronics refers to linearity in amplification at different levels; this can be called “dynamic linearity.” As an example, let us take an...
Operating Manual for Reviewing Miss Anthropocen...
1. Go to YouTube. Watch video for “Delete Forever.” Grimes’ multihued but definitely orange-ish hair is parted in the middle, with huge balls of pigtails on either side. Consider these...
The Shows Must Go On
I never thought I’d have to write a piece like this. Well, none of us can keep our heads in the sand, comforting as that may be at times. This...