Copper
Table of Contents – Issue 221
“I have seen the midnight sun shining.” – The Strawbs, “Midnight Sun” Too many music greats have passed on in the past few months. Yet their music lives on, and...
Talking With Musician, Composer and Record Labe...
David Chesky needs little introduction to audio people. In 1984 he and his brother Norman started Chesky Records, one of the first audiophile labels to make a serious effort at...
Jazz Goes off on a Modern Pop Tangent: Octave R...
Jazz musicians have always adapted the songs of the day to a jazz style and feel. With Octave Records’ latest, Tangent, pianist Charles Blenzig and his trio have taken songs...
How to Play in a Rock Band, 14: Show Me the Money!
Bands and artists play to express their music, for fun, to entertain their audiences, to get the girls or guys…and, oh yeah – to get paid. Especially if you’re trying...
Musings About AI, Audio, and Music
Being a music and audio person, I have some thoughts about how AI will relate to our listening consumption in an increasingly AI-laden era. Unlike much of the AI slop...
EveAnna Manley Passes the Torch With the Sale o...
On July 10, the announcement was made that the maker of pro and consumer audio gear, Manley Labs, was being sold by founder EveAnna Manley to its new owner, Dirk...
No Man Is Free Who Is Not Master of Himself
A friend confided to me recently that his mind is so active, he can’t get to sleep at night without first wallowing and flopping in bed for hours. When he...
Freedy Johnston’s Can You Fly: a “Perfect” Albu...
Freedy Johnston’s debut record, 1990’s Trouble Tree was a bit of a disjointed affair. But within the album’s 13 tracks was something that critics and fans alike felt was worthy...
More People Who Make Audio Happen: T.H.E. Show ...
This year's West Coast T.H.E. Show SoCal 2025 took place in June in Costa Mesa, California. Issue 220 (last issue) has B. Jan Montana's show report, and we continue our...
Inner Sleeves (And What You Can Learn From Them)
In the days before digital music, the primary medium for sound reproduction was the vinyl record. Sure, there were some who went with reel-to-reel tapes, but they were in the...
Peter Asher's Life, in Concert
Songs and Stories, at My Father's Place in Roslyn, NY, June 29, 2025 It's not often that you see a show by an 81-year-old musician, who could have been...
Maria Stader: Opera's Other Maria
Copper has an exchange program with selected magazines, where we share articles, including this one, between publications. This one's from Switzerland's AAA Magazine. Together with the tenor Ernst Haefliger,...
Quantum Technology and the Future of Music and ...
2001: A Space Odyssey is a film which greatly influenced my future. The movie's HAL 9000 computer may or may not have been thinly veiled as a fictional IBM creation...
From The Audiophile's Guide: More About Optimiz...
This article is part of a series of excerpts from The Audiophile's Guide, a 10-volume set that offers guidance and knowledge about all aspects of audio reproduction and system setup. Previous...
The Vinyl Beat In a 12-inch Singles World
Many collectors take 12-inch singles for granted. The format had various promotional/test pressing uses over a couple of decades prior to the mid 1970s. One of the first available for...
The People Who Make Audio Happen: The Roni Lee ...
As noted in the last issue, NAMM is the world's biggest music industry trade show, filled with instruments, artists, concerts, parties, and people. It’s a big event, ranging from the...
PS Audio in the News
The Absolute Sound included the Stellar DAC in its listings of best DACs under $5,000, with a YouTube video review. TAS noted, “In the ever evolving landscape of digital audio...
Back to My Reel-to-Reel Roots, Part 20
At the risk of courting lawsuits from retired octogenarians, I find myself unable to resist attacking the easiest of targets: record labels. To be more precise, the major labels circa...
Radiotrician to the Rescue!
We haven't seen many Marantz receivers with this interesting black and silver color combination. This one's an MR215, made from 1978 to 1980. It delivered a modest 18 watts...
Harmonious Path
Baby it’s cold up here, especially in the summertime when no-one gears up for this type of weather. This photo was taken at Sonora Pass, California. "Sonora" comes from...
How to Post Comments on Copper
We get queries on how to post comments at the end of Copper articles. Here's how to get set up to leave comments: To comment at the end of an article, you...
Table of Contents – Issue 220
“And when he feels the world is closing in/he turns his stereo way up high” – The Kinks, “A Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy” In this summer issue: I review the...
On the Scene at T.H.E. Show 2025
On Friday, June 6th and Saturday the 7th, I attended T.H.E Show in Costa Mesa, California with my friend, Jim Carry. This year, T.H.E. Show included a car audio...
They Say It’s Wonderful: Octave Records Present...
Brian Nova is a world-class jazz guitar virtuoso and vocalist, and on Octave Records’ latest, They Say It’s Wonderful, he takes listeners on a nostalgic musical journey through a varied...
Orchestra in the Age of Algorithms: A Reflectio...
In a world shaped by TikTok – a world that scrolls by in seconds and speaks in soundbites – where does an orchestra belong? What becomes of nuance in an...
The Kinks – The Journey, Part 3, and an Intervi...
About a year ago, the Kinks released The Journey, Part 1, the first of three double-album retrospectives commemorating the band’s 60th anniversary. The Journey, Part 2 followed at the end...
Blues History By Way of Classic Rock Part 2: T...
Introduction I decided to construct a playlist of music from the 1930s for my own listening enjoyment. In doing research of leading artists from that decade, I discovered some household...
Buzz Me In: Inside the Record Plant Studios, a ...
The former Record Plant studios in New York and California are the stuff of music legend, places where a mind-blowing number of hit albums and singles were recorded, and mind-bending...
Laura Nyro's Final on Vinyl
Angel in the Dark: a Last Look Back When I spoke to Laura Nyro in 1993, she had released what was then her last studio album, Walk the Dog and...
Quick Takes: Stjernebru, Ola Onabulé and Nicola...
Stjernebru (2L Records) Stjernebru is a new release from Morten Lindberg’s 2L Records, which, as the Norwegian company states, specializes in making recordings in spacious acoustic venues: large concert halls,...
From The Audiophile's Guide: More About Room Tr...
This article is part of a series of excerpts from The Audiophile's Guide, a 10-volume set that offers guidance and knowledge about all aspects of audio reproduction and system setup. Previous...
Confessions of a Setup Man: An Unexpected Audio...
It’s well-known among audiophiles that our systems can sound better or worse from day to day. Sometimes, the better the system, the more inconsistent it can sound. Over the past...
How to Play in a Rock Band, 13: Adventures at t...
While I usually play an average of a gig or so a month, once a year our band gets the opportunity to play multiple gigs in a single three-day stretch...
What’s the Story with Meters in Home Audio Play...
Analog VU meters with bouncing needle displays have long been present on audiophile components, particularly amplifiers and tape decks. Think of the 1970s and 1980s vintage gear made by...
Robin Trower’s Classic For Earth Below Album Ri...
Robin Trower has never sat still. His tenure with the band Procol Harum from 1967 to 1971 was cut short because he simply kept coming up with musical ideas that...
The People Who Make Audio Happen: Adventures at...
NAMM is the world's biggest music industry trade show, filled with instruments, artists, concerts, parties, and people. It’s a complex event, ranging from the trade show, to NAMM U for...
The Vinyl Beat: New Grooves and Old Favorites
New Grooves: Here are some recent new additions to the collection. The Blackbyrds: City Life (Jazz Dispensary/Craft Recordings) Back in the early 1970s, Donald Byrd departed from his hard bop...
Back to My Reel-to-Reel Roots, Part 19: Reports...
(Please note that this installment relates directly to the previous column, published in Issue 219.) Having established that my comparison between the Tuchel and the four-banana-sockets line-level outputs on the...
PS Audio in the News
The Audiophiliac aka Steve Guttenberg called the Aspen FR5 loudspeaker “PS Audio’s heavyweight champion,” noting that it “filled the room in a way that few small speakers can do.” He...
Shades of Summer
Those of us of a certain age remember seeing countless tube components that looked like this 1950s Bell Model 2200C integrated amplifier. This one's missing its bloated-looking tube cage. Courtesy...
Uplifting
This dad repeatedly picked up his little girl in response to her endless requests. The picture was taken on Fletcher Cove in Solana Beach, California.
How to Post Comments on Copper
We get queries on how to post comments at the end of Copper articles. Here's how to get set up to leave comments: To comment at the end of an article, you...
Table of Contents – Issue 219
“And for everyone who thinks that life is just a game/do you like the part you’re playing?” – Love, “You Set the Scene” In this issue: Jeff Weiner looks at...
Narada — The Other New Age Label, Part One
Quite possibly the most-maligned genre of music in the last 60 years (aside from progressive rock, which I also enjoy), new age had its heyday in the 1980s and 1990s....
The Wood Brothers Celebrate Their 20th Annivers...
Next year The Wood Brothers celebrate their 20th anniversary as a band, and in advance of that milestone they are about to release their ninth studio album, Puff of Smoke...
Bruckner for a Desert Island: Ambling in Realms...
Translation by Stéphane Treyvaud Copper has an exchange program with selected magazines, where we share articles, including this one, between publications. This one's from Germany's FIDELITY magazine. Anton Bruckner (1824 – 1896),...
Another Bucket List Event: the 19th Annual La J...
On Sunday, April 27, 2025, the 19th Annual La Jolla Concours d’Elegance rolled unto the Pacific coastline for a celebration of style, elegance, and engineering. What began as a modest...
The Vinyl Beat: The Cat’s in the Bag?
With AXPONA 2025 safely in the past, it’s time to hop back into the listening room with some records. I didn’t spend a penny on vinyl at the show (too...