Paul's Posts

While it might feel counterintuitive, it is often helpful to zoom in for a micro view in order to perfect the macro view: focusing closely on the smallest details of... Read more...

Fix It In Pre

My wife Terri is working on getting a sign made for Octave Studios that reads like today’s post’s headline. Fix it in pre: a takeoff on the infamous fix it in post. We... Read more...

Less Than Obvious Choices

Now that we’ve moved the main PS Audio reference system from Music Room Two to Music Room Three we have a new challenge at hand. Where formerly the problems in... Read more...

Reaching equilibrium

If I am to enjoy a morning breakfast of blueberries, yogurt, and granola there has to be a proper balance between the flavors. My preference in berries runs towards the... Read more...

Are we crazy?

I have been asked so many times whether or not I am crazy that those questions not only roll off my back like water and ducks, but I have become... Read more...

THD

Ever wonder why harmonic distortion figures include the word total? Surely we don't benefit from knowing partial harmonic distortion. Or do we? Harmonic distortion happens when higher frequencies that are... Read more...

The best of two worlds

Two of the most valuable tools we have at Octave Records are a pair of Audeze headphones and the FR30 loudspeakers. Putting the headphones on while setting up a recording... Read more...

See through music

When you are watching a live show you can see the musicians and hear their individual instruments. The visuals add clarity to what you are hearing. Listening on your stereo... Read more...

Plasticity

What a great word. noun:1. The quality of being easily shaped or moulded.2. The adaptability of an organism to changes in its environment or differences between its various habitats. Plasticity very... Read more...

The Woody

Yeah, I know what you thought upon reading that headline... :) No, this post is about materials and perceptions. When I was growing up the cool-guy-car surfers always wanted to... Read more...

Moving to the edges

It might not make much sense when we see an amplifier's frequency range specified as 10Hz to 60kHz. After all, this kind of extreme frequency range is unusable to humans.... Read more...

Total absorption

One of my YouTube viewers writes: "Paul, love almost all your videos. but. I think TOTAL ABSORTION behind the speakers is crucial. Reflection behind the speakers is just noise. PERIOD.... Read more...

Lowering our guard

We learn from very early on to protect ourselves from pain and unpleasantness. If something is too loud we cover our ears and move away. On a more moderate scale,... Read more...

Ask the right question

Sorting out recording qualities from the hundreds (perhaps thousands) of choices of high-resolution DSD offerings can be a challenge. We go to a label's offerings and read the blurb, listen... Read more...

Polishing touches

It is always a conundrum whether to polish or rearrange a system. The first time I hear a new system that has yet to be dialed in I have to... Read more...

Is analog soft?

When we think of the analog sound we're inevitably referencing a reproduction. This is because we experience analog sound through our stereo systems which, of course, are reproduction playback systems.... Read more...

Staying home

It wasn't that long ago that my purchasing decisions were made mostly in stores. I would figure out what I wanted, search for a retail outlet that carried it, hopped... Read more...

Too cool for comfort

Can audio components run too cool? This is an interesting question. We've all experienced how different our systems sound when we first turn them on. Cold they sound like their... Read more...

Classics

In 1976 Swedish recording engineer, Gert Palmcrantz recorded live to analog tape a Swedish jazz group featuring Arne Domnérus, alto sax, clarinet; Bengt Hallberg, piano; Lars Erstrand, vibes; Georg Riedel,... Read more...

Robot discrimination

We are all familiar with websites (like our own) requiring us to prove we are human. Sometimes it's a simple checkbox certifying your humanness. Other times it's a challenge to... Read more...

Country/Region

Country/Region