Paul's Posts

Seem like one of the more glamorous jobs in the recording industry might be location recording—going to the live event with the best seat in the house and access to... Read more...

Dagwood

How many of us can recall the Blondie cartoon strip with one of my all-time favorites, Dagwood Bumstead, and his enormous over-the-top sandwich? To this day I do my best... Read more...

Additive vs. subtractive

When we use our very expensive Audio Precision system to measure distortion levels what we're looking for is additive—harmonics that are generated in response to an input signal. The simple... Read more...

Dynamic contrast

Dynamics are defined as the difference between loud and soft. That the greater the dynamic range the greater the magnitude of differences between the loudest and softest. At least that's... Read more...

The timeless dimension

When we finish with an Octave release we upload the digital masters to a server owned by Sony that is located in Austria. The upload takes between 20 minutes and... Read more...

Dealing with the ordinary

Newspapers and media don't report what's ordinary and every day. That's not news! And neither do the audio reviewers. They want to bring you the latest, greatest, and whatever it... Read more...

Tough choices

When do we make the decision to compromise? To choose convenience over quality of experience. It is far more convenient to stream music than play it from a disc. And... Read more...

The traveler

We can download a digital file from anywhere in the world and it will sound the same regardless of where it came from or how it got to us. Yet,... Read more...

The asymmetrical room

Customers often send me drawings of their rooms. One of their biggest worries seems to be when the room is not symmetrical. And their greatest angst seems to occur if... Read more...

Impedance differences

If you double the input impedance of your power amplifier from, say, 30kΩ to 60kΩ you're not going to hear a difference. Yet, double the input impedance of your phono... Read more...

DXD

DXD is a digital audio format that has a lot of people excited. From Wikipedia: "Digital eXtreme Definition (DXD) is a digital audio format that originally was developed by Philips... Read more...

PRaT

Most of us are familiar with Pacing, rhythm, and Timing. PRaT for short. It's what gets our feet tapping to the music. Not all equipment promotes PRaT. Some equipment sounds... Read more...

Giving thanks

I understand Thanksgiving is an American tradition. I also understand it's traditional on this national holiday to eat turkey. I am pretty sure you don't need to be an American... Read more...

Size matters

One of the easiest ways to achieve proper volume levels for a given track of music is to measure the size of the center image. I am not suggesting some... Read more...

A new channel

Octave Records is growing. From the new studio we're building, to the creation of new recording technologies that have never been used before, we're forging ahead to help shape the... Read more...

Why stereo?

In an age where multi-channel receivers and equipment can be easily had, why do we stay with only two speakers? Some of us have been around long enough to remember... Read more...

Birds

What was that saying about birds of a feather? Seems to me whoever started that old chestnut hadn't spent a lot of time watching birds. Out my south window, I... Read more...

Before they are gone

Octave Record's vinyl releases seem to go pretty quickly. We sold out of the Gabriel Mervine in a matter of hours (what a spectacular recording!). As I have mentioned in... Read more...

Too good to be true

In 1946, in an effort to sell more cigarettes, the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company created a Medical Relations Division and advertised it in medical journals. This division produced the following... Read more...

Les Paul

Modern music and the art of recording have much to thank the musician, Les Paul for. Lester William Polsfuss was born in 1915 and lived to the ripe old age... Read more...

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