Copper


Learning to Fly

Issue 123Opening Salvo

Every day is an opportunity to learn something. Even when there are days when we feel like we’re wading through molasses, we can still expand our knowledge, even if it’s...

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The Soul of Guitar Tone

Issue 123TWISTED SYSTEMS

As a guitar player for the last 55 years, hundreds of guitars have passed through my hands and I currently own about 60. When I was younger, I had no...

Projects, Projects, Projects

Issue 123MUSIC AUDIO AND OTHER ILLNESSES

What the hell have I been up to, you wonder? Just kidding, I didn’t expect my recent absence to be noted. But nonetheless, I’ve been involved with three sort of...

Truth or Dare

Issue 123DEEP DIVE

Hi readers, Frank has kindly asked me if I would like to write more articles for Copper. This is a real honor, as most of the contributors are veterans in the audio...

Hearing Loss and the Need for High-End Audio

Issue 123FRANKLY SPEAKING

Many of us have hearing loss. I do. I used to be able to hear the 15.7 kHz whine that a flyback transformer would make in old CRT (cathode ray-tube)...

Springsteen’s Letter to You Rocks the Spirit

Issue 123WAYNE'S WORDS

I was listening to the song “The Power of Prayer” from the new Bruce Springsteen album Letter to You when I drove by a church known for posting witty aphorisms on its...

Renaissance: Songs for All Seasons

Issue 123TRUE-LIFE ROCK TALES

“Wrong Way Wicks,” Annie Haslam says to me. I had just joined the Renaissance tour in the fall of 1974 that was already in progress. I was the replacement road...

Twice the Fun

Issue 123AUDIO ANTHROPOLOGY

Twice as much fun as a mono dance party! Stereo Dance Party by Ralph Marterie and His Orchestra, original Mercury reel-to-reel tape, catalog number MS2-13.   This book made a lasting impression...

A Conversation with ZVOX’s Tom Hannaher

Issue 123THE COPPER INTERVIEW

ZVOX may seem like a bit of a different choice for a Copper interview, considering it’s a company that offers soundbars, headphones and hearing aids rather than high-end exotica. Yet ZVOX has strong...

AES Show Fall 2020 Highlights, Part One

Issue 123INDUSTRY NEWS

The major city lockdowns across the nation because of COVID-19 have created a new paradigm for industry trade shows and conferences. Now it’s all done online using apps like Zoom...

10 More Great Guitar Solos

Issue 123FEATURED

As I wrote in Issue 117: I am not a musician – I play no instrument (I can whistle pretty well, though). I did play the drums (in high school and college),...

Five Weeks in Mongolia, Part One

Issue 123FEATURED

It’s morning in Ulan Bator, Mongolia. I feel green, shaken and dehydrated from a rather spectacular night of diarrhea and vomiting. In matters of revenge, Montezuma has got nothing on...

Frank Zappa – The King of Freaky’s New Movie

Issue 123MUSIC TO MY EARS

A new documentary named Zappa will be released by Magnolia Pictures on November 27, 2020. I was incredibly fortunate to be a sent a screener for the movie in the hope I...

Eight Decades of Wrong Assumptions: The Loudnes...

Issue 123REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE

Let’s cut straight to the chase: Who won the loudness wars? Nobody. (For the benefit of those unfamiliar with the term, the “Loudness War” refers to the practice of trying...

Whisky

Issue 123MUSIC'AL NOTES

The man with the whisky bottle kept filling my glass. I was thrilled; a 14 year-old drinking alcohol for the first time. It was a synagogue party and I had...

Can You Carry a Concept Too Far?

Issue 123COMPLETE RECOVERY

You might have heard about Danzig Sings Elvis when it was released in April. If you did, then like me you thought that Glenn Danzig (keywords: punk, metal, goth, horror, loud, shirtless)...

Milt Hinton: Dean of the Jazz Bass

Issue 123TRADING EIGHTS

When Milt Hinton was born in 1910, Mississippi was far from a welcoming place for Black people. Hinton once told a reporter that he saw a lynching when he was...

Shining Stars

Issue 123OFF THE CHARTS

When he was a teenager, Tennessee native Maurice White moved to Chicago to live with his mother. He started gigging on the drums in nightclubs, while by day he attended...

Tale of the Tapes

Issue 123EUREKA MOMENTS

When I arrived on campus my freshman year at Marist College I brought with me a wooden box filled with cassette tapes. I still have that wood box and now...

I Was Standing on a Corner in Clifton, Arizona

Issue 123PARTING SHOT

Clifton, Arizona. I like the fact that it's always easy to find a spot to park your motorcycle. What I find disturbing is that there isn't a single audio shop...

Winners

Issue 123TOO MUCH TCHAIKOVSKY

  For weeks now I’ve been planning a column on the winners of various creative-achievement prizes in music. No problem with material — it’s all there. The only problem is...

Four Great Albums - One Just Sounds Terrible

Issue 123TO BE DETERMINED

Japandroids – Massey F*cking Hall Japandroids is an indie/post-punk duo from Vancouver, Canada; the band consists of Brian King on guitars and lead vocals and David Prowse on drums. The band...