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Audio Fidelity's Marshall Blonstein Calls It "A Side"

Michael Fremer  |  Jun 1, 2018

Marshall Blonstein, owner/founder of both the DCC Compact Classics and Audio Fidelity labels and a record industry veteran revealed in a recent email that he was retiring and closing down the Audio Fidelity label (the photo L-R is of Blonstein, AnalogPlanet editor Michael Fremer and legendary mastering engineer Kevin Gray taken during the TRON double LP mastering sessions).

Blonstein worked in west coast record promotion (though not as an "under assistant") beginning in the '60s at Dunhill and later at ABC. He then moved on to Columbia and Epic Records. In 1970 with Lou Adler he helped found Ode Records where he was involved in Carole King's Tapestry album among many others. From 1979 to 1982 he was president of Island Records.

In 1986 he founded DCC Compact Classics and released a series of gold CDs and all-analog vinyl reissues that remain to this day among the most sought after audiophile reissues. In 2002 he founded Morada Music and Video as well as Audio Fidelity, which released a series of sought after vinyl releases including the "Bladerunner" and "Tron" soundtrack albums, among others.

One can only imagine the stories Mr. Blonstein could tell after spending most of his adult life in the record business—especially during the '60s, '70s and '80s! My nose twitches just thinking about it. I asked Blonstein if he'd submit to a farewell interview. He declined writing "Michael, thank you for your generous offer but I think I’ll let the music be my last statement. After all, that was always the important part of Audio Fidelity."

COMMENTS
azmoon's picture
Submitted by azmoon on Fri, 2018-06-01 14:47

...some really great work released, especially with Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman mastering. I see Kevin Gray on quite a few recent releases but have only seen Steve Hoffman on Audio Fidelity. I wonder what he will do next?

alucas's picture
Submitted by alucas on Fri, 2018-06-01 18:10

look at the left side of his board, isn't that from 2000?

Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on Sun, 2018-06-03 12:55
Perhaps the software is
RR's picture
Submitted by RR on Tue, 2018-06-05 02:47

and now take a look on the right side thou shall see a-kind-of-Windows-made digital-to-analog-converter that is capable of
peace

SeagoatLeo's picture
Submitted by SeagoatLeo on Sat, 2018-06-02 00:53

He owns the Soupy Sales Shows. The 1978-9 series could be packaged complete. The black & white 1960's series was reportedly shot on video which was often reused like the Paul Winchell show. There is a reportedly substantial number of complete shows from the black & white series still extant.

I own about 80 DCC CDs and two dozen DCC LPs, and a few Audio Fidelitys, some of my favorite recordings. The ones I missed sell for $100-$150 now.

I am very happy for Kevin with the vinyl revival. I'm sure he will have a tremendous amount of work despite the loss of the Audio Fidelity label. He is getting more press accolades than ever now. Go, Kevin!

StonedBeatles1's picture
Submitted by StonedBeatles1 on Sun, 2018-06-03 01:06

On another note, I've always believed Windows XP to the the best consumer computer's OS. As analog for music recording and playback it simply worked!

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