Interviews

Michael Fremer and Joe Harley Interviewed By Colorado Public Radio's Scott Carney

Michael Fremer  |  Apr 19, 2014

Last Thursday morning April 17th Joe Harley (Audioquest V.P. and record/reissue producer) and I visited Colorado Public Radio Studios where OpenAir host (and vinyl fanatic) Scott Carney interviewed us about vinyl for a show that would air on Record Store Day.

Along with many other high performance audio folks we were in town for a two evening event at Denver's Listen Up! high end audio store. Carney spoke with us for a half hour and we were expecting it to be cut down, even streaming online, but you can stream (it will take some time to load so be patient) the entire interview here

COMMENTS
Ryan L.'s picture
Submitted by Ryan L. on Sat, 2014-04-19 19:25

...that website makes it very difficult to listen if you have an iPhone 4s. I'd love to hear it, but can't. 

Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on Sun, 2014-04-20 10:42

is it difficult to listen with an iPhone 4s?

Ryan L.'s picture
Submitted by Ryan L. on Sun, 2014-04-20 19:56

It's the way the website displays on the phone. There's no "Listen Now" button to click. Nothing major, just a bit of a drag. 

Ryan L.'s picture
Submitted by Ryan L. on Sat, 2014-04-26 09:54

Fun interview. 

Stu Morgenstern's picture
Submitted by Stu Morgenstern on Sat, 2014-04-19 19:54

Mike, what a great interview. As you say, well produced music on vinyl has emotion and energy. So do you.

rdh79730's picture
Submitted by rdh79730 on Mon, 2014-04-21 09:11

You were really here for the Cannabis Cup, right? ;-)

Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on Mon, 2014-04-21 09:26

I can't remember...

ebuzz's picture
Submitted by ebuzz on Mon, 2014-04-21 13:20

Nice job, once again!

recordhead's picture
Submitted by recordhead on Tue, 2014-04-22 11:20

Sorry but I don't get it. A great interview but at the end you start with the apologizing for associating with someone on the "other side." I LOVE your DVD's! But, what if before I recommend them (which I have) I threw out a disclaimer that you were a democrat? Would it matter? No. So why does it matter that the guy in the story had to be labeled by his or her view on politics? I know, it's public radio and you were able to score a few comedic jabs with a largely left audience. I'm still a big fan and I value your opinion. I hope there's another DVD in the works but next time get some public domain music so we can here your system.

ebuzz's picture
Submitted by ebuzz on Tue, 2014-04-22 12:36

You know something, you're right Recordhead! I like mickey's DVD's eventhough he's a Democrat! 

Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on Wed, 2014-04-23 09:50

I didn't see it as a "jab". I just thought it was funny and I was trying to make the point that vinyl overcomes political differences. That's all. 

G.R.Noakes's picture
Submitted by G.R.Noakes on Wed, 2014-04-23 19:30

...that most of us learned that most Republicans don't have any sense of humor when Stephen Colbert was asked to the White House Correspondents' Dinner in 2006, where he "saluted" President Bush:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7FTF4Oz4dI

 

Republicans across the nation couldn't understand why someone so right wing, one of their own, with such deep, hard-hitting political savvy, would roast the president. And then they realized that his show was on Comedy Central.

 

When it was announced that Stephen Colbert would take over for David Letterman next year, and it was discovered that Colbert had been doing an over-the-top impression of Bill O'Reilly all these years, Rush Limbaugh announced that it was "a shot across the bow of Middle America."

 

They just seem to take everything, even the non-serious stuff, a little too seriously....

 

Gary

kenkirk's picture
Submitted by kenkirk on Tue, 2014-04-22 11:22

I grew up free. Listening to vinyl and analog tape freely and living large. Then in the 80's I bought a cd player and imprisoned myself to audio hell for 20 years. Then you guided me back to the light. I rediscovered music around 2005 with a new turntable and began collecting vinyl again like an addict. I finally calmed down and spin vinyl freely and enjoy the free spirit of music that breathes with life. Then I bought a nice high end DAC and a big RAID drive to enjoy HD digital. And its pretty good. Its like going back into my audio prison cell, but now it has a comfy couch and a couple of windows. But I get restless and eventually escape back into vinyl. I freaking lost 20 years of my audio life to that dreadful cd. And I did it to myself... self loathing I guess. Great interview. You will always be my hero for getting me out of my cage. Thanks! smiley

 

Ken

Steve Edwards's picture
Submitted by Steve Edwards on Tue, 2014-04-22 13:54

Understand your plight Ken. Though I never bailed on vinyl, I jumped all over the cd craze in the early 80s as well. Think my first player was an ADS, paid $900, a lot of cabbage back then (and still is).  That lure of totally quiet backgrounds sucked me right in. 

I still listen to CDs; find a few of them actually sonically fulfilling, e.g. Sonia Dada, Doug MacLeod's Ain't the Blues Evil, Two Against Nature, etc.  But, after a short period, it's back to my Linn. I haven't taken the hi-Rez download jump yet; seem to funnel any discretionary funds toward vinyl.

Be careful not to spend too much time on acousticsounds.com, you can put a real hurt on your bank account there!

Play on

Paul Boudreau's picture
Submitted by Paul Boudreau on Thu, 2014-04-24 10:30

I also never bailed on vinyl although for a while there it looked like vinyl was going to bail on me!  There have been many instances over the last thirty years or so where it was digital or nothing, so I went for the CDs when I wanted to hear that music.  Not much of a choice for a music lover.

In a closet I still have the original Magnavox CD player a friend of mine bought in the fall of '82, which I bought from him the year after.  The original cost was $1000, or $2449 in 2014 dollars.

Milan's picture
Submitted by Milan on Thu, 2014-04-24 04:30

I'm pretty surprised that a lot of folks are disappointed by the new Blue Note vinyl initiative. I haven't bought a copy so far, but have quite a few of the correspondent 24/192 downloads from HDTracks and think they sound really, really good. I'd say they are on par with the Audiowave/ Music Matterss XRCD24s. Has the vinyl maybe been cut in a way to sound more polite than the digital equivalent? 

Greetings,

Milan

Lawolf8's picture
Submitted by Lawolf8 on Thu, 2014-04-24 11:16

I had to give up vinyl since moving around college and many apartments for decades.  I only had one friend who had a great system and I only heard it twice, but it had true 3D sound, my jaw dropped when her voice was floating in mid air and strings and horns in deep rounded space.  Incredible. Tho I didn't want his mess of boxes and wires.

20+ years later  bought  great British kit, and my friend gave me his old Rega planar3. Soooo out to the stores, what fun, avoiding what I knew I wouldn't like but finding classics I never had.  What a wonderful sound and more than a hobby.  12 years on I'm focussing on early jazz and vocalists because of the analog recordings and artists.  It's wonderful to get charged on something new.

Listening has become a solo event, friends don't have the time to sit and listen anymore so CDs and streaming become background mood music. I do that too, but an album is an evening with a drink and really listen to the depth and emotion of the artists. I often never turn on the lousy news and other programing and play DJ, it is a great meditation.

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