Maybe Phil Spector was right. The legendary record producer was (and probably still is) a mono fan. Brian Wilson is said to have originally mixed the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds in mono because that's the way he heard it, due to a childhood hearing problem, but Spector's reasons were aesthetic, not medical. He simply preferred the way his complex, grandiose productions sounded when wedged into a single channel.
The cover art for British jazz vocalist and trumpeter Peter Horsfall's recently released LP makes clear the music's moody, lonely-at-night feel. There's always hope though, embodied in his cover of pianist Barry Harris's "Paradise", which you can listen to below, transcribed via the new Technics SL-1000R turntable fitted with an Ortofon A95.
Mobile Fidelity just announced the availability for order of its Bridge Over Troubled Water reissue, produced as a limited to 7500 copies "one-step" double 45rpm release.
In the age of Internet B2B comes a flurry of analog D2Ds! That's direct to disc, for those unfamiliar with the initialismwhich includes the keepers of www.acronymfinder.com. While the site correctly identified B2B as "business to business," a search there of "D2D" listed "date to desktop," "day to day," and "direct to data (ParkerVision, Inc.)." There's a page for "acronym submissions," so I submitted this addition: "D2D also refers to 'direct to disc'a recording wherein a live microphone feed is used to cut a lacquer for release as a vinyl LP, thus bypassing recording tape or other intermediate storage devices."
"Walk" the Venetian Hotel hallway with AnalogPlanet.com editor Michael Fremer at Day two of the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show. On day two visit Musical Surroundings and see all of the new Clearaudio, AMG and DS Audio products plus a new Hana monophonic cartridge.
Opening day was the one day needed to pretty much cover the entire High End segment at CES 2018 and I wasn't exactly rushing. What's happened? Most of the business these days is at Munich High End. It's more of an international event (for the High End) and Spring is a more opportune time for fall and holiday season buying. For a few years meeting with west coast dealers was sufficient reason for exhibiting at CES but the dealer network has shrunk. I was handed the vintage Stereophile issue in the Paradigm/Anthem room.
AnalogPlanet got invited to ta pre-CES Show opening launch of the new Technics SL-1000R and SP-10R Reference Class turntables and the sound was impressive! This was the first time these turntables were shown working and the sound based on about an hour of listening on the eve of the show's opening day was impressive!