Copper

Ditching the Digital Disc Player and Embracing ...

I do intend to get back to the normal record review format of this column, but I felt compelled this go-around to continue talking about how my DSD-ripping experience has...

Dr. Fang Bian of HIFIMAN

HIFIMAN manufactures high-end headphones, headphone amps, portable music players, headphone cables, and other products. The company was founded in by Dr. Fang Bian in 2007 in China and, two years later, introduced...

Strategy

Despite no record of accidents ever, or tickets for the last 25 years, the state recently demanded I renew my motorcycle license. That included a written test. The California DMV...

Confessions of a Record Collector, Part One

I wonder if a lot of Copper readers are record collectors. Well, I suppose that’s like asking if dogs like bones. Record collecting can be fun or frustrating, cheap or expensive. Finding...

Superstar: The Long Tour

Beginning in 1972, I was involved in the production of Superstar, The Original American Touring Company (OATC). It was a touring version of the hit album Jesus Christ Superstar (see my article in Issue 118). Superstar was...

Sub Missive

Optimizing the bass response of an audio system is well worth the effort, as most audiophiles will attest to. It requires an initial investment of a little time and effort,...

C.J. Vanston – Producer, Film Composer, Musicia...

Record producer to the stars and Hollywood film composer C.J. Vanston has more talents than seems humanly possible. Not only is he a go-to record producer and first-call film composer,...

Dr. Patrick Gleeson: The Interview, Part Three

Musician, engineer, producer,  professor of 18th Century English literature?! You may not be familiar with the name Patrick Gleeson, but he has quite a résumé. He ditched a career as a...

Vertical Integration

Courtesy of Paul's Posts reader Joseph Pickel: “My grandmother worked for Victor Talking Machines in Camden, New Jersey. Throughout the years, she had saved a few ads and I thought...

Head Trip

Orchestral Manoeuvres

The Giants of Tape, Part Four

This time we’re going to have a look at another Ampex tape machine, an ATR-104 with plenty of extras! It lives at Airshow Mastering in Boulder, Colorado (not too far from PS...

Reflectivity

Photo shot at Peña Blanca Lake, Coronado National Forest, Arizona.

The Jazz Side of Henry Mancini, Part Three

In our last installment (Issue 136; Part One appeared in Issue 135), we left you at the Banzai Pipeline, surfing your way to one of Henry Mancini’s greatest big band tunes....

The Doobie Brothers: Long, Slow Burn

Sometimes a goofy gag turns out to be a brilliant idea. The name “The Doobie Brothers” was supposed to be a puerile reference to the amount of pot the band...

Illinois Jacquet: Reed Man

Sometimes a career is all about meeting the right people at the right time. That was the case when teenaged alto saxophonist Jean-Baptiste Illinois Jacquet got to play for Nat...

White-Knuckling It: John Lennon/Plastic Ono Ban...

The 1970s dawned with a blistering hangover as the 1960s bled right into the new decade. On September 13, 1969, just before Abbey Road began dominating end-of-’60s radio, John Lennon sang at...

The X Factor: Richard X. Heyman

I discovered Richard X. Heyman by chance, really. Upon release, the cover of his 1988 debut album Living Room just kind of caught my eye as I was browsing through a record...