Copper


Showgazing

Issue 162Opening Salvo

As you might have seen or heard, AXPONA 2022, Audio Expo North America, was a big success. Literally, with more than 7,500 attendees visiting more than 150 rooms. It felt good to...

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95 Tears

Issue 162Sitting In

I cried a little bit when Jerry Garcia died. I saw the Grateful Dead for the first time in 1967 and was in awe. I became a Deadhead and saw...

In Search of the Real Nick Drake

Issue 162To Be Determined

Who exactly was Nick Drake? Nicholas Rodney Drake was born June 19, 1948, in Rangoon, Burma, where his father Rodney served as an engineer with the Bombay Burma Trading Company....

A Pre-Entry-Level Analog MP3 Killer

Issue 162Featured

This is the first in a series of semi-serious reviews – unabashedly replete with unsubstantiated speculations, hyperbole, unverified assumptions, conjectures and barely logical conclusions. But first, a story: In the...

Beethoven Trios: Beyond Archduke

Issue 162Something Old / Something New

One of Ludwig van Beethoven’s most beloved works of chamber music is the so-called Archduke Trio, named after the Austrian nobleman it was dedicated to. But the Archduke is only one of over 20 pieces...

Warren Zevon: Exceptional Boy

Issue 162Off the Charts

Warren Zevon could never have been a standard, mainstream rock star. His life started out with too many extraordinary elements to allow him to be mainstream. He was fated to...

The Joys of Monophonic Recordings, Part One

Issue 162Deep Dive

The development of modern stereophonic recording technique is generally credited to British engineer Alan Blumlein, who started experimenting with it during the first half of the 1930s, even though some...

How AXPONA Got Its Groove Back, Part One

Issue 162Frankly Speaking

One man. More than 150 rooms and 200 exhibitors. 25 seminars. 22 hours. AXPONA 2022. There’s a reason why audio-show coverage is almost always incomplete: no one person can cover...

Crowning Achievements

Issue 162Audio Anthropology

A Fisher 440-T receiver circa 1964. By this time, transistors were starting to supersede tubes, and this 40 watt-per-channel model is the first Fisher transistor receiver. It’s known for having...

Pristine Classical: Preserving Priceless Histor...

Issue 162Sitting In

Historical performances don’t get a lot of love from audiophiles. And let’s face it: many historical performances were recorded using primitive equipment, under less-than-ideal conditions. To modern ears, accustomed to...

Mickey Finn of Jetboy: Glam Metal Lives!

Issue 162Idle Chatter

The 1980s glam metal scene is retrospectively revered by some and derided by others. While it ultimately may be diplomatically viewed as a mixed bag, one thing is certain –...

Hearing Loss - Now It’s Getting Personal

Issue 162Featured

After recently interviewing Scott Newnam of Audio Advice (Issue 161 and Issue 160), I reflected on the answers to one of the questions I had asked him: What question do audiophiles very...

Tiny Dancer

Issue 162Parting Shot

This dashboard hula dancer is a traveling good spirit.

The A&M Records Story, Part Three

Issue 162Featured

Our last installment (Issue 161) found A&M in transition, moving away from the vocal and instrumental pop and vocal sounds into some British rock and domestic rock and folk acts, as well...

Back to My Reel-to-Reel Roots, Part 14: Origina...

Issue 162Natural Born Kessler

Like vintage watches, pre-owned tapes are best appreciated with mint, original packaging. Ken Kessler finds they often disappoint. It was our friend Jeff Dorgay at TONEAudio who first identified me as an...

Phil Ramone: Making Records: The Scenes Behind ...

Issue 162Book Review

I’ve been reviewing the autobiographies of many of the producer/engineers who are responsible for a great many of the records that Copper readers and music fans around the globe have loved for...

Around the World In 80 Lathes, Part 12

Issue 162Revolutions Per Minute

In our previous episode (Issue 161), we discussed the “lightweight” category of monophonic cutter heads made from the 1930s through the 1960s. These moving-iron record-cutting heads, manufactured by RCA, Presto, Rek-O-Kut, Fairchild,...

Jack Tempchin: Songwriter to the Stars

Issue 162Disciples of Sound

There are a thousand reasons why Jack Tempchin is in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Of course, some of these reasons are tied to the timeless tunes he has written...

Pilgrimage to Sturgis, Part 20

Issue 162New Vistas

  The early morning sun blasted through the shade of my window like a World War II searchlight mounted on the neighbor’s roof. I tried to avoid it by turning...

Emerson, Lake & Palmer: Lucky Men

Issue 162Off the Charts

It was called progressive rock, but when Emerson, Lake & Palmer played this genre, it looked as much back into music history as it did forward into the newest reaches...