Copper


Grupo Rebolú's Afro-Colombian Breakthrough

Issue 168Wayne's Words

Mi Herencia (My Heritage) Broadens Latin Roots Music You may have an earlier example, but for me, ever since Cuban percussionist Chano Pozo teamed up with trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie on “Manteca”...

The A&M Records Story, Part Six: The 1980s ...

Issue 168Featured

The transition from the 1980s to the 1990s would be a bittersweet moment. In 1989, Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss sold A&M Records, the largest independent record label ever, to...

Where To Buy (High-Quality) Classical Downloads

Issue 168Featured

With the recent resurgence of interest in vinyl, we are seeing the slow return of dedicated record stores. But let’s be honest: it’s still very much a niche market and...

Big Sky

Issue 168Parting Shot

The Manhattan skyline, July 4, 2022, taken from Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It’s always an impressive sight, and the sky complementing it was particularly spectacular on this evening.

Kitty Wells: Queen of Country Music

Issue 168Off the Charts

Before there was Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, there was Kitty Wells. The singer was the first woman to become a major star in country music, and only the third...

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater: Glo...

Issue 168Something Old / Something New

Music history textbooks usually bring up Giovanni Battista Pergolesi in the context of his contributions to comic opera, which influenced Mozart. But his religious works, particularly his setting of the Stabat...

Why I Quit Buying New Vinyl

Issue 167Featured

Vinyl is a medium which my opinion is torn on. I like the sound, the experience, the large cover art, and the ability to read the liner notes without a...

Cats and Dogs…Well, Mostly Cats (Part Two)

Issue 167Featured

(Cat haters might want to hit the “Next” button, but if you do, you’ll miss a new photo of Otis, my neighbor’s Golden Retriever, formerly the cutest puppy, with three...

Sitting Down and Listening

Issue 167Opening Salvo

We are pleased to say that audio reviewer and photographer Howard Kneller has launched a YouTube channel called “The Listening Chair.” Howard is a regular contributor to Copper and his work has...

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Around the World In 80 Lathes, Part 17

Issue 167Revolutions Per Minute

In the previous episode (Issue 166), we looked at the work of Flo Kaufmann of FloKaSon in Switzerland, the man who decided to preserve the Neumann disk recording legacy by keeping vintage Neumann lathes...

Eico Eico

Issue 167Audio Anthropology

An Eico HF-81 integrated amplifier. With restoration, this unassuming circa 1960s component can sound excellent.   Eico HF-81 rear view showing its EL84 output tubes, generating a mighty 14 watts...

Talking With Larry Jaffee of Making Vinyl, Part...

Issue 167Frankly Speaking

Copper contributor Larry Jaffee is the co-founder of Making Vinyl, an industry organization dedicated to fostering cooperation among those in the record-manufacturing industry. Larry is also the author of Record Store Day: The Most...

Pilgrimage to Sturgis, Part 25

Issue 167New Vistas

“Ever been married, Evelyn?” I asked her over breakfast. “Yeah, for about a year. I was 19 and he was 25. He had a red Camaro convertible. In retrospect, I...

Audio Art in NYC: Devon Turnbull’s Listening Ex...

Issue 167FROM THE SWEET SPOT

While browsing around Steve Guttenberg’s The Audiophiliac channel on YouTube, I came across several videos featuring Devon Turnbull, a multi-talented audio engineer and former clothing and graphic designer and graffiti artist, who...

Richie Furay: Buffalo Springfield and Poco Foun...

Issue 167Disciples of Sound

In the promotional trailer for the forthcoming documentary on the life of musician Richie Furay, narrator Cameron Crowe says, “unlike his bandmates and those he influenced who attained international stardom...

Memoirs

Issue 167Music'al Notes

Writing memoirs is a strange process. I have written 60-plus stories, but two things happened to curtail my writing. First, I have almost run out of stories to tell. (After...

Getting the Most from an A/V Receiver: Yamaha’s...

Issue 167Featured

In Part One (Issue 166), we briefly covered some of the highlights of the Yamaha Web Editor SetUp online utility, which is designed to get the best sonic performance from an Yamaha...

When Domestic Bliss is an Audio Miss

Issue 167Twisted Systems

When you walk into my apartment you stroll past the art in the foyer, and a dining room table, and enter the living room. (It’s the photo above.) Look around....

Experimental Musician Billy Yfantis Explores In...

Issue 167Idle Chatter

Recently, I caught up with virtual space traveler, traverser of the celestial world, musician, and author Billy Yfantis. He’s an experimental musician who has released five albums, the latest being The...

The Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society...

Issue 167Featured

I first met Sunil Merchant at T.H.E. Show in 2021, an audio show that took place in Long Beach, California (as it did in June 2022, and I’ll be reporting...

Reconsider Baby: Elvis, the Movie

Issue 167Featured

Among other things, Elvis Presley invented the rock ’n’ roll comeback. Up until 1968, ”coming back” from a career break barely existed in the new style since most fell short,...

Back to My Reel-to-Reel Roots, Part 19: Reports...

Issue 167Natural Born Kessler

(Please note that this installment relates directly to the previous column, published in Issue 166.) Having established that my comparison between the Tuchel and the four-banana-sockets line-level outputs on the Nagra IV-S...

AES Europe Spring 2022, Part Three

Issue 167Show Report

(Copper Issue 166 featured coverage of AES Europe Spring 2022 presentations that included a look at the intricacies of tuning high-performance audio systems for automobiles; a study on the changes in how consumers...

Hooked on Earworms

Issue 167The Mindful Melophile

“An earworm is a song or melody that keeps repeating in one’s mind.” Merriam-Webster Earworms can be found in many of the pieces and songs you enjoy listening to: all you...

The Exotic Sounds of Madagascar

Issue 167Featured

Most people’s knowledge of Madagascar comes from nature documentaries or Disney’s series of loopy animated movies. But Copper readers may also be intrigued by the music of Madagascar, which is every bit...

Paul Butterfield: Rockin’ the Blues

Issue 167Off the Charts

Have harmonica, will rock. That could have been Paul Butterfield’s slogan. Blues is at the root of rock and roll, but Butterfield’s commitment to the two genres benefited both equally....

Toshiko Akiyoshi: Founder of Big Band’s Rebirth

Issue 167Trading Eights

When one thinks of women in the big band era, it’s normal to picture a female singer backed up by an all-male band. That’s one reason Toshiko Akiyoshi is so...

Play It Like You Mean It

Issue 167

Charlie Parker said, “If you don’t live it, it won’t come out your horn.” Well, Bird nailed it in describing the tight thunder that emanates from the long horns these...

Play It Like You Mean It

Issue 167Parting Shot

Charlie Parker said, “If you don’t live it, it won’t come out your horn.” Well, Bird nailed it in describing the tight thunder that emanates from the long horns these...

Saturday Night in San Francisco on 180-Gram LP ...

Issue 167To Be Determined

In the mid-seventies, Al Di Meola was a young, hotshot jazz fusion guitarist with Chick Corea and Return to Forever. But he’d also developed a deep understanding of Latin music,...

XTC: Steven Wilson Remix/Remasters on CD and Bl...

Issue 166To Be Determined

This follow-up to Part One in Issue 165 covers the last of the currently-available Steven Wilson XTC catalog album remix/remasters in 2-disc CD/Blu-ray sets — well, almost. I’m still missing the pseudo-XTC...

Around the World In 80 Lathes, Part 16

Issue 166Revolutions Per Minute

It has been quite a while since 1989, when professional disk mastering system manufacturing came to an end. To be precise, it has been 33 years, during which the world...

Summer Concerts: Who to See and Where?

Issue 166FROM THE SWEET SPOT

After an almost two-year continuous drought, it’s quite invigorating to see live music back with a vengeance. Certainly, live streaming was helpful in filling the void, but there’s a different...

The Latest from Octave Records: Mini Brazilian ...

Issue 166Octave Pitch

The new Octave Records release, Mini Brazilian Beasts by jazz pianist Carmen Sandim, weaves a boundless wave of piano melodies, sophisticated harmonic concepts, and the musical rhythms and moods of Sandim’s native Brazil into...

A Visit to Legendary Jazz Club Arthur’s Tavern

Issue 166Disciples of Sound

Arthur’s Tavern is one of those New York City gems that have always been among the city’s best-kept secrets. It opened in 1937 as a speakeasy just after the end of...

150 Favorite Rock Albums: More Mini-Reviews

Issue 166Frankly Speaking

In Issue 150 I listed my 150 desert island favorite rock albums, and offered a first batch of mini-reviews in Issue 151. I got a range of comments and e-mails, from complements to derision...

A Loudspeaker Company Grows in Brooklyn

Issue 166Speaker Stories

It’s been a while since someone from Copper last visited DeVore Fidelity in New York City. By the time Bill Leebens went out to Brooklyn Navy Yard in 2016, John DeVore had already been...

Five Rhythm Guitarists Who Changed Rock Music

Issue 166Idle Chatter

Rock music and rhythm guitar are inseparable. Oftentimes, rock outfits feature two guitarists, one playing lead guitar and the other specializing in rhythm. Although this is not always the case...

AES Europe Spring 2022, Part Two

Issue 166Show Report

(Copper Issue 165 featured Part One of our coverage of the Audio Engineering Society AES Europe Spring 2022 convention from The Netherlands. Part One covered presentations on the use of analog vs. digital...

Going to the Consumer Electronics Show: The Ear...

Issue 166True-Life Rock Tales

The Cable Doctor Show started modestly as a live TV call-in question and answer show on tech and installation issues. Of the three TV programs I’ve hosted, this one was my longest-running...

Pilgrimage to Sturgis, Part 24

Issue 166New Vistas

Many of the renegades gathered again late that afternoon in Chip’s garage. It seemed to be a ritual. Get off work, have a beer at Chip’s, go home to the...

Getting the Most From an A/V Receiver: Yamaha’s...

Issue 166Featured

Yamaha has recently released a slew of A/V receivers in their higher-end AVENTAGE range, with upgraded power transformers, amplifier circuits and many other features. Some of them offer powerful sound-tailoring capabilities, such as...

Seeking Enlightenment

Issue 166Opening Salvo

I’ve noted before that I’m a connoisseur of silly fortune cookie sayings. I read one that said, “To truly find yourself, you should play hide and seek alone.” Maybe finding...

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Back to My Reel-to-Reel Roots, Part 18: Reports...

Issue 166Natural Born Kessler

Open-reel tape devotees are aware of the current state of support for the format, which is now entirely the province of the niche. As far as machines go – leaving...

The History of A&M Records, Part Five

Issue 166Featured

The 1980s proved to be even more successful for A&M Records than previous decades. (Previous articles appeared in Issue 160, Issue 161, Issue 162 and Issue 165.) In the late 1970s Illegal Records, a small independent...

Favorite Venues, Part Three: Madison Square Garden

Issue 166Featured

After completing my relocation back to the East Coast, I was in closer proximity to my brother and we had the opportunity to commiserate more often, usually on the front...