Copper


The Giants of Tape, Part One

Issue 134REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE

Tape machines have been made in various shapes, sizes, forms and formats, for all kinds of applications. Magnetic tape recording in its present form came many decades after the original...

Our Staff

Issue 134Subcategories_MASTHEAD

Staff Writers:J.I. Agnew, Ray Chelstowski, Cliff Chenfeld, Jay Jay French, Tom Gibbs, Roy Hall, Rich Isaacs, Anne E. Johnson, Don Kaplan, Don Lindich, Tom Methans, B. Jan Montana, Rudy Radelic,...

Open Reel Tape: The Ultimate Analog Source? Par...

Issue 134Subcategories_DEEP DIVE

In Part One and Part Two (Issue 132 and Issue 133), this series discussed the rationale for listening to open reel tapes in the current digital music era, and surveyed...

Sylvia Massy: Pushing Sonic Boundaries With a R...

Issue 134THE COPPER INTERVIEW

From her punk and hard rock roots as a musician, Sylvia Massy has risen to dizzily lofty heights and accolades as an innovative and highly-sought producer and engineer. Her work...

Getting High, Part Three

Issue 134NEW VISTAS

In Part One (Issue 132) and Part Two (Issue 133), Alón embarked upon his quest to scale the heights of Kala Patthar near Mount Everest in Nepal. The story concludes...

Thanksgiving at the Fillmore East

Issue 134Subcategories_TRUE-LIFE ROCK TALES

Halloween had just passed and now it was turning cold. I went to a second-hand antique clothing store and bought a West Point cadet’s winter coat for $15. It was...

All About That Bass

Issue 134FEATURED

When I moved to Seattle in 1980 I lived in the Jensen Block on Eastlake Avenue, in a neighborhood of aging wooden houses, aging people, and industries that made things...

Chuck Leavell: World-Class Keyboard Player, Par...

Issue 134Subcategories_DISCIPLES OF SOUND

In Part One (Issue 133) Copper interviewed keyboard player extraordinaire Chuck Leavell about the making of The Tree Man, the new documentary about his life, and his work with the...

Randy Newman: Cinematic Storyteller

Issue 134OFF THE CHARTS

Randy Newman’s uncles Lionel, Andrew, and Emil Newman were all composers of Hollywood movie scores. As opposed to their sweeping, cinematic sounds, Randy became known for understated, sardonic lyrics with...

Troubadours, Trouvères, and Minnesingers

Issue 134SOMETHING OLD / SOMETHING NEW

The word “troubadour” gets tossed around in the modern world to mean a performer, often a singer/songwriter who travels a lot. That’s not wrong, but when the word was invented...

More of My Favorite Things

Issue 134FEATURED

In addition to the recordings I included in the first part of “A Few of My Favorite Things” (Issue 129) there are many other recordings I enjoy having in my collection. If...

For the Forest and Further On

Issue 134PARTING SHOT

“When the wagons leave the city, for the forest, and further on...” Lyrics from “Theme for an Imaginary Western” by Jack Bruce and Pete Brown. Located in Arizona, Grand Canyon...

Two Classic Albums from Jazz's Elder Statesmen,...

Issue 134TO BE DETERMINED

Charles Lloyd & the Marvels – Tone Poem 83-year-old saxophonist Charles Lloyd has actually had several careers as a musician. Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, he grew up surrounded by blues,...

Beam Me Up, Scotty

Issue 134AUDIO ANTHROPOLOGY

The chic way to rock out! Circa 1960s ad for the French Teppaz Oscar portable record player. We guess he knew how to turn it on. AKAI ad, 1970s. You...

Open Reel Tape: The Ultimate Analog Source? Par...

Issue 133DEEP DIVE

In the previous article in this series (Issue 132), we discussed the rationale for listening to open reel tapes in this era of digital music. If you love certain artists and their...

Lend Me Your Ears

Issue 133AUDIO ANTHROPOLOGY

A circa late 19th or early 20th century proto-jukebox. Listeners paid a nickel to hear music through ear tubes. From Sound and Hearing, Life Science Library, 1965. An Audio Classics...

Roye Albrighton: Nektar’s Diamond in the Rough

Issue 133TRUE-LIFE ROCK TALES

  [Editor’s Note: Ken previously wrote about progressive rock group Nektar in Issue 115 and Issue 116.] By Nektar’s second American tour in 1975-76, Roye Albrighton (lead guitar player and singer) had stopped...

The Flow of Influences On Buying Equipment

Issue 133FEATURED

What influences the equipment you buy? Make no mistake, none of us buy audio or musical instrument gear without being affected by past inspirations. I suppose my earliest memory of...

Getting High, Part Two

Issue 133NEW VISTAS

In Part One (Issue 132), Alón began his quest to scale the heights of Kala Patthar near Mount Everest in Nepal. The story continues here. After our terrifying landing at...

Chuck Leavell: The Tree Man, A World-Class Keyb...

Issue 133DISCIPLES OF SOUND

Rock and roll documentaries have become fairly predictable. Over the past year alone I think I must have watched about two dozen. They tend to follow a formula, and if...

The Big Move, Part Three

Issue 133REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE

In Part One and Part Two, J.I. Agnew wrote about the difficulties of moving an entire recording and mastering facility, complete with machine shop, grand piano, literal tons of equipment...

Groove Essentials: Four80East

Issue 133FEATURED

This story began with hamsters and a squeak toy over 20 years ago and evolved into a unique contemporary jazz project called Four80East. In their own words: “We make groovy,...

Be Here Now: Recommended New Rock

Issue 133BE HERE NOW

Welcome to the new edition of Be Here Now, a column/playlist where we compile inspired new music for busy folks who would like to discover outstanding contemporary artists. Here is a...

Confessions of a Setup Man Part 12: Failed Expe...

Issue 133FRANKLY SPEAKING

Many audiophiles are tinkerers. We’re constantly striving to squeeze the last iota of performance out of our audio systems, or we just like to putz with stuff, or we’re obsessive-compulsive....

Bach's Saint John Passion

Issue 133TOO MUCH TCHAIKOVSKY

High on my list of all-time favorite Bach arias is “Ich folge dir gleichfalls mit freudigen Schritten,” which translates as “I follow you likewise with joyful steps.” Scored for soprano...

Our Staff

Issue 133MASTHEAD

Staff Writers:J.I. Agnew, Ray Chelstowski, Cliff Chenfeld, Jay Jay French, Tom Gibbs, Roy Hall, Rich Isaacs, Anne E. Johnson, Don Kaplan, Don Lindich, Tom Methans, B. Jan Montana, Rudy Radelic,...

Up Close and Personal

Issue 133PARTING SHOT

Tommy Castro plays some soulful blues on a well-worn Stratocaster.

The Band: Pulling Their Weight

Issue 133OFF THE CHARTS

When Canadian rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins put together a backing band in 1958 called the Hawks, probably no one realized it would morph into one of the major groups in...

Black Sabbath Mark II: Deluxe Edition Reissues

Issue 133TO BE DETERMINED

My experiences with Black Sabbath go all the way back to my pre-teen years, and most of their classic music has been ingrained into my psyche throughout most of my...

Dinah Washington: What a Difference the Blues Make

Issue 133TRADING EIGHTS

St. Luke’s Baptist Church has served Chicago’s Black community on the South Side since 1918. One of its parishioners in the 1930s was a girl named Ruth Lee Jones, who...

United Recording Studios: An Industry Legend

Issue 133DEEP DIVE

This year’s AES Fall Show 2020 was conducted virtually, due to COVID-19 restrictions in New York, which prevented the convention from being held in the Javits Center, its usual venue....

Oh, Look!

Issue 133Opening Salvo

Copper has a new look! So does the rest of the PS Audio website, the result of countless hours of hard work. There's more functionality and easier access to articles, and additional developments...

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Headspace

Issue 132Opening Salvo

You can only put so much of an input signal into an amplifier before it won’t deliver any more output. The amplifier starts clipping. If you look at a sine...

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Nils Lofgren – A Retrospective Look at a Musici...

Issue 132FEATURED

Once upon a time, I was a young assistant manager at Globus Brothers Studios in New York City. They were the creators of the Globuscope 360, a servo motor scan...

Totally Transparent

Issue 132FEATURED

When it comes to conversation, occasionally we may preface what we say with, “To be honest, I….” This figure of speech seems totally natural to us and endeavours to add...

Josquin des Prez – A New Approach to Musical Ex...

Issue 132SOMETHING OLD / SOMETHING NEW

Music history often points to particularly innovative and influential composers as bridges from one stylistic era to another. There’s Beethoven, breaking through his elegant and rule-bound classical training to practically...

Don’t Fear the Streamer

Issue 132STREAMING SESSIONS

We live in good times. As I sit here in front of my system this evening, I appreciate what decades of progress have brought us. I discovered an artist on...

Alicia Keys – She’s Ready

Issue 132OFF THE CHARTS

From grooving on Chopin and Satie at the piano and listening to her mom’s jazz records as a girl to selling 12 million copies of her first pop single when...

Getting High

Issue 132NEW VISTAS

I have come to believe that the solo traveler exploring this planet, unburdened by the constraints, sensibilities or itineraries of others, is able to attract a certain serendipity as a...

Open Reel Tape – The Ultimate Analog Source?

Issue 132DEEP DIVE

With the advances in digital audio technology of recent years, is there still a role for analog audio?  In my previous article (in Issue 131), I argued that many recordings made during...

Hitchhiking with Alice Cooper

Issue 132TRUE-LIFE ROCK TALES

It was late 1968 when my friend, the late Barry Byrens, said to me, “Linc,” (he loved calling me that), “you need to get rid of that motorcycle and get...

Octave Records Goes Jazz: Gabriel Mervine’s Say...

Issue 132OCTAVE PITCH

Octave Records just issued its latest release on March 5: its first jazz album, Say Somethin’ by trumpet player Gabriel Mervine. The album of originals and standards was recorded live with no overdubbing...

Capital Audiofest 2021: Bouncing Back

Issue 150Show Report

After so many audio show cancelations during the past 20 months, it was with a slight sense of disbelief that I found myself waiting in line at the registration desk...

Scenes from Capital Audiofest 2021, Part One

Issue 150Show Report

To be honest, we weren’t sure we’d be able to make it to the Capital Audiofest (CAF) 2021. Not for lack of wanting to, but because of a cascade of...