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SoundStage! Encore
An original series on making music

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"Art+Tech"
Where music meets equipment

Art+Tech

Latest

Audiophile Atmos—Dominique Fils-Aimé Surrounds with "Our Roots Run Deep"

Details
SoundStage! Encore

October 2023

On September 22, 2023, Canadian-singer Dominique Fils-Aimé released her fourth album, Our Roots Run Deep. This new album signifies the beginning of a new trilogy of albums for her, and it’s also the first time she’s released an album in Dolby Atmos, a music format she now loves.

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The Well-Tempered (Affordable) Turntable

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Pulse!

October 2023

As vinyl grows in popularity, Heinz Lichtenegger of Pro-Ject Music Systems, Harry and Mat Weisfeld of VPI Industries, Roy Hall of Music Hall Audio, and Roy Gandy of Rega Research must be pleased that they kept their faith in LPs and continued to manufacture turntables. Companies that had scaled back or even dropped their turntable lines are back in the game. Audio-Technica and Technics are making turntables for the audiophile market after years of sticking with DJ or entry-level ’tables.

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Making Dominique Fils-Aimé’s First Music Trilogy—A Remarkable Fusion of Blues, Jazz, and Soul

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SoundStage! Encore

September 2023

Canadian singer Dominique Fils-Aimé has released four albums to date: Nameless (2018), Stay Tuned! (2019), Three Little Words (2021), and Our Roots Run Deep (2023). She has a unique style and distinctive sound.

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Rock’n’Roll Death Rattle

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Pulse!

September 2023

About a year ago, Bruce Springsteen began touring again. It was the first time he and the E Street Band had appeared onstage together since 2017. Like a lot of performers, Springsteen was eager to be performing again. Some musicians who had been prevented from touring by the COVID-19 pandemic were downright cranky. Performers need to perform. They’re addicted to the stage.

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Early ECM Gems Sparkle Intensely through Focal’s Vestia N°1 Bookshelf Speakers

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Art+Tech

September 2023

I grew up listening to jazz from the 1930s and ’40s, thanks to my father’s LP collection and his devotion to the big-band dance music featured every Saturday evening on Ottawa’s CFMO-FM. When I finally found a friend who liked jazz, he played me Charlie Parker recordings from the early ’50s. Looking back, by the time I turned 16, in 1970, the closest I’d come to experiencing contemporary improvised music was a recording called Two of a Mind, a set of duets created by saxophonists Paul Desmond and Gerry Mulligan in 1962.

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The Rolling Stones, Curated

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Curator

September 2023

The Rolling Stones have been a working band, with a few personnel changes, for more than 60 years, and have been a visible and active part of popular culture for nearly all that time. There have been a few dull moments, perhaps, but it’s hard to think of another rock’n’roll band or musician, aside from Bob Dylan, that has enjoyed such a long, sustained stretch of popularity and relevance. The Stones may not have the hip currency now the band had in the past—who does?—but a Stones tour is still a big, stadium-filling event.

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Neko Case: “Wild Creatures”

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CD music

August 2023

Anti- 87824-2
Format: CD

Musical Performance
****1/2

Sound Quality
****

Overall Enjoyment
****1/2

The singer-songwriter Neko Case has been a singular voice in music for more than 25 years, both as a solo artist and as a member of the New Pornographers. Her versatility and restless creativity have led to collaborations with a number of other musicians, including the Sadies, Carolyn Mark, k.d. lang, and Laura Veirs. In 2022, Case released a 23-song compilation of solo recordings as a digital download. Wild Creatures has now been released on CD and vinyl.

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Stupid Audiophile Tricks

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Pulse!

August 2023

I have a friend, a guy I worked with for a long time, who drove a modest little Geo sedan for his long commute. Ugly car, really. And small. He looked after it, though; it ran well and was dependable. Every workday, he drove 90 minutes or more each way, and I don’t think he ever missed a day of work because of car trouble. When my friend retired, he stopped driving that car and got a new Camaro. He deserved that reward. I have no idea how many miles he had racked up on that Geo, but I’m willing to bet it was over 300,000.

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The Mobile Fidelity Settlement—an Update

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Pulse!

July 2023

On the day that my comments about the recent MoFi settlement were posted on this site, I received a copy of Tuttle v. Audiophile Music Direct in the mail.

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The Leroy Vinnegar Sextet: “Leroy Walks!”

Details
Vinyl music

July 2023

Contemporary Records / Craft Recordings / Acoustic Sounds CR00594
Format: LP

Musical Performance
****

Sound Quality
****

Overall Enjoyment
****

Bassist Leroy Vinnegar was born in Indianapolis and moved to Los Angeles in the 1950s, where he appeared on albums by nearly every jazz musician who passed through LA or was based there. He played on sessions with Stan Getz, Benny Carter, Kenny Dorham, and many others. He was the bassist on popular trio sessions with Shelly Manne and André Previn, including My Fair Lady (1956), a Contemporary Records release that was one of the label’s biggest sellers. He played on another big seller, Swiss Movement, a 1969 live collaboration between Les McCann and Eddie Harris.

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A Second Trek through the Vinyl Jungle with MoFi

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Pulse!

July 2023

When the news broke last year that Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab was using high-resolution digital files as the source for some of its vinyl releases, including its costly Ultradisc One-Step pressings, a predictable outcry from vinyl lovers ensued. The story even got national attention, with a writeup in the Washington Post. Several SoundStage! Network contributors addressed the issue, including Jason Thorpe. I weighed in as well, as did SoundStage! founder Doug Schneider, who also posted a video about it.

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Sly & the Family Stone, Curated

Details
Curator

July 2023

On August 17, 1969, the final scheduled day of the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, Sly & the Family Stone appeared onstage at 3:30 a.m. Stage announcer “Chip” Monck’s sonorous voice brought the group out, and they played a tight, 50-minute set. Two songs from that performance, “Dance to the Music” and “I Want to Take You Higher,” made their way onto Michael Wadleigh’s documentary film of the festival, and were among its most electrifying moments.

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André Previn and His Pals, Shelly Manne & Red Mitchell: “West Side Story”

Details
Vinyl music

June 2023

Contemporary Records / Craft Recordings / Acoustic Sounds CR00390
Format: LP

Musical Performance
****1/2

Sound Quality
****1/2

Overall Enjoyment
****1/2

André Previn’s long career included well-regarded work as a pianist, composer, and conductor in classical music, film soundtracks, and jazz. Previn appeared on many recordings for Contemporary Records in the late 1950s, both as a solo pianist and in a trio setting, and recorded three Broadway-themed albums with drummer Shelly Manne and bassist Red Mitchell. Manne himself recorded albums of show tunes for Contemporary, on which he was the bandleader, with Previn on piano and Leroy Vinnegar on bass. Manne’s My Fair Lady (1956) was the first of those albums. It was so popular that Contemporary encouraged him and Previn to continue making records consisting of tunes from various shows.

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An Interview with Mastering Engineer Kevin Gray

Details
Pulse!

June 2023

It’s hard to think of a currently active mastering engineer whose initials appear on more LP lead-out grooves than Kevin Gray’s. He cuts the lacquers for Blue Note’s Tone Poet and Classic Vinyl series, as well as for rock recordings released on vinyl by Intervention Records. He also remasters vinyl reissues for some of Concord’s Craft Recordings reissues, including the newly resurrected Original Jazz Classics series. And that’s just a sampling of his current work.

Read more …

  1. Three Distinctive Voices Flow through the Pro-Ject MaiA DS3 Stereo Integrated Amplifier
  2. Van Morrison: “Moving On Skiffle” | Joe Lovano: “Our Daily Bread” | Carmell Jones: “The Remarkable Carmell Jones”
  3. An Interview with Producer Joe Harley
  4. How Good Can the Focal Utopia Headphones Make Remarkable Recordings Sound?
  5. GoGo Penguin: “Everything Is Going to Be OK” | Vince Mendoza and the Metropole Orkest: “Olympians” | En Attendant Ana: “Principia”
  6. Looking Back 50 Years with Wadada Leo Smith and the NAD C 3050 LE Integrated Amplifier
  7. James Brown, Curated
  8. Ralph Towner: “At First Light” | Ralph Alessi Quartet: “It’s Always Now”
  9. Vinyl's Growing (or Not Growing) Pains
  10. Vintage Improvisation Meets Contemporary Elac Debut ConneX DCB41 Powered Speakers
  11. Fred Hersch & Esperanza Spalding: "Alive at the Village Vanguard"
  12. Experience "Xperience" Anew
  13. For the Love of Sound: Kenny Barron and the RME ADI-2 DAC FS
  14. Uni Boys: "Do It All Next Week"
  15. Making Records: Blue Sprocket Pressing Plant Tour

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