Michael Fremer on tape, UHQR vinyl, master generations, and all things analogue.
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- In today's video I'm in rather indulgent mood, chatting with none other than the analogue audio domain's number one champion: @trackingangle929 and @TheTASmagazine's Michael Fremer.
If you've not already done so do check out Michael's website: trackingangle.com
Here we chat about all things analogue:
We kick off with the 2 / 3 track "masters" of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue and the Classic Records / Analogue Productions UHQR pressings.
Mastering by luminaries such as Bernie Grundman and Kevin Gray.
Reel to reel tapes (genuine masters, commercial 15ips 2-track and 7.5ips 4-track tapes, and 'grey market' copies).
Reel to reel tape players.
As well as a bit of 'show and tell'.
I hope you enjoy our little chat.
If you'd like to learn more about reel to reel tape do please visit my website: thereeltoreelrambler.com
You can tell when Fremer isn’t really into a conversation, in this it’s so fluid, you can tell you guys are so into the conversation that the fact it’s being recorded is forgotten, and it’s great, it’s true passion running this. Great video, Dave and Michael, loved it!
Thanks for the feedback @SpyderTracks. I really was great fun.
Ha ha Dave and Michael - what a treat. I wasn’t expecting that! Superb. Two of my favourite vinyl nerds, nerding out on vinyl 😜
Our pleasure!
Wow, Fremer!
I loved Animalolympics... watched many times when I was a kid.
Had no idea you were involved!
Very cool!
Tape is amazing. Worth every penny …..
Yust want to say thanks for all the videos, and work that you all do for the vinyl and tapes.
Glad you like them! Thanks!
I always learn something when I watch your videos. Thank you Michael
Agree on the UHQR release. Terrific sound!
Thanks Lee.
Fascinating interview. Just subscribed.
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for subscribing Glenn.
Terrific interview, Michael is always a joy to listen too. Eavesdropping on you guys talking tape and UHQR was absolutely absorbing. Thank you.
Thanks Paul, glad you enjoyed it!
I recently got to listen to Midnight Blue...the AP 45 2lp, Music Matters (not the SRX), and an original 1963 Blue Note. The first two are quite nice, but the first pressing was nothing short of phenomenal. What a wonderful piece of vinyl!!
I've not heard that comparison (Midnight Blue) but I do generally prefer the originals over any reissue.
I have a tascam 32 from 1983. Hard to find affordable 15 or 7.5 IPS 2 channel. I'm tempted to tape over some radio station tapes I have.
Great interview! I like how he tells it like it is with MOFI. They master them differently, turn up the bass and treble, and mostly use digital files and still charge $125.
I totally agree about the remastering: they sound different. Which is generally, in my opinion, not better.
If I could buy the MoFi Abraxas for $125, I would. I missed that one and it is the best sounding pressing of that album ever. Just like anything, which also applies to Analog Production and Speakers Corner releases, there are good MoFi releases and there are bad ones. I just wished people were more honest about it when talking about MoFi releases and gave them credit where credit is due. MoFi does not jack up the bass and highs on all releases. That was a trend in early MoFI releases, but not recent ones. Love Forever Changes was also a regular double 45 rpm instead of a one step. They just repressed it and you can get it for $60.
Good video, I understand Fremer’s opinion on tapes. There are not a lot of titles available to make for a viable format for daily listening but IMO it’s a format that is great to evaluate what is possible for music reproduction in your home.
Even a good prosumer deck like the Technics which has a great transport can be made to give you superb sound. All it takes is money.
While $20-30K is nothing to blink at certainly compared to the cost of many tables or even cartridges today it’s not silly money.
Chad and The Tape Project have issued a number of wonderful known standards to make it worthwhile just to experience the sound in your home.
I only wish I was able to order several tapes from the Italian company producing the Miles and Mingus titles.
The Hemiolia licensing restrictions are disappointing for US customers. I do wish that Sony, Universal, Warner etc. would support and authorise these for worldwide release.
Love my UK Rough Mix!
I started 15 years ago with R2R tape, when I bought a Rexox A77 for 100euro and serviced it at Revox /Germany for 200 Euro ! (Funny enough this buy was an eBay auction by mistake). I Never looked back since then with tape 😁, while collecting these 7.5ips commercial R2R and importing them to Germany (customs etc.). I have now around 450 of these tapes (Columbia, Ampex, Barklay-Crotchett etc). At these times the tapes were still cheap in the US (eg 15-20$ per tape for classical music). Nowadays they increased in price by factor 2 to 5, so these tapes are too expensive. A lot of these commercial 7.5 ips tapes however do sound a lot better than any UHQR imo. Great talk, Dave with Michael, please more in future.
Hi Sugarbone-Cage. Glad you enjoyed the video, I certainly did too!
I do agree that some of the commercial 7.5ips releases sound amazing. Sounds like you have an enviable collection.
Thanks for sharing your story.
That SCRATCH recording at the Lighthouse(tapes) are great--who ever recorded that session know what he(or she!) was doing--JG
Great video as always Dave! Lots of good info there. And despite the assertions, their are plenty of titles available from legitimate vendors to justify investment in tape. It never ceases to amaze me how people with 100K systems will poo-poo the tape hobby as being “too expensive”. It’s not cheap, but certainly worth the effort:reward ratio.
Thanks, I totally agree with your statement regarding cost etc.
However, it is said that you can find production copies on places like eBay
The trouble is, knowing the authenticity and provenance of such 'production copies'...
Nice Stuff Dave.. I wore out 2-3 6 eyes back in the day...had I known!!!
thanks for a great entertaining vid--JG
Glad you enjoyed it!
I love my UK CBS mono of Kind of Blue. The first issue in the UK was on Fontana but that doesn't sound quite as fine. They are probably cut from the same copy tape but they were pressed at different pressing plants in the UK. Pressing plants in the UK were the best in the world imo at the time so I always pick up UK Jazz issues from that period and I'm rarely disappointed.
Thanks for your feedback: I do generally prefer the original Columbias (6 or 2 eye, according to the era) over the UK issues, but do have some very nice Fontanas, Vogues were pretty good too.
@@DaveDenyer Yep the Vogue's are great!
I like the audiophile label reviews. It's interesting to see what Michael thinks of MOFO and AP's output lately. Townshend & Lanes Rough Mix is so well recorded by Glynn Johns. I have the OG UK pressing, can't be beat. The name Rough Mix is a tongue in cheek title obviously and great album.
Me too, I enjoy watching Michael's, and other channels, but generally end up spending even more money on vinyl as a result.
So I have a studer A80. I know I really lucked out. I saw it posted and snatched it up quickly. I am starting to learn about this machine a little bit.
I have a nice hi-fi system and have been into building as well as playing with Hi-Fi equipment for quite a while. I could see learning about this machine, recapping as well as addressing any little issues it has for fun.
From what I'm gathering, you use this machine for playback. Is that correct?
I don't really have an interest in recording but if this is a hot item for playback, than I think I would keep this machine.
I use it mainly for playback but actually the main reason for buying the A80 (having already got 2 other Studers) was for recording. I do on occasion have the opportunity of making a 'safety copy' of a master tape for a musician or record industry friend. If I was only using it for Playback I may well just stick with the A807, the smallest, but most modern of my Studers. That has the quickest rewind, easiest controls etc. Ultimately though, I think the A80 sounds the best.
@@DaveDenyer very cool. Thank you for the response.
I think I'll fix it up and try it out. See what I think. I have never played around with R2R so the learning curve will be fun.
My dad is in a band and I play guitar so maybe I will find some use as far as recording goes.
Do you guys know where I can find the original mix of Johnny Paycheck’s ‘Take This Job And Shove It!’?
LOL
❤
I have a “restored” Otari MX5050 BIII-2. I picked it since it does two track at 15 IPS and both IEC & NAB. Limited space limited budget.
I would love to hear your opinion on how that might sound compared to some of these amazing decks that you are using?
I have been investing in some R2Rs from The Tape Project and Analog Productions, but do not know if it’s worth the investment over a nice clean pressing vinyl at a lower cost.
I've only heard the Otari MX5050 in a friend's system - he loves it. It certainly sounds good to me and to my ears it sounds better than the drop-dead-gorgeous looking Nagra IV-S he also has.
I've got several of the Tape Project & AP tapes, in my system they completely outperform anything on vinyl. If that's not your experience I'd suggest you have your Otari checked out. I would expect it to outperform your vinyl front end.
@@DaveDenyer thank you for the response. I am always just in awe of your setup and some of those brand-new super high-end R2R systems. I am quite content with mine :) The Otari does sound amazing, and I have a 45RPM version of Hugh Masekela "Hope" coming on vinyl to have some fun A/B comparison with the tape.
@@MrJasonMeans I had to get Hope for that same reason... Although I had the vinyl first, then got the tape. It really was one of those 'got to have that' scenarios. It sounds so good on vinyl, is so often used as a demo record at shows... I simply had to get it on tape.
I’m sure Micheal’s opinion on mofi’s has changed since the scandal.
This chat was post-scandal so his attitude to MOFI remains...
@@DaveDenyer but pre the scandal I never heard him say a bad word about them. That’s my point. I might be wrong. But he definitely did it with dark side of the moon.
I disagree, the original Blue Notes cut by Rudy, most of them sound amazing.
I too generally prefer the original pressings.
@@DaveDenyer that's because there were tubes in the cutting system
Is there a issue with MOFI I can't seem to figure out what the issue ... The only one I can think of is they all sound the same with a cranked bass end ... And Kirmuss what happened to the scene where you using the goat hair brush with shaving cream .... I swore that was once on the video and now it;s changed,
Interesting conversation, but a bit foreign to me since I don't have any reel to reel tapes. Looking forward to more conversations with Fremer and others. You guys flowed so well together. Maybe interview Kevin, Bernie and Chad to?
Glad you found it interesting... I'd certainly love to chat with Kevin, Bernie, and Chad!
KG needs to add some tubes in the system
That's a really interesting comment Jack... If I had to choose my favourite current mastering / cutting engineer I do think I'd chose Kevin Gray, to me his work is exemplary so I've never thought ' he could do this better'...
And my system is largely tube-based: certainly all the amplification (phono stage, line stage, power amp). To be honest I don't know what individual components KG uses, but the sound he gets is spot on for me.
Personally, I wish Chad would drop the "UHQR" vinyl... I have yet to get a UHQR disc that is quieter than the normal vinyl Chad uses.
Every single UHQR I have is noisy. Plus, all the QC hassles that come with opaque 200g vinyl.
Costs would come down much if Chad would just use high quality BLACK 180g vinyl.
I've heard reports of faulty UHQR pressings but personally all mine have been perfect. MoFi and Craft 'Supervinyl', now that's a different story...
i have the same Oscar Peterson R2R tapes. B.t.w. Michael is absolutely right, the Love ever changes MoFi sounds terrible in comparison to the ERC release
the ERC release was pretty awful
I never jad the privilege to listen to a reel to reel system , ive been wanting to buy one but man their expensice.
Thanks for your feedback, hope you get to hear a reel to reel system one day.
I really like Fremer but I don’t get his talk about the 45’s from chad, those records sound amazing just like the tone poets, he also try to evade this whole tape thing and I don’t get it at all, so you have space for some 6 figure Wilsons including 1 zillion records but no space for a studer, there are plenty of great albums to get on tape and we all know they sound so much better than any record ever made.
To be fair, about the tape thing: it's not only the size of the machines (my A80 and A812 together take up as much space as the rest of the system, excluding speakers) but my tape collection, albeit only a tenth the number of albums as I have on vinyl, takes up a similar amount of space, if not more.
@@DaveDenyer that’s absolutely true but a guy like Fremer should own a tape machine and some tapes in my humble opinion, there is so much great stuff out there to get on tape and it is my reference for sure, you just can’t go back to the vinyl version or digital version when you heard it on a proper tape copy.
What great 'banter' two geeks going at it without being pretentious! Kudos boys! (just wish Fremer would do his impersonations more, he's become too politically correct booooring Michael ;)
Glad you enjoyed it @pk, I certainly did.
You know.
😂more fremer
I’m sure he’ll be back
I was going to like this video but I would be #45 and I hate that number😮
I hate #46 even more
@@DJGeorgeDisco hour a dum6ass
@@DJGeorgeDisco dumbest comm8
@@jerrysnead2842 and #44 too
Very funny ;-)
Kind of Blue sounds good backwards. If you're tired of the original, it's the way to go. And if you're not tired of the original, I can't help you.
Very good! 😂
Ha ha, brilliant!
Gotta try that one. My turntable does have a button for reverse....
@starlightgrecording559
Dave Denyer***
Gerard Stroh!!!
I Heard Some of these Master Reel to Reel Tape Machines and the Sound of these Tape Decks are Awesome and I have an Vintage 1967 Anpex AG440 4 track Reel to Reel Tape Machine and it using 1/2 inch Tape and it Record's at 15 ips Tape Speed and The Record Amps are Class A Electronics and it Sounds Awesome!!!
My OTARI MX5050 Reel to Reel Tape Machine Works Great and the Best Part I Got it Dirt Cheap for $125 Dollars about 20 Years Ago and I also Have 2 Teacs A3440 Reel to Reel Tape Machines and All of My Reel to Reel Studio Tape Machines Are IEC EQ Curve and I can Play any Master Tape Just as Long You Have the Right EQ and Tape Speed and Track Format and Reel Size You Be OK Playing The Master Tape!!!
I Like Reel to Reel Tape Because it Does Not Matter if you Play The Tape in the Beginning or the Tail end the Tape speed is the Same But on Vinyl Records The Speed or Space on the Record Get's Shorter and you Start to Loose Hi-End and intergroove Distortion and That Why I Like Reel to Reel Tapes Better!!!
I Love Your Reel to Reel Setup it is Awesome!!
My UHQR Miles Davis Kind of Blue is Coming This Monday on January 8th 2024 By Fedex***
Someday I Like to Find an Studer Tape Machine and They Are Awesome!!!
Like They Say If A Studer Reel to Reel is Good Enough For the Beatles it is Good Enough For Me!!!
Good Video Dave Denyer!!!
Bye From Gerard Stroh!!!
Hi Gerard, I love your enthusiasm. Enjoy your UHQR Kind of Blue on Monday! 🙂