Stephen Mejias

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Stephen Mejias

A Quick Visit to a Mastering Studio

Stephen Mejias Aug 08, 2011 First Published: Aug 08, 2011 0 comments

Dan Schmalle and Luke Manley smile in the background, while Brian Damkroger and I sit in the engineers' seats. Photo by Philip O'Hanlon.

On the first day of the California Audio Show, I heard some of the most beautiful music in a room hosted by Acoustic Analysis, The Tape Project, and Bottlehead, featuring a system made of Focal Diablo Utopia loudspeakers, Focal SW1000 Be subwoofers, a VTL TL-6.5 Signature line preamp and MB-450 Signature III monoblock power amplifiers, Siltech cables, and a Bottlehead-modified Otari tape machine. The music had such a smooth, effortless quality to it, unlike anything else I heard at the show: The sound of tape. It was an awesome listening experience.

On the following evening, I got to visit the mastering studio where the team from The Tape Project does its work.

Stephen Mejias

Buried Alive, Better Now

Stephen Mejias Aug 05, 2011 First Published: Aug 05, 2011 0 comments

For awhile, we were at our wit’s end, feeling buried alive, but everything is okay now: We just finished shipping our massive October issue to pre-press. At 212 pages, it’s our largest issue since October 2008.

We’ll see the proofs on Monday. Until then, we can relax.

To help us do that, we have Cass McCombs’ “Buried Alive,” from the achingly beautiful Wit’s End.

This is one of Jaime's favorites, and Jaime is one of mine.

Cass McCombs' Wit's End is out now on Domino Records. The album is available on CD, LP, and cassette. (Yes, cassette!)

Stephen Mejias

Julian Treasure: 5 Ways to Listen Better

Stephen Mejias Aug 04, 2011 First Published: Aug 04, 2011 0 comments

This is absolutely outstanding. Please watch and listen as sound expert Julian Treasure offers strategies for re-tuning our ears.

Via TED. (Thanks for the link, SP.)

Stephen Mejias

The Passion of the Magic of the Exception

Stephen Mejias Aug 02, 2011 First Published: Aug 02, 2011 0 comments

I don’t really know what to say about this, so I’ll just quote the press release:

The role of an High End amplifier is to reproduce the music, all the music.

Amateur of beautiful often unique parts, GoldAmp is the Only One. An exceptional musical know-how. Celebrate interpreter who knows how to be forgot. A magnificent story which can be told by moments of complicity in the emotion. Reunion with classicals works henceforth dear to our hearts.

Stephen Mejias

The Perfect Headphone Design?

Stephen Mejias Aug 02, 2011 First Published: Aug 02, 2011 0 comments

The subject of the e-mail was “boobsheadphones.” Inside, a simple question (“Can you tell me if these are real?”) was followed by a link to an interesting YouTube video.

Stephen Mejias

Wild Beasts Offer Soundcheck & Make “Bed of Nails,” Le Poisson Rouge Teams with Concert Window

Stephen Mejias Jul 28, 2011 First Published: Jul 28, 2011 0 comments

I’ve listened to no album this year more than I’ve listened to Wild Beasts’ Smother. For that matter, I’ve enjoyed no album more this year than Wild Beasts’ Smother. It courses slowly and deliberately through colors and moods of pain, longing, love, and desire&#151all that good stuff&#151and it does so with such a gentle touch, a delicious smoothness, a constant, lulling pulse.

It pours from your loudspeakers and into the room.

Stephen Mejias

Stereophile at Other Music

Stephen Mejias Jul 27, 2011 First Published: Jul 27, 2011 0 comments

I went to Other Music yesterday and picked up a few records:

Stephen Mejias

A Dream Come True

Stephen Mejias Jul 20, 2011 First Published: Jul 20, 2011 0 comments

I received a very kind note from Owen McCafferty, who, along with Ben Meadors, hopes to travel to Portland, San Francisco, Chicago, Cleveland, and New York City, meeting vinyl collectors, record store owners, and other vinyl enthusiasts, to discuss why vinyl is important. The duo will document their journey and publish a book detailing their experiences.

A week ago, when we first caught up with Owen and Ben, they were about $2000 away from the funds needed to support their Kickstarter project.

Stephen Mejias

The New Face of Vinyl

Stephen Mejias Jul 14, 2011 First Published: Jul 14, 2011 0 comments

Clearly, more and more people&#151young and old, male and female&#151are choosing to enjoy their favorite music on vinyl, a decidedly old-fashioned format. Every time I walk into a record store, I see more vinyl. And more people. The new record bins are growing, the used record bins are growing, LPs are taking up space previously occupied by CDs, and people are shopping enthusiastically, getting in between me and all that precious vinyl. But why?

Stephen Mejias

Now on Newsstands: Stereophile, Vol.34 No.8

Stephen Mejias Jul 14, 2011 First Published: Jul 14, 2011 0 comments

The August 2011 issue of Stereophile is now on newsstands. On the cover, we feature the lovely Voxativ Ampeggio.

Made in Germany and imported by NYC’s newest audio salon, Audioarts (1 Astor Place), the beautiful Ampeggio uses a single proprietary 7" dual-cone driver with a large, convex surround, designed to accommodate a much greater excursion than the typical Lowther driver. The complex cabinet, designed and voiced in collaboration with Schimmel Pianos, incorporates a series of facet boards for optimal radiation resistance and houses a twice-folded horn, nearly 9-feet long from throat to mouth. The Ampeggio offered the usual Lowther traits of transient speed, spatial presence, dramatic ease, and physical impact, but added deep, well-controlled bass and excellent soundstaging. “A high-efficiency, single-driver loudspeaker for which no excuses need be made,” said AD. JA was impressed by the Voxativ’s superbly flat in-room response and genuine 98dB sensitivity.

What? Who said that? Excuse me, sorry, sorry: I’ve been writing “Recommended Components” blurbs for the upcoming October issue.

Never mind that. We’re talking about the August issue. It’s now on newsstands. This is important: