J. I. Agnew
J. I. Agnew
Managing Director
J. I. Agnew is a Greek-American engineer, specializing in precision mechanical engineering and vacuum tube electronics, often applied to analog sound recording and reproducing equipment.
He is an internationally recognized authority in the field of analog sound recording and mastering, regularly restoring, repairing and modifying vintage disk recording lathes and tape machines, designing and manufacturing new parts for them, designing and constructing custom equipment for professional audio facilities, while also engineering fully analog recordings and cutting master disks for vinyl record manufacturing.
Furthermore, he is actively involved in research and development projects, designing and prototyping high performance electronic circuits and precision mechanical assemblies commissioned by various concerns worldwide.
J. I. Agnew was educated in Greece and England, was awarded a scholarship for his doctoral research at the University of Sheffield and spent a few years teaching at the same institution. He has frequently presented his work in conferences, seminars and workshops in several countries around the world.
Working as a professional musician since 2005, he founded Magnetic Fidelity in 2014, which was to become a world-class mastering facility with a focus on analog media. His life and work became the subject of a full-length documentary film, directed in 2017 by Elina Verykiou and Vasilia Koutsiana, titled "Magnetic Fidelity: A Love Story", screened in various international film festivals and broadcast on national television in Greece.
In 2019, his work in recording and mastering Naxatras III (the third full length studio album by popular rock group Naxatras), using exclusively analog equipment, brought home the prestigious "Best Analog Audiophile Recording" award at the Rocky Mountain International Hi-Fi Show, at the Rocky Mountain International Audio Fest, in Denver, Colorado.
J.I. Agnew was a staff writer for Copper, an audio magazine edited by Frank Doris (formerly of the Absolute Sound) and published by Paul McGowan (CEO) of PS Audio. J.I. is contributed a regular column titled "Revolutions per Minute", discussing "anything that spins" (usually related to vintage audio equipment), from issue 90 up until issue 200, contributing over 100 articles to that publication. He has also written for Michael Fremer's Tracking Angle magazine, the Analog Audio Association magazine in Switzerland, the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society (AES), the Computer Music Journal of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and various other publications.
He has a classical music education from the State Conservatory of Northern Greece, playing the guitar and piano as his main instruments. He is also an accomplished machinist, a licensed Road Transport Operator and holder of a Commercial Driver's License (CDL), a forklift truck and crane operator, a keen photographer using film, ranging from 35mm all the way to Large Format, while being a darkroom wet printing loyalist, a vintage automotive technology enthusiast and a licensed firearms operator, frequently competing in International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) and International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) events.
He is a native speaker of American English and Greek, while being able to handle basic communication in German and Serbian. His work has taken him to over 30 countries around the world and his writings have been translated to several languages.
J. I. Agnew is a full member of the Audio Engineering Society (AES), the American Society for Mechanical Engineering (ASME), the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE), and the American Society for Precision Engineering (ASPE).
Selected Publications:
J. I. Agnew, "The Sound of Recorded Music," Copper Magazine, Issue 91, August 2019.
J. I. Agnew, "How Records Are Made, Part 1: Disk Mastering," Copper Magazine, Issue 92, August 2019.