tape (5)
Critical listening at home: Audiophile High Fidelity Sound Reproducing Systems and the Recording Industry
Meet George Vardis, a retired biologist with a Master's Degree in Food Technology, residing in Athens, Greece. George is a sophisticated man with many interests, including sailing, photography, motorbikes, and music. He plays the piano and the guitar, but his career always steered well clear of the music industry. He was never a recording artist, nor was he a recording engineer. In fact, he has probably never seen a recording studio in real life.
Direct-to-Disk Recording Session with Naxatras
On January 17, 2016, a very interesting experiment in sound recording technology was conducted at Magnetic Fidelity. Around that time, Naxatras were occupying the studio for a direct-to-master-tape recording, which crystallized beautifully shortly thereafter in their released EP.
Cutting Master Lacquer Disks for the Naxatras Debut LP on the AM44 system, directly from Analog Tape
John Delias, the guitar wizard of the popular rock group "Naxatras", filmed J. I. Agnew while cutting the master lacquer disks, from which the vinyl records of their debut LP were manufactured, at Magnetic Fidelity, and edited the footage to produce this short informative video, offering an insight into this seldom seen, mysterious process.
Absolute Polarity for Magnetic Tape
https://www.agnewanalog.com
https://www.magneticfidelity.com
PDF version
The Tape story
Following the publication of my recent article, titled "Absolute Polarity for Disk Records" [1], I received encouraging feedback and requests for further information. Record enthusiasts often wonder about the dark secrets of the record production and manufacturing process, while professional mastering engineers are (or at least should be) striving to keep all their equipment in perfect working order, according to international standards. Their common goal is the best possible transfer of the sound from the performance space to the listening room. Magnetic tape is experiencing an impressive rise in popularity as a consumer medium in audiophile circles, with more albums becoming available in reels of 1/4" tape.