Garrett Hongo’s The Perfect Sound

 

Intriguing topic 😏

Andrea Palladio during Christmas’ time

 

Karlheinz Stockhausen - Klavierstück on tape

 

A new upcoming project for new year 🎶

Telefunken M5 Stereo Tube

 

The behemoth landed at my studio, at last!

It’s a marvelous piece of Made in West Germany machine, as sought-after as it can be.

I fell in love after touching it at Munchen MOC audio fair at Tacet label booth where I bought some vinyl discs recorded with this reel to reel studio machine.

Its smooth and dynamic sound comes from another era but it still is capable of great sonic performances!

XXth Century Schizoid Santa Claus

 

Gotorama (details)

 

Marco Tezza plays Beethoven and Brahms

 

A magnificent disk, an awesome performance for the - at the time of recording - 29 years old pianist.

The recording is by Michael Seberich and is of stellar quality, indeed!

Darius Valiunas’s DaVa DMT cartridge

 

DaVa  FC Mono of the new generation has got the same improvements like Reference stereo.It is winded with double wire, therefore has two independed 0.25 mv outputs.It can be used for one or two speakers, double mono.

This is a DMT (Double Mono Tonabnehmer-cartridge ).

🥇

Merry Christmas 🎄🎁 🎄

 🎄🎄🎄🎁🎁🎁🎄🎄🎄

Peace, health and wealth everyone 🙏

Music is Love

 

这是我朋友茉莉花送给我的美丽礼物。 谢谢，亲爱的。

🎶

The Peak 13” *Shorty*

 

… aehm: nicknamed “Shorty” for the 35 cm long cable 🥳

🎶🎶🎶

Thanks, TASCAM 🥇🙏🥂🥇🥇🥇

 

A good stroke!

Tascam knows some musicians pine for the 'warm' quality of cassette recordings, and it's willing to effectively resurrect dead technology to meet their needs. The company has introduced a 424 Studio Master High Bias Type II Cassette designed for the brand's decades-old Portastudio four-track cassette recorders. Artists can record analog samples and tunes without hunting down rare tapes and fretting over degradation.

The cassette isn't a perfect match. Tascam said it's using existing magnetic oxides to produce tape that's as close "as possible" to the material Portastudios were meant to use, but recorder owners may still have to do some "fine tuning" to adjust for 2021-era cassettes. 

However, this isn't just an appeal to nostalgia — to some extent, it's about the preservation of analog cassette recording. Cassette production has been suffering from oxide shortages since 2019, years after a (still-ongoing) tape revival. Tascam noted that it's now the sole company making High Bias Type II cassettes. While there are tapes already on the market, they're both rare and expensive.

Availability is only listed as "soon." Tascam's cassettes also won't satisfy creators who want genuinely new recorders to replace a shrinking supply of old hardware. This might be the next best thing, though, and could be a relief for Portastudio fans who don't want to make a complete leap into the digital realm.

VAL - Vinyl Audio Laboratories “Magne Focus” DST-style cartridge from Tokyo, Japan

 

A Corian body, triangle-air coils, no elastomer… not a veritable Neumann DST replica… nonetheless, it’s heartwarming a 64+ years old design be (successfully) revived to these days.

As I didn’t listened to this cartridge in my system, please let me point out I’m not recommending it, yet. 

If I’ll get a sampler, I’ll be happy to give you my first-hand, personal impressions, comparing it to my DSTs cartridges.

I strongly suggest any interested party to have a look to manufacturer site for prices, availability and other details.

https://www.vinylaudiolaboratory.com/%E5%95%86%E5%93%81%E3%83%9A%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B8

Yet, reportedly, two VAL’s cartridges were recently and satisfactorily tasted and appreciated in this quite unique system…

Here is a translation from a recent Japanese review:

Place the coil in the immediate vicinity of the stylus tip

 Vinyl Audio Laboratory will release a cartridge that uses the original VAL "Magne Focus" system for the power generation mechanism.  The lineup is for stereo, monaural, and SP records.  Both are scheduled to be shipped in late December.  The price is as follows.

 MGF-ST1 (stereo record cartridge)

 Standard: 305,800 yen (tax included)

 Basic: 217,800 yen (tax included)

 MGF-MO1 (Cartridge for monaural record)

 Standard: 305,800 yen (tax included)

 Basic: 217,800 yen (tax included)

 Cartridge for SP record

 Standard: 305,800 yen (tax included)

 The VAL "Magne Focus" system has a structure in which a coil is placed in the immediate vicinity of the stylus chip, and a magnet sandwiches this coil.  Since the vibration of the record board scooped up by the stylus chip can be passed directly to the coil, it is said that it is possible to realize a highly fresh sound without sound loss.  It is said that it was devised based on the structure of NEUMANN's DST, which is a cartridge for listening to lacquer boards.

 The body is made of hard and hard-to-squeal Corian material from DuPont in the United States.  The cantilever is made of aluminum, and the stylus is a solid diamond needle in Standard and a joined round needle in Basic.

 All sizes are 20 x 22 x 12 mm, and the mass is about 10 g.  Impedance is 3Ω or less

Thanks to Masashi Miyake-san for sharing the above pictures and details about his handicraft..

He can be contacted at: vinyl.audio.laboratory@gmail.com and he will happily reply to any questions concerning his cartridges.

I wish to Miyake-san and Ohno-san the best success for their creations 🎶🎶🎶

Western Electric 10A reproducer

 

The rarest, most sought-after cartridge, ever… possibly, even rarer than a pristine Neumann DST💎🥇💎

Sure the “WE hearing aids” sounds both romantic and appropriate, indeed.

🥇

Studer C37

 

Early head-block cover 

Arrogante

 

Tapes library in my Studietto

 

On the shelves I keep the best sounding masterdubs and master-tapes… in the background, same cherry picked 4 tracks 7” tapes… the bulk is in carton boxes.

🎶🎶🎶

Norma Winstone - Edge of Time (Argo 1971)

 

I finally found a mint copy of this beloved disc of mine!

One of the most sought-after discs of British jazz… not cheap, but… life is one 🎶😏🎶 and too short to not enjoy it.

Sleeping whales

 

 

😱

 

Ghidoni/Tezza - Music & drama

 

Last evening I attended (and recorded 😏) an awesome concert: a piano/violin duo of seldom heard quality performing for almost two hours Schumann’s sonatas.

Paolo Ghidoni, violin and Marco Tezza, piano showed a level of stage presence and empathy with audience truly encomiabile,  which greatly improved musical enjoyment.

The Steinway was freshly tuned (a lengthy and painstaking tuning which I witnessed before the concert) and the sound was truly majestic!

Both artists were so emotionally involved and immersed in the beauty of the score and their faces suggested they were contemplating a world of ineffable beauty.

A truly impressive performance 🎭 and totally and successfully shared with the lucky audience.

The recording - I humbly add - captured the uniqueness of the music and the stellar performance… but all merits go to the artists!

Thanks to Maestro Ghidoni and Maestro Tezza 

🥂🎶🥇🙏🥂