Capital and Pacific AudioFest show producers Gary Gill and Lou Hinkley today announced the SouthWest Audio Fest, a new Dallas, Texas based audio festival, set to debut March 15-17th, 2024 at the famous Hilton/Anatole Hotel. The promoting pair say the hotel is booked, the weather is perfect, and the venue has plenty of room to expand. There are thousands of parking spaces, easy load in (for the presenters), great bars and restaurants, more than fifty meeting rooms and... Read More

During the just concluded "Making Vinyl" symposium 9/28-9/29, 2023 in Haarlem, The Netherlands, Record Industry, one of the world's largest pressing plants, opened its tours to attendees and conducted tours all Friday afternoon. TrackingAngle will have full "Making Vinyl" coverage coming up over the next few days.The approximately 6500 square meter Record Industry originated in 1958 as privately held Artone—which remains the name of the studio... Read More

As The Strokes' frontman Julian Casablancas goes through his mid-life crisis, a new 7” box set of the group’s first 10 singles and a lavish reissue of its 2001 debut LP Is This It hits the market. Legacy acts are the backbone of the music industry: the longer a band (or an artist) maintains its success, the wider the demographic it reaches. When the original fans get older, they’re better able to pay for more expensive concert tickets and a steady stream of... Read More

Eric Astor, Furnace Record Pressing President and CEO invited me to tour the plant for the second time. The first time was a few years ago when the company was just setting up shop in the Alexandria, Virginia building that formerly housed The Washington Post's printing presses. During that first visit, Furnace was still shaking out the vintage Toolex Alpha presses it had purchased in Mexico plus it had added a few new WarmTone presses. This new tour shows... Read More

Once they step behind the rock and roll curtain, whatever runs-ins a journalist might have with famous (or soon to be famous…) musicians can eventually collapse into the mundane. They’re there to sell a record or tickets, and you’re there to help them do that and not much more. If you get to snag a few beers off their rider, all the better. But back during the days glamorized by that largely dreadful “Almost Famous” film, there was, in general, more to it. More fun... Read More

Here are notes on a selection from my favorite books on the history of recording technology, the history of the record business, and the interactions between recording technology, the record business, and the art of music. One example of what I mean by all that is, in the late 1920s, piezoelectric “crystal” microphones supplanted carbon microphones for radio broadcasting. Crystal microphones had a better signal-to-noise ratio than carbon microphones. Therefore, the... Read More

By the early 1970s, time had passed jazz by. The Beatles had happened, James Brown had happened, and “The Sixties” had happened. Young people, both Black and white, weren’t interested in jazz. It was the music of old people who didn’t buy many records or go out to clubs and concerts. Jazz musicians were scuffling for the few available gigs, driving cabs, and working at the post office. Even icons like Count Basie, Sarah Vaughan, and Ella Fitzgerald were having difficulty selling records, and all released albums of pop/rock tunes. The fusion music of Return to Forever and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, the smooth/funky jazz of Donald Byrd and Grover Washington Jr., and Keith Jarrett’s sui generis Koln Concert was the “jazz” that was selling.

My old friend and Rhino Records co-founder Harold Bronson has written "Time Has Come Today: Rock and Roll Diaries 1967" that will be out September 27th on Trouser Press Books. A review will be published shortly but for now, we have the press release:

At a hotel adjacent to company headquarters, Bill Voss, Technics' American Business Development Manager, introduced the new $2199 "next gen" SL1200GR turntable featuring a revolutionary new Delta Sigma drive control technique said to produce smooth, accurate rotational stability and a new power supply similar to the one used in the top of the line SL-1000R, said to produce an exceptionally low noise floor. Based on the informal listening session... Read More

Here are notes on a selection from my favorite books on the history of recording technology, the history of the record business, and the interactions between recording technology, the record business, and the art of music. One example of what I mean by all that is, in the late 1920s, piezoelectric “crystal” microphones supplanted carbon microphones for radio broadcasting. Crystal microphones had a better signal-to-noise ratio than carbon microphones. Therefore, the... Read More

Gillian Welch's Grammy Nominated fifth album "The Harrow & the Harvest", originally released in 2011 finally got an all-analog vinyl release in 2017, with lacquers cut on a lovingly restored lathe; the project overseen by producer/musician David Rawlings and his partner Gillian Welch. Now their Nashville-based Acony record label is again releasing the album, this time on reel-to-reel tape, produced to the same high standards. The tapes are real time... Read More

Even Steely Dan deniers admit that Aja is a masterwork of composition and studio production. It's the "crown jewel" in the rich catalog and the one that Analogue Productions had to get 110% correct. Bernie Grundman cut the original pressing and he cut this UHQR reissue too. He knew his way around the recording.A full review will appear when the finished LP arrives but based on this test pressing, Bernie and Chad knocked this one out of the park and into... Read More

Los Angeles, CA (September 14, 2023) – Craft Recordings honors the inimitable Wes Montgomery on his centennial with an expanded edition of his classic 1962 LP, Full House. Captured at Berkeley, CA’s Tsubo coffee house, the album marks the influential jazz guitarist’s sole live session for Riverside Records and features stellar performances by all, including tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin, pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb. Presented... Read More

Tracking Angle went live on September 12th, 2022 with a "welcome" post that ever since has been pinned to the top of the home page. It's now retired to its correct timeline position. So much has happened this past year, I do know where to begin: with a grateful thank you to our readers/subscribers, a large percentage of whom made the switch to Tracking Angle. And of course we are continually welcoming new reader/subscribers. Reader comments here are always informed and most often add useful information. It's a community I'm proud to be part of as I think are all of our readers.

NEW YORK, NY – September 13, 2023: As part of Atlantic Records’ 75th   Anniversary celebration, the label – in conjunction with Rhino Entertainment – has launched an extensive year-long vinyl series featuring 90 releases spanning the entire history of the company, from its earliest days until the present. The series encompasses iconic and acclaimed albums across virtually every popular musical genre, including special editions and many that have never been on vinyl. The unprecedented series has been curated by Atlantic Records Chairman & CEO Craig Kallman, who – in addition to his role as the label’s chief executive – is one of the world’s foremost audiophiles, with a personal vinyl collection now numbering over two million LPs.

In celebration of the Golden Anniversary of the iconic Marvin Gaye album Let's Get It On, Motown/UMe released a digitally a revised and expanded Let's Get It On: Deluxe Edition on August 25, 2023, three days before the album's original release date in 1973 fifty years prior. Featuring a trove of 33 bonus tracks, 18 of them previously unreleased, the Prince of Soul's creative explorations continued to unfold with the production of this pivotal release. Collectively, the bonus material leans into the story of Gaye's multi-layered personal struggles during the album's creation. “Comprised of tracks recorded during an intense six months of sessions in Los Angeles in '73, this newly the album's original eight songs alongside unheard mixes and material from all the sessions along the way, in addition to a trove of funky and fascinating instrumental tracks - and unreleased versions of the ballad recordings Marvin returned to time and again.

Here are notes on a selection from my favorite books on the history of recording technology, the history of the record business, and the interactions between recording technology, the record business, and the art of music. One example of what I mean by all that is, in the late 1920s, piezoelectric “crystal” microphones supplanted carbon microphones for radio broadcasting. Crystal microphones had a better signal-to-noise ratio than carbon microphones. Therefore, the... Read More

Technics just unveiled its "next gen" direct drive turntable, the SL-1200GR2 (silver) and the SL01210GR2 (black). According to the press release, the new turntable "...features a revolutionary new drive control technique for smooth, accurate rotational stability and a new power supply for an exceptionally low noise floor. "The newly upgraded turntable is equipped with standout audio and design features, including: · A new Delta-Sigma-Drive and a... Read More

This press release lists prices in Euros only so not sure if this launch is simultaneously in Europe and the USA but it's newsworthy nonetheless. At Munich High End 2023 Pro-Ject Audio Systems launched an extensive "EVO" line of new tonearms in both standard and premium versions that occupied a rather large sized wall. This photo shows only some of the arms on that wall.Pro-Ject EVO arms at Munich High End 2023The lineup includes 9",10" and... Read More