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michel devos

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Everything posted by michel devos

  1. I t just came in this morning, I'll give it a spin at lunch time. Just love the beautiful cover design : very Blue Note-ish, very classy! And thanks a lot Jim, for correcting my oversight...!
  2. Nothing received yet...Anything went wrong...? Can't wait to listen to it!
  3. Thanks Stefan : I feel this is really worth investigating, I also read nice things in some audio magazines. I think there is nothing wrong in producing components in China and then having them assembled in the market where they are expected to be sold : we see a similar thing here in Europe where Behringer designs and assembles in Germany their units with components manufactured in China. One can't expect the same ruggedness and performances as from the established professional equipment manufacturers, but then the selling price of these goods are only a fraction of their westerner competitors. It looks like an european Emotiva distribution center is now set up in Rotterdam : I'll keep an eye on that, since ordering and shipping from USA to Europe doubles the price..!
  4. Hi Stefan, Did you hear their Usp-1 preamp? How does it sound , is the construction sturdy enough? I'm looking for a replacement of my faithful NAD 1020B preamp for my mastering unit and, since I do not like the professional preamps on the market and I'm not willing to pay crazy prices for Audio Research, Krell or Burmester, this Emotiva preamp sounds like a good deal. Any experience? Yours comments will be appreciated.
  5. This record is stunning : excellent, punchy sound, great playing and wonderful program. I sent a PM to Mike to order a CD: I hope a shipment to Belgium will be possible, despite the ridiculous levels overseas shipping costs have now reached. From what I heard, the recording quality is brilliant, but what has it to do with vinyl? I'd rather say : very proper mixing and mastering are the key issues. Nevertheless, a superb CD...Bravo!
  6. There have been many reports of rough behaviour of Jimmy, and I feel this one rather measured and with no intention to compromise . However, this story, and many of the comments I read here are related to the last years of Jimmy's life, and maybe alcohol brought him to that sad stage. I met him twice : the first time after a concert in Brussels in 1963, where he played with Quentin Warren and Bill Hart. I went to see him backstage with my collection of Blue Note sleeves to sign and he looked pleased to see his albums sold in Belgium. The second time was in a jazz club in 1987, where he was playing with Grady Tate and Terry Evans. As a sound engineer crazy about the Hammond and Jimmy (that goes together, isn't it?), I asked permission to make a private recording of the evening. He agreed to without hesitation, provided, he added, this would remain totally private...and it has, since then. When listening back to these 26 years old tapes, one can hear a dynamic man, full of wit, making jokes with the audience, pretending to speak japanese, very funny indeed. And his playing was of the highest standards possible in a club, much similar to the TV recording in Germany that is mentioned somewhere in the above posts. I'm rather happy I never saw him as described in this video and in several stories even witnessed by his fans. Every man has his dark side : think simply of Beethoven, or Miles Davis. I'm glad I only met Dr Jeckyll, Mr Hyde was still in a very deep sleep...
  7. Bought this recently for a ridiculous price and the sound quality is excellent : http://www.amazon.com/8-Classic-Albums-Three-Sounds/dp/B005SQ3B2K
  8. Thanks for this documentary I did not know. But what about the video Killer B3 that was supposed to be released some time ago but remains unavailable..? I heard there were some copyright problems : if that is still the case when 99% of the production is ready for release, chances to have this documentary released grow thinner and thinner. Anybody heard of it?
  9. I attended yesterday in Angelbachtal a magnificent concert given by Barbara in a quintet setting, including trumpet, tenor sax ang guitar. Very, very impressive, great sounds from her midified B3. But she will be playing soon in San Diego : 29.07.2013 19.30 San Diego/USA, CA 92101, Spreckels Organ Pavillon, Balboa Park (Solo/church organ).
  10. I expect this is a very common problem...but whenever it strikes, the results may be devastating. I seldom had the problem you describe (sticky tape), possibly because I have very few Ampex tapes, but the opposite is even worse : the binder dries out and falls off the tape, taking the iron oxyde particles in the process and leaving bald spots on the tape...no more sound, not even tape hiss..! It happened frequently with Memorex 2500 tapes, leaving several works on this tape unusable because of sound drops of 1 or 2 seconds. These tapes date back from 1973-74. I even tried to repair the digital transfer of the tape when by chance sme soonatas have repeats in the score, but then that is pure luck. Do you feel the baking process might be a temporary cure for this?
  11. Right. But there have been at least some attempts...One of them was from In Sync. This company was (is still ?) owned by a Mr Silver (not the one from the cd's) who was also the leader of an american vinyl company named Connoisseur. In the 60's-70's, they released excellent material extremely well recorded but often plagued by the vinyl illness : cracks, popples, hiss, noises... Some of the Connoisseur Master tapes were released in cassette tape format trying to preserve their quality and remove the noise problems. I owned only a couple of these featuring the great Ivan Moravec and I must say the sonic results were more than acceptable, with some of the master tape qualities retained and the crackle and pops replaced by a continuous but faint tape hiss (Dolby-ized, of course). In Sync cassettes have now disappeared but they at least tried to improve upon the very average sound quality of this format. Though they could hardly have been called audiophile by today's digital standards.
  12. Good idea...it made myself think of a project I have for a long time of converting my old recordings into some nice lossless format. But I need help with the original material during summer time : would anybody advise me how to keep it cool? http://lowres-picturecabinet.com.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/29/main/5/138997.jpg
  13. Hi Sonnymax, Having read your post and the comments, it looks like nobody asks the vital question before starting this discussion : are the audio signals comin' out of your computer of a high quality enough to justify the expense of active studio monitors? The old story dating back from the early times of hi fi has never been more valid than today : trash in, trash out...! That means unless you have a decent sound card preferably located outside your computer and linked to it via USB or Firewire, it doesn't matter how many bucks you spend for high quality speakers, the resulting sound will be bad, distorted, noisy and muddy... I'd start with a very good sound card and then upgrade with a good stereo amp and hi-fi speakers like most of the BW line. If you are prepared to invest in real studio quality active speakers, have a look at he ADAM 7or A7X : they have a quality-price ratio second to none. But seriously, before spending considerable amounts of hard-earned cash into a computer audio system, check the material youre gonna feed your system with. If it's just MP3...
  14. I was fascinated by this demo...knew the SK2 is fabulous, but here you prove it is practically impossible to distinguish it from the C2. Although I believe the SK2 is on YOUR right handside, or left of MY screen. Crisper, sharper, cleaner sound...I just love it. I never found the 3300 really lacked any bass : but that would depend of course on the music played. And also that I never had an opportunity to listen to a good subwoofer system : my visit this year at the Musik Messe in Frankfurt was less enjoyable regarding organs. They simply were not there, except for Nord with only a couple of items on active display. Maybe I'll have to keep an eye on your schedule, if you play at less than 4.000 miles from my home..!
  15. I finally was able to reset my password and it went thru without a problem. But why does it go thru Amazon..?
  16. What were exactly the sets Jimmy recorded at Birland in 1957? Have they been released under another title? I never heard of these. Thanks for any info.
  17. That's great Jim! I'v' just sent my 37$ for the CD/DVD. No doubt this project will succeed as much as the previous one. Great video, btw... Thank you! Haven't seen your pledge come through. I know Amazon was having issues earlier today. Are you sure it went through? Still waiting for Kickstarter to reinitiate my password...They are not very reactive! Do you think I might do it thru Amazon? Thks fr yr help. Michel
  18. That's great Jim! I'v' just sent my 37$ for the CD/DVD. No doubt this project will succeed as much as the previous one. Great video, btw...
  19. Another Magnificent job, as usual, my dear Goldberg... I'm glad to learn that JHS contributed to launch the career of Freddie Mc Coy : I always thougth vibes and Hammond are goin' very well together. And I also agree that JHS is for a good part of the success of the Angel eyes album by Gene Ammons. Looking at the extended discographical information you researched, don't you feel there is a trend that developed especially with Prestige : very interesting organists appear on a regular basis, but more often as excellent sidemen. That was certainly the case for JHS, although he really made his own career as a soloist, in the same vein as Don Patterson and Jack McDuff, two other Prestige stablemates. I sould have a look at my own LP's/CD's from the Prestige repertoire, but I think at once at Sonny Philips, James Thomas ans so many others who provided luxurious, lush comping for soloists such as Ammons, Gator, Freddie McCoy, Eddie Davis, Harold Vick and so many others...Blue Note, on the other hand, seemed to privilege the hard bop soloists, Smith, Willette, Patton, Roach : that might become a very interesting and innovative research! Anyway, I keep a copy of every of your in-depth analysis of Hammond organists : someday, that will become THE unescapable reference.
  20. This is a nice way to illustrate the difference between a remix and a remastering. In those early stereo times, the buyers of the brand new stereo ,Lp's were enjoying excessive stereo separation, also known as the ping-pong effect and there is no doubt it was not a van Gelder personal choice. Since the mixing of all the channels was made before the recording onto a 2 tracks tape, there is no way one could go back to a multitrack master, trim the levels and pan the instruments in a more blended way. But it is quite possible to process the original stereo master to reduce the stereo spread and, if necessary, adjust the equalization and add a tiny short decay reverb' to add some air between the instruments. And that would most probably result in an RVG CD.
  21. Hi Mjzee, Although Kevin and JAW are completely right, I feel some explanation of the mastering operation might help you to understand clearly the process . So here's my two pence worth. Mastering practically exists since the beginning of the electric recording of music to manufacture discs. It simply means an engineer makes adjustments on the recorded material to make it sound as good as possible thru the playing media and the audio reproducing system. This was working a long time before the appearance of the digital technology. In short, the mastering engineer had to compensate thru his equalizers as much as he could for the deficiencies of the vinyl disks : limited audio frequencies range, dynamic range, compression introduced to manufacture the metal masters etc...Allt his could be done in the analog domain. The appearance of the CD implied another step : transferring the analog recorded signal into a suite of digital bits that would become the well known CD containing approximately 700 Mb of music. This operation HAS to be done in the digital domain, using analog to digital converters (AD). The developments of this technology made possible to apply all the required sound corrections to the recorded material also in the digital domain, meaning no perverse side effects will affect the sound during the process (such as noise, phase rotations etc..).As a result, a new marketing gadget has spread over the re-issue segment of the market :"Digitally remastered" to help the sales of earlier recorded material. Another frequent confusion exists between mixing and mastering : in the case of the Blue Note label (and Prestige and other labels from that time), the original music was recorded onto a 2 tracks analog tape machine. The mixing operation still existed, unless Rudy would use only a stereo pair, but this was perfomed live during the rehearsals or even during the actual final performances. And that was of course completely analog stuff. In short, these confusions are introduced by marketing people believing the word 'digital' will help the sales : they usually have not the slightest idea of what is involved. I hope these few lines have more or less answered your question, but feel free to discuss it if you wish to .
  22. I've always be fond of the combination Hammond/vibes : they can sound both percussive or sustained and when sharing the solos, the mellow hold chords combine beautifully with the sharp, crackling sound of the mallets hitting the metal. A fantastic LP that was unfortunately never released in the CD format was : Freddie Mc Coy Lonely avenue Prestige 7395, with James Thomas at the organ. Maybe one day...
  23. Just downloaded the Flacc and gave them a quick listen : this sound is really beautiful, excellent tracking, excellent mixdown and mastering. I'll certainly come back after extended listenings, but I couldn't wait to tell you all a big Bravo, excellently done!
  24. Hi MG, The CD Live in Paris arrived this morning. And it is GREAT..! It actually reminds me of the Genius+Soul LP featuring Ray on organ. I just love Ray's style : his technical capabilities as a pianist and organist are limited, but it does not matter here : the music is sparkling with life and beauty! Thanks again for having brought these gems to the light, I wouldn't even have dreamed of owning this CD...great job, thanks! The recording quality is quite acceptable, considering it is half a century old...The ORTF in that time knew how to record : it will just need minor tone corrections and reverb' to be close to studio standards. And the price was finally 8.98£, postage included. Michel+
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