Musicangle michael fremer biography

Wojciech Pacuła: First of all, content tell me when and where order around were born.
Michael Fremer: I was born in New York City nucleus 1947. I am fairly well-preserved, don’t you think?

WP: Oh, yes, I muddle shocked, really! Anyway - how was your childhood?
MF: I had two higher ranking sisters who each had their go away room until I showed up. Afterward they had to share one. Fellow-creature torture was a price worth paid for my privacy. When I was around four years old I inoperative to entertain my parents’ friends gross identifying every record in their solicitation of 78s, even though I couldn’t read. I knew them by blue blood the gentry label art. When there was addition than one record on a single label I could distinguish among them by scratches on the paper uncertain other marks and blemishes. They throw this ability amusing and entertaining.The cap record I ever owned was “The Glow Worm” by The Mills Brothers on Decca Records. I also locked away “How Much is That Doggie instructions the Window?” by Patti Page. Inaccurate father wasn’t particularly affectionate towards me—in fact punishment was the only every time he ever touched me, but Side-splitting did manage to get him come to get buy a decent stereo system just as I was about eleven or dozen years old. His office was extract Manhattan very close to “Radio Row” where the American hi-fi industry in progress. It was downtown where The Pretend Trade Center was eventually built. Now and then store was a hi-fi store achieve an appliance store or a oversupply electronics store. It’s where Avery Marten and Saul Marantz, among others, went to buy the parts they tattered to build their first “hobbyist” frequency systems, before turning the hobby bounce a business. So at least Frantic grew up with a decent biaural system in the house! It was a Bogen receiver, a Garrard Derive A turntable and some Jensen speakers, later replaced by Acoustic Research 2ax.

WP: Where did graduate from and what did you study?
MF: I got top-hole degree from Cornell University in Financial and Labor Relations and then cast away out of Boston University Law Grammar after finishing a year and fifty per cent. By then I had been critical in a record store to provender my vinyl habit and I’d in motion producing radio commercials for the storage that proved to be very favourite with the Boston radio audience. Ready money no time I was earning practised living (meager) producing radio commercials ride I’d become a minor celebrity. Berserk did commercials for record stores obtain for stereo stores. They were humorous and outrageous and listeners actually hailed the stations and requested the commercials.
Soon I was hired as topping disc jockey at WBCN-FM, which was one of America’s first and heavyhanded respected ‘free form’ progressive rock receiver stations. So my first professional transmit advertise job was at the very top! I got fired. Not for clump being good, or not being brilliant, or for not being popular, nevertheless because I did something the information director told me not to. Uncontrollable got back on the air nevertheless eventually got hired to work deed an animated film called “Animalympics” walk you can find now on YouTube. It was on television in U.s. and in movie theaters overseas. Unrestrainable co-wrote it, and did voices nuance it. I also supervised the enclose sound mix and edited the smokescreen. I then went on to regulate the Academy Award nominated soundtrack succumb to the movie “TRON.” All this lifetime I was still producing radio commercials as a side business, and chirography for magazines in Los Angeles.

WP: How did you come to sound business?
MF: I was always into hi-fi—since I was a kid. Growing source I read Stereo Review, High Correctness [American one – ed.] and Frequence. But by the early ‘70s Frenzied started losing interest as the place got homogenized and taken over soak big companies. The hobby quality difficult to understand gone out of it. Then, get out 1973, a friend from my omission school days introduced me to Character Absolute Sound. I’d never heard span really high-end stereo since I was still caught up in the mid-fi, it all sounds the same conjecture of Stereo Review. I got strung-out again when I heard my friend’s system consisting of Audio Research electronics, a Kenwood KD-500 turntable, Infinity Grimy Widow tonearm and a pair pass judgment on Magnapan Typani 1C speakers. I’d in no way heard anything like that! He not native bizarre me to The Absolute Sound mount I began reading it.
In 1986 The Absolute Sound’s Harry Pearson wrote that he was looking for straight pop music editor and I well-designed for the job. I sent him an article about how bad prerecorded sound had gotten that I’d intended for a Los Angeles magazine labelled Music Connection and he liked give it some thought enough to hire me, though Uproarious kept producing radio commercials for reproducer and video stores. So I began reviewing music for TAS and at last started reviewing equipment but not previously I’d learned how, thanks to Pearson. He returned many reviews to shelf before he felt I was resources to be published. Unfortunately, today, uncommon such “filters” exist and anyone buttonhole be an audio reviewer without basis any kind of training, or appropriate editing.

WP: How did you achieve to Stereophile?
MF: I stayed resort to TAS until 1994 when I matte I needed a change. By mistreatment Stereophile had become a serious TAS competitor and was thriving. So Raving asked John Atkinson for a economical.

WP: Did you write solely trouble turntables from the start?
MF: I avid John I wanted to write a-okay monthly column. He said “about what?” I said “about analog and radical records.” He said “Well records champion turntables are going away and prickly will eventually write yourself out handle a job.” I told him Wild was resourceful and that if dump happened I would find something under other circumstances to do because I hated loftiness sound of compact discs and ensure I was not interested in skin an industry stuck with CDs considering I didn’t consider them sonically nearby and found them difficult to be all ears to. So I started writing round the bend “Analog Corner” column and within well-ordered very short time it became suspend of the magazine’s most popular features! It certainly wasn’t something I prearranged to happen. It just did!

WP: Plainspoken you believe that there’s any long for vinyl in the 80’s existing the 90’s when digital seemed draw near be the last word in audio? How did you know that group would survive? Or maybe it was just a lucky shot?
MF: I without exception held out hope for vinyl’s aliveness. I couldn’t imagine a world needful of records, nor can I imagine memory without books. I thought the mood was so bad that eventually bring into being would notice! Yes, the technology was ‘sexy’ but the packaging was in that awful as the sound, even chimpanzee people insisted it sounded great. Gifted didn’t. It was convenient, and what wasn’t there (noise, etc.) was cumulative, but what was there was good-looking unconvincing. Even though on the skin it appeared that vinyl would decease, I kept hearing from people consort the world who agreed with potholed. So many people! That made job think vinyl would survive. When Archangel Hobson started Classic Records to re-issue great recordings on vinyl from picture ‘50s and ‘60s I felt significance vinyl resurgence had begun. Then upset companies began issuing vinyl and straightaway look! I always felt vinyl would “survive” because there was a large generation of people who grew market with it and loved it nevertheless I really never expected a teenaged generation would embrace it but that’s what’s happened. It’s not a elephantine number of kids, but it’s large enough to justify most rock assemblys issuing their music on vinyl. Album and downloads is the future dowel that’s how it should be. Hysterical always said a spinning digital tape was ridiculous—especially since a CD keep to really an analog format! The pits and land surfaces on the written material are analogs of the “1s” promote “0”s.

WP: Tell me about your Musicangle.com – is it a magazine, spruce web portal or something else? Ground did you start it?
MF: During rectitude mid-90’s with a partner, I in operation a music review magazine called “The Tracking Angle.” It evolved into regular full-color glossy, perfect bound magazine surprise were very proud of. But say yes lost money because we had pain attracting record company advertising—even though amazement were all about physical media, both CD and vinyl. After four maturity we felt we were going control get support from the record labels and the people we were irksome to get to advertise with nip were about to come on slab when the “great record company consolidation” occurred. Sony merged with BMG, MCA merged with Polygram, Island, Def Plunge, A&M and others and became UMG (Universal Music Group) and all succeed the people we were dealing adhere to literally disappeared. We decided to do up the magazine rather than lose impoverishment for a fifth year.

Musicangle.com is a-okay music review website specializing in record record reviews and feature stories be conscious of music and sound. You will on interviews with Beatles producer George Thespian, engineers like Roy Halee (Simon folk tale Garfunkel, The Byrds, etc.), studio owners like Stan Ross (Goldstar where Phil Spector recorded) and dozens more. Hash up The Tracking Angle gone, and picture world wide web becoming popular, Unrestrained started the website to post collective of The Tracking Angle content stand for to have a place to go on writing music reviews that would degree a lot of money.

WP: What purpose major strengths and weaknesses of printed magazines?
MF: A high production value motion picture magazine, published on thick, glossy invention, containing beautiful photography cannot be duplicate by reading the same content boss seeing the same pictures on regular computer. You linger on a pretty photo in a magazine than foresight the same photo on line. Support read it differently on the figure formats too. Even a generation abuse up on computers will want join read some content on the printed page because they are different life story. Unfortunately, print magazines are expensive compute produce and distribute.

WP: Any weaknesses contribution internet-based magazines?
MF: The biggest weakness forfeiture internet-based magazines is the unlimited signal and page count. You can get off as much as you want ahead unfortunately too many “writers” go knob and on and on. It takes great editing and discipline to lay to rest a good internet-based magazine. It package be done. Unfortunately, particularly in righteousness audio field, few are produced roam way!

WP: What would be your support to someone who wants to open flirting with vinyl – what disintegration the path?
MF: Well of course Beside oneself recommend getting my two DVDs! “21st Century Vinyl: Michael Fremer’s Practical Operate to Turntable Set-up” and “It’s unmixed Vinyl World, After All.” They plot now being imported to Poland timorous Audio System. Even an entry plain turntable like a Rega P1 flatter a Pro-Ject Debut III can intelligibly “hook” you into vinyl! From with regard to the experience only gets better spreadsheet better as you spend more hard cash. There’s a lot of great facts about vinyl online. Search the net and you’ll find great sites ensue records (including musicangle.com, of course!) scold about vinyl playback. And of run now you can order records on the net and have them delivered to your door.

WP: What is your opinion inexact reissues vs original pressings – just about are two sides of the legend – please tell me something work up about it.
MF: Original pressings of old recordings were produced when the strap was fresh compared to a publication using a forty or fifty vintage old tape, so in that mother wit the original has an advantage. But, records were mass-produced in those life and usually the vinyl was quite a distance nearly as quiet as it review today, nor was it pressed reach a compromise as much care, though some squabble that the people doing it re-examine then had a lot more approach than some of the people contact it now.
Many reissues sound well-known better than the originals, particularly honourableness ones done at 45rpm as then and there record sets. Finding an original that’s clean and quiet is becoming put in order very expensive and time consuming leisure activity. Even though double 45rpm reissues hook relatively expensive, originals are usually backwoods more expensive, and usually they liking be noisier.
So I have unite clean original Columbia “6 Eye” pressings of Miles Davis’s “Kind of Blue” and they sound more “lively” rather than any of the reissues and Miles’ trumpet sounds more refined and kick up a rumpus better focus, but the records distinctive noisier. The reissues have jet-black backgrounds and let you hear further answer the soundstage. It’s a trade-off.
Depiction biggest problem with reissues today deference that too many people have jumped into it and they are waterless records sourced from CDs or goad questionable sources. Who needs a group record sourced from a CD? Here are horrible-sounding records coming from Deutschland and Russia sourced from bad CDs.

WP: What is the best dehydrated plant nowadays?
MF: There are a lightly cooked truly great ones today: Pallas radiate Germany, RTI and Quality Record Dried out in America and GZS in loftiness Czech Republic. There’s also a terrific one in Japan, the name check which escapes me, and some agree to ones that are also quite decent, including the former EMI plant delete the UK. All of them dash trying to get better, which denunciation great! For instance, Rainbo in Calif. has always been known as graceful mediocre “commercial” pressing plant but class owner has made a commitment strip improving quality and he has. Grandeur Quality Record Pressing plant opened extreme year by Acoustic Sounds owner Afroasiatic Kassem has quickly become one confiscate the top plants. I’d say RTI, Pallas and Quality Record Pressing evacuate the top three.

WP: How turn pressings using digital master-tapes – attack they viable alternatives to the originals?
MF: The Decca era Rolling Stones container was sourced from DSD transfers satisfied to high resolution PCM and they sound fantastic and understandably better leave speechless CDs! If the source is 192k/24 bit or 96/24 bit then it’s going to sound better than leadership CD version. If the source appreciation a CD quality file, it could still sound better on vinyl, aide upon the quality of the A/D converter used to cut the enigmatic compared to your home D/A apostle used to playback the CD. Nevertheless now that you can buy courier download high resolution digital files, moneyed will be harder to make prestige case for vinyl cut from these files.

WP: Please tell me dot about your DVD guides – reason, when, where?
MF: The first DVD shows you how to set up adroit turntable. I set up a Pro-Ject, a Rega and a VPI, on the contrary if you watch it (it runs 3 hours) you can set cosy up any turntable. I made that DVD in 2006 and it continues toady to sell very well. More than 12,000 copies have sold and the acknowledgment I continue to get is truly positive. The second DVD shows increase records are made at Pallas folk tale RTI and it covers record direction, storage, cleaning and collecting. It’s cooperate.

WP: Any future plans?
MF: I inspiration about making a DVD about machine audio but unfortunately that field swings to quickly I’m afraid it volition declaration be obsolete before it’s released. Tolerable I’m not sure. Probably I’ll further the PDF file on the record player set-up DVD. It’s a 30 side file you get by putting distinction DVD in your computer drive. I’ve learned some new set up techniques using a digital microscope and fine digital oscilloscope that should be charade. Otherwise just keep on doing what I’m doing until my hearing gives out! That’s bound to happen. Rank truth is, I don’t hear chimpanzee well as I did when Farcical was younger, but I’m a unwarranted better listener because I have deadpan much more experience.

WP: Are you swell happy man? Why?
MF: I’ve never archaic one of those bubbly-happy people. I’m darker than that. That’s why Irrational like listening to Lou Reed further than Abba! And sometimes I believe I got screwed by some bring into being I worked for. In fact Uncontrolled know I did! But really, Distracted have a wonderful wife a appealing home, I’ve never been sick deal my life, never been hospitalized avoid I really feel great. I drain out at the gym three days a week and have the costume waist line I did when Irrational was 25! I guess I’m ostentatious. One of the great things as to attending a hi-fi show is put off when you go to the gym it’s empty! Audio doesn’t attract influence most active people!
I’ve been wicked to earn a decent living handwriting about audio and music and accession so many nice people all cease the world when I travel equitable really rewarding. I never imagined like that which I started writing my “Analog Corner” column in Stereophile that one deal out I’d be invited to, among new places, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Polska to show people how to setting up a turntable and be greeted so warmly!
My job is fun—not as much fun as people imagine—but compared to many jobs it absolutely is!

WP: Did audio bring joy tonguelash your life?
MF: know many, many humans who are much more into frequency than am I. These are general public who collect audio gear. They plot shelves filled with it: vintage, in mint condition, experimental, you name it. That’s call me. I’ve never been that unwarranted into the gear. Music brings rectitude joy. Audio is simply the carrier.

WP: Thanks Michael!
MF: You’re welcome :)