Michael Fremer

Michael Fremer  |  May 04, 2021  |  First Published: May 04, 2021  |  12 comments
Legendary recording engineer, producer, mixer and all around great person Al Schmitt died last week at 91. He was still working at the end of his life. The multiple Grammy winner engineered albums for Bob Dylan, The Jefferson Airplane, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Diana Krall, Sam Cooke, and on and on in an illustrious career that began as a child in his uncle Harry's New York City recording studio where he did odd jobs including cable cleaning.

Michael Fremer  |  May 03, 2021  |  First Published: May 03, 2021  |  102 comments
It's the best selling jazz album ever, one of the most influential too, arguably the one that produced a shift from riffing on chord based tunes to modal excursions that gave musicians newfound improvisational freedom. Cynics and the selfish will react to yet another Kind of Blue reissue by claiming that "everyone" already owns a copy but of course that's not true. And no one owns a 200 gram UHQR Clarity vinyl copy pressed one at a time on a manual Finebuilt press.

Michael Fremer  |  Apr 29, 2021  |  First Published: Apr 29, 2021  |  8 comments
Craft's Record Store Day Dozen includes the first ever vinyl release of John Martyn's 1998 blues covers album The Church With One Bell as well as a deluxe edition of the indispensable 1966 3 LP set Chicago/The Blues/Today! originally on Vanguard.

Michael Fremer  |  Apr 29, 2021  |  First Published: Apr 29, 2021  |  0 comments
The 12-Part "Behind the Counter 2021" video series debuts today and continues weekly 12pm EDT with 11 additional installments available of Classic Album Sundays' various Internet platforms. These are short, fun videos well worth watching, though on the first one debuting today the guy kind of disses buying a good pressing and says "whatever" as long as it's physical. He needs a wake up call!

Michael Fremer  |  Apr 28, 2021  |  First Published: Apr 28, 2021  |  6 comments
The Snapshots Foundation just announced a documentary now in production on the legendary 91 year old American record producer Creed Taylor.

Michael Fremer  |  Apr 27, 2021  |  First Published: Apr 27, 2021  |  10 comments
The parallel event, the IPS – International Parts + Supply, is also postponed

The HIGH END 2021 trade show, planned to take place in Munich from September 9 to 12, 2021, has now been moved to May 2022 due to the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The HIGH END SOCIETY Service GmbH reached this decision after a reassessment of the current situation and in close cooperation with the Board of the HIGH END SOCIETY e.V.

Michael Fremer  |  Apr 26, 2021  |  First Published: Apr 26, 2021  |  35 comments
Los Angeles—April 26, 2021 — Verve/UMe’s Acoustic Sounds series celebrates Impulse!’s 60th anniversary, releasing May 14 two of the four titles that originally launched the iconic orange and black label:

• Ray Charles – Genius + Soul = Jazz
• Gil Evans Orchestra – Out Of The Cool

Michael Fremer  |  Apr 16, 2021  |  First Published: Apr 16, 2021  |  7 comments
Filmmaker Ben Williams is posting on YouTube a series of videos he's shot at the Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society (LAOCAS) December Galas over the past few years. This short one was filmed the day before AnalogPlanet editor Michael Fremer received the Society's Founder's Award. BTW: below the short video is my roast of Chad Kassem when he got the award December 7th 2014. If you haven't watched it, you should!(Photo: Chad and Michael visit Thai Plastics outside of Bangkok, Thailand)

Michael Fremer  |  Apr 13, 2021  |  First Published: Apr 13, 2021  |  35 comments
The first AnalogPlanet video in months is an hour plus worth of weird and unusual records in the editor's large collection. What makes an album "weird" or "unusual"? A wide variety of possibilities as you'll see in this amusing and entertaining video in which the website's editor literally lets his hair down.

At least I think there's humor here!

Michael Fremer  |  Apr 12, 2021  |  First Published: Apr 12, 2021  |  18 comments
What’s “surprising” about QHW Audio’s “The Vinyl” phono preamplifier? More than a few things, starting with its Made In Spain origin. Perhaps I’m just ignorant but other than the highest tech WADAX brand of digital electronics, an older piece of which I reviewed for Stereophile, I’m not aware of a burgeoning Spanish audio manufacturing scene. Perhaps I’m mistaken. If so, I’d be happy to stand corrected.

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