LFF

Thanks for everything guys - I really appreciate your offers of support! Well - despite the craziness, I got a good nights sleep as did my wife and dog. As far as I know, my apartment complex, The Cascades, was hit hard. A total of 50 apartments were destroyed and many others have fire damage. The area is closed to the public until city and fire inspectors can go through the damage and see if it is safe enough to return. I have yet to confirm if my apartment was one of the 50. ""I gotta get my dog out," he growled, without interrupting his stride. Wearing flip-flops, he slogged through puddles left by fire hoses and vanished into the haze." Yeah - that was me but I wasn't wearing flip flops - my wife was. I started running about two blocks away from my apartment and after 10 seconds of running my lips were chap and my nose and throat were completely dry. My eyes began to tear not much later. On the other side of the road there were 20 foot flames and it was HOT! I wasn't able to go through the main entrance because the surrounding trees were on fire and all the fire trucks were blocking the entrance. I had to climb the incline around the complex and go through the foliage that wasn't burning. When I was there getting my dog out the smoke was real bad and the apartments directly in front of mine were up in flames. The heat was intense and it was very hard to breathe but my adrenaline was pumping and I think that helped me out a lot. Those of you who know me can probably guess I can't run half a block, let alone 2 to and from but somehow I did it. Everything near the apartment complex was on fire including the wood-chip sidewalk floor and the wooden fence that separates the sidewalk from the street. It felt like I was in a really bad movie. Being here at my parents with everything I own in a backpack is quite a humbling experience. My wife and I are trying to stay positive and are really thankful that we got our dog out. We're crossing our fingers that our place will still be there when they let people back in. I'll keep you guys posted. Thanks for all your kind words.

I just arrived at my parents house. I live in Anaheim Hills and my apartment complex was the one hit by the fire. At my own risk, I ran passed all the blocked roads in order to save my dog. When I got there, I was already suffering from smoke inhalation. The good news is that I managed to get my dog out along with my Grado HP-2's but that's the complete extent of what I own at the moment. As I was leaving, the apartment directly infront of mine was going up in flames. As of right now, I have no idea whether or not I am completely poor and homeless or just poor or lucky enough to have anything when I get back. Wish me luck!

Happy Birthday!

CD's done by Ron McMaster are rather good and can be purchased rather cheap as well. I have done transfers of some Blue Notes from Classic Records and the sound is very good as well. As for original Blue Notes - they are usually very bright and in bad shape. However, with a little EQ here and there - they really sound great. That being said, all of the above doesn't even hold a candle to the 45RPM Hoffman/Gray releases. Some MFSL's come close but the Hoffman/Gray version will win every single time.

Well, I did some research and here is what I found. Direct quote from Steve Hoffman: "It amazes me every time that Kevin threads up a BLUE NOTE master tape and lets it roll at how much better the tape sounds than any CD or LP of this material out there. I mean, SO MUCH BETTER! Do other mastering engineers working on Blue Note material crank up the treble and shave off the bass because they like that sound? Most Blue Note releases both digital and analog give me a giant headache. One would think that this is the "sound" of a Rudy Van Gelder Blue Note master (I used to think so) but it isn't, my friends, it ISN'T! These master tapes sound full, rich, warm and brimming with lifelike ambiance and coolness. They just need a slight "coax" to shine when we cut to 45 RPM. Trust me, they rule." Are the Blue Note or other RVG tapes bright? Steve Hoffman responds: "No. Bright the tapes are not. That is a remastering decision." So why are the LP's bright and CD's bright? Steve said: "Rudy Van Gelder recorded stuff to sound good THEN, not now. THEN is what counted! People had cheap phonographs or Hi-Fi's, nothing like what we have now. Rudy did all his "tricking" right on the master tape so he didn't have to redub and lose a generation.. In other words, he didn't record something and re-dub it adding compression, echo, EQ, etc., he did it all live in real time while the music was being recorded. Roy DuNann and Howard Holzer at Contemporary recorded everything flat and dry and the "tricks" were added during LP disk mastering. So, a Contemporary master tape today sounds amazing while a Prestige or Blue Note master tape needs a little "reverse trickery" to get it to sound better. At the time though, the RVG recording technique made those Prestige and Blue Note LP's sing!" As for the LP's Steve said: "I'm sure the tape sounds way better than an old Blue Note mono RVG cutting. That really is no indication of what the real deal sounds like; unless you love an extra 6 db at 5k on everything..And probably a 6db cut @ 10 or 12k and above to go with the boost @ 5!" Hope that helps!

I assume your referring to the Japanese Blue Note CD's. If so, well, I haven't heard any of them. However, I would trust a Japanese CD over an American CD almost everyday of the week. The Japanese love to have "air" in their CD's, so that would be my only concern, but it is a minor concern since it is easily fixed.

Anything RVG will certainly be marked either on the back or with a sticker. Blue Note has a particular sound that it is known for. All Blue Notes tend to be a bit on the bright side when done well. However, some engineers instinctively put a treble boost on everything, which makes these unbearable. If it were a title unavailable on CD, then I would just buy the LP and fix it myself.

The 180 gram vinyls are just reissues as far as I know. I believe some feature remastering done by RVG. The newer SH/KG remasters are only the 45RPM 180 gram vinyl masterings done at AcousTech. Supposedly some of these are going to be released on SACD very soon.

I've been saying that since he was elected senator. I sure hope he does better than JFK.

ROFLOL!

Nice music joke!

Woke up. Called my rental company to replace our broken dryer. Computer crashed. Lost some of my music. Got angry then computer crashed again. Preamp died/fried. Spilled coke on my keyboard. BAD DAY!

Oh so true! Although, I do use a Merkur Razor to shave.

I LOL'd at this for a long time. Poor kids. One for getting kicked, the other for being retarded.

I like her!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlAKnSCRWQM]YouTube - Unbelievable McCain Vs. Obama Dance-Off[/ame]

Seriously! I always buy local for fear that Fed-Ex, UPS or USPS might trash my table.

I bet that was sweet. I love the cold. I sometimes wonder why I love California so much.

Coldest I have experienced here was at Big Bear Lake when it was something like 20 degrees Fahrenheit.

Hot as hell here. It was 98 degrees F. here today. I sold my RS-1's, posted a few remasters, started working on other remasters and ate Thai food.

Ok! So who wants to sell me their PICO for $50.00!?!!?!

It works with any headphone set. He did state that he will only sell the first 1000 units with the stax headphones though.

I see. See...you always learn something new. Maybe it's the new stuff as the dock I have is flexible and has caused no damage at all. I wonder if he is using new materials and if that may be the cause.

LOL at the Rocco analogy as well! I have the Cotton Dock and it works well with my gear. No damage to it whatsoever. I also think it sounds good. Maybe he is using new connectors.

HOLY SHIT FUCKING FUCK! That's an amazing beauty! I wish I could do my LP transfers on something that beautiful. That is pure turntable porn!