Playlist Week of 2013-04-06

* Biber: Missa Christi Resurgentis (English Concert/Manze) (Harmonia Mundi SACD)

* Biber: The Rosary Sonatas (Manze/Egarr) (Harmonia Mundi 2CD)

* Ornette Coleman: Beauty Is A Rare Thing: Atlantic Recordings (d.3-5) (Atlantic/Rhino 6CD)

* Sun Ra: The Soul Vibrations Of Man (Saturn LP)

* Sun Ra: Taking A Chance On Chances (Saturn LP>CDR)

* Sun Ra Quartet: New Steps (Horo 2LP>CDR)

* Keith Jarrett: The Impulse Years 1973-1974 (d.4-5) (Impulse! 5CD)

* Joe Morris & Mat Maneri: [soul search] (AUM Fidelity CD)

* Joe Morris: Singularity (AUM Fidelity CD)

* Joe Morris/William Parker/Gerald Cleaver: Altitude (AUM Fidelity CD)

* Joe Morris/Augustí Fernándéz/Nate Wooley: From The Discrete To The Particular (Relative Pitch CD)

* Slobber Pup (Jamie Saft/Joe Morris/Trevor Dunn/Balasz Pandi): Black Aces (Rare Noise FLAC)

* Gigi: Gigi (Palm Pictures CD)

* Gigi: Illuminated Audio (Palm Pictures CD)

* Bill Laswell: Baselines (Elecktra/Musician LP)

* Bill Laswell: Dub Chamber 4: Book Of Exit (ROIR CD)

* Bill Laswell: Version 2 Version: A Dub Transmission (ROIR CD)

* Deadline: Down By Law (Celluloid LP)

* Deadline: Dissident (Day Eight CD)

* Nicky Skopelitis: Ekstasis (Axiom/Island CD)

* Nicky Skopelitis: Wake Up And Dream (CyberOctave CD)

* Nona Hendryx: Nona (RCA LP)

* Nona Hendryx: The Art Of Defense (RCA LP)

* Chaka Khan: I Feel For You (Warner Bros. LP)

* D’Angelo: Brown Sugar (EMI CD)

* D’Angelo: Voodoo (Virgin CD)

* Miguel: Kaleidoscope World (RCA CD)

* Sly & The Family Stone: There’s A Riot Goin’ On (Epic/Sundazed LP)

* War: The World Is A Ghetto (Avenue/Rhino CD)

* Roseanne Cash: King’s Record Shop (Columbia LP)

* Grateful Dead: Road Trips Vol.3 No.1: Oakland 12-28-79 (selections) (GDP/Rhino 2+1HDCD)

* The Band: Music From Big Pink (Capitol/Mobile Fidelity SACD)

* Fleetwood Mac: Fleetwood Mac (Reprise 2-45RPM LP)

* Fleetwood Mac: Rumours (Warner Bros. 2-45RPM LP)

* Beck: The Information (Interscope CD/DVD)

* Beck: Modern Guilt (DGC CD)†

* Kyuss: Welcome To Sky Valley (Elektra CD)†

* Clutch: Earth Rocker (Weathermaker LP)

* Porcupine Tree: Deadwing (Lava/Atlantic CD)†/‡

* Katatonia: Night Is The New Day (Peaceville CD)†

* Mastodon: Crack The Skye (Reprise 2-45RPM LP)

* Mastodon: The Hunter (Reprise 2-45RPM LP)

* Astra: The Black Chord (Metal Blade CD)

* Wild Nothing: Nocturne (Temporary Residence CD)†/‡

†=iPod

‡=car

Commentary:

The other day, I found this broken compact disc just outside Grimey’s New & Pre-Loved Music, my favorite local record store. I guess this person didn’t like it! Or maybe they bought the vinyl and tossed the over-compressed, clipped and distorted piece of crap CD!

I can relate.

I spent the past couple of days teaching myself how to use Audacity, the freeware audio program, so I can get back into digitizing some of my prized LPs (and homemade cassettes). While not as intuitive as my beloved Feurio! (which will not run on Windows 7), it is a much more sophisticated and powerful piece of software, making it possible to easily make super-high-quality “needledrops” of records that have no digital equivalent.

Amazingly enough, my old Harman Kardon CDR-1 is still working great (knock on wood), so first I dump each side of the LP onto a disc and then transfer those WAV files to the computer for editing in Audacity. While this is an old-school way of doing things, the 24-bit analog-to-digital converters on the CDR-1 sound nice to my ears and, more importantly, the unit is integrated into the big stereo system, making it much easier to use than trying to hook up my turntable to a computer. Using Audacity, I trim extraneous audio, add track markers and metadata, normalize the volume levels and compile it into a complete album. Then I burn another CD (using Nero) to listen to and load it onto the iPod (in Apple lossless format, of course). This means I have two discs for every one album—but, hey, redundant backups are a good thing in the digital realm.

How do they sound? Pretty good–for CD. Straight from the turntable, the sound is more open, spacious and three-dimensional than on the CDR. But that is to be expected; clearly, the 16-bit/44kHz CD standard truncates ultrasonic data that even my humble analog rig manages to reproduce. Nevertheless, it is nice to have some of these unique, high-quality masterings in a portable, digital format.

Like what? Well, there’s my small collection of double-45RPM LPs, like Fleetwood Mac’s 1975 self-titled album and Steve Hoffman’s exquisite remaster of Rumours—then, at the other extreme, there’s the last three Mastodon albums, which sound like garbage on CD but which really shine on 45PM vinyl. This has been my record-nerd project this weekend. Next up will be ripping my Music Matters 2-45RPM LP of Eric Dolphy’s Out To Lunch—a Blue Note classic with unbelievable sonics!

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Speaking of record nerds, Record Store Day is coming up on 4/20 (heh heh). I have blown these off the last couple of years as they have become too much of a scene to deal with, with folks camping out overnight in order to snag all the rare, limited edition stuff (some of whom are obviously turning around and selling them on eBay). I’m a pretty fanatical record collector but not that hardcore. Then again, Grimey’s has recently expanded—maybe now they have the space to accommodate all us record nerds. I’m not going to camp out but I might go later in the day, when the frenzy dies down. I do love the record store—but, for me, every day is Record Store Day!

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[/shameless plug]: Looking for a cool record? Buy my CD—it sound as good as a CD can, I promise!