Ed Pong And Ultraanalogue Recordings Have Hit Another Home Run

astrotoy

VIP/Donor
May 24, 2010
1,547
1,017
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SF Bay Area
I received Ed's two new tapes last Christmas, but a combination of 18 days of cold/flu and visits by the grandkids kept me from giving them a careful listen.

I was able to do that this weekend. Overall, they continue Ed's run of wonderful tapes. Some specifics.

The tapes come from live concerts at his home concert hall, which has a great acoustic sense of space, perfect for chamber music. Immediately one can hear the instruments playing in a real space, with all the aural cues - the depth of the room, occasional noises from an otherwise very quiet audience, etc. The performances are top notch. Ed's most recent team of young performers are dazzling in their technique and musicality. I especially like Tatsuki Narita, the fine Japanese violinist, who is approaching the half way point of his travail of the 10 Beethoven Violin Sonatas (along with pianist Yun-Yang Lee). One of the two tapes is devoted primarilly to the first of the Beethoven sonatas, Op12 No1, written in 1798, but sounding much more mature. I especially like the second movement theme and variations. The tape is very full, almost 33 minutes of music - including the 24 minutes of the Beethoven and two Brahms Hungarian Dances, played with gypsy fervor. The second tape is composed of three pieces. The first is a piano solo, the famous and very difficult Chopin Andante Spianato and Grand Polonaise, played with great bravura by Yun-Yang Lee. It is usually played with orchestral accompaniment, but can be played without, as in this performance. This takes about half the tape. The other two pieces are violin showpieces, the famed Saint-Saens Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso and the lesser known, but technically difficult Sarasate Introduction and Tarentella. Played with piano accompaniment, Narita really shows his violin playing chops in these two pieces. Again the tape is very full.

Both are real treats. Ed continues to make tweaks to his recording techniques and it seems that with every release, the sound of the recordings get a little better.

Larry
 

tony ky ma

Industry Expert
Aug 21, 2010
630
5
930
Whitby Ontario Canada
What ever you do Ed, I say keep doing it as your tapes light up my ears and my emotions. They are as close to being there as I have ever experienced

I have a box set (3 vinyls) of Audio Technical Records by DENON, this testing vinyl produced by professor Takeshi Itow doctor of engineering Waseda University, Tokyo Japan. the recording is for people to check their play back system, it contain sweep frequency, band noise, phasing, musical instruments, hall recording etc. and also put the mic around the source and over up right to let people check the stage effect. unfortunately my system can't answer what they gave , I can't hear the mic's position of where they put and I though my system was not good enough , after I check the detail of how they make the recording and found that was not pure analogue , they use PCM recorder for recording and same PCM recorder to play back to cutting, maybe that is the reason why I can't feel I am there, but my tape play back system can let me feel just like Steve's feeling that we are there, I am not sure if we make vinyl from our master will still has the same effect like tape or not ?
tony ma
 
Jan 18, 2012
2,323
2,409
1,475
Drobak Norway
I have a box set (3 vinyls) of Audio Technical Records by DENON, this testing vinyl produced by professor Takeshi Itow doctor of engineering Waseda University, Tokyo Japan. the recording is for people to check their play back system, it contain sweep frequency, band noise, phasing, musical instruments, hall recording etc. and also put the mic around the source and over up right to let people check the stage effect. unfortunately my system can't answer what they gave , I can't hear the mic's position of where they put and I though my system was not good enough , after I check the detail of how they make the recording and found that was not pure analogue , they use PCM recorder for recording and same PCM recorder to play back to cutting, maybe that is the reason why I can't feel I am there, but my tape play back system can let me feel just like Steve's feeling that we are there, I am not sure if we make vinyl from our master will still has the same effect like tape or not ?
tony ma

only one way to find out :cool:
 

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