For those of you fortunate enough to have a tape deck capable of playing back 15 ips 2 track tapes with IEC equalization, I have a new tape that will blow your doors off. Jonathan Horwich recorded this tape in July of 1980 in Echternach, Luxembourg, using a pair of B&K omni microphones into an ML-5 tape deck. This tape is a live performance of Ravi Shankar playing sitar and Alla Rakha playing tabla. Jonathan recently received permission from the estate of Ravi Shankar to release this tape.
In my opinion, Jonathan did one hell of a job recording this tape. He has captured the sound of the room and he caught enough of the dynamics to give you some of the best dynamic range you have heard in a good while in this rat-infested digital world of loudness wars that we find ourselves in. That's one reason why analog people love analog. While digital people love to talk about the dynamic range capability they have (that seldom gets exercised), analog people actually get to listen to recordings that have captured lots of dynamic range. Aah, the irony. Back to the point, this recording is smoking hot with great music and great dynamic range.
If you are a Beatles fan and you like the song "Within and Without You," you will love this tape. I find it to be very Beatlesque sounding, which is probably unfair since George Harrison learned to play the Sitar from Ravi Shankar. But for most of us, we probably first heard the sitar from Beatles recordings. This is a demonstration quality tape. The only bummer is that it is only 17:25 long and it costs $150 which works out to about $8.70 per minute of listening. On the other hand, I have lots of money tied up in recordings I never listen to (like my CD collection) so this is money well spent for me.
For those of you who haven't had your VU meters neutered, this is one of those tapes that will swing your VU meters from -20 to +3 faster than you can snap your fingers. I love those types of tapes! Great music, great recording, and great dynamic range. What more can you ask for? This tape is two generations from the master, but if you are willing to spend $400, Jonathan will make a limited quantity of tapes straight from the master. My tape sounds so good that if Jonathan told me he duped it straight from the master I would have believed him. I give this tape my highest recommendation. Did I say it has great dynamic range?
In my opinion, Jonathan did one hell of a job recording this tape. He has captured the sound of the room and he caught enough of the dynamics to give you some of the best dynamic range you have heard in a good while in this rat-infested digital world of loudness wars that we find ourselves in. That's one reason why analog people love analog. While digital people love to talk about the dynamic range capability they have (that seldom gets exercised), analog people actually get to listen to recordings that have captured lots of dynamic range. Aah, the irony. Back to the point, this recording is smoking hot with great music and great dynamic range.
If you are a Beatles fan and you like the song "Within and Without You," you will love this tape. I find it to be very Beatlesque sounding, which is probably unfair since George Harrison learned to play the Sitar from Ravi Shankar. But for most of us, we probably first heard the sitar from Beatles recordings. This is a demonstration quality tape. The only bummer is that it is only 17:25 long and it costs $150 which works out to about $8.70 per minute of listening. On the other hand, I have lots of money tied up in recordings I never listen to (like my CD collection) so this is money well spent for me.
For those of you who haven't had your VU meters neutered, this is one of those tapes that will swing your VU meters from -20 to +3 faster than you can snap your fingers. I love those types of tapes! Great music, great recording, and great dynamic range. What more can you ask for? This tape is two generations from the master, but if you are willing to spend $400, Jonathan will make a limited quantity of tapes straight from the master. My tape sounds so good that if Jonathan told me he duped it straight from the master I would have believed him. I give this tape my highest recommendation. Did I say it has great dynamic range?
