Hi all, the video's been online for a couple days and I want to sincerely thank you all for the positive feedback. It really means a tremendous amount to me. I wanted to correct/amend the record on several points that came up during the interview: - Bop Shop, the first record store we discussed, is located in Rochester, NY (somehow neither of us mentioned that) - When Ken asked how my 75th Anniversary EU copy of Unity might compare to a US press, I overlooked the possibility that he was asking me about comparing it to a US 75th Anniversary pressing. I haven't done that with Unity specifically but have with a handful of other albums. Across the board, the stereo spread is wider with the EU copies, also the vinyl is heavier and generally quieter. - It may have seemed like I was contradicting myself at one point, saying "heavy tracking is part of the reason so many vintage LPs are damaged" and then saying "I always track as heavy as possible". The latter statement is meant to refer strictly to carts with diamond-tip styli made in the "modern" (post-1970) era of cartridge design. There, I have never found that tracking at the high end of a company's recommended range causes damage to LPs. Will it ever? I guess I can't be 110% sure, but I know from experimentation that tracking heavier reduces mistracing (inner groove distortion) and surface noise and it's a risk I'm willing to take. - I never really clarified how I prefer to play most original mono LPs. I use a 0.7-mil conical (Pickering 1507 or Shure M35X) tracking at the maximum of the company's recommended range, and I simply sum the channels using the mono button on my integrated amp. I have tried mono carts and I feel summing produces surprisingly similar results...more info in the mono playback article on my blog. - Fredrik aka FW Rare Jazz Collector lives in Stockholm, Sweden, not Norway. - A commenter pointed out that in my 42 year-old ignorance, I mistakenly suggested that the Technics 1200 mkII weighs 40-50 lbs. According to the instruction manual, it weighs 27.6 lbs. I believe I was confusing it with the specs for the newer 1200G, which weighs 39.7 lbs. (Also, I am interested in someday purchasing a 1200GR ($1,700), not a 1200G ($4,000); the 1200GR weighs 25.4 lbs; both are made in Japan.) I believe my point remains though regarding isolation and the heavier weight of a 1200, as a Technics SL-D202, for example, weighs 13.2 lbs. Another comparison: a VPI Scout weighs 32 lbs and costs $3,300. - I actually spent 70% of my budget in Tokyo, not 60%. - I invite Ken to push back a little more if and when we do another one of these videos sometime...I welcome the debate! 😊

@Fatdogrecords

Жыл бұрын

Refreshing to see someone a little bit younger than myself. But coming at jazz from a DJ background and also Hip Hop ✊🏻

@BreakfastInEurope

Жыл бұрын

Funny how you say you welcome debate but locked out all commenting on your posts lmao

The fact that this video is free is one of the great gifts of this genre. Ken and Richard are treasures.

What the world needs now is more guys like you guys.

Great episode, interesting and informative. Thanks @dgmono for the shout-out! 🤓👍🏻 I use the Miyajima Zero 1mil cartridge and it performs great on vintage mono records.

You'll see a reissue of Speaking' My Piece soon in the Classic series. (Mastered directly from the OG master tapes of course.) Richard's dedication and work is without peer!

@joeharley8396

Жыл бұрын

Also, there's a photo of Kevin Gray's mastering studio around 47 min in among all the shots of Hackensack and Englewood Cliffs studio. Not sure you meant to include that there.

@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455

Жыл бұрын

Joe, do you mean in my video or in Richards video?

@joeharley8396

Жыл бұрын

@@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455 In this video...the one you posted. At 47:07...a shot of Kevin's mastering room is in with all of the RV studio shots. Not sure you intended that.

@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455

Жыл бұрын

@@joeharley8396 that’s really strange because everything was taken from the RvGlegacy site. So that photo must mistakenly be on Richard site.

@joeharley8396

Жыл бұрын

@@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455 Oh that could be, since Rich came to visit us during a Blue Note mastering session last year. Just wanted to clarify that the shot shows Kevin's mastering quite, not Rudys.

Playing early vinyl is becoming a lost art Very interesting on his take of Conical

Richard has a wealth of knowledge in all things RVG. I'm sure countless hours of research went into the gathering of this information. Thank you!

This really made my day. As a jazz vinyl collector living in Tokyo I can attest to just about every claim Richard makes. I'm kicking myself that I didn't know about Richard and his websites and videos up 'til now. I think I'll be spending some time rectifying that over the coming days and weeks. Nice to see some of Richard's picks. I LOVE that Little Johnny C. album, and the Horace Parlan- (got that same Toshiba glossy re-issue). I was in Disk Union this afternoon and picked up a mono deep groove for ¥300! Yes, ¥300. OK, small print- it's a 1960 Japanese Victor first pressing of MJQ and Jimmy Giuffre 'The Third Stream' (on Atlantic Records in the U.S.). It's glossy, unmarked, and should sound great after a good clean.. They had a 1975 U.S. stereo pressing from the Rhode Island plant still in shrink and unplayed for ¥580 so I bought that too! Collecting jazz vinyl doesn't have to be expensive... though it often is. Keep them coming , Ken.

Wow, that was great. So much great information. I hope to see more from Richard in the future. Outstanding. -- Mike

Always a pleasure to listen to a guy who knows stuff! And when he likes Horace Parlan( who was my friend and mentor for 30 years up until his death), he has got a big star in my book!

I too have the same hot-rodded 1200MKII with 78 mod and fluid damping. I have those Wharfedales too but will likely sell them soon.

I loved that interview. So interesting. Please do another one. It's so great to hear two people talking passionately about the music and the process of archiving it. Thanks Ken, you do us a great service.

Thanks Ken for keeping jazz alive.

This guy confirms my love for Japanese Blue Notes, it is so great to hear this from an expert!!! I like the King pressings a little more, yes, they are warmer. I have about 300 Japanese Blue Notes and always loved the sound of them. Still originals are the best, in mono it is even better, but when you collect on a budget, check out these Japanese pressings. Tracking? All he says is right, I agree totally. Ken, thank you for the interview, your channel is pure gold.

@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455

Жыл бұрын

Thanks

@voicesofvinyl

Жыл бұрын

I love my 1983 Japanese pressings of Moanin' and Blue Train that were done by King for the "Blue Note Masterpiece Special Replica 15"

@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455

Жыл бұрын

300!

Thanks for having this interview. I think it's very important for Jazz Collector Enthusiast.

love his rvg website ❤

Fascinating!!!!

Great stuff guys! Love it!

Loved this interview. Thank you so much.

Legendary interview! So much great information here, definitely learned a ton from this video!

I think I came across his RVG site a few months back while taking a music production course at Berklee. I was mixing my project in the box, researching RVG’s techniques with Fairchild and plate reverbs. Used the plugin versions to get my sound. What a great resource.

This is really special. Thank you to you 2

really enjoyed this !

Thanks so much for this. Richard is a very engaging person with a true passion for Jazz. I plan to spend some time on his RVG legacy site and learning more from him in the future. Hopefully he will realize some of his "RVG dreams"! You did a great job interviewing him and interspersing the video with pictures and commentary. Appreciate your effort. Cheers!

I've always felt the RVG/Blue Note story would make an amazing movie: the style, the music, the complex personalities, etc..-hopefully that's the multimedia project he's talking about. Great Interview. Thanks Ken

@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455

Жыл бұрын

I don’t know. Hollywood always ruins everything they touch when it comes to jazz. I wouldn’t trust them to get this right at all. They have to introduce some mistresses and some guns and some violence and some drugs. Same old shit

@dgmono

Жыл бұрын

I totally agree. I think it's a very inspiring story of an entrepreneur who made his life's work into something in a creative field. 😊

@edwardevans652

Жыл бұрын

@Ken Micallef Jazz Vinyl Audiophile I would love to see a Blue Note miniseries (done right) that captures Alfred and Frank migrating to the U.S., starting the company in 1939, scoring a hit with Bechet, time jump to meeting Rudy and covering the Hard Bop era through the Liberty sale. Gotta hire the correct writer, historians, researchers, remaining musicians and have Cuscuna, Was, Gray, Harley as consultants. Of course in 10 episodes you can’t detail everything and some folks will poke holes and find fault even if it’s done well. To those folks I say: “Just TRY and like it. Be open-minded.”

Great interview! Thanks Ken

Awesome info and interview!

Hey Ken, great interview with tons of info and knowledge provided!!! thanks so much for doing this.

Very much enjoyed this - found the conversation regarding stylus types and pressing particularly interesting (because I am a Geek) and really helped put things into perspective for me. I've been hemming and hawing over cartridge purchase options for a turntable I'm having refub'ed and this really helped. Thank you.

Another great video, Ken. Richard’s passion for RVG’s work pops throughout. His writing and videos are exceptional. Really enjoyed this interview!

Fantastic vid, what a great interview. Ken asked all the questions I was formulating in my mind, including a run-through of his system. I would only suggest he find someone other than a "friend" to look at his vintage Marantz amp.

Great job Rich and Ken! Really enjoyed this. 👏 👏 👏

Great job, Ken. This was incredible. I'll be checking out RC also. Excellent.

Another great video, Ken. Thanks to you and Richard. What an interesting discussion. Bravo!

Great video, great interview!

Fantastic .so interesting love you guys 👏👏👏👏👏

Thanks Ken, great interview! And nice to see such a knowledgeable record collector happy with a modest - albeit carefully selected - sound system.

Loved it!! I know Rich a little bit from the SHF but this longer form discussion was really interesting! Nice work Ken!

Great video I also track heavy I use the Fairchild mono cartridge from the 50s

Great video guys, very Interesting. Keep it up :)

Love the Bop Shop and go there at least 2-3 times a month! A great store to check out if you’re ever in Rochester! Really great interview, Ken!

Great video, this guy is very good, with a lot of very interesting infos.

GREAT GREAT GREAT talk ....... the first RVG is the tristano “Juju” and “Pastime” recdording.

Great interview

Just discovered Richard several months back and reached out to him to compliment his efforts & passion (mine too) after watching a few vids and I then began to follow his bread crumbs of jazz vids he's laid down to date=binged over a weekend IOWs. I found his choices of talking points was very informed and informative. 👍 Side note, maybe I too taught SOME college math classes for a year myself way back so I admit a pre-built kindered spirt. 👍 Kudos 💪

@dgmono

Жыл бұрын

Thank you, David! Feel free to stay in touch via email!

I like him....hope to hear more from him on your channel........hint, hint, nudge, nudge

Great video such a smart man, I own the Technics SL1200G matched with a yamaha as1200 integrated amp and it's a match in heaven my speakers are very bright the klipch rf7 so to smooth them down I'm using a project phono tube box ds.

Will be at the Bop Shop in December for a vinyl community dig. Dom from Seekingathread and Joe from Analog Archive should be in toe.

I keep two conical styli for old mono records. One that is .07 mil and one that is 1 mil. The 1 mil is great for really clean records but is more prone to skip if surface damage is present. The smaller .07 mil rides lower in the groove and I find it's better for lesser grade records.

Whoa whoa there young whipper snapper. The Technics SL-1210 Mk. II weighs in at 26.5 lb.

@dgmono

Жыл бұрын

The correction has been made via my new pinned comment, thank you. Also curious about what age one graduates from whipper snapper-dom. Thanks in advance.

I like the way RVG mixed horns in stereo. Reverb on one side, dryer on the other. Engineers today want to put in the middle. Does anyone know engineers today that use his techniques?

I believe the digital masters from the tape of that Larry Young Unity 75th anniversary pressing (before the files are cut to lacquer by someone else) were done by Alan Yoshida, who is in my opinion an incredible engineer. I know the 75th anniversary series has a bad reputation, and I actually don’t have any records from this series myself, but Alan Yoshida is brilliant so I’m not surprised this would be a good one.

@xentakis

Жыл бұрын

Also, this was a fantastic interview, thanks Ken! I’ve bookmarked and subscribed to all his pages. It’s refreshing to find content from someone who has a unique and well-informed perspective.

@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455

Жыл бұрын

You are correct, Alan Yoshida. I forgot

@kkm67

Жыл бұрын

Have the same example myself, and its very good, so happy an expert confirm it.

I told you, man - you need to get to Japan someday. It’s a totally different world.

@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455

Жыл бұрын

Yes sir Ira

Wow, what an incredible guest. Great idea for a video and a super helpful resource for learning about interesting members of the VC. Was looking for the links to Richard's RVG website and KZread pages, but they don't seem to be here. (Fortunately you can spot the URL in the video for the RVG site and Richard has a watermark of his KZread channel in his Japanese record store video). Anyway, what a fascinating dude. Will definitely be checking out his posts. Cheers! 👽✌️

@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455

Жыл бұрын

We’ve added at all the relevant links in the description box.

@vcp93

Жыл бұрын

@@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455 My bad; I didn't see them there earlier. Clearly I am overpaying my optometrist. 🤓 Thanks Ken. ✌️

My friend Red Carraro, who was a top Jazz dealer on the East coast from the mid 1970's used to tell me back in the 1990's that he estimated that 90% of the vinyl ever produced in the USA was no longer in the USA. He estimated that the country with the highest concentration of American vinyl from that 90% was Japan.

Mono yes!

I’ve had this discussion with a local friend of mine for many years..basically I think it would be a great idea if you could purchase flac files of recordings from a mint original blue note. Make them available on the Blue Note site. I wouldnt blink paying $10 to download a file of a recording of a mint original “true blue” for example.

@dgmono

Жыл бұрын

Yes I believe that would be the intention of a mono reissue program, to create a digital mono reissue series that aims to capture the spirit of the original mono LPs. 😊

I prefer the Monos as well, probably should change my handle but st. re. are the 1st 2 in my initials.

👌👌

Great video super interview. I have also seen Rudy credits in classical recordings on the VOX label. Anyone have further information regarding this?

@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455

Жыл бұрын

Fred Cohen says RVGs first recording is the Kenny Clarke classical record on vox.

@dgmono

Жыл бұрын

@@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455 I found a record Kenny Clarke did with Al Collins on Vox called Spotlight on Percussion (cat. no. DL-180). Release year appears to be 1955. I cannot find a recording year and I wonder what Fred's source is for that so I will be following up with him via email. One would have to guess it was not recorded before 1952 so I'm curious to hear more from Fred...maybe there's a different record. I will also follow up with Elijah Shiffer, Don Sickler's assistant who has been in charge of Rudy's studio logs.

@dgmono

Жыл бұрын

Hi John! Yes, I have done some fairly extensive research on this. To my knowledge Rudy did not typically record for Vox, though according to Rudy there was at least one occasion where he did on location at Symphony Hall in Boston. Looking at the photos in the liner notes for the Clarke Vox album I found on Discogs, it does look like Van Gelder may have been present for that session, though the photos indicate it wasn't done at Hackensack. As for mastering, all my research points to Rudy doing mastering work for Vox beginning in 1953.

A lot of Japanese record dealers were in London in the early 90's buying up the stock they had. Just a fun fact.

16:16 Ken and Rich are talking about different things. Rich's talking about the ongoing Classic Series mastered by Kevin Gray, Ken's talking about the old Classic Records Blue Note reissues mastered by Bernie Grundman.

@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455

Жыл бұрын

Good catch! I didn’t even realize that until you pointed it out ha ha.

@vinylarchaeologist

Жыл бұрын

@@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455 Reissue labels should start thinking of more unique names for their series...

@dgmono

Жыл бұрын

Huh...not sure how you drew that conclusion as all Ken appears to say is "Classics reissues" but I guess you were right regardless. :)

Interesting video. Although in RVG's last decades he was pretty anti vinyl and pro digital. I've read interviews where he stated his dislike of the format. I guess he was ok with the fold down mixes to mono he did later on.

@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455

Жыл бұрын

Rudy was always experimenting. That doesn’t mean he always got it right.

I wonder if the Unity LP level discussion is due to the record being so B3 heavy in balance, and that instrument is mostly what’s dictating the (limited) dynamic range of the disc, making it easier to cut hot without needing to add additional compression

@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455

Жыл бұрын

That’s a good apophysis

@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455

Жыл бұрын

Hypothesis

I need a mono cart

@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455

Жыл бұрын

Me too

and again 30:20 The weight of the sl-1200 mk2 is not 40-50 lbs, its 25 lbs.

@dgmono

9 ай бұрын

Thank you for attempting to point out every time I said something wrong in the video. I corrected the record in my pinned comment at the top of the comments section immediately after the video was made.

@korsu2615

9 ай бұрын

@@dgmono Cheers, I noticed your comment only after I made the comments. Everybody makes mistakes, was nice to see you set record straight :)

Great video, come check out my mono setup in Nyack sometime 😊

@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455

Жыл бұрын

Tell me what’s in your set up please? What style of records do you collect?

???? 28:00 25 microns == 0.025 millimeters not 1 mm ?? Am I missing something?

@dgmono

9 ай бұрын

Yes, you are missing something. You are correct about microns but "mil" is short for one-thousandth of an inch. 25 microns (appx) equals 1 mil as stated in the video.

@korsu2615

9 ай бұрын

@@dgmono I see! Here in decimal system world we often abbreviate millimeters as mils in speech.

I don't understand, with your obvious love of detail, that you use a Technics Sl1200 which totally limits the sound. Upgrade dude. You'll kiss me. As a dj tool I understand, but for a home use "listening " deck, y'all gots to upgrade.

@williamcampbell3868

15 күн бұрын

To, @alkebulansan: I agree that there better sounding turntables. I once owned a Technics 1200 in the late 80's and early 90's. The Sota Comet I purchased later was better. The Sota Sapphire I presently have was pre-owned but is way better than the Comet because it has a inner suspension rather than a solid plinth. This I firmly believe accounts for its musical superiority along with carful cartridge matching. It even made my less expensive cartridges sound out of this world. Originally the Technics 1200 was designed for audiophiles with large lp collections and not for DJ's. They along with the kids who scratched records do not know this.

oh, and fw jazz collector is from sweden, not norway. damn americans

@dgmono

9 ай бұрын

Quickly corrected that too. What damn nationality are you?

Worlds most humorless and tedious opinions 😂

@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455

Жыл бұрын

Spoken by a little man, wearing a suit and tie