AUDIO Magazine (Late 70's)

I just received (8) copies of AUDIO Magazine; September 1978 & January - July, 1979 from an ebay transaction.

AWESOME articles, pictures, analysis, test results, etc. Lots of entertaining reading in front of me!

 

I've got just about every issue from 74 to their demise a few years back. I loved that magazine. It was a mass publication but also had some pretty interesting articles from many advanced circuit designers. I learned a ton from Audio magazine.

I've also built many circuits from articles I've read there, including the Leach phono preamp to name one.

 

It's like going back in time, isn't it. To read about the things to come.

____________________________________
We Now Control All That You See And Hear

 

I just read an article in the 1978 issue wherby a guy from Florida is discussing his distaste for the snaps, crackles and pops of vinyl and asks about something called a LASER SCANNING PHONOGRAPH RECORD PLAYER or LASERPHONE which was the brainchild of a guy named William K. Heine.

Apearantly TEAC was designing something similar called a DIGITAL LASER DISC PLAYER, but plans were scrapped because the software wasn't good enough. It goes on to read "If we can create digital time-delay units, digital PCM recorders, then we can certainly manufacture a patented, proven turntable such as the Laser phone."

Mind you, this is from the September, 1978 magazine... Correct me if I'm wrong, but that sure sounds like the the conception of the CD player?

These magazines are the coolest things ever!

 

Don't forget the great rodriguez cartoons in Audio....

 

I always preferred Audio over Stereo Review. In the pre internet days this was a great source for industry info. My favorite was checking out the classifieds and drooling over the big ticket gear that I could only dream about.

DS

 

That magazine was always a great read! I used to look fwd to their annual Audio "Bible"(complete product listing). I believe there was a guy by the name of Len Feldman who wrote for this magazine. His articles were always very interesting!
Thx for the blast from the Audio past!

 

Hi gener8tr,

In its time, that was my favorite audio read.

Articles by Richard Heyser and Bert Whyte were always an education as well as fun. (I got to meet Bert Whyte many years later when I became aware of him as a recordist and was introduced to him by George Piros at Atlantic.)

The magazine's editor, Gene Pitts, now has a new journal called The Audiophile Voice.

Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com

 

Barry,

It's an honor hearing from you, my friend.

Your work on Dokken's "Breaking The Chains" is fantastic. One of my favorite old-school 80's recordings!

I've only had the Audio mags a day and already I can't put them down. Now I need to find more!

 

Well if you're ever in the area you're always welcome to check out my library. Not only do I have Audio, I have Recording Engineer /Producer, Studio Sound, db, AES Journal, just to name a few. I started with most of these in the mid 70's and have them until many of the publications ceased.

I also have collected audio and electronic magazines from the 30's, 40's and 50's after the fact. I have learned so much from all of these magazines. If you read through all of these you'll have a pretty darn good audio education. I can't recomment this enough. It sure did wonders for my career.

The bottom line is that Audio was probably my favorite. It had in depth articles about music history, technical articles about audio and electronics suitable for professionals, hi-fi and music reviews and of course the October buyer's guide which I used as a reference many times. It had something for anybody interested in just about any facet of audio or music.

 

Thanks, Doug!

I'd love nothing more than to sit on your deck overlooking Disneyland reading a 1977 issue of Audio while sipping Crown & Coke!

(Yes, I saw the picture of your house posted a while back, great place)

 

*sigh* Audio is one magazine I really miss. And the late 70s is about when I first subscribed.

 

Thanks

My house is ok, but the view is much better from mom's place at Laguna Beach. I can see the ocean from here, but my mom feels the ocean spray.
Of course if you come here we could listen to music for years non stop. Mom's music systems are severly limited.

I wonder what public libraries have to offer as far as Audio magazines are concerned. I guess it depends on the library. Generally they seem to shy away from hobby types of magazines. Of course Audio was much more than that. It's a reference of sorts if you ask me.

I could probably say that if I never read Audio magazine, I'd probably not be a forum member today. Heck, I might not have gotten into the industry. And without Audio magazine I would certainly have considerably less to add here than I do. I studied and absorbed each magazine as I got it, cover to cover over and over again. Heck I still pull old mags out and am surprised to see that I still have plenty to learn. The more I learn, the more I seem to understand some of the old topics I was sketchy on at the time.

Btw, that goes for technical reading in general. I find that it is important to review old readings from time to time. Once again, as you gain knowledge things that you previously studied often become much clearer.

 

You got it, and I'll bring a copy of Alcatrazz - No Parole From Rock N' Roll on Rocshire Records

 

I also won this auction and I'm looking forward to even deeper reading (and some expiramenting)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...MEWN:IT&viewitem=&item=180056523940&rd=1&rd=1

 

Some libraries have copies of Audio. UT Engineering has virtually the entire collection, albeit badly bound and missing a few pages in some rather inconvenient places. They also have copies of Radio going back to 1917, IIRC. Radio was the forerunner magazine to Audio.

Worth a look if you can swing the time (and the parking fee) on a weekend.

 

I have some Radio magazines as well. I thought that the old Audio Engineering journal morphed into Audio. I have a bunch of those from the late 40's and early 50's as well. I was amazed to discover the likes of David Hafler, George Augspurger, Avery Fisher, and other industry pioneers were regular contributors in those old magazines. I'm no spring chicken, but I did once mention to George, whom I've worked with, that I've read his articles from before I was born.

 

Audio's contemporary, High Fidelity, for many years ran superb classical music reviews and issued each year's crop in bound volumes under the title, for the first couple of years (beginning in '55 or so), "The High Fidelity Record Annual" and then "Records in Review." To give you an idea of how much criticism was there, most volumes are about a couple of inches thick. The series ended in 1983, if memory serves. I have a complete run that I picked up at a used book sale years ago for $1 per volume, along with a complete WERM, also $1 per volume; a boatload of excellent 78s and LPs; and a harpsichord, of all things! That was a banner day. Anyhow, if you are interested in classical music at all, these volumes are worth having should you encounter them as an object example of what popular music criticism should be.

The magazine *I* most lament is Opus, a classical recordings journal that lasted for a few years in the mid-'80s. For my money, it was the last great gasp of American record criticism in periodical form, and it's death left the field to the British critics, who certainly are distinguished and erudite but whose perspective does not always agree with mine, to put it mildly. Yes, Fanfare is still out there, but somehow I've never warmed to it the way I did to Opus. Opus was like family; Fanfare is like a crowded meeting full of arguments.

Indeed, what I think we should all lament is the demise of the "popular" audio journal, the magazine for enthusiastic hobbyists in the general public (not necessarily "audiophiles," just regular folks interested in music and playback eqpt.). Audio, High Fidelity, Stereo Review--all mushed into a bland sameness by the conglomerates and then killed, and I we're all the worse off for it.

 

Take it from me, the magazine thing is a really difficult gig in the sense that you need to walk a fine line with everyone. Even though there are a number of conspiracy theories around the audio industry today, after a few years I haven't seen it yet.

The hardest thing I think is putting the right mix of content together to keep everyone interested. After one year at TONE we had two complaints:

1. we didn't review gear that was expensive enough (50%)
2. we didn't review gear that was inexpensive enough (50%)

So we are covering more entry level and vintage gear on our new website and more expensive gear in the magazine. But it's always a challenge.....

 

Audio was a great mag and their Annual Equipment Directory. Another mag that I have most issues and liked was Modern Recording & Music in the 70's-80's.

 

Ah the Rodriguez cartoons! I thought those were in Stereo Review! I snipped them out and saved them in a binder.

 

I really loved Audio as well, but I also loved Stereo Review.

I especially miss Steve Simmels reviews!

 

That had to be the first magazine I ever got interested in as a young guy. I was real sad when it folded years ago. I didn't keep my issues or my Dad's (when he let his subscription lapse, I subscribed for myself), but I still have articles filed away that I clipped out on all sorts of topics and equipment. You could learn more from that mag than any other audio hobbyist publication before or since, IMO.

 

General audio, absolutely. They didn't get too much into pro audio though. I also learned a lot from RE/P, db, Studio Sound ,Mix and a few others. But I probably learned the most from Audio.

 

I was going to say the exact same thing! Steve never steered me wrong musically: If he liked a recording, I knew it was a pretty safe bet that I'd like it too. (Gee, sort of like another STEVE we all know...... )