Archive for Vinyl
The Absolute Sound Reviews All-Night Vigil LP
The February 2022 issue of The Absolute Sound gives high marks to our release of Rachmaninoff: All-Night Vigil, Op. 37 on LP: “This 2017 recording may seem like unlikely material to get the half-speed mastered, 45rpm, 180-gram virgin vinyl treatment, but LP partisans should be glad it did. Reference provides further evidence that Keith O. Johnson’s range as a recording professional knows no limits. … The choral sound has the low center-of-gravity that serves this…
Break The Chain Vinyl in Stereophile
Doug MacLeod and the LP release of Break the Chain got a nice mention from Stereophile‘s Michael Fremer as part of a review of the Audia Flight FLS1 Pre-Amp/DAC in the April 2019 issue: “Bluesman Doug MacLeod hasn’t put out one bad record in his long career…His latest, Break the Chain (2 45rpm LPs, RM-2519), recorded live at Skywalker Sound by Keith O. Johnson and Sean Royce Martin, with no edits or overdubs, is yet…
Doug MacLeod’s Break The Chain Vinyl is a Hi-Fi News Album Choice!
UPDATE: Hi-Fi News has selected Break The Chain as a Top Audiophile Vinyl Album of 2019! Hi-Fi News features Doug MacLeod’s Break The Chain recording as their December 2018 “Album Choice” in the Audiophile: Vinyl section: “Vintage LPs…have been audiophile totems for decades, but rare are new titles. MacLeod’s third for Reference ticks all the boxes: higher-speed playback, 180g vinyl and half-speed mastering.… [It has a] sound that’s massive, visceral and weighty. The content? As…
Hi-Fi+ Reviews Doug MacLeod’s Break The Chain
Jason Kennedy of Hi-Fi+ has a new review for Doug MacLeod’s Break the Chain: “Reference Recordings has a long history of making fabulous recordings, and engineer Keith O. Johnson apparently has a knack for capturing both the sound of the room and the musicians and producing releases that combine naturalness with dynamics in a highly convincing manner. … one of the label’s greatest assets is contemporary blues singer Doug MacLeod. … On this album he’s…
Arnold Overtures Now on LP
Order Now Malcolm Arnold The London Philharmonic Orchestra Authoritative first recordings of important works composed and conducted by Sir Malcom Arnold (1921-2006), one of England’s very greatest composers. 1993 GRAMMY® Nominee for Best Engineered Classical Recording. A perennial hi-fi favorite recorded by Keith O. Johnson now available on LP! This new Reference Mastercuts LP release is a single 180 gram disc, half-speed mastered at 33 1/3 rpm by Paul Stubblebine, pressed on virgin vinyl at…
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Across The Board for Saint-Saëns LP!
Order Now The Audio Beat critic, Tim Aucermann, gives our Kansas City Symphony Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3, “Organ” Reference Mastercuts LP a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating in Music and Sound: “Reference Recordings (RR) has catered to vinyl-playing audiophiles since the mid-1970s, and label CEO Tam Henderson has a solid grasp of what his finicky audience wants: recordings of acoustic music performed in actual concert spaces captured in holographic sound with a genuine sense of presence. And realistic…
Professin’ The Blues Now On Vinyl!
Order Now Professin’ The Blues Now Available on 180 gram Vinyl as a 45RPM Double-LP! RM 25-17 Professin’ The Blues proclaims Fiona Boyes passion for the Blues as she celebrates the unique contribution of recording and mastering engineer ‘Professor’ Keith O. Johnson, Reference Recording’s Technical Director and audio legend. In her self-penned and illustrated liner notes Fiona makes the declaration, “’Professor’ Keith’s amazing approach to capturing sounds, mostly with his own hand built equipment, is…
Nojima Plays Liszt Now Available on Vinyl!
Just Arrived — Nojima Plays Liszt! A great gem from our catalog, now released for the first time as a 45 rpm 2-LP set, half-speed mastered. Nojima Plays Liszt (RM-2516) is pressed on 180 gram virgin vinyl from Quality Record Pressings, and packaged in a beautiful old-style gatefold jacket.RM-2516 – NOJIMA PLAYS LISZT – Order Now! Nojima Plays Liszt (RR-25) was named “Best Recording of the Month” by Stereo Review when it was originally released…
Kansas City Symphony’s Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3 Now A Reference Mastercuts LP
GRAMMY® Nominated Kansas City Symphony recording Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 “Organ” is now available as a Reference Mastercuts LP! First LP mastering of this work at 45 rpm! Details RM-1514 Single 45 rpm LP 180 Gram pressing from QRP in Deluxe Gatefold Jacket Michael Stern, conductorKansas City SymphonyJan Kraybill, organProducer: David FrostRecording Engineer: Keith O. JohnsonRecorded by: Sean Royce Martin, Half-Speed LP Mastering: Paul Stubblebine Composed at his artistic peak, Camille Saint-Saëns said of his…
Positive Feedback Reviews the New Copland LP
The new Reference Mastercuts recording of Eiji Oue and the Minnesota Orchestra’s Copland receives high praise from Positive Feedback Online: “The original release was on HDCD CD and has been a reference disk for my reviews since it was available…I am so very pleased that RR waited until QRP and its fully tweaked 200 gram LP presses could have a go with this. … Like all great LPs, they produce more pure definition than their…
Audiophile Audition Reviews Mephisto & Co. LP
John Sunier gives our Mephisto & Co. Vinyl Re-issue a Five-Star rating on Audiophile Audition: “This is a collection of eight variously daemonically-influenced shorter orchestral favorites, ranging from not quite three minutes to twelve minutes. It got reviews calling it superb when it first came out in 1998 as a CD. Now Paul Stubbleine has remastered it and the double 45 rpm pair were pressed at QRP and they include a huge amount of notes…
Looking Back on Respighi Reviews
Now that our Grammy Nominated Respighi recording is available as a Reference Mastercuts LP, we wanted to take a look back at what critics were saying when it was first released! “Oue plays each piece to the hilt; I cannot imagine more precise, more lovingly conducted performances. As for the recording, I’m running out of superlatives – it is brilliant and weighty, with tremendous undistorted dynamics.”–Peter Aczel, THE AUDIO CRITIC “The sound given to this…
Audiophile Audition Reviews Kansas City Symphony LP
Audiophile Audition has a new review for our new Reference Mastercuts LP of the Kansas City Symphony’s Elgar and Vaughan Williams recording: “This version of Elgar’s familiar “Greensleeves” variations may be the best one on recordings—absolutely spell-binding… “The work’s concluding “Finale” brings the variations to a tumultuous close, and since Reference stays away from the center label a good distance and there is only around 14 minutes maximum per side, fidelity is astounding. “…this 200-gram…
Now Available – Doug MacLeod There’s A Time LP!
Doug MacLeod There’s A Time NOW available as a 200-gram vinyl two-LP set, 45 rpm, half-speed mastered and pressed at Quality Record Pressings (RM-2507) ‘Prof.’ Keith Johnson’s first blues recording! 13 new MacLeod originals highlight this richly detailed recording, done at Skywalker Sound in Marin County, CA. by Reference Recordings’ Grammy® winning engineer. Also featuring Doug’s longtime bassist Denny Croy and Jimi Bott, one of the most recorded, awarded and respected blues drummers in the…
2012 In Review – New Reference Mastercuts LPs
2013 is quickly approaching, so take a look back though our 2012 releases! New Reference Mastercuts Releases RACHMANINOFF: SYMPHONIC DANCES; VOCALISE (RM-1504) Eiji Oue/ Minnesota Orchestra 33 1/3 rpm, Half-Speed Mastered, 200 gram virgin vinyl from Quality Record Pressings in gatefold jacket FIRST TIME EVER ON LP! Widely believed to be the finest orchestral recording RR has ever made. Sergei Rachmaninoff was one of the most beloved composers of the twentieth century. His music is…