New Years Newsletter 2017

Happy New Year! May 2017 bring a happy glow to all the vacuum tubes in this world!

2016 has been referred to in popular culture, as the year during which famous elderly rock stars collectively decided to go jam somewhere else. We also suffered such a loss locally. The lead sirenist of the agricultural-rock band "The Females of Doubtful Reputation", Panagiotis, sadly passed away following an motorbike accident. However, since alchemists have either failed to invent an immortality potion, or simply decided not to tell anyone, we must remember that we will all perish one day.
New life is always born, and many new bands are formed by younger people every day, some of them being every bit as awesome as the ageing legends of yesteryear.
Their albums are out there, it is up to us to discover them and enjoy them, just like people in the 60's and 70's did with music of their time.

During 2016, we had the pleasure of hosting a number of analog Direct-to-Master recording sessions, with original music composed and performed by groups whose average age was 25. The Psychedelic Trips to Death, The Basements, The Seasick Surfers, Beyond The Blackout, Naxatras, Lunar Mgc, and 12 Dead in Everett all made excellent albums. Some are available already on DSD, vinyl, cassette tape and CD, while others will become available in 2017s.

In January 2016, we also did our very first analog Direct-to-Disk recording with Naxatras! It was the year of many new experiences. We also had our first film score recording session, for a film called "Warp", by John Vagenas. It consisted of Analog Modular Synthesizer sounds, drone bass and guitar, running through the Magnetovolt FudGe pedal and a bunch of vacuum tube gear, recorded straight to tape.

Some of the albums we have worked on became highly successful during 2016, receiving raving reviews and significant airplay.

During the Summer of 2016, we had a major equipment upgrade in the cutting room, setting up a Neumann-based disk mastering system with a state-of-the-art variable pitch/groove depth system along with an MCI JH-110 M analog tape machine with preview head, specifically designed for analog disk mastering. We also installed some upgrades on our Fairchild/Magnetovolt disk mastering system, fitted some high-end mastering equipment by Magnetovolt in the studio, and improved our cutting amplifier rack even further. We have also enquired a Rek-O-Kut Imperial II portable disk mastering system from the 1950's for recording uncontacted tribes in their natural habitat.

Our small team has become larger, with Spiros joining Magnetic Fidelity. He is currently an apprentice, learning the dark art and murky science of audio engineering with our mastering engineer J. I. Agnew, and the basics of studio management and customer care with our resident expert, Sabine Steldinger.

Our sister company, Magnetovolt, also remained quite busy throughout 2016, involved in disk mastering system research and development. Apart from developing the mastering equipment used at Magnetic Fidelity, 2016 saw the development of a 200W all-tube instrument amplifier called the "Beyonder", a special order from John Vagenas. He toured extensively with it, blowing the minds of audiences around Europe.

We already have a bunch of interesting Direct-to-Master recordings planned for 2017, along with several mastering and disk cutting projects. Stay tuned for exciting news!
Rumour has it that there will be some public events at Magnetic Fidelity in 2017, which are not to be missed.

Remember, it is not the year, it is what you do with it! Now go make some music, and support your local bands, so they do not stay only local for long!

Best wishes,
The Magnetic Fidelity Team