Michael Fremer

Last updated
Michael Alan Fremer
Born1947 (age 7576)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupationjournalist
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater Cornell University [1]
Period1970s–present

Michael Alan Fremer (born 1947) [2] is an American music journalist, YouTuber, and voice actor from New York City, known for writing about audiophile equipment and vinyl. [3] He is the editor of The Tracking Angle and Senior Editor at The Absolute Sound . [4] [5] Due to his influence within the audiophile community, he has been called the "Pied Piper of vinyl" and the "dean of audiophile writing." [3] [6]

Career

Fremer graduated from Cornell University with a degree in Industrial and Labor Relations in 1968 [1] and worked as a radio DJ in Boston and New Jersey in the 1970s, when he began to write about music and audio equipment. [7] In the early 1980s, he became a well known critic of the audio quality of compact discs and was a vocal proponent of analogue source material and vinyl records. [6]

In 1986, Fremer was hired by The Absolute Sound as pop music editor. [6] During the 1990s, he ran his own magazine called The Tracking Angle. [6] For many years, he was the editor of Analog Planet and contributing editor at Stereophile and Sound&Vision. [7] In 2022 he left Analog Planet and returned to The Absolute Sound and, along with Nick Despotopoulos and David L’Heureux, revived The Tracking Angle as a website. [4] In 2022, he had a well-publicized spat with YouTuber and record store owner Michael Esposito regarding Mobile Fidelity's use of digital source material. [3]

In addition to his audiophile journalism, Michael Alan Fremer has done voice acting on films such as Animalympics and Felix the Cat: The Movie and supervised the soundtrack to Disney's Tron . [8]

Related Research Articles

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High fidelity is the high-quality reproduction of sound. It is popular with audiophiles and home audio enthusiasts. Ideally, high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat frequency response within the human hearing range.

An audiophile is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. An audiophile seeks to reproduce the sound of a piece of recorded music or a live musical performance, typically inside closed headphones, In-ear monitors, open headphones in a quiet listening space, or a room with good acoustics.

Sound can be recorded and stored and played using either digital or analog techniques. Both techniques introduce errors and distortions in the sound, and these methods can be systematically compared. Musicians and listeners have argued over the superiority of digital versus analog sound recordings. Arguments for analog systems include the absence of fundamental error mechanisms which are present in digital audio systems, including aliasing and quantization noise. Advocates of digital point to the high levels of performance possible with digital audio, including excellent linearity in the audible band and low levels of noise and distortion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reel-to-reel audio tape recording</span> Audio recording using magnetic tape spooled on open reels

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laser turntable</span> Turntable that plays records using laser beams

A laser turntable is a phonograph that plays standard LP records using laser beams as the pickup instead of using a stylus as in conventional turntables. Although these turntables use laser pickups, the same as Compact Disc players, the signal remains in the analog realm and is never digitized.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab</span> American record label

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stereophonic sound</span> Method of sound reproduction using two audio channels

Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration of two loudspeakers in such a way as to create the impression of sound heard from various directions, as in natural hearing.

High-end audio is a class of consumer home audio equipment marketed to audiophiles on the basis of high price or quality, and esoteric or novel sound reproduction technologies. The term can refer simply to the price, to the build quality of the components, or to the subjective or objective quality of sound reproduction.

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<i>The Absolute Sound</i> High-end home audio magazine

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<i>The All-Time Greatest Hits of Roy Orbison</i> Compilation album

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<i>Audio</i> (magazine)

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Audiophile Records is a record company and label founded in 1947 by Ewing Dunbar Nunn to produce recordings of Dixieland jazz. A very few of the early pressings were classical music, Robert Noehren on pipe organ, AP-2 and AP-9 for example.

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Acoustic Sounds, Inc. is a mail-order business specializing in the sale of audiophile vinyl LPs, Direct Stream Digital/PCM downloads (SuperHiRez.com), SACDs, Reel-To-Reel album reissues, DVD-Audios, high-quality CDs and high-end stereo equipment. Located in Salina, Kansas, United States. The business is owned and operated by Chad Kassem and as of 2016 employed 98 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quality Record Pressings</span> Building

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rega Planar 3</span> Audiophile turntable by Rega Research

The Rega Planar 3, together with its successors, the P3 and RP3, is a well-known budget audiophile turntable by British hi-fi manufacturer, Rega Research available since 1977. It was a belt-drive deck that broke from convention, by employing a solid plinth in lieu of the compliantly-suspended chassis or sub-chassis used in many quality turntables since the early 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Pearson (audio critic)</span>

Harry Hall Pearson, Jr., known to his readers as HP, was an American journalist, audio reviewer, and publisher who founded The Absolute Sound magazine for high-end audio enthusiasts. Pearson is considered the most influential figure in the history of audiophile journalism. Pearson is famous for his philosophy of judging the sound of an audio component on how closely it approximates the "absolute sound", which he defined as "the sound of actual acoustic instruments playing in a real space."

<i>Return</i> (Jack DeJohnette album) 2016 studio album by Jack DeJohnette

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<i>Live in Hollywood</i> (Linda Ronstadt album) 2019 live album by Linda Ronstadt

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References

  1. 1 2 "How a Cornell ILR Grad became a World Renowned Audio Reviewer". Cornell University. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  2. "Interview Michael Alan Fremer". High Fidelity. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 "How a Phoenix record store owner set the audiophile world on fire". The Washington Post.
  4. 1 2 "Michael Alan Fremer is Back with The Tracking Angle". Part Time Audiophile. 16 June 2022. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  5. "Eminent Audio Reviewer Michael Alan Fremer Returns to The Absolute Sound" . Retrieved August 14, 2022.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "An Interview with Michael Alan Fremer of AnalogPlanet". VWMusic. 6 March 2021.
  7. 1 2 "Michael Fremer". Making Vinyl.
  8. "Michael Fremer". imdb.com. Retrieved August 8, 2022.