Analogue Productions is part of US-based company Acoustic Sounds which, if you’re a long-time tape fan, you’ll no doubt already be familiar with.
Acoustic Sounds’ Chad Kassem is a huge blues and jazz fan, and APO Records (Analogue Productions Originals) is his own label.
Chad began recording various blues legends back in the early 1990s. Most of his recordings have been made in his own Blue Heaven Studios – a church that Chad bought and converted in 1997, creating an incredibly special acoustic space that’s been compared to New York’s famous 30th Street Studio.
In the video below, Chad and mastering engineer Matthew Lutthans whet your appetite with an overview of the 10 new titles (8 of which were recorded at Blue Heaven Studios), including some enticing insights into just how close these are to the original session masters. Since all of them were recorded to two-track tape, they didn’t any need subsequent mixing etc. So the UltraTape copies for sale are made direct from the actual original recording tape / master!
The 10 albums – mostly blues, with some jazz – are:
Honeyboy Edwards – Shake ‘Em On Down
Jimmie Lee Robinson – All My Life
Little Hatch – Rock With Me Baby
Wild Child Butler – Sho’ ‘Nuff
Myra Taylor – My Night To Dream
Warren Storm – Taking The World, By Storm
Interestingly, I already have the Little Hatch album from The Tape Project. It sounds awesome but I’m guessing that this new APO version will probably sound even better, since the Tape Project copy was made from a ‘working master’ (a 1-inch 15ips copy of the master) whereas the APO UltraTape is made direct from the actual master, so it’s one generation closer to the original.
“If these are successful we’ll do 10 more titles,” says Chad. Okay folks, looks like this is up to us…!
The retail price is $600 per tape (the links to find out more / buy are in the list above), or $5,500 for a bundle of all 10 tapes.
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