There are few things I love more than discovering a ‘new’ (i.e. new to me) source of music on reel-to-reel tape, and then sharing my discovery with you folks here on The Reel-to-Reel Rambler. In true rambling man style, it gives me a great excuse to delve into the details and the back-story, and to seek to meet, or at least chat or exchange a few emails with, the folks behind the label. If a trouble shared is a trouble halved, then perhaps a pleasure shared is a pleasure doubled!
So here’s my latest discovery: Triston Masters, a Swiss record label whose website says is “dedicated to the analogue domain with a passion for the duplication of music audio tapes from the original master tape”. It also refers to an archive of numerous, very rare original recordings for which it has been able to acquire licenses, and the best of which it plans offer on record and some on tape in the future. So far, so promising…
At the helm of the label is Jürg Schopper, who says, “As a passionate music lover, I have fulfilled my wish to turn my passion and hobby into my career.” Right off the bat, we have something in common. Digging a bit deeper, I discover that Jürg is degree-level trained in electronics and had quite a successful career as a musician before taking over the family audio business – more on which below.
Musician-wise he was a guitarist with 80s rock band Shotgun Eddie & The Ravers and the band Southern Comfort. “Since then, I’ve known what music should sound like,” he says, “and this is the benchmark for my quality standards.”
Now that I think about it, I remember seeing Jürg’s name in connection with the Yello tape project. Turns out he was chosen to make the 10 limited edition master tape copies of the Yello releases, which is really saying something! He had the actual Yello master in his hands (nice job!) and made each of those ten copies on his in-house vintage Studer C37 & Telefunken M10A tube recorders.
A short while back, I noticed that Horch House had become a distributor of Triston Masters tapes, which presumably means that they will since have transferred to Revox, given the recent announcement that Revox will take over Horch House (which has now happened). So there are some strong credentials and connections here for sure, which, again, makes for a promising start.
That said, the titles listed (on Horch House’s website) under the Triston Masters label weren’t names I immediately recognized and, since 2024 was a year of some pretty special releases, I wasn’t champing at the bit and so I put this one on the back burner for a while. Then, Horch House’s Volker Lange loaned me three Triston Masters tapes to have a listen to. Smart guy – great sales technique! Woah… now I was paying attention, and the bit was being champed. These recordings sound immense! Back to the research, then – time to find out more.
Here’s quick run-down of what I found out, which I’m following with a review of one of the tapes: Review: Tibor Varga 100th Anniversary from Swiss label Triston Masters.
100+ years of audio: Schopper Audio
Jürg Schopper is the current owner of family firm Schopper Audio, an online and physical retailer specialising in analogue, notably new and restored Thorens turntables and vintage equipment, and also selling restored professional tape machines (a very enviable selection – details / links at the end below) and master tape copies.
The firm was originally founded by Jürg’s grandfather Ernst in 1923 as a business selling musical instruments and sound reproduction devices. In the 1950s, hi-fi equipment and records were added to the store’s offerings, making it one of Switzerland’s first hi-fi studios. Jürg’s father then managed the business until 1993, at which point it was taken over by Jürg himself – who, incidentally, was described by The Audio Beat as “the world’s foremost expert at all things having to do with classic Thorens turntables”. (Another tick in the credentials box). When Jürg took over he steered the business in an analogue-centered direction and added the restoration of vintage equipment to his list of services.
But where does Triston Masters figure in all of this I wonder…?
The Triston Masters connection
I first caught wind of Triston Masters online via various social media groups, where I saw some intriguing references to an ‘Ali Baba tape cave’ containing a ‘massive’ stock of tapes.
So then I see that the Schopper website says, “Our archive contains numerous, very rare original recordings for which we were able to acquire licenses and the best of which we will offer on record and some on tape in the future”.
Now my appetite is well and truly whetted and I’m keen to dive behind the scenes… where did this archive come from (or is that top secret / need-to-know), how big is it, what’s in it, and what’s the plan for releasing tapes from it?
So I drop Jürg a line in the hope that we can chat… which indeed we do.
A chat with Jürg Schopper
Jürg tells me that he first heard digital recordings in recording studios around 1996/97 and was very disappointed. Well that’s another thing we have in common!
While we’re on the topic of recording studios, I ask about his earlier life as a musician. “I started my music life in the Swiss roots rock ’n’ roll band Shotgun Eddie and the Ravers,” he says, which spanned a period from 1977 to 1986. “We released four LPs, some singles and compilations. Our best record deal was with EMI Switzerland. Through that, I became a producer for very short while, which also gave me the chance to visit some of the major recording studios in Switzerland. After Shotgun Eddie, I was in another band, Southern Comfort, until 1997. The style was southern rock and we became a pretty hot live act.”
So now I’m wondering whether Jürg always felt destined to take over the family business or if he had been planning to branch out and do his own thing (and I confess to feeling a tad envious about him having two generations of audio lovers above him!). As I suspected, he’s pretty happy about how it’s all panned out. In fact he’s enjoyed every single aspect. “As a musician, as a seller of audio equipment and as a music lover, I couldn’t image doing anything else. I’m fully satisfied with what I did in the past and what I’m doing now.” Happy days!
While we’re on the subject of hi-fi in general, I’m curious about how the market is in Switzerland right now (my ‘day job’ is in hi-fi marketing so these things are good to know). What changes and developments has Jürg seen in recent years?
“The big demand for using so-called stereo and hi-fi systems is gone in Switzerland,” he says ruefully. “There are some vintage lovers, and with the revival of the vinyl the interest for good turntables is back (and was never really gone). But the mass market is now listening via mobile devices and streaming, etc. I think it’s the same all over the world.”
Indeed. And how about the market for tapes?
“For me the tape revival is the niche within the niche,” he says. “But the niche within the niche can be an interesting place to operate if you have the right tapes to offer. For example, Hungarian violinist Johanna Martzy is highly sought after in Asia, which is a big marketplace. Here, there’s almost no demand for her recordings, but there, they have a big demand. So you have to do your research and know your markets.”
Going back to turntables for a moment, I’m curious about Schopper’s focus on, and expertise in, Thorens decks.
“To make a long story short,” says Jürg, “Thorens is a brand that’s been around for a long time, and so has the family Schopper! My grandfather was selling Thorens, then my father was one of the biggest Thorens retailers, then we became a leading resource for the restoration of the TD124 model, the best Swiss model there was (and probably one of the world’s best-known).”
And tape decks – who are Shopper’s customers?
“Our customers from within Switzerland are mostly coming to the end of some kind of professional career or are already retired. To collect tapes is an expensive hobby, so you need some resources behind you!”
Fair enough. Does Jürg have a particular brand or model of tape deck that he favours, I wonder?
“I’m a Swiss guy so of course I prefer Studer!” he says. “I’m not saying it’s the best brand,” he adds, “but there are still spare parts around, which is always a bonus. Also I like the Telefunken M10A and M15A, and a few models from Ampex. I’m a big fan of the ATR 102.”
Has he listened to any of the new tape decks currently on the market?
“No, I’ve not had the chance to compare these new decks,” he says. “But I do know that there’s a clientele who wants to have only new products. When it comes to comparing the quality of sound, my personal point of view is that the more important consideration is the quality of the source material. For example, if you have a killer tape and you play back it with a Revox A77, and meanwhile the guy with the C37 Studer machine listens to the same recording but his is the 20th copy made on bad equipment, then which one do you imagine is going to sound better?!”
For sure! Now, let’s get down to discussing this tape archive. First off, what are we talking about here, how big is it?
“About 500 tapes,” says Jürg.
Nice. So where did they come from and how did Jürg come to have them in his possession (and can he even say, or is there an element of confidentiality here)?
Well, yes, there probably is (shoot!). First off, I’m pretty sure that Jürg has many, many more tapes in his collection than the 500 he refers to, and I do know that his collection is comprised of all genuine masters (wowzer!). However, sadly (for us) much of that wider collection seems to be off-limits in terms of reproduction, no doubt due to a combination of ownership and rights, and the costs of negotiating licences.
So what’s in it? Again, there are some confidentiality issues here (if you’re thinking ‘does that mean we’re talking about some big name artists’, then the answer is ‘yes, we are’, but that’s all I can say right now).
What I do manage to glean is that, in Switzerland, it seems there’s a law stating that every recording that’s made in Switzerland, and / or any recording by a Swiss composer or artist, must be preserved, with a view to being digitized for the future. To that end, there’s a government organisation called Phonotheka which, if I’ve clocked this correctly, handles the digitizing. Somehow or other, this led to an archive, or part of an archive, being offered to Jürg, from which he selected what he wanted (niiiiice!).
My understanding is that the archive in question included several thousand Swiss broadcast tapes – from Radio Zurich, Radio Basel, Radio Lugano, Radio Geneva, Radio Lausanne etc, and around 900 ‘Montreux tapes’. The latter are recordings made live at the Montreaux Jazz Festival over the years – and I’m sure I don’t need to tell you about the calibre of artsist featured there…
Most of the Montreux tapes were recorded by Radio Lausanne or Geneva, mostly at 7.5ips. Some were 15ips, some ½ inch. These recordings were made by David Richards (the long-time Queen producer) at the famous Mountain Studios in Montreux. As I suspect, they do indeed include recordings of some truly great artists, but sadly Jürg can’t release them because they’re contracted to big labels.
“With most of the famous artists, it’s very difficult to get the rights because major companies already have their foot in the door,” Jürg confirms. Then again, the wishful thinker in me can’t help but wonder, now that he’s being distributed by Revox (ie. a fairly major company), if there might be some negotiation heft and budget to be had there?! I’m watching that space…
In the meantime, what can Jürg tell me about the titles that can be released – can he say something about the genres and artists he plans to put out?
“I have some nice pop, rock and jazz tapes,” he says. “But for now I’m focusing on classical music. Like I said earlier, it’s important to know your market and find your niche. Right now, this is mine. And I have an excellent relationship with the Swiss broadcasting company, who really like my radio releases. They’re a true homage to the golden age of radio recordings, from the 1950s to the 1990s.”
Finally, I ask Jürg if he has any plans to acquire further master tapes and licences in the future and to build his catalogue further? Or even record new material?
“I recently had my fifth visit to the Armenian broadcasting company and we’re now excellent friends,” he says. “So now I’ve got a contract to release recordings from them. They have the biggest Russian artists in their catalogue. So I’m planning to focus my releases on both the Swiss and the Armenian radio broadcast recordings. Realistically, I’m aiming for a vinyl and tape release every second month.”
Anything else he’d like to add?
“Just one thing,” he says. “A question I’m always being asked is about the physical condition of a ‘real’ master tape. Here’s my answer: a lot depends on the tape used. The Swiss broadcast company was doing 99% of their recordings on AGFA or BASF PER 525 and PER 528 tapes. I’ve hardly never had a single issue with these tapes. Even in the Armenian ex-Soviet Union archive, I’ve had very few issues with these tapes. It seems to me, on the basis of long and wide experience, that the American tape brands were the ones most affected by problems.”
In other words, the advice in acquiring old tapes is: check what tape the recording was made on, which will give you an idea of the likelihood of its having survived in good nick – subject to storage conditions etc, of course.
Next up: Review: Tibor Varga 100th Anniversary from Swiss label Triston Masters.
Info & links
Triston Masters tapes are available to order from Revox/Horch House at www.horchhouse.com
Swiss residents or people who are living in Switzerland can also buy direct from Schopper Audio.
Triston Masters vinyl editions are available direct from Schopper Audio.
You can also check out Schopper’s tape decks for sale – there’s an enviable collection of stock here – at www.schopper.ch/index.php/en/reel-tape-recorders-en and www.schopper.ch/index.php/en/tape-recorders-for-sale
Dave Denyer: The Reel-to-Reel Rambler 