Sophia Pfister is a Los Angeles based multi-faceted artist who works in several mediums, and we were taken by her debut EP which was sold on Bandcamp as a download, and on a self financed vinyl pressing. Sophia recorded a full length LP, Birdcage, which quite frankly, blew us away. It is available for purchase directly from her website. Along with being a talented songwriter and recording artist, Sophia is visual artist, model, and writer. She graciously agreed to an interview.  1) Can you give our readers a personal history, and a bit about your early musical influences? I don’t …

1-Can you tell us about your background, how you became a professional musician and recording artist, and who some of your mentors and heroes are? I was born in Paris, France in 1973 and grew up there. I moved to the US in 1993, spent a couple of years at Berklee College of Music and moved to New York in 1995. My dad is Lebanese and my mom is Canadian. I think that may have helped spark my interest in exploring other cultures, which led indirectly to jazz. I was first exposed to jazz at my local high school, where there was an …

Brian Lucey is one of the most in demand mastering engineers working today, bar none. His Magic Garden Mastering studio is based in Los Angeles. Just a quick glance at the featured discography tells you not only does he work on projects from established icons like Lucinda Williams, Marylin Manson, Depeche Mode, The Pretenders and Dr. John, but also with the most relevant artists of today including Royal Blood, The Kills, Arctic Monkeys, Ryan Bingham, Ray Lamontagne, Cage The Elephant, and of course The Black Keys last three records beginning with ‘Brothers’.   Metal band Ghost’s track Cirice and Cage The …

U.K. based audiophile cable maker Black Rhodium has had numerous positive reviews across the globe, and has been a great resource for those in shopping for high performance cabling at all price points. The cables are designed solid engineering behind them, a bit of trial and error, and, yes, listening.  Black Rhodium now has a dedicated North American importer and distributor in Robert Meeks, proprietor of engulfaudio: HI-FI PUBLIC HOUSE. Lead designer Graham Nalty graciously agreed to answer a few questions: 1)  Can you tell us a bit about your background and how Black Rhodium came to be? My background is electrical engineering …

1) Can you give us an overview of your background, how it relates to audio reproduction, and where your greatest interest currently lies? I got interested in electronics as a child (I think around 10 years old) when I had a class teacher who had an electronics set in the corner of the room. There was one time a week when we could all choose which of the class ‘toys’ to play with, the electronics set was the one which grabbed me, not sure why. I can remember trying to work out, with a transistor, how the current could ‘decide’ …

In the first of our series “In Conversation“, we are fortunate enough to feature Chris Sommovigo, legendary cable designer, free thinker, and artisan. Sommovigo several years ago moved his family and business overseas, and we got up to speed on his current state of affairs. Fair Hedon: Chris, I understand you have been living in Japan for the past several years, and you have continued to pursue the art of cable design relentlessly. What are your current projects?” Chris Sommovigo: This year I took on some major expenses in order to have two custom machines built for me here in …