Both Sides Now

An Interview With Record Producer Joe Harley, of Audioquest and Music Matters Jazz
 

- Sasha Matson

Recordings and playback gear are two different sides of the hi-ficoin, and while many people have made careers creating one or the other, far fewer have made significant contributions to both. Joe Harley is one of those few. A longtime principal with the influential high-end audio manufacturer AudioQuest, he also continues to expand the discography of highly regarded recordings he has produced or helped to remaster, of both new and historically significant music.

SASHA MATSON: More than most, you’ve been involved in both sides of the High End: gear and music, or what some now call hardware and software. Describe that perspective.

JOE HARLEY: Interesting question, Sasha. One side, of course, involves archiving the original creation in a way that will best present that to listeners. The other involves maximizing the playback of that creation.

On the recording side, we are not so concerned with being absolutely literal, unless we’re speaking of classical and some jazz. Even then, we’re not always being literal. I think most people would be shocked if you turned off all manner of EQ, effects, and reverb on a jazz session. And they would absolutely be shocked if you did the same on a pop session. I was involved with a Charles Lloyd recording in Los Angeles for ECM some years ago, and someone asked if there was any added reverb on Charles. I said yes. This person then said, “Are you sure? I don’t hear it.” I reached over and turned it off, and this person said, “Oh! I like it much better with it on!”

The playback side, by contrast, is all about being literal and truthful to the recording at hand. Here you absolutely do not want any editorializing going on, which is, by definition, distortion. We want our speakers, electronics, turntables, cartridges, and cables to, as much as possible, be passive conduits to the original recording.