Why I Do This
I've spent most of my life listening to music.
Not in the background or just casually. No. Absolutely obsessively. Buying records, comparing editions, reading liner notes, discovering artists, and exploring catalogues.
TrueResAudio grew out of that obsession.
My first record was Iron Maiden's Live After Death.
I bought it as a kid, right when it came out in 1985 and as you can see, I still have that same copy today. It's worn out, battered, played so much that the bass is almost gone, and has survived the move to another country. And it remains one of the few possessions I'd never be willing to part with.
For me, music has been the constant. Before work. Before careers. Before any of the things that adults are supposed to care about. It always came first.
And I still remember that moment when it stopped being just a hobby and became my life.
My older brother had a compilation of Nico's songs called The Blue Angel. One day I borrowed it (without his knowledge, mind you!), put it on, and heard Velvet Underground's Femme Fatale for the first time.
I must have been eleven but I still remember that moment. The first, gentle guitar notes and Nico's cold and distant, almost lifeless voice coming in, "Here she comes/you better watch you step/she's going to break your heart in two/it's true."
Suddenly, life clicked into place! I remember thinking: "Oh. So this is what it's about!"
From that moment on, music wasn't just something I enjoyed. It became something I wanted to spend my life exploring.
(Don't tell my bro, but I nicked that copy then, and as you can also see, still have it, too! Another of my treasured music possessions.)
But there's even more. You see, I was such a music nerd that I actually learnt English by translating song lyrics. I wanted to know what my favourite bands were singing about, so I sat there with a dictionary and worked it out line by line. And as it turned out, I picked the basics of the language that way.
Over the years my tastes changed. Metal led me to progressive rock. Progressive rock eventually led me to jazz and classical. The genres changed, but the habit didn't.
I kept listening, reading, collecting, and wondering why certain recordings seemed to come alive while others left me cold.
At some point I realised I was spending as much time thinking about recordings as I was listening to them.
I kept wondering why one edition pulls me into the music while another keeps me at a distance. Why one recording makes an orchestra feel present in the room while another flattens everything into a wall of sound. Why some albums become lifelong companions while others disappear almost immediately.
Those questions eventually became TrueResAudio.
One reason for creating TRA was because I wanted to dedicate the rest of my professional life to something I genuinely care about.
But also because I couldn't find the kind of publication I wanted to read.
Some publications focus almost entirely on equipment. Others focus on endless news, release announcements, and industry chatter creating nothing but noise.
It's hard to find opinionated reviews, too. Many actually feel like just rewritten press releases. They tell you where somebody studied, what awards they won, and who played on the session, but very little about whether the recording is actually worth your time.
I wanted something different. A place focused on listening. A place willing to have opinions and say, clearly and honestly, "this is worth hearing" or "this isn't."
Most of all, I wanted the kind of place I would visit myself.
Years ago, I found something similar in another corner of music. There was a publication whose editor consistently surfaced releases I cared about, helped me discover things I would have missed, and made me look forward to checking what had appeared that day. I didn't agree with his every opinion, of course. But it didn't matter. I trusted the perspective behind his opinions.
That's what I hope TrueResAudio becomes for its readers.
A place that adds a little anticipation to your day. A place where you might discover something unexpected. A place where somebody else has already done some of the listening, comparing, researching, and thinking, and shares their opinions and experiences with you.
If TrueResAudio helps you spend less of it searching and more of it listening, then it is doing exactly what I hoped it would do.
And if you happen to care about music, recordings, and listening in a similar way, then you'll probably feel at home here too.