Mark Smotroff is a freelance writer and avid music enthusiast who has worked for decades in marketing communications supporting entertainment technology companies. Clients have ranged from DTS, Sega, Acclaim Entertainment, 3DO, Sony, Sharp and AT&T to recent work with the Sacramento Ballet. In addition to AnalogPlanet.com and AudiophileReview.com, Mark has written for Sound+Vision, EQ, Mix, Goldmine/DISCoveries, BigPictureBigSound.com, HomeTheaterReview.com, Cineluxe.com, and many others. A deep music collector and active vinyl "crate digger," Mark owns recordings dating back as far as the dawn of the 20th century. His turntable array includes a hand-cranked, all-acoustic 1921 Victrola (which he restored). Mark considers himself something of an “everyman audiophile” and his nice sounding — apartment-appropriate, intentionally modest — 7.1 surround sound home theater system has recently been upgraded to support Dolby Atmos. Mark is also a musician / composer whose songs have been used in TV shows such as Smallville and Men In Trees as well as films and documentaries. Mark's most recent original music project is a soft-launched concept album / rock opera which he is updating for eventual re-launch dialthemusical.com.
Muse Records’ hard-to-find jazz fusion titles by Catalyst and Carlos Garnett are back on 180-gram vinyl with audiophile mastering and premium pressings.
Candid Records restores Mingus At Monterey from original mono tapes, delivering improved sound and pressing quality over earlier, collectible editions.
Jefferson Starship’s classic 1970s albums return in quadraphonic surround on Rhino’s Quadio Blu-rays. Do these vintage four-channel mixes still fly today?
Resonance Records’ Vibrations In The Village: Live At The Village Gate uncovers blazing 1963 performances by Rahsaan Roland Kirk, freshly mastered and released on...
Craft Recordings’ OJC reissue of Moon Beams restores Bill Evans’ post-LaFaro classic with Kevin Gray’s AAA mastering and beautifully quiet 180-gram vinyl.
Keith Jarrett’s At The Deer Head Inn: The Complete Recordings captures a rare one-night reunion—intimate, historic, and beautifully restored on vinyl by ECM.