Michael Fremer (born 1947) is an American music journalist,

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influe ...

, and voice actor from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, known for writing about

audiophile An audiophile is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. An audiophile seeks to reproduce the sound of a piece of recorded music or a live musical performance, typically inside closed headphones, In-ear monitors, open ...

equipment and

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from viny ...

. He is the editor of ''The Tracking Angle'' and Senior Editor at ''

The Absolute Sound ''The Absolute Sound'' (TAS) is an American audiophile magazine which reviews high-end audio equipment, along with recordings and comments on various music-related subjects. History ''The Absolute Sound'' was founded in 1973 by Harry Pearson, ...

''. Due to his influence within the audiophile community, Fremer has been called the "Pied Piper of vinyl" and the "dean of audiophile writing."

Career

Fremer graduated from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to ...

with a degree in Industrial and Labor Relations in 1968 and worked as a

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transm ...

DJ in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

and

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

in the 1970s, when he began to write about music and audio equipment. In the early 1980s, Fremer became a well known critic of the audio quality of

compact discs The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octob ...

and was a vocal proponent of analogue source material and vinyl records. In 1986, he was hired by ''The Absolute Sound'' as pop music editor. During the 1990s, he ran his own magazine called ''The Tracking Angle''. For many years, he was the editor of ''Analog Planet'' and contributing editor at ''

Stereophile ''Stereophile'' is a monthly American audiophile magazine which reviews high-end audio equipment, such as loudspeakers and amplifiers, and audio-related news. History Founded in 1962 by J. Gordon Holt. ''Stereophile'' is the highest-circulati ...

'' and ''Sound&Vision''. In 2022 he left ''Analog Planet'' and returned to ''The Absolute Sound'' and, along with Nick Despotopoulos and David L’Heureux, revived ''The Tracking Angle'' as a website. In 2022, he had a well-publicized spat with YouTuber and record store owner Michael Esposito regarding Mobile Fidelity's use of digital source material. In addition to his audiophile journalism, Fremer has done voice acting on films such as ''

Animalympics ''Animalympics'' is a 1980 animated television film directed by Steven Lisberger and produced by Lisberger Studios for the NBC network. Originally commissioned as two separate specials, it spoofs the Summer and Winter Olympic Games and features t ...

'' and '' Felix the Cat: The Movie'' and supervised the soundtrack to Disney's ''

Tron ''Tron'' (stylized as ''TRON'') is a 1982 American science fiction action-adventure film written and directed by Steven Lisberger from a story by Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird. The film stars Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a computer programme ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fremer, Michael American journalists Living people 1947 births Cornell University alumni