“Stripped” is the ninth album recorded by R&B/soul singer and songwriter Macy Gray, released in 2016. The album was recorded 100% live at The Hirsch Center, a decommissioned church in Brooklyn, NY, on two recording sessions held on April 7 and 8, 2016. Accompanied by a group of leading jazz instrumentalists: Wallace Roney on trumpet (RIP – sadly a COVID-19 victim), Russell Malone on guitar, Daryl Johns on double bass and Ari Hoenig on drums.

“Stripped” wasn’t just recorded live in the studio, but it was also recorded with binaural sound, a technique in which a dummy head has a microphone in each ear, trying to replicate the human hearing experience as closely as possible. The particular technique used for this album has been called “binaural +”, with the plus sign meaning the attempt to solve the shortcomings of listening a binaural recording without headphones. Headphones are recommended anyway to listen to this album, but it’s not a requirement.

The album is almost 51 minutes long, which is a lot of time for an audiophile-grade recording to sound as expected on vinyl. That’s why two cuts out of ten were omitted from the vinyl version of the album. This song is Gray’s take on Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters”.

Numark TTXUSB turntable – Nagaoka MP-500 phono cartridge – ART DJPRE II phono stage preamp – Vinyl record vinilo LP