Windham Hill an audiophile label?


I've been revisiting all of the early Windham Hill Records releases as part of a project detailing the Windham Hill Discography (you can see the site at http://windhaming.wordpress.com )

In my project I reprint all of the original liner notes and credits, and I've recently interviewed Harn Soper and Russell Bond of The Music Annex in Menlo Park where many of the classic Windham Hill albums were recorded (George Winston's Autumn, to name one.)

A typical Windham Hill album from 1980 to 1986 was:
- recorded direct to two-track, with minimal or no reverb at 30 inches per second
- Mastered by Stan Ricker at Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs
- Matrixed and pressed at RTI - Record Technology in Camarillo, CA
- Pressed using Quiex vinyl.

What do you think? Are any Windham Hill albums an important part of your audiophile collection? What are your observations on the sound?

(As an aside, I've also heard that they released original reel-to-reel recordings recording in "real-time" directly of the masters, and were a leader in chromium cassettes. Interesting details.)
darkj
I have a lot of Windham Hill recordings on vinyl and CD. Good recordings for the most part. We use them for dinner music mostly.
Well guess I like living in elevator :). I have about 15 or so titles. Some are awesome, all are good....

I do like simple music in a simple setting, i have enough chaos in my life!
Michael Hedges (RIP) Live on the Double Planet. Makes you appreciate what this guy could get out of a single guitar. Probably a different recording technique being a live album. Saw him 6 times in Portland. Amazing every time. There is a video from Red Rocks I saw once. Worth checking out.
I was in college during most of the period you referenced and had the following on vinyl:

WH-1014 - Passage - William Ackerman [1981]
WH-1017 - Breakfast in the Field - Michael Hedges [1981]
WH-1030 - Southern Exposure - Alex De Grassi [1984]
WH-1032 - Aerial Boundaries - Michael Hedges [1984]

I was just starting to get serious about my gear during those days. I had an Onkyo TA-2090 that was a highly regarded cassette deck at the time and had transferred most of my vinyl to tape, as I refused to bring my gear into the dorms. Enjoyed listening to mix tapes of many selections from these albums as study music.

Yes, they were well recorded albums at that time. The importance to me was that they were selections I used in my learning process while experimenting with quality source reproduction.
A couple from Youtube. There are many more.

Watchtower
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV_zXdvK_0g&feature=related

Harp Guitar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN3439l4HR0&feature=related