"RADIOHEAD Amnesiac - Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box"
What a name for a song, huh?
This marks the inaugural article in the Listening Section. In this section we will describe what, well, the author will describe what they listen for when they hear a particular song with respect to the occurrences and nuances and happenings therein.
In other words, this is a music review written by an audiophile for audiophiles.
This is a play by play of what one person hears, how they hear it, and what they want to hear when they listen to a particular song.
It is about how the pieces in those systems, the various cables, amps, CD players, turntables and speakers affect each note, each slice of each note in the song in question.
Radiohead is great for that, because as the quality of the system increases, so does the ability to really hear what Radiohead is up to. They go to a lot of trouble to put a lot of music in their songs, and most systems garble it up into a mishmash of goo-with-a-beat.
"It is a kind of abstract poetry that kind of bypasses the cognitive parts of the brain"
That the number is so low for show systems is because Radiohead music is difficult to reproduce except as a kind of "confused electronic mess with singer", singing words that usually do not mean anything [in reality, that last part is true on all systems. I've read and reread the lyrics and am still scratching my head. It is a kind of abstract poetry that kind of bypasses the cognitive parts of the brain.]
Similarly, many people think this is a bad test track, that this music is bad in general for audiophiles to play because it is not "well recorded". In fact, it is some of the most well-recorded music I know of. It is just not 'simple' music with one to three instruments and maybe a female vocal. Simple music has become synonymous with "audiophile music" because simple music is hardest to butcher on badly designed systems.
Do you need top-flight equipment to hear Radiohead correctly? First, I am not sure I've ever heard it 'correctly', just more correct and less correct, and sometimes just 'different'. This has been played on systems like the $7K Odyssey Audio and of course, numerous small Audio Note and Acoustic Zen Adagio systems – and they are able to handle many of the complexities, and some of the subtleties, just fine.
The usual problems systems have with this
"...Common Problems..."
track, and the CD in general, are 1) notes incorrectly placed in the sound stage, 2) multiple notes mashed together into one, and 3) lack of separation. We are, of course, ignoring the problems some systems might have with all music, like incorrect tonality, unevenness of response, etc. These problems, 1,2, and 3, are related and can be described as the notes not being correctly position in space and time [start, stop, and duration], as well as frequency [tone] and amplitude [relative loudness].
It is only over time that we can come to realize just how much effort Radiohead has put into their music. How they make sounds out of thin air – that these sounds have certain positions, that they often
"they work like a painter with a canvas, painting sounds one by one onto the initially deathly quiet, silent, desert of a sound stage"
move and change shape, and that the whole sonic stage is their playground. Instead of just putting out a simple love song with a 3-part harmony in the background, or angst ridden lyrics on top of computer enhanced guitars, they work like a painter with a canvas, painting sounds one by one onto the initially deathly quiet, silent, desert of a sound stage.
This is what I really love about Radiohead. Their music is harmonically interesting, playful, and emotional in a kind of gently angst-ridden wistful manner.
So what we are going to do now in this article, and for every article in the Listening section of our magazine, is to describe what the author found to be the significant notes and parts of the song in question, in this case Track 1 on the Radiohead Amnesiac CD. We will describe what we listen for, and several variations of what we actually heard, for each of these notes. We all do this on our favorite songs, right? From the intense drum solo at the start of "I Want My MTV" to the sweet delicacy of the chimes on Track 2 of American Beauty – we listen for special parts of the song, and over time we learn to hear that they sound different of different systems.
"I'm a Reasonable Man, Get Off My Case
I'm a Reasonable Man, Get Off My Case
I'm a Reasonable Man, Get Off My Case
I'm a Reasonable Man, Get Off My Case
"
I am sure there are several things everybody listens for on their favorite songs. What we are going to do here is actually talk about them.
Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box, which really should be called "I'm a Reasonable Man, Get Off My Case", which is the recurring refrain, starts off with the banging of what sounds like a stick on the edge and side of a steel drum. The drum is very slightly left of center. The strikes vary between hitting the edge, and hitting the side of the drum. The strikes on the side generate subtle secondary vibrations that almost, almost define the shape of the body of the steel drum [or whatever it is. It sounds like our Jamaican steel drum, but when hit on the top and side, and not on the traditional drum-playing surface. The strikes on the top of the steel drum also
"b-bamm-bamm ... b-bamm-bamm... b-bamm-bamm..."
define the shape of the drum, but much, MUCH more subtlety].
What to listen for here is the different decays of the two different strikes, the secondary vibrations of the drum that define its shape, the solidity of the strikes, and sometimes, I can almost hear the stick not quite hit the drum edge straight on, and it slides a wee little bit against the drum during the strike. Behind the b-bamm-bamm of the steel drum strikes, there is the very faint drumming, on a traditional drum set, in an unrelated rhythmic pattern. I rarely pay that much attention to this background drumming, except to note that it is way, way back in the soundstage.
The intro, just described, lasts only a few seconds, and the real intro starts with some aggressive synthesized bass rhythms. Most systems, including those with 2-way speakers, get some satisfaction from this bass track. That doesn't mean that they play it correctly, just that is sounds darn good anyway and that the bass, although deep, also extends up into the midbass. What I listen for is how tight and authoritative the drum beats are. This requires the entire system to be able to start and stop a note quickly, that is both channels and all components - at the same time. The speakers best able to handle this, in my experience, has been the big Triolon horns - they would suck all the air out of the room, and then pump it all back in. At
least they felt like they were doing that to my chest. The second best, in this regard, was the Lamm ML3 on the Coltrane Supremes on the cement floor of our exhibit room at RMAF 2008. In this case, I believe I started to hear little reflections of the bass notes within the notes themselves, i.e. they weren't all just a simple square wave. At this point I wish I could just stop typing and go listen again to make sure :-)
Throughout all of this and especially as the song properly starts, there is the idea of the rhythm of the song, in particular the much-maligned idea of PRaT. Not sure why it is maligned, except to think that some joker once said they didn't think it existed and forum group think did the rest. PRaT with respect to Radiohead, including this song, is an interesting and complicated thing. This is not Steppenwolf’s "Born to Be Wild". There are many sub-melodies and they have their own beats, which usually are only occasionally related to the main beat of the song itself. But if you listen, you can hear that they too have PRaT, and you can tap your toe to them - but people might think that you are listening to a different
"Vocals are, as usual for Radiohead, understated."
"Is he pleading or demanding, threatening or entreating?"
song than they are [and you would be!].
The vocals come in at this point, and a few more melodies. Vocals are, as usual here, understated. There is emotion, but it takes a lot of resolution and the ability to handle subtleties like the constriction of a throat after a particular word, and the shape of the mouth after, say, the word 'case'. Is he pleading or demanding, threatening or entreating? He is not a crooner, belting it out so the whole world knows how he feels. He is just a reasonable man, like [most of] us, and is telling you how it is. Listening to how his lips move, listening to his breathing, and fancy not so ordinary guy stuff like tremulo, helps define the song itself for me. Certainly, a system like one with Audio Note electronics, Jorma Design PRIME cables, and Kharma speakers makes him sound almost actually emotional [?]. Most systems at shows do not have the sufficient resolution and subtlety and he sounds cold and unemotional and distant.
"...I can pick and choose, using my ears, any number of very entertaining and interesting melodies to listen to..."
At this time, along with the voice, the keyboards start up a melody. Along with the voice, I also listen to this specifically to hear how much harmonic color there is in each note. Note, by harmonic color I do not mean smearing and over emphasis of particular frequencies to the exclusion of others. What I mean by excellent harmonic color is that each subtone be fully fleshed out and not dominated by, nor dominating, other nearby frequencies and overtones as they actually exist in the music.
For example, and this is still before the 1 minute mark, there is a brassy plucking sound in the left channel that starts up. This should have good rhythm, good brassy color, and good separation, especially from all the other stuff that is going on.
And that is the key to Radiohead, at least from the standpoint of my
enjoying it so much, and that is having lots of separation. I can pick and choose, using my ears, any number of very entertaining and interesting melodies to listen to: the drums, the electronic beat, the steel drum, the voice, and the weird sounds. The sounds often get lost on many sound systems.
About this time a recurring constant tone is started. Its blandness and lack of texture can be annoying. It does have SOME texture, but so little that it is very hard to hear.
At about the 1 minute point, the voice picks up some gravelly overtones. Most systems seem to catch at least some of this.
At about the 1:40 point, there is a sound that sounds like a voice played backwards, over and over. Kind of a fffwwwhhhtt fwht fwht sound. [OK, well YOU try and pronounce it ?]
At about the 2:30 point, the electrified
voices and breathy sigh is fun. All through this song, more and more things start up in the background. Many of these things sound like voices, and it is all about delicacy, the purity of the tone, and the quickness and the separation: getting the sound to appear and disappear quickly and in isolation from the rest of what is going on.
At the 3 minute mark, lots of weird voices now. Some of them move back and forth between the speakers. How well does the system keep these separate from the song? There is a sound that I call a pig sound [kind of like on Pink Floyd Animals... but not]. How resolute are the subtones in this noise? Can you almost make out words? There are symbols being struck way, way in the back of the soundstage. The electronic beat is still a beating. The voice still has a beat of its own. At this point, most systems just jumble everything together. You can hear that there are noises - but not as something separate and as if it came from a different instrument the rest of the sounds. Does everything still have a separate and distinct well-defined beat? Or is it jumbled so much that all the different beats add up to having no distinct beats at all - and it just sounds like a badly recorded bar band?
The last word of the song, 'case', as in 'get off of my case’, has a long drawn out ssssss. This is often a good test of sibilance.
The song then winds down after 10 seconds or so. This is usually anti-climatic. It is anti-climatic because 1) we are so burnt out by listening intently to everything and trying to identify the plusses and minus of a particular system configuration, and the corollary task of trying to express that in English to each other, and the other task trying to figure out WHY it now sounds the way it does, what cable/part is the most responsible for the current performance level. OR, 2) we are so overwhelmed by the intensity and beauty and power of the sound that we have to wait a little to recover from it all. 2, of course, is the most fun and it still happens on a regular basis, thank goodness.
Originally, when I started using this as a test track, it was just a nicely melodic song with a few things going on in the soundstage that I enjoyed and thought would be mostly acceptable to play at shows. It was later, when I played it at shows, that I learned just how hard it was for most systems to get anything near the right sound in the right places with this song.
"...it is indeed possible to hear each strand of music, on its own, just like you can when you hear sound in the real world"
"By Michael Davis,
Audio Federation"
It was only later that I listened deeper when using this music, looking for lots of separation and correct attack and decay. This is represented in my head by requiring that the images of the sounds on the soundstage be well-defined - but it is really also a requirement that the elapsed time and harmonic structure of the note be well-defined as well.
And it has been quite recent, since the influx of top-end gear here last year, and especially the little system with the Marten Coltrane 3-way speaker, the Audio Note Ongaku, and the Emm Labs TSD1/DAC2, with the Nordost ODIN powercord and mostly ODIN cabling [Jorma Design PRIME to taste] that it was realized that it is indeed possible to hear each strand of music, on its own, just like you can when you hear sound in the real world. The surprising thing here is 1) why didn't we notice that this was so hard to do before? 2) Surprise that this is yet another thing that humans can do without and not whine much about [like B&W versus color TV], 3) what goes into making it easier to hear on this system? 4) We are doomed because we are now addicted.
After this discovery, we notice how we can and cannot do this 'listen to a single instrument' thing on other systems and it has especially become a new thing to listen for with this song.
Finally, this is still my primary test song. But... I have started playing various other Radiohead songs as test songs, because I see burn out on the horizon for this song - and I like it too much to let that happen.
"Pushing the Performance Envelope (Part 2)"
Continuing on...
The nuts and bolts of increasing performance [now that we know what to expect, or at least hope for, when performance has been increased] can be approached from applying the following model.
This model scores components using two metrics: transparency and character. Transparency in this case measures the ability to reflect what is upstream, how much musical information it can pass through to the next component. Character measures the desirability of the sonic signature, the raw performance, of a component.
As a concrete example, and there really aren't all that many ways to optimize a system using this model, use a speaker that is as transparent as possible and an amplifier and/or linestage that have very desirable characteristics and a very transparent source [that strips as much music off the CD/LP as possible and does nothing else]. Cables and power cords can be either transparent or add some kind of performance enhancing drug to the sound - your choice.
This model makes sense [let's call it Model A] if you have, say, an expensive [precious :-)] Audio Note Ongaku integrated and want to build a system around it that highlights all the good things this amp does. So you womp down a transparent speaker, like perhaps the Nola, Avantgarde, Wilson, Marten, etc. [we'll talk about relative transparency of speakers next] and a solid-state digital source of some repute [say, Emm Labs or Esoteric] or analog source [most of them with, say, a high-res Titan cartridge] that safely puts out a sound stream that we will lovingly deliver to the Ongaku. In my case since I am unfamiliar with these speakers, I might try some performance enhancing cables first before I went with a more transparent cable [actually, all the cables we like are mostly transparent, but some to have a sound to them].
It is useful to enumerate a number of the more popular permutations using this model:
A: A high-performance amp/preamp with very desirable characteristics and transparent everything else [this is my favorite at the moment]
B: A high-performance speaker with very desirable characteristics and transparent everything else [this is my favorite for the Kharma speakers]
C: A transparent speaker and high-performance (desirable characteristics) everything else [this is a prototypical Audio Note system, although as the price goes up the components become more and more transparent]
D: High-performance/desirable characteristics everything [this is very difficult to get right, in my opinion, and tends to make everything sound the same, instead of, correctly, reflecting what is actually on the CD/LP]
E: Transparent everything [this is also difficult - though when it is done right, although very expensive, it is my other favorite. When done wrong it is horrid. Yes, I got more than one favorite. So what? :-)]
How to tell a transparent component from a high-performance component with some kind of desirable character to it?
[OK. Yes. Transparent might be a horrible name to use here. But we started with it and are stuck with it, at least for the next few paragraphs].
Let's look at speakers. Yes, they are fun to look at, but staying focused... A perfectly transparent speaker, in our context here, is one that passes through all of the sound without adding any character of its own to it.
One way [the only way?] to recognize a speaker [or any component, for that matter] as being transparent is how much its character changes based on the sound it is given. Does it sound warm when a warm tube amp is driving it? Does it sound etched when a etched solid-state amp is driving it? Does it pass through the high-resolution if a very high-resolution cable is used with a high-res source?
If so, then the let's call the speaker 'Pushable'. One can push its performance by increasing the level of performance, and/or the level of quality of the character, of the upstream components. Conversely, if a speaker is not very Pushable, then a system with those speakers will sound more or less like any other system with those speakers.
Note that this is not about the quality of the speakers and if they are being driven correctly - it is about the sound coming out of them. A perfect speaker will be, by definition, perfect in all systems - but it will sound very different in each system.
So that is the crux of what this article, this on-going series of articles, is about. How, for our own enjoyment and to satisfy our extreme curiosity, as we started pairing and mixing and matching components trying to see just how amazing a system we could build, we starting running into both systems way beyond anything anyone has ever heard, as well as systems that were just the run-of-the-mill, as-expected 'spectacular'.
This includes some nice components like the Lamm ML3 Signature, Audio Note Ongaku and Kegon Balanced amps, the Nordost ODIN and Jorma PRIME and Audio Note PALLAS cables, the EMM Labs DAC2 and TSD1 digital, the Walker turntable, and Marten Coltrane and Coltrane Supreme loudspeakers, HRS platforms and I'm sure I am leaving something out... All of which are EXTREMELY Pushable [and extremely high quality resolution] and most with either no character [that I can yet detect] or a slight touch of a desirable one.
All of these components are leaps and bounds above what has gone before - it IS a New Dawn [some of you, including Neli!, who have not listened to Woodstock 1000 times may not get the celebratory depth of this phrase.].
Other speakers which seemed to have at least some transparency at CES: The Nola - driven with Nordost ODIN, you could hear the added bandwidth and relaxed resolution clearly through the speaker. This was not the case with all the ODIN-bearing systems at the show. Potentially the Vandersteen 7 - you could clearly hear what the Aesthetix and ClearAudio turntable were up to. The Avantgarde definitely reflected the sound of its upstream components in both rooms it appeared in at CES. Magico sounds good sometimes and not so good others - which suggests that they may be very transparent to upstream components.
OK, who am I forgetting? I'll try and add more later.
Note that the driveability of these speakers varies quite a bit - if they are too hard to drive, there are few amplifiers that can be used with them, and so as pushable as they may be - it won't do people much good if the upstream components can't be the ones that you want to listen to.
"Choosing New Music – An Alternate Perspective (Part 2)"
"by Brian Boehler"
In part one of this article, we explored some alternatives to identify a new musical genre or two? I shared ways you could explore new music with you doing most of the work and little in the way of communication with others. Examples included locally based national music chains, Internet based national music sites, and Internet streaming radio. All are alternatives to consider but some leave out a key element for many people - the ability to talk and share with others. This article will concentrate on approaches that allow some two-way communication as part of the exploration process to allow a more open line of communication with others who have a passion for a different genre of music different from what you listen to.
You Listen, You Talk, You Collaborate, You Decide
How about streaming sites that tend to focus on a particular genre of music. Many of these sites are member supported and allow you to request music and to share comments and questions through a chat room or blog. This approach allows you to focus your efforts, ask some questions, and allows you to use others to help your exploration of new music.
My son is a mélomanes of soundtracks. He owns about 1,200 CDs and likes to deeply explore the genre. Much of what he has learned came from his exposure through the streamingsoundtra... site. He has learned about new composers from around the world and even has met and interacted with others who share his passion for this type of music. He is now a moderator on the site and helps with chat rooms. There are some interesting stories around his passion for soundtracks and the people he has met through the streamingsoundtra... site. I'll share these stories and some of the characters at a later time. His story chronicles an approach to music that you might find fun and inspiring.
The advantage to this approach is that you can listen to the music in the queue, join and have request privileges, ask questions and share your thoughts with knowledgeable people through the chat room, and focus on people with a passion for this type of music. I believe that this type of 2-Way communication allows a much more enjoyable and focused exploration of new music.
Check out 24Seven.FM for some interesting sites dealing with musical genres. They encompass:
StreamingSoundtra... – Scores of Music from Movies, Game, TV & Anime
Entranced.FM – A Chilled Mix of Ambient, Trance & World
Adagio.FM – Timeless Classical Music from Medieval to Modern
1980s.FM – Awesome Hits and Songs you missed from the 1980s
Death.FM – A Brutal & Beautiful blend of Black, Death, Goth, Gore & Grind
Look into Protonradio.com to explore the best of electronic music including House, Trance, Techno, Electro, etc. You might find that over time, listening to these new sites will peak your curiosity and will help you to connect and explore new artists in more detail. These approaches are cheap in dollars and time. You don't really have to sit and concentrate to determine if your interest is peaked. You can multi-task and still determine whether the first step is warranted. You might hear a few artists that really get your interest and draw you away from your task and force you to sit back and listen which is usually a good sign that something about the music has caught your attention. My own personal experience has found this approach helpful and saved me a lot of money.
Talk To Friends
How about talking to some friends and acquaintances? Do you belong to an audio society? Do you know some people from your local stereo shop you have been friends with for years. Do you play an instrument and have the opportunity to get together with others on occasion? Do you attend concerts with some friends and wonder what other artists are out there and what these friends have discovered musically? Talk to these people and explore what kinds of music and musicians they listen too. Be willing to share discoveries and treasures you have found over the years. You might learn they have very broad eclectic tastes or you might find they have a broader musical palette than you do. You won't know if you don't communicate. Give it a try, you might surprise yourself and discover an artist that speaks to your heart for the rest of your life!
One last thought for you to consider is that the journey is often the most rewarding part of the process. Don't get in such a hurry that you don't enjoy the discovery process, see the sites, take some worthwhile side trips and relish in everything leading up to the ultimate destination of musical discovery.
Good Exploring & Listening!
Brian
allows you to focus your efforts, ask some questions, and allows you to use others to help your exploration of new music.
My son is a mélomanes of soundtracks. He owns about 1,200 CDs and likes to deeply explore the genre. Much of what he has learned came from his exposure through the streamingsoundtra... site. He has learned about new composers from around the world and even has met and interacted with others who share his passion for this type of music. He is now a moderator on the site and helps with chat rooms. There are some interesting stories around his passion for soundtracks and the people he has met through the streamingsoundtra... site. I'll share these stories and some of the characters at a later time. His story chronicles an approach to music that you might find fun and inspiring.
The advantage to this approach is that you can listen to the music in the queue, join and have request privileges, ask questions and share your thoughts with knowledgeable people through the chat room, and focus on people with a passion for this type of music. I believe that this type of 2-Way communication allows a much more enjoyable and focused exploration of new music.
Check out 24Seven.FM for some interesting sites dealing with musical genres. They encompass:
StreamingSoundtra... – Scores of Music from Movies, Game, TV & Anime
Entranced.FM – A Chilled Mix of Ambient, Trance & World
Adagio.FM – Timeless Classical Music from Medieval to Modern
1980s.FM – Awesome Hits and Songs you missed from the 1980s
Death.FM – A Brutal & Beautiful blend of Black, Death, Goth, Gore & Grind
Look into Protonradio.com to explore the best of electronic music including House, Trance, Techno, Electro, etc. You might find that over time, listening to these new sites will peak your curiosity and will help you to connect and explore new artists in more detail. These approaches are cheap in dollars and time. You don't really have to sit and concentrate to determine if your interest is peaked. You can multi-task and still determine whether the first step is warranted. You might hear a few artists that really get your interest and draw you away from your task and force you to sit back and listen which is usually a good sign that something about the music has caught your attention. My own personal experience has found this approach helpful and saved me a lot of money.
Talk To Friends
How about talking to some friends and acquaintances? Do you belong to an audio society? Do you know some people from your local stereo shop you have been friends with for years. Do you play an instrument and have the opportunity to get together with others on occasion? Do you attend concerts with some friends and wonder what other artists are out there and what these friends have discovered musically? Talk to these people and explore what kinds of music and musicians they listen too. Be willing to share discoveries and treasures you have found over the years. You might learn they have very broad eclectic tastes or you might find they have a broader musical palette than you do. You won't know if you don't communicate. Give it a try, you might surprise yourself and discover an artist that speaks to your heart for the rest of your life!
One last thought for you to consider is that the journey is often the most rewarding part of the process. Don't get in such a hurry that you don't enjoy the discovery process, see the sites, take some worthwhile side trips and relish in everything leading up to the ultimate destination of musical discovery.
Good Exploring & Listening!
Brian
request privileges, ask questions and share your thoughts with knowledgeable people through the chat room, and focus on people with a passion for this type of music. I believe that this type of 2-Way communication allows a much more enjoyable and focused exploration of new music.
Check out 24Seven.FM for some interesting sites dealing with musical genres. They encompass:
StreamingSoundtra... – Scores of Music from Movies, Game, TV & Anime
Entranced.FM – A Chilled Mix of Ambient, Trance & World
Adagio.FM – Timeless Classical Music from Medieval to Modern
1980s.FM – Awesome Hits and Songs you missed from the 1980s
Death.FM – A Brutal & Beautiful blend of Black, Death, Goth, Gore & Grind
Look into Protonradio.com to explore the best of electronic music including House, Trance, Techno, Electro, etc. You might find that over time, listening to these new sites will peak your curiosity and will help you to connect and explore new artists in more detail. These approaches are cheap in dollars and time. You don't really have to sit and concentrate to determine if your interest is peaked. You can multi-task and still determine whether the first step is warranted. You might hear a few artists that really get your interest and draw you away from your task and force you to sit back and listen which is usually a good sign that something about the music has caught your attention. My own personal experience has found this approach helpful and saved me a lot of money.
Talk To Friends
How about talking to some friends and acquaintances? Do you belong to an audio society? Do you know some people from your local stereo shop you have been friends with for years. Do you play an instrument and have the opportunity to get together with others on occasion? Do you attend concerts with some friends and wonder what other artists are out there and what these friends have discovered musically? Talk to these people and explore what kinds of music and musicians they listen too. Be willing to share discoveries and treasures you have found over the years. You might learn they have very broad eclectic tastes or you might find they have a broader musical palette than you do. You won't know if you don't communicate. Give it a try, you might surprise yourself and discover an artist that speaks to your heart for the rest of your life!
One last thought for you to consider is that the journey is often the most rewarding part of the process. Don't get in such a hurry that you don't enjoy the discovery process, see the sites, take some worthwhile side trips and relish in everything leading up to the ultimate destination of musical discovery.
Good Exploring & Listening!
Brian
your interest is peaked. You can multi-task and still determine whether the first step is warranted. You might hear a few artists that really get your interest and draw you away from your task and force you to sit back and listen which is usually a good sign that something about the music has caught your attention. My own personal experience has found this approach helpful and saved me a lot of money.
Talk To Friends
How about talking to some friends and acquaintances? Do you belong to an audio society? Do you know some people from your local stereo shop you have been friends with for years. Do you play an instrument and have the opportunity to get together with others on occasion? Do you attend concerts with some friends and wonder what other artists are out there and what these friends have discovered musically? Talk to these people and explore what kinds of music and musicians they listen too. Be willing to share discoveries and treasures you have found over the years. You might learn they have very broad eclectic tastes or you might find they have a broader musical palette than you do. You won't know if you don't communicate. Give it a try, you might surprise yourself and discover an artist that speaks to your heart for the rest of your life!
One last thought for you to consider is that the journey is often the most rewarding part of the process. Don't get in such a hurry that you don't enjoy the discovery process, see the sites, take some worthwhile side trips and relish in everything leading up to the ultimate destination of musical discovery.
Good Exploring & Listening!
Brian
"Etiquette: When Good People Make Bad Sound.
What to do.
What... To... Do..."
You know, this happens all too frequently. You've been there. We've been there.
After talking to a nice dealer for a few minutes, they press play and... you just about died.
Someone brings over one of their favorite components they just paid a lot of good green for. You plug it into your system. And then... you start hoping that whatever is horribly wrong with it is not contagious.
You are at a show... you hand them your favorite CD to play. You sit your butt down in the chair in the sweet spot. You close your eyes. Then... it becomes a hostage situation. They got your CD, and they are slowly torturing it to death.
What can a nice person do in these situations?
Sometimes the sound really isn't bad, per se, but just not our cup of tea. And we can certainly tell a white lie implying that this is indeed the case [when it isn't]. So there is the 1st line of Defense, the "Hmmmmmmm, that's interesting. Thanks for that." defense.
Sometimes this backfires and people actually take this as praise. Then you can expect a long verbal explanation of why what you heard was 'so fantastico' cascading into more pain and agony as they play something else.
That brings us to the 2nd line of defense, recently invented by people on the front lines, which is the "Is That My Cell Phone?" defense. The beauty of this is that, because music is often playing loudly [and even if it is not, there is always the implication of 'vibration mode'] Nobody Has to be Actually Calling You.
This provides an opportunity for those of you who think you really should have gone into acting. I've seen people quickly sit up, look left and right, and then act like 'oh, that's MY phone' and then have a lengthy conversation, sometimes even arguments, with themselves, as they move Away From the system in a manner that suggests that it is the president calling and they just must take this call and they exit in a 'Nobody better get in the way between me and the door!' manner.
The Cell Phone Defense is almost infallible, you can make it last as long as you want, and it can even get you out of the nasty situation entirely, depending on how imaginative you are and how you feel about being a bald-faced liar [but you have already gone this far, so you must feel pretty good about it. And it is really a White Lie - just don't want to hurt anybody's feelings, right?].
But for those of us a little slow, or a little stupid [me], we sometimes get caught in a situation where we need to listen to something awful, or we have just been using the Cell Phone Defense so often lately, that people are beginning to get suspicious. This happens frequently when the demonstrator stops and asks you, You!, what you think about how gawd darned great that just sounded.
Many people in this situation [no, they do not, usually, pee their pants] respond to group dynamics and say something polite and positive side of neutral like 'Nice!'. Can't tell you how many times I have heard a bad demo and then people in the audience are kind of group-niced into saying something this [the horror of this is, the others in the audience start wondering if they are missing something, because what they heard Sucked Big Time].
So, what else can you do if you just can't bear to say 'Nice!'. You can give the "Hmmm, I'm thinking about how exactly to describe what I just heard' look. Most [all] presenters will quickly move to someone else, hoping for an easy and quick 'Nice!'. They definitely do not want to hear from someone who is thinking about what they heard.
Then there is the sneaky, funny and mean at the same time defense - which requires you to turn to your buddy and say "I don't know, what do you think, Joe?" Yes, you might lose friends this way, but as often as not, you end up laughing and this breaks the tension in the room enough for you to be able to get up and leave. If you have your wife with you, she is a good one to use for this - as she is not likely to divorce you over something like this, so it is pretty safe. Also useful in Open Houses, Art Galleries and many other places.
Anyone else have any other techniques they use? It would be a great service to the community. :-)
"A Tweak.
An Important Tweak.
A Cheap Tweak.
Or... is... it?"
"Finally, finally, they are here.
Especially developed by NASA for the shuttle astronauts so that they can understand all those garbled messages from Mission Control, these amazing z-tip swabs are now available to audiophiles everywhere.
Haven't been able to understand the words coming out of Mick Jagger's mouth before? Dylan? Judas Priest? Not a problem.
You can even listen to your system upside down!"
"Not to be outdone, down here on Earth there is now the Zeus swab. These swabs remove all grime and grit down to 1 part in several trillion, letting you hear some things for the very first time.
Things that you didn't think anyone could hear. Now, you don't need to watch the video to know when Mick gives you the thumbs up, when Madonna winks at you, or when Peter Tosh lights up."
"And for something really off the wall, these are the new Swabinator Resonators.
Stick these to the wall, and they really just stick there without any glue or other assistance, and your ears open up like magic, comforted by the presence of the gentle, soft, cleansing caresses promised by the... Swabinators.
A word of caution - Make sure you hide these when you entertain if you are at all concerned by people in white coats from Bellevue asking a lot of questions."
"And for the minimalist - we have these single-ended tips, seen here in a monotip configuration. They are very popular with people who believe short swab length result in purer, cleaner swabbing."
"A real contender, especially for those who prefer an impressive and exceedingly well-built swab, is the GreaTT swab.
They not only work well, by paying particular attention to the most often used areas of the ear - but your friends really will be impressed.
Johnson & Johnson has met their match."
"Pushing the Performance Envelope"
Is this what it is all about? Getting the most performance out of a group of [hopefully well-matched] components? Pushing, pushing to get that performance level so high - that no one, NO ONE, has heard it like this before?
Or even if they have heard it this good, they were too distracted by their date, or making sure they play that next note just the way they intended, or by the jerks chatting two seats over, or trying to figure out which song are they going to miss because they just HAVE to take a pee break real soon now.
In other words, NO ONE has even been able to ENJOY it like this before.
Is this what it is all about?
So we have performance and enjoyment [drug- and booze-assists are for a different TBA section] as two things in that performance envelope that we want to push to the highest levels. What else?
How about appreciation? Appreciation of the skill of the musicians, of the sound board engineer, of the song writer, of the momentary gestalt at the time of the recording. This is certainly one of the things that I personally go for - and hardly anyone talks about. Why? Because it is so unquantifiable. Males especially are so "if I can't measure it with a meter - it just doesn't count".
And finally [I think this is a finally - but maybe we'll come up with more], there is understanding.
Perhaps this could also be called spirituality - but I think that this is different [and spirituality might be somewhere in the intersection of understanding and appreciation]. Understanding is why it is recommended to play classical music around babies in the womb. It is why "Born to be Wild" stirs the blood.
It is why we play music after a hard day of work. Music helps us recover, I would argue, not because it is enjoyable, or our systems have such awesome high performance, or because we appreciate the musicians skill - but because it brings to us an understanding of world. Of life. It helps make things make sense again.
"Performance, Enjoyment, Appreciation, Understanding"
Are these four things related? Certainly good to great performance has allowed me, personally, to experience the other three to a level where performance has just become a means to an end, not an end in-and-of-itself.
It would be great for us to come to the conclusion that performance did not matter, that any ole system can generate appreciation and understanding in the listener [enjoyment is much easier to achieve]. But my suspicion is that unless one is very very lucky, an average sounding system just won't get you there. That you are just kidding yourself.
I base this suspicion on seeing a Leonardo DaVinci painting in person. Oh sure, before then they looked like OK paintings. Sure. But after seeing one, live, in high resolution as it were. In stereo with two eyes and a head that with gentle movements saw it from several thousand angles - it showed me that all the fuss by people for all those centuries... well, that those people did indeed have a clue [sometimes I DO wonder. Don't all kids wonder?]. Now the Sistine Chapel - I have not seen it in person. I still wonder... what's all the fuss?
The point is that the brain wants, needs, vast amounts of high quality input to stimulate it to higher levels. And most stereo systems? Not gonna happen.
For the sake of argument, let's say you agree with all this. That optimizing systems, that pushing the envelope here, is about increasing performance, and increasing our enjoyment of the music, our appreciation of the music, and finally something a little more nebulous, our understanding of our place in the universe [I SAID it was kind of nebulous, but it IS real, and perhaps we will find a way to quantify it some here].
I think it is safe to say that these four qualities go from the less subtle to more subtle. At this point this article has probably lost some readers - many people are not all about subtlety. But for you rest, I think there are direct links between somewhat common performance characteristics, like soundstage depth and image separation, and these other qualities.
And, like a snowball, I think less subtle of these qualities contributes to the formation of the more subtle qualities. So, for example, enjoying the music sufficiently helps enhance the ability to appreciation the music. And with greater appreciation of the music - the interplay and skill of the musicians, how musicians have passed on their knowledge from generation to generation, how the instruments have evolved and the audiences have evolved right along with them - these and a million other things helps increase our understanding.
Stating this even more plainly, let's propose that increasing performance, specifically increasing performance in a good direction, results in an increase in these other qualities at the same time.
