Enjoying right now:
LSO Live
Sibelius:
Symphony No 2
Pohjola's Daughter
Sir Colin Davis
London Symphony Orchestra
-Jeff
Music
June 14, 2007
May 31, 2007
Top 3 Albums You Can Listen to with Your Kids
1. The Curious George Soundtrack: Jack Johnson and friends. I can't recommend this album enough. This is music for kids in college and kids in diapers. If you have a child that meets both of those criteria . . . I'm horribly frightened. Frightened because I keep telling myself that my kids will have the toilet mastered before college. If there are exceptions I don't want to hear about them. If you don't like Jack Johnson, you won't like this album, but have you ever met someone who didn't like Jack Johnson? Special appearance by Ben Harper puts the value over the top.
2. For the Kids: John Ondrasik (5 for Fighting), SixPence None the Richer, Sara Mclachlan, Chantal Kreviazuk & Raine Maida (Our Lady Peace), Barenaked Ladies, need I go on?
This is definitely aimed squarely at the kids, and will grow old far before the first recommendation. However, the familiar talent keeps me entertained.
3. This is where I run into problems . . . is there a 3? Please let me know!
My kids beg to watch the new Killers video "Read My Mind" over and over because of the green Mascot (what is that thing?) Despite an awkward moment trying to explain the name of the band, it's kid-friendly. My 4 year old also has Jet's "Are You Gonna Be My Girl?" choreographed from start to finish, while "Lust for Life" by Iggy Pop is a frequent request from my 2 year old. Try as I might, I couldn't apply a "kids music" label to these ones.
Please add your suggestions for #3 in the comments section!
-Jeff
May 28, 2007
Free Music, Thanks to Web2.0!
The power of recommendation arrives on the music scene. The community-minded folks at Amie Street have schemed a device that distributes music on different terms. Meaning, you can 'stick it to The Man'.
As an artist, signed or otherwise, you can upload your musical artwork into the Aime Street system, where it is available for FREE purchase and download by the rest of the community (joining the community is also free, by the way). The price of your song will rise depending on how much the community likes it - how many times it's purchased. The maximum price a song will rise to is $0.98, which is still a steal . . . we're talking about DRM free music that plays on any device.
And for the musicians who can only play the CD player, there are numerous benefits. You can find great new independent songs for free or cheap, and even earn money towards music by finding great songs and recommending them to your friends. From the website:
"Our pricing model encourages music lovers to discover and buy new music. If a song is free, it hasn’t been discovered by a wider audience. If a song is 98 cents, it’s already a must-hear hit. Recommend the great new songs you find to your friends and earn credit for buying even more great music !"
Go start your account now. I've been using it for a week now and love it. The idea is beautiful, the intuitive web interface is a breeze to navigate and understand, and I've discovered some amazing songs that cost me a fat $0.33!
-Jeff
May 15, 2007
Your Ears are Sexist.
Of course I don't mean YOUR listening . . . I'm talking about those other people. The biased ones.
On Friday our staff attended a great workshop, one of the speakers was Malcolm Gladwell, author of the bestselling book "Blink".
He told a fascinating story, it's SO relevant in this industry, I'm shocked I haven't heard it before; it should be shouted from the hi-fi rooftops. I'm a generalist, so I'm retelling the story "shoot from the hip" fashion, facts and details may be (probably will be) somewhat off. (This is a key difference between my wife and I, she is detail oriented - where I could care less about details, just tell me the point of the story. We've discovered we get along better by appreciating the "differences" in our communication style, rather than intelligent debate about which manner is superior.) If you want all the factoids go read the book.
I guess 30 some-odd years ago (to the day) there were hardly any women present in classical symphonies. There was a good reason for it - women can not handle an instrument like a man can. This is what the Maestro's told us, anyway. Maestro's are highly trained listeners. Their lively-hood depends on their ears, if I was a Maestro, my ears would be insured. They weren't being discriminate, women were more than welcome to audition for these roles, but a Maestro's professional ears could always tell the difference. Thoughtful papers were written on, "Why Men are Better Classical Musicians". The question of, "Are Men Better?" had been left behind for uninformed, lesser minds to ponder.
Along came unionization, and with the list of demands was a small request to limit favoritism. Some Maestro's were accused of hiring friends who auditioned in an unfair manner. A simple screen preventing the Maestro from visually identifying the hopeful musician would solve the issue, a request the confident Maestros did not contest.
Funny thing is, nowadays, women musicians fill somewhere around 50% (to the hundredth decimal point) of the chairs in today's symphonies.
I'm not going to insult your intelligence by tying in how this relates to the hi-fi industry, but the implications are rather large. I bet you've got countless related stories to bring to the table (please share them in the comments section below!)
-Jeff
May 04, 2007
Did You Hear That?
In search of the fabled "golden ears" you can wander through hostile territory.
I'm a firm believer that there are "Different Levels of Listening Awareness." I found this term, in a FANTASTIC article that Scott Naylor had pointed out a few months ago (Thanks Scott!).
When I first encountered a Virtual Dynamics cable, I was serving as a music pastor for a church Rick Schultz frequented, and had been blissfully unaware of the realm of audiophile cables. Rick wanted to show off what a Master Power cable was capable of, and volunteered to demo it on my current weapon of choice: a Bose L1 Portable Line Array. I was apprehensive, I didn't think I would hear a difference, but I also didn't want to disappoint this guy who was obviously excited about his product.
I played some music through the system, and we did some comparisons. I didn't hear it. Then we tried a different approach. My wife held a sustained note on her keyboard, a single note. We listened with the PC, without, then with again. Now it become obvious to my untrained ears; in my limited audiophile vocabulary I described how that one note, when powered by the Master PC, "filled the room." It was significant enough that I did NOT want to go back to my stock power cable! However, it wasn't enough that to make me write an email to Virtual Dynamics marveling at what a bargain this power cable was for $2000. No, the people who write us these emails have a much higher level of listening awareness than I did.
Since then, I have been climbing the ladder, I'm at a different level of listening awareness, I'm starting to learn what to listen for. By no means have I developed "golden ears," but being in this industry I have definitely made some friends that do. There are people in this industry that have developed incredible listening awareness.
The article lists some of the aspects that define our listening awareness; sensitivity to detail, sensitivity to phase, and sensitivity to tone. The article also highlights the downside of our sensory adaptation abilities: defensive listening.
After briefly suggesting a few methods and tactics to increase your listening awareness, the author goes on to recommend, "The Listening Book" by Walter Mathieu. It is on my list to read, and you can find the link to an Amazon description in our Amazon "Recommended Reading" widget on the left. Again, read the article, then read the book. If you've already read the book, please post your thoughts below!
-Jeff
April 27, 2007
"Removing the Blindfold" Presentation @ Son & Image Audioshow
Here's a taste of what show-goers got out of the Virtual Dynamics room at the Son & Image Festival in Montreal this year!
Wish you were there! (Editor's Tip: Watch Rick Schultz dancing around 12:46-53.)
-jaems
April 25, 2007
The 13dB Miracle
Did you know that an MP3 file can be encoded with only 10% of the bits required for CD quality audio? And it's still recognizable music? This is what I learned from Robert Harley.
In fact, I know some who can't hear the difference between highly-compressed digital files and original CD/vinyl (not a judgment, simply a fact).
Apparently the magic is known as "Perpetual Coding", and it's the science of tricking our ears into hearing the music instead of the distortion caused by encoding the signal with such a small number of bits. Yes, that's the scientific definition. Ok, maybe just my understanding of it after reading Mr. Harley's article.
Some ears are harder to trick than others . . .
-Jeff
April 02, 2007
Music Set Free
The major record companies are finally starting to grasp that ideas (ie: music) cannot be locked to things (devices).
EMI has announced in partnership with iTunes the availability of DRM free music. Also, of even more importance to audiophiles, the new EMI catalogue will be available in a higher quality format: 256 kilobit-per-second AAC format in iTunes.
Although this still isn't what you can do with your store-bought CD's and records, I'm all for it. The nearest record store is 1.5 hours away, and my Rega P3 suffers from slight quality loss when strapped to my back while jogging. The convenience of iTunes and my mobile music devices keeps me coming back, this is a welcome enhancement.
You can read the news here.
John Mayer's on my P3
I've ordered the newish record from John Mayer, "Continuum", on vinyl from Edmonton dealer The Gramophone. Yep, this is my first vinyl purchase, it'll be spinning on the Rega P3 turntable that I've recently set up in my basement.
It's also my first John Mayer album purchase. I've enjoyed a couple singles on the radio - and I can't help but notice the similarities to my all-time favorite songwriter/artist; Dave Matthews. For a relatively young artist, Mayer seems to hangs out with an established crowd. He's been known to collaborate with the likes of Eric Clapton, B.B King, Herbie Hancock, among others.
Anyone else spinning this record that can comment on the quality? Any recommendations on maximizing the performance of the P3?
I also ordered the bright red, wool, turntable mat to brighten up my basement! How convenient that The Gramophone also deals Rega?
-Jeff
