So what's your 4 current fave listens???

[-Jar-]

2) Carl Orff - Carmina Burana - Deutsche Grammophon, Conducted by Eugen Jochum: Very dramatic, just finally looked at the insert and the lyrics are all translated to english. Cool!

Excellent! You definately have a winner there.. one of the best Carmina Buranas out there.. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is hands down my favorite baritone.. he's great here.. and the tenor Stoltze's roasted swan done in falsetto adds just the right feel. Man, if you haven't read along with the lyrics to this you aren't getting the full effect. The whole tavern section is amazing. Enjoy!

-jar

[Davey]

That's exactly why I level match on my standalone (on a R/W) since 0 dB is actually 0 dB and is only the peak.

I don't really understand the difference but probably not worth getting into big discussion over. My point was that if you wind up with a CD that has "digital peaks" that reach 0db (or 100% depending on software) then they will be distorted on most playback systems that use a digital filter (almost all players) because the reconstructed "analog peak" will be higher and the digital filter/DAC isn't designed to handle signals above 0dB. There are plug-ins for ProTools that allow you to properly set the level to avoid intersample peaking above 0dB, but I don't think most people use them.

I am curious about the standalone level adjustment - if set to 0dB does the copy have the exact same level as the source? Or can you make it louder? Because if you level match using your standalone I assume you are making some of the songs louder, which almost always means compression, yet you say you never use compression?

[Dusty Chalk]

...you are making some of the songs louder, which almost always means compression...

No it doesn't. Can't you just turn it up? Like the opposite of attenuate ("amplify"?). Just multiply all the amplitude values by some constant amount.

[Davey]

No it doesn't. Can't you just turn it up? Like the opposite of attenuate ("amplify"?). Just multiply all the amplitude values by some constant amount.

Well, you can in the analog world until you run out of headroom by saturating the tape or clipping the amp or whatever, but like we were talking about, most CDs are already mastered with the peak digital level maximized, and more often than not these days this is done after the application of lots of compression. But even "old" CDs were often mastered with the peaks set at or near digital max (0dB) so how can you make it louder without compression. And if working with an analog input, on the A/D side each bit level can be viewed as having a set threshold (ignoring for the moment that nearly all A/D convertors are oversampling delta-sigma designs nowadays using only a few bits) and so you have a maximum input level before compression would need to be applied.

[Resident Loser]

of a Vienna Strauss New Years concert, which I had also seen on the teevee, was conducted by Carlos Kleiber...I'm sorry to hear of his passing...an odd bit of business at the podium, but he seemed to really enjoy it all...my wife and I have watched the ensuing editions every year since...

My current faves are "Gone Just Like A Train" by Bill Frizell, a Jazz Heritage recording of Lionel Hampton, the name of which escapes me at the moment, "Church In The Wildwood" on Cumberland Records and my all time fave zone-out piece "Canyon Trilogy" by R. Carlos Nakai...

jimHJJ(...and just about anything from Lyle Lovett...)

[Slosh]

My standalone allows you to increase/decrease digital sources while still in digital domain in 1 dB steps. So I just watch the level meters and make sure no peaks go beyond digital full scale (or 0 dB if you like). So if I'm boosting a song by, say 3 dB, everything, noise floor and all gets a 3 dB boost.

But even "old" CDs were often mastered with the peaks set at or near digital max (0dB) so how can you make it louder without compression.

Yes, but often you'll find songs within an album with lower peaks so on a track by track basis you can have many songs which never even come close to peaking at DFS while some others do (most first edition Elvis Costello and Neil Young CDs come to mind.)

I pretty much only use the standalone for non-CD sources but sometimes it's nice to use when you want to fade, combine tracks, edit silence, and such. Sure, I can do all that on the PC but not all in one step and I can't monitor it on the fly. Maybe all those years of making cassette mixes made me stuck in my ways

NP: Spoon - A Series Of Sneaks

[Davey]

Yes, but often you'll find songs within an album with lower peaks so on a track by track basis you can have many songs which never even come close to peaking at DFS while some others do...

Ah, I see what you mean. Seems the ones I choose are just about always there already so I have to crank the compression way up to get em any louder. But that's true, they used to master whole albums, not just the individual songs, so there is sometimes room to bump up the level of a song.

I remember a recent example of that was the La's CD from the early 90s. They released a remaster a couple years ago that I picked up and it sounded significantly better overall even though it was a little louder. But there didn't seem to be the usual telltale signs of compression like the annoying punchiness and edginess of much modern music and remasters, so I checked out the original and it was like you said, only a couple of the songs had peaks that hit the max and most were well below that, so to make it louder they only had to compress those couple songs. Still, it would've been nice if the market didn't force them to do even that minimal amount of compression, but I guess there isn't much incentive now to do a remaster unless it's made to sound "modern". I pretty much quit buying any CD remasters since they're almost always disappointing to me sonically. Lots of those early CDs that people so often malign actually sound pretty good to me when compared to the remasters

So when's the last time you used Elvis Costello or Neil Young on a comp? I'm gonna have to pay more attention. Hmmmm, I guess you do often sneak one or two old oldies on your comps, now that I think about it......

[Davey]

Alright, I'll try to restrain myself, but yes, excellent, excellent film. Please do bring it up again (in a spoilers thread) after you've watched it, because I do want to talk to someone about that movie, and no-one else I know has seen it.

I watched it last night and it was very good, although it felt kind of like I was watching a good episode of the X-Files. It does really draw you in and I think the music is a big part of the feel. I'm gonna watch it agian tonight cause I have the sense that I didn't absorb it all. Definitely one of the better roles I've seen Richard Gere in although I was kinda glad to see Deborah Messing exit early as she isn't one of my favorites. It's got a very cool feel to it but kind of left me wondering......hmmm, did I like it or not. Guess I must've if I'm gonna watch it again

[Dusty Chalk]

I watched it last night and it was very good, although it felt kind of like I was watching a good episode of the X-Files. It does really draw you in and I think the music is a big part of the feel. I'm gonna watch it agian tonight cause I have the sense that I didn't absorb it all. Definitely one of the better roles I've seen Richard Gere in although I was kinda glad to see Deborah Messing exit early as she isn't one of my favorites. It's got a very cool feel to it but kind of left me wondering......hmmm, did I like it or not. Guess I must've if I'm gonna watch it again

Alright, what I liked about it is that it was played like a horror movie, and yet it wasn't. Including the music.

[Davey]

Alright, what I liked about it is that it was played like a horror movie, and yet it wasn't. Including the music.

Yeah, I liked it a lot more the second time and like you, I would now call it an excellent film. Lots I missed the first time through that made it more meaningful on second viewing and I could relax and enjoy more of those intricate visual details laced throughout the film. All those diagonally receding lights that morph into and out of the mothman outlines and the twin recurring red lights. I'm sure you probably never noticed but I have the movie on my computer so can go over it in detail if I like, and I was watching the opening sequence with credits, and after Debra Messing gets out of the shower and right before she puts on her lipstick, it shows the lipstick tube along with the music credit for tomanandy, and if you look close at the lipstick tube the credit is reflected on it too. Almost like an afterimage. Kinda crazy, but also kinda fun



I still maintain that this might be the best thing I've seen Gere in. I thought he was great in the role, and the whole movie was played in a very understated way. Many things left kind of mysterious along the way, but I liked that. I also liked that people didn't make a bunch of unbelievable intuitive leaps like what normally seems to happen in movies. Gere's character and the rest of the cast don't know what's going on any more than the rest of us viewing it, and that gives it a much more believable feel. And adds to that horror movie feel. Definitely recommended, although I would also recommend at least two viewings.

[Slosh]

I still maintain that this might be the best thing I've seen Gere in.

By no stretch am I a fan of Gere and while Mothman was pretty good, Red Corner was by far the best movie he's been in, IMO.

Nothing to do whatsoever with Dicky Gere, but if you don't mind low-brow comedy Bad Santa was crassly amusing. Those Coen brothers manage to make films that hold my interest even when I'm not very interested in the subject matter at hand and that's pretty impressive.

~Slosh - having an extremely weird weekend

[Dusty Chalk]

I'm sure you probably never noticed but I have the movie on my computer so can go over it in detail if I like, and I was watching the opening sequence with credits, and after Debra Messing gets out of the shower and right before she puts on her lipstick, it shows the lipstick tube along with the music credit for tomanandy, and if you look close at the lipstick tube the credit is reflected on it too. Almost like an afterimage. Kinda crazy, but also kinda fun

Cool! Thanks for pointing it out, you're right, I didn't notice, and it's exactly that attention to detail that I like so much in the movies that I love. Of course, the reflection is facing the wrong direction...but then again, I'm going on a still image, so don't know if that may have "worked" in the moving picture version.

I still maintain that this might be the best thing I've seen Gere in.

Certainly the best thing I have seen him, Slosh's other mention notwithstanding (haven't seen it).

Many things left kind of mysterious along the way, but I liked that. I also liked that people didn't make a bunch of unbelievable intuitive leaps like what normally seems to happen in movies. Gere's character and the rest of the cast don't know what's going on any more than the rest of us viewing it, and that gives it a much more believable feel.

(nods violently) Yes, exactly!

[Davey]

By no stretch am I a fan of Gere and while Mothman was pretty good, Red Corner was by far the best movie he's been in, IMO.

Red Corner, eh? I think that one woulda been better with Steven Seagal. Just kidding, I haven't seen it in a few years and I'll admit that my opinion might be more favorable today, but I think that is one of the Gere "performances" that made Mothman so surprisingly good for me. The sex in the beginning of Red Corner is fun (if not a bit cliche) along with some of the early trial scenes, but I don't remember much after that. Mothman Prophecies had me nailed to the sofa and was much more intriguing...and ultimately better to me. Totally subjective though, just like the music

Of course, the reflection is facing the wrong direction...

Yeah, in this case what I meant by "reflected on" was just that it also showed up on the lipstick. I assumed it to be a link and precursor to that ghost image that Gere feels throughout the movie, the sense that the mothman is near. And in retrospect, we know that he has just been contacted on the phone by that very same mothman and that Messing will soon die as a result of the contact. Or the attempted contact was a warning. Or whatever....I'm still not too clear about the beginning.

[MasterCylinder]

1) Dream Theater -- TRAIN OF THOUGHT
2) IQ -- DARK MATTER
3) IQ -- SEVENTH HOUSE
4) Porky Tree -- IN ABSENTIA

[Davey]

... get yer hands on a copy of Bark Psychosis' HEX album. Definately the bridge between LAUGHING STOCK and those other post-rock bands you mentioned. Maybe I'll get it in yer hands for you. It's that good. They have a new album coming out soon too! (yes, it's been almost 10 years between albums.. heh).

Yea, finally! The new one is supposed to be out today. Apparently three different versions too, standard CD, ltd. edition digipak CD, ltd. edition 180 gm vinyl. On Fire Records. Just saw the very nice review posted today at Stylus as their album of the week (http://www.stylusmagazine.com/review.php?ID=2186). Makes me want it even badder! Closing paragraph from the review....

///Codename: Dustsucker has been a long time coming (it seems an age since its existence was first even rumoured) and it will not please everyone because it is not a simple relation of Hex. But taken on its own terms it is an outstanding record, multi-hued and consuming, concerned with invented realities and blurred lines in much the same way as Magritte’s pipe and Borges’ invented facts. Agonised, fearful, compelling, beautiful and measured with infinite precision and chaos, ///: is close to miraculous.

[whitese]

My current favs are:

Richard Thompson's Mock Tudor LP, and This Old Kit Bag...sensational stuff,,and great lyrics of course, but mostly I love his use of upright acoustic bass.

The Yes Album LP....Love the old Squire sound..

JVC XRCD of Mussorgsky's Pix at an Exhibition

Mercury Living Presence Wellington's Victory, Dorati rules that piece!

[Chip_B]

Just got a few things that I haven't gotten a chance to listen to yet but I hope I like a little better--the Reverend Horton Heat's new album, the new Badly Drawn Boy, and a live Blasters reunion album.

J, have you heard the Blasters' superb boxed set ('Testament - The Complete Slash Recordings')? It's an excellent retrospective of their best work and includes 11 live cuts and seven tunes that were previously unissued.

[Chip_B]

3) B.B. King - Live at the Regal: Best live blues album EVER!!!

I've been enjoying Live at the Regal for many, many years. I've seen critics refer to it as a 'must have' for any Blues fan and I have to agree that it's remarkable in every way. Though B.B. has become a bit too polished and far less interesting over the last 15 years or so, he was at his absolute peak when Regal was recorded. I don't think I've ever heard a performer so completely connected to his audience and few live albums in any genre are even close.

[kexodusc]

Got to agree, Chip_B, poor ol' B.B. is starting to slow down as he ages, but the man is still worth every penny. If you haven't seen any of his DVD concerts, I recommend you do. "The Jazz Channel Presents B.B. King" in particular is excellent. Had the fortune of seeing him live for the first time earlier last year.

BTW...cool avatar!!! Is there a story behind that?

[Chip_B]

Got to agree, Chip_B, poor ol' B.B. is starting to slow down as he ages, but the man is still worth every penny. If you haven't seen any of his DVD concerts, I recommend you do. "The Jazz Channel Presents B.B. King" in particular is excellent. Had the fortune of seeing him live for the first time earlier last year.

BTW...cool avatar!!! Is there a story behind that?

I saw B.B. at Wolf Trap in Vienna, VA around '97. The lineup that night was superb...Duke Robillaird opened, followed by John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, and then Kenny Wayne Shepherd. B.B. had KWS come out and jam with him on 'The Thrill is Gone' near the end of the show and that was certainly one of the high points. Overall, B.B.'s set was good, but a bit too polished. There was no real sense of excitement or spontaneity until he brought Shepherd out. I actually enjoyed KWS' set a lot more. The best thing I saw all night was KWS doing Hendix' 'Voodoo Child (Slight Return)' as a cross between SRV's and Jimi's versions. He really nailed it.

As for the avatar, the pic was attached to an email joke that was making the rounds roughly a year ago. It was a visual punchline to what a football fan does when he has (1) too much time on his hands, (2) too much alchohol in his system, (3) a large lime, (4) a sharp knife, and (5) a really patient cat.

-Chip