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~ 27 april 2011 ~

Amazing Tweak, WOW!

T'ain't no such thing. . , and I don't have to prove it.

The proponents of every goofy, "how could this be?," cheap, or just as often not so cheap tweak always slough off the burden of proof onto the naysayers. Overlooked in their dodging is that these tweaker-geeks have done no honest investigation to backup what they claim to hear—zero, zip, zilch. Their "experiments" are not controlled or documented. Nothing is supported with consistent, repeatable results. All they've done is twiddle and piddle. No matter how weak their position, they adamantly insist it's, "weally, weally twue," without offering even a remotely plausible hypothesis. Such silly tweaks always rely on mystery. They ironically lean on the crutch of ignorance, the eery unexplainable, or, their number one favorite lame-o-comeback line, "Don't knock it 'til ya try it." With these feebleminded excuses they attempt to intimidate the "closed minded" unbelievers who challenge their veracity. It's not a choice between open mindedness or closed mindedness. It's a choice between intelligent skepticism or naïve gullibility. You choose.

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~ 21 april 2011 ~

arrrgh! ! !

I thought I was on a winning streak in the last batch of CDs with Russell Gunn and Rodrigo Y Gabriela. There was one more from my favorite jazz guitarist who just released a new CD. I had high hopes for it. The music is kick-ass, the performance is rockin' fab, the recording stinks. The drums and percussion are undermixed— sounds like they're o-f-f i-n t-h-e d-i-s-t-a-n-c-e. The string quartet, which plays on a few cuts, sounds like synthesizer. The dynamics are compressed. What were they thinking? Every cut has been way over processed. Some of it was recorded in NYC, Miami, LA; mixed & mastered in Budapest; all in all a total of six different studios and eleven engineers pissed on this music. From now on I promise never to complain about compression or other recording weaknesses. If I can't give an album at least a B in every category, it won't get reviewed, period. Peace man.

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~ 15 april 2011 ~

Rod & Gab

That's Rodrigo Y Gabriela, the Mexican acoustic guitar duo whose energy and enthusiasm is unquenchable. They're cocky, opinionated, brash, and it shows in their music. Everything you hear on this self-titled album is simply the two of them and their guitars. [Except one cut with a very out of place violin solo by Roby Lakatos.] What they can do with a guitar is as amazing as what Take Six does with their voices. Their musical style is, well. . , ah. . , influenced by pop, rock, metal, and any kind of Hispanic style you can imagine. It's too bad this album can't earn a triple A. It suffers 1) from dynamic compression, some cuts compressed to f***in' hell and back, and 2) although all but two of the compositions are "original," their pieces are so derivative that they sound like arrangements of other composers' work rather than Rod & Gab's own. No matter, the brilliance of their musical performance totally makes up for the shortcomings. [They're young—there's hope. See this review of their 2nd release.]

Rating : Music — B || Performance — A || Recording — C

Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, ATO Records, 2006.

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~ 14 april 2011 ~

Gunning Down Miles

It's been too long since posting a music review. I've acquired many new recordings, but no triple A to speak of until this. Tribute albums are always a high risk endeavor. They usually turn out to be a vapid imitation of the originals that do no honor to either the tributee or the tributor. Russell Gunn's album, Plays Miles, is a major exception. Gunn takes Miles Davis compositions spanning from well known early works, such as All Blues and Nardis, to mid career, Bitches Brew, through late period, Tutu, then exerts his imagination. With some electronic FX, fresh beats, inventive harmonies, unexpected phrasing Gunn honestly put his own mark on each number while respecting the flavor of the originals. That's a tough act to pull off, but with his outstanding sidemen, The Elektrik Butterfly Band; Orrin Evans on keyboards; Mark Kelley, bass; Montez Coleman, drums; Kahlil Kwame Bell, percussion, adding their own creative juices, it all comes together in a splendid spread of hot and cool. A real tribute, a real treat.

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~ 14 april 2011 ~

Spinning Wheel Gotta Go 'Round

Have you seen the virtual systems audiophiles post online? They upload pics and an equipment list to show their stuff and get comments. The median investment is between—are you ready for this?—$10 and $20 thousand USD. It's bewildering how much time and money is thrown at, what is in most cases, a sorrowful display of squandered efforts. Reading the forums you can also sense the huge emotional investment they've put in their rigs. Admittedly, I've been guilty too, so why the harsh criticism? Because the single most important factor for excellent sound starts with the source. No, no, no, not the CD player, not the DAC, not the turntable, and no, it's not the preamp either. It's the forgotten source of it all : the recording. No matter how much I rant about speakers, the first-line variable is the recording. Microphones, mic placement, mixing and mastering all combined to profoundly effect sound quality. The variations can be heard even through chain-store electronics. Of course, better equipment helps get you the full charge out of great music. That's the whole point of audiophilia. But with so much variation from one recording to the next, getting too caught up spinning your wheels over hairsplitting changes in the gear ignores the dancing gorilla shaking his booty in your face.

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~ 28 february 2011 ~

Measures Bad—Sounds Good

There's a joke about a guy who goes to the doctor. The doc asks, "What's wrong man? You look terrible." The guy says, "Yeah doc, that's my problem. Everyone keeps telling me I look bad, but doc, I feel good." (I'll spare you the punchline.) It makes me think about audio equipment that "measures bad, sounds good." We've all heard the excuses for poorly measuring stuff that someone says sounds good regardless of the bad specs. Yet, when a subjective listening test is done blind in a direct head to head between two items, one that measures good and one that measures bad, the conundrum collapses. The good measuring unit is judged the winner, hands down, by both experienced and inexperienced listeners. Yes, you read that right. There is consensus (even among a'philes) on what subjectively sounds better, and you got it, it measures better too. The conundrum only arises when our perception is clouded by prejudging from the looks, the price or what we think we should hear. Clearly our other senses are distracting us. The added sensory inputs interfere with our hearing. Measurements can also be deceptive. They can be poorly executed, incomplete or misrepresented, but when properly applied, they are a reliable window into the quality of the sound we hear. Don't be fooled by "measures bad-sounds good" ever again.

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~ 15 february 2011 ~

The Right Toole for the Right Job

At long last, a book on audio that takes subjective listening preferences and bolsters them with objective measurements. Not well known, and certainly not readily available, there has been more solid scientific study of sound reproduction and hearing than has been reported. You may occasionally come across a reference to some study or another, but nowhere is there a source that puts together the shear quantity of it in one neat bundle. That is, not until the release of Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and Rooms, by Floyd E. Toole, Focal Press, © 2008. If there's only one book to read about audio, this is the one. Is it perfect? No. The last word? No. But it doesn't throw hearsay and speculation at you and try to pass it off as truth, rather, Toole backs up his claims when the evidence is supportive, and clearly points out his personal opinions when the evidence is weak. Thanks, Floyd.

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~ 24 january 2011 ~

Latest Update

The lastest observations on Omnidirectional Loudspeakers : Soundstage, Imaging and Placement is now available. To read the entire page from the top, click on Omnidirectional Loudspeakers, or jump directly to the update.

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