Notes_Norton

Actually, I believe neither Vinyl or CD is better. They both have different faults. I've had enough electronics to know specifications are helpful, even necessary but not the holy grail. The proof was in the picture and all the tests and specs were only a ball-park estimate on how they would affect the TV pictures. (I was a field Engineer for a Cable TV equipment manufacturer for a few years in the analog days, trying to see what normal was - and decided normal is overrated). I would love to see digital audio go up in bit rate. Listening to SACDs convinced me that we haven't gone as far as we need to go with digital. Unfortunately, the general public doesn't want to spend money replacing their music with yet another format. Plus they stream compressed audio, listen to mp3s and don't really care about higher fidelity. But when I was younger people listened to 45rpm records, cassettes and (ugh) 8 tracks. I remember the first time I heard an 8 track in a friend's car. It was during the psychedelic era when many songs were longer than one track, so it faded out, clicked to the next track and faded back in AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH. How can anybody listen to that and be proud enough to show it off to me!!!!!! It's sacrilege in the nth degree :D I have a few cassettes, but like mp3s, they were mostly recordings of my LP collection to play in the car. Working on the cruise ships in the late 1980s I did collect a lot of local music from the Caribbean that was only available on cassette tape so I still have them. I have plans to digitize them, but the belt is probably rotted on my cassette player. As far as specs go, I don't listen to specifications, I listen to tone. But I listen with musician's ears. The general public does not. I also play wind synthesizer which uses physical modeling synthesis. The tone of say the trumpet, sax, trombone, and other instruments isn't perfect. But it allows me to duplicate a lot of the nuances of these instruments, and to the general public that is more important than the finer points of tone. I'm having fun with my vinyl because I haven't listened to it in well over a year, probably two or more. And I'm listening to mostly recordings of favorite sax players and vocalists because that's where I appreciate the tonal differences the most. I've got most of these same recordings on CD either ripped by me or a commercial release. I've listened to some that aren't significantly different between the two mediums, and some that are drastically different. It's nice to have a turntable again for those that do sound better. And yes, what sounds better to me, might not sound better to someone else. Insights and incites by Notes

Two years ago I spent 5 weeks in Australia in a camper. From Brisbane to Point Trib to Darwin to Kangaroo Island to Sydney with plenty of stops along the way. I met some of the nicest people on the planet. Cheerful, friendly, helpful and polite. I wish you all to stay safe during these trying climate times. ------- now on with the "listening to this now" thread ----- Raiz - Simentera This is some great music from the Cape Verde Islands. A former Portuguese colony off the coast of Africa. The musicians took their own great heritage, absorbed and mixed in the Portuguese music and ended up with something even better than the ingredients. This is just one example.

You mean like those beef-ish patties in a bun? Without becan?

I rip all my albums that I want to listen to often, unless I can buy a factory produced copy. That way I have the choice of convenience or sound. I play digital more often, it's convenient, and it saves my LPs. I put the LPs on when I want more serious listening, especially for my favorite sax players and vocalists. ------------------------------------- Wibbles, I understand what you are saying. There is no way to do a double blind test. The person playing the CD and the LP needs to know. BTW, she sat with her back to me, and I didn't say a word, but I admit, we do have a mental connection. However the difference on sax tone is so obvious, no one needs to be cued. Perhaps the reason why I'm so sensitive to vocals and saxophones is because they are my primary instruments, and I work on the nuances of those tones and have done so all my life (so far). Or else, some instruments take the digital treatment better than others. This is not an analog is always better post. Again it's a matter of which distortion do I want to listen to: CDs add high frequency harmonics that weren't present in tone of the instrument LPs add surface noise and suppression of some harmonics For symphonies I prefer CDs, for serious Jazz and Pop music I like LPs, and for non-serious, chewing-gum for the ears music a good mp3 is fine. The biggest difference is in the tone of Stan Getz and Paul Desmond. I've heard both these sax players in person and on LP their tone is instantly recognizable. On CD it's still recognizable, but with an added edge that was not present when I heard them live. BTW, we "opened" for the Dave Brubeck Quartet when I was a young man on a Jerry Lewis Telethon. We played during the commercial break and didn't get on TV. Paul Desmond was very kind and encouraging to the young rock and roll sax player. A true gentleman. But that's besides the point. On CD Stan Getz sounds more like Zoot Sims. Insights and incites by Notes

"The Great Pretender" - The Platters

Thanks. Interesting article. Of course any demos on the Internet aren't valid because the Internet is both digital and the audio on the Internet videos is compressed. I did a single blind with my wife, who is also a musician. I didn't tell her which one was playing and I muted the first note so the needle dropping on the groove wouldn't be heard. I did this with two commercial releases, "Focus" by Stan Getz and "The Baddest Turrentine" by Stanley Turrentine. The difference is obvious and she preferred the recordings. Now that is with saxophone, my primary instrument. On the Getz album strings accompany the sax, and there isn't a great difference in the sound of the strings. The Turrentine album you could hear the difference even in Ron Carter's bass as well as the entire sound of the jazz group. Now I don't know how well-mastered the commercial releases are, but Verve and CTI are good labels who's owners care about music, so I assume they are at least good quality mastering, probably taken from the original analog masters and recorded to CD. Notes

On LP: The Planets - Gustav Holst - Adian Boult w/London Philharmonic & Chorus

Yes I know vinyl degrades, and no matter how well you look after them, there are often a few pops and clicks. So which distortion do I want. Surface noise or tinny tone? It's picking the lesser of the two evils. I wore out a couple of "Focus" by Stan Getz LPs, bought it on CD, and it's not the same. Edgier tone, harsher, just the wrong mood entirely. I listen to it on CD. I have others that I bought or recorded myself from LP to CD and listen there when casually listening, that makes the LPs last longer. When it's time for serious listening, sometimes the LP is best. It depends on the music. If it's a symphony orchestra, I'll usually go for the CD. The harmonics don't seem to bother me on violins as much. Perhaps because I don't play violin so I'm not as intimate with the tone as I am with saxophone and a few other instruments. After listening to a lot of sax and vocal jazz albums on CD for a couple of years, the difference in sound is in my face (or ears) and I'm loving it. Since I took care of the LPs and on all but the oldest, I've always used a good light tracking tone arm there aren't any scratches. High humidity in Florida minimizes any static. It's too bad higher bit-rate SACD or other formats didn't take off. A SACD played on my DVD/Blu-Ray player have much better tone. Insights and incites by Notes

Forgotten Steps / Image and Likeness - Andy Summers & Robert Fripp

Midnight Blue - Kenny Burrell (great jazz guitar player)

I read an article in a trade mag from one of the guys on the team that invented the CD. He said the CD adds high harmonics to the sounds. That's why Stan Gets and Stanley Turrentine sound like themselves on LP and edgier on CD. I'm not saying analog is better. Two different kinds of distortion. It depends on which one you want to listen to. For a symphony, I'll choose CD, for serious saxophone listening I'll choose LP. Notes

Vinyl, LPs, Turntables Oh Boy! Listening to analog is joy! It's been a long time. My old turntable broke wellover a year ago, and I finally decided to get a new one. I didn't get top-of-the-line, a Music Hall USB-1 for about $200 by the advice of a sales rep at Crutchfield. I know there are different kinds of distortion with digital and analog vinyl. Is one better than the other? Depends on what kind of distortion you want. Both color the sound differently and neither one sounds like a good Tascam, Studer or Ampex studio machine. So I pulled a random LP out of the pile which happened to be "The Baddest Turrentine" by the great tenor sax player, Stanley Turrentine with an all-star cast of the finest jazz men of the 1970s. I have this on CD as well. As soon as the needle dropped, I was in ecstasy. BIG, FAT, WARM sax tones, round acoustic Ron Carter bass sound, mellow George Benson jazz guitar and so on for all the other great musicians. I don't care what anybody says, I like analog better. But I'll probably still listen to the CD more often, because of convenience. Insights and incites by Notes

I got out vinyl today and am listening to "The Baddest Turrentine" by Stanley Turrentine. It's on UTube but it sounds much better in vinyl

Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley

Tinkle Tinkle Little Star? Tinkle tinkle little star please don't fret on your guitar A B C D E F G Don't forget to L M N O Pee Tinkle tinkle little star please don't fret on your guitar

I think you know too much about that ;D

Capriccio Italien - Tchaikovsky (Igor Manasherov, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra) A nice Sunday morning listen after 5 straight one-night gigs playing pop music. I dearly love the pop music we play, we had a great time, but variety is indeed the spice of life.

Dirty Deeds Done Cheap - AC/DC

I gigged on Black Friday and made money!!!

Jorge Caballero plays Capriccio Espagnol (by Rimsky Korsakov) I wish I could play like that. I think I started guitar too late to get that good.

How do you get a guitar player to play softer? Put some music in front of him.

"Mommy, mommy, I want to be a musician when I grow up!" "Now now Billy, you can't do both."

I had a gig on F13 and late last month it was rescheduled for later this month as the honoree had to go into the hospital. Two days later a country club / golf community called and said they had a cancellation and wondered if we were open. Great luck for us we ended up filling the date and still have the rescheduled date. We did the gig, the members loved us, the dance floor was full an night plus the new Food and Beverage and Events managers took our cards and said we were great and will have us back. To top things off, they paid us an extra $50 for doing a great job. Friday 13 was a lucky day for us!!! Insights and incites by Notes

New Day - Alicia Keys

Frankenstein - The Edgar Winter Group