Questions for Audioholics

[ParadigmDawg]

*Name: Greg
*Email:
Age: 43
Gender: Male
Race: WhiteBoy
Location (country/city):Fort Worth, TX

Survey Questions:

1. Do you consider yourself an audiophile? (why or why not) Nope, just enjoy music and messing around with the gear.

2. Where do you buy your equipment? (as specific as possible i.e. The Audioholics online store) 90% is from a local hi-end store (Marvin's electronics)

3. How much money have you spent on your system? ~12k on this one.

4. What do you look for when purchasing new equipment? (i.e. price, sound, appearance, easy to set up, etc) Sound

5. What role does your significant other (if you have one) play in purchasing new equipment? She lets me get what I want but not without a lot of discussion. She likes it all too but wont really admit it.

6. Do you tweak your system and to what extent? (I won't tell Tom) Tweak? I calibrate it and constantly change things but I dont open speakers or electronics.

7. When buying speakers are you most concerned with the sound of music or movies? Music, if it can accurately reproduce music, it will handle movies without issue.

8. When demonstrating your system for others do you use music or movies? Both but I always start with music.

9. Describe your music purchasing. (Do you buy DVD-A/SACDs, from sites like AIX records, normal CDs, LPs, if MP3s bought or acquired through other means (don't worry I won't tell the RIAA) what bit rates?) CDs usually bought at a used CD store.

10. Do you own a portable music player (mp3, CD, minidisc, etc)? (If yes also answer a-c) yes...IPOD

a. Where and under what circumstances do you use it? (i.e. while at the gym, or when your roommate is sleeping) Gym and background music at home

b. Do you listen to the same music on your portable device as your main system? Nope, it is loaded with Rock for the gym and Country for background music.

c. What bitrate do you rip tracks at and what type of headphones do you use? Dont know or care, I use it to listen to music I dont normally like.

11. What are your opinions about the "loudness war," and has it affected your listening/purchasing habits? (if you've never heard of it I want to know hat too) Just one more thing that pisses me off.

 

[DanG]

Hi again everyone,

Thanks for all the responses so far. As far as posting them here or emailing me, it does not really matter, one is private and the other is not. I will be more than happy to see a discussion in this thread based on responses that are posted publicly, but email responses are equally appreciated.

As far as what musicology is, mudrummer's description is fairly accurate. Traditionally musicology is the large field that incorporates music history, music theory, and ethnomusicology. Alternatively, it can be used to represent only music history, which is how most define it today. Lately, the three areas have somewhat blended together in weird ways, so whether this project falls under musicology or ethnomusicology could go either way (this is generally true of things dealing with popular music).

Most people haven't heard of musicology as a major because it is limited mostly to graduate programs. Most of us, myself included, were performance majors as undergrads. There are a few undergraduate music history or theory majors, but it isn't too common.

For the history of music theory, Bach's music is important in undergraduate study because most of those classes are dedicated to 4-part voice leading with Bach's works as the example. You could say he was the master of the style, which is viewed as a form of eating your vegetables.

Thanks again
Dan

 

[obscbyclouds]

This is an awesome Thread to waste my time at work with.

Name : James
Age: 27
Location: Acton, MA, USA


1.) No, Audiophiles consider themselves to have "golden ears", I hear just about the same (if not worse) than everyone else.

2.) I buy equipment wherever I can get a good deal, oftentimes this is online throught sites like amazon and ebay, but sometimes I'll break down and buy something from a big box store.

3.) Probably a total of $4000.

4.) Sound Quality followed by appearance in a distant second

5.) She likes to complain

6.) No

7.) I don't think there's a difference, speakers that sound good with music will sound good with movies.

8.) I use both Music and Movies to demo

9.) I buy DVD-A and SACD's whenever possible, I have purchased from AIX records, and CD Universe, and some others, with the occasional CD thrown in from a band I like. I have never bought a MP3. When I rip my CD's, I use FLAC.

10 a.) Yes, I own a POS 1GB Creative MP3 Player

b.) Only when exercising

c.) 320 kbs, crappy radio shack headphones

11.) Yes, the loudness war has stopped me from buying CD's like I used to. However, it did make me more interested in buying SACD's and DVD-A's than I probably would have otherwise.

 

[mudrummer99]

Percussion (orchestral, i suck at drumset) was my major but I also play electric bass and I'm starting to learn jazz piano. You play anything besides piano?

 

[fmw]

I'm primarily a pianist. I studied classical guitar for a couple years but didn't make much progress with it. I would never perform on the guitar. I only plink in private. I studied percussion with the tympanist at the Portland Symphony Orchestra way back in High School. That's where I learned my paradiddles. I was a drummer in a rock band. My band even had a single that made the top 40 (#36) for one week.

I studied piano from childhood but abandoned it when I started High School. It was the pianist in my rock band that got me going again and it never stopped after that. I guess I just needed to get involved in music I wanted to play. I didn't think much of Mozart in those days. I do today. I became a jazz drummer in Colllege and played for a while with different ensembles and big bands in Europe. I don't even own a set of drums any more.

My passion is jazz piano and jazz improvisation. I love the jazz standards and love to hear how different musicians handle them. There's a copy of Satin Doll and a copy of Stormy Weather on my music stand as we speak. There's also a copy of Beethoven's Appasionata concerto there that I'm working on at the moment. I don't memorize as well as I did years ago so it can be a slow process for me to get it nailed. It can develop a lot of respect for what concert soloists go through to master their repertoire. The classics really help with jazz technique, as I'm sure you know.

I did some night club playing years ago and, as already mentioned, some drumming in my youth but I just play for myself and my wife now. I have an upright and a couple of digitals that keep me entertained. I'm on the verge of buying an organ.

Are you looking to get a seat in a symphony orchestra?

 

[mudrummer99]

I wish, tendonitis barely let me through college so heavy percussion practicing is out for me forever. I can only play anything for a hour or 2 before it starts to hurt. Piano is the only thing that doesn't bother it at all, kinda weird to me, but i don't argue as long as i can play something I'm happy. I'm looking forward to learning more and more about it, right now I'm still in the very beginner stages of learning jazz theory (knew i should have taken that class when i had the chance)

 

[mazersteven]

fmw,

You can come over, and play my piano whenever your down this way. I don't play, but I love having this instrument in the family room.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

That's nice and so is your house!

You can come over, and play my piano whenever your down this way. I don't play, but I love having this instrument in the family room.

[/QUOTE]

 

[fmw]

It's beautiful. I wish I had a grand. Looks like a 5 footer. I have a pretty good upright but there are a few things you can do with a grand that an upright won't do or won't do well. It's all because the keys return by gravity on a grand rather than by a spring action as in an upright. It's a wonderful thing to have in your family room. Time to start studying.

 

[mazersteven]

It's beautiful. I wish I had a grand. Looks like a 5 footer. I have a pretty good upright but there are a few things you can do with a grand that an upright won't do or won't do well. It's all because the keys return by gravity on a grand rather than by a spring action as in an upright. It's a wonderful thing to have in your family room. Time to start studying.

Nordiska Master Series - Nordiska Model K (Style I) - 6'1"

http://www.geneva-intl.com/Nordiska/nordiskagrandss.htm

 

[fmw]

I wish, tendonitis barely let me through college so heavy percussion practicing is out for me forever. I can only play anything for a hour or 2 before it starts to hurt. Piano is the only thing that doesn't bother it at all, kinda weird to me, but i don't argue as long as i can play something I'm happy. I'm looking forward to learning more and more about it, right now I'm still in the very beginner stages of learning jazz theory (knew i should have taken that class when i had the chance)

I understand. Age has chewed up my hips. I can't walk very far without some significant pain but I can ride a bicycle all day long. Go figure.

Jazz improvisation is mostly a matter of chord progressions and adapting scales to those progressions. Throw some minor thirds and sevenths into the scales but don't stray too far from the base chord. I think that's a simplistic but reasonably fair way to put it. You do the same thing with your electric bass. You follow the chord progressions. If you aren't playing written music, you are improvising a bass melody using the same techniques a jazz pianist uses to improvise a riff. People think of it as magic but it follows rules just like every other type of music. Don't mistake me, not many jazz players do it well. It isn't easy. I wasn't suggesting it is.

I once played with a saxophonist who used to say "I just start a riff on the right cord and end on the right chord and everything in between doesn't follow any rules." It was a fun statement and he played a mean sax but it wasn't true. He was following the rules the whole time he improvised. If he didn't it wouldn't sound right. He just didn't like to admit it.

Spend some time listening to Oscar Peterson who was, in my opinion, the best jazz pianist of all time. Most jazz afficionados would accept the claim that he was, at least, the best technical jazz pianist of all time. Sadly, he died last month. Listen to how he follows the progressions with what seems to be casual abandon but really is rigidly right in tune with the progressions. Find some of his recordings in which Ray Brown was the bassist in the trio. You'll enjoy his work as well. Another genius at jazz improvisation.

 

[Seth=L]

West by northwest of you by about 90 miles. I'm located between Plymouth and South Bend.

Most excellent.

 

[jostenmeat]

fmw, I did not get the impression of "rules" in jazz improv during my studies. Yes, a master can simply use the 3 notes of root+3rd+5th in a 12 bar blues and make it sound amazing. Give him the 7th, hold on to your hat, give him all 12 notes... I never got that deep into jazz studies, but that's just my impression.

mudrummer, I guess you must be just starting out? I think one of the first things to do is memorize every chord and all of the inversions, to the point where I can ask "D flat half-dim 7th 2nd inversion", and you immediately can blurt the answer out. Write them all down, study, have a friend quiz. That's just to start off. What a lot of jazz masters do help their students with is finding "voicings" that work with any improv or tune, and it gets far beyond simple lego-block chord building. That's been my impression.

A perhaps "easier" way to expand your jazz lexicon is to learn the "symmetrical scales". The chromatic being just one (or infinite) depending on how you look at it. The whole-tone is binary I suppose, only two of em. The minor third scales, there are only 3 of them ("inversions" included in each scale). The major third scale there are 4.... etc etc. Right there, that's not a ton of scales to learn. You can impose them numerous chords or scales. Of course the chromatic fits anywhere, the whole tone will fit into augmented chords (and so will the major 3rd scale), the minor third scale fits into diminished triads or fully diminished 7ths, etc etc. An idea to explore. Because even if they do not fit perfectly, what's wrong with a little spice after all?

Regarding the musicology bit, I agree the major is more commonly found in ethnomusics. In western music, I find that musicology majors are pretty much bent towards academics, whether as teachers or not. I remember when researching schools way back when, the two toughest ethnomusic programs in the states were UC Berkeley and Wesleyan in CT. My impression was that the first was mostly white folks who wrote books, and the latter had native masters from India, Africa, Japan, China, Indonesia... Anyways, the acceptance rates were less than 6% IIRC at both.

Lastly, its true that the first half of any western harmony text is based on the works of Bach because he's the only one ever to be blessed with The Golden Ears, the best ever. But, I wouldn't go so far to say he invented music theory. He in fact took what he liked from his predecessors, and completely absorbed the qualities in his own music. Well, that's my take! Thanks for the thread.

 

[mudrummer99]

Thanks josh and fmw for the encouragement/mini lesson . and my most sincere apologies to Dan for jacking his thread.

 

[fmw]

I sure second what Josten said about knowing the chord structures and scales upside down and backward. Knowing the inversions of each chord intuitively is critical to playing melodies with block chords - a common technique in jazz piano (as it is in jazz guitar, Josten.)

Josten, they aren't the rules of jazz, really. I should have said they are the rules and structure of music in general. A musical composition has a structure and that structure should be what most of us consider "correct" or good sounding. Jazz isn't any different in that sense than any other form of music. If the improvisation wanders too far away from that structure it becomes more challenging to listen to. You can take all the detours you like but you lose some listeners if the detour takes you into the next next county.

I offer as an example the saxophone playing of Eric Dolphy. Perhaps you are familiar with him. He was a post Bop progressive player that was very challenging to listen to. I'm not criticizing his talent or his music but he was very difficult to listen to. He was fond of making sounds with the saxophone which the saxophone wasn't designed to make. His riffs sometimes got lost completely from the structure of the tune he was playing.

On the other hand Miles Davis was also challenging to listen to. His playing was complex to say the least. But he didn't take a trip to Europe every time he fingered another valve. His work was always coherent and true to the structure of the music he was playing, even if it travelled beyond where most horn players went. Davis is an icon in jazz history and Dolphy is an interesting side note in comparison.

I guess I'm rambling. I think this is a good time to stop.

 

[mazersteven]

I guess I'm rambling. I think this is a good time to stop.

Hi-jacked, or not this is an interesting thread. Thanks

 

[mudrummer99]

I guess since i jacked his thread, the least i can do is fill out his survey

 

[fmw]

Hi-jacked, or not this is an interesting thread. Thanks

So tell me something about that wonderful instrument you have in your family room.

 

[mazersteven]

So tell me something about that wonderful instrument you have in your family room.

I wouldn't know what to tell you. I have never even sat in front of it.

I have always wanted to learn to play the piano. One day I stumbled into a piano place, and purchased it. It was on a Sunday, and I was out with my wife. While passing a Piano store, I said "lets just stop in".

I researched Yamaha piano's on the internet. So I knew some, but really didn't know anything. I was interested in a Disklavier 5'3" that played itself.

http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/ContentDetail/ModelSeriesDetail/0,,CNTID%253D33872%2526CTID%253D201800,00.html

After about 45 minutes of the women demoing the piano. I asked the price. She said Thirty Eight Five. I never thought what she meant. I had a brain fart. I thought she said $3850. I looked at my wife and told the lady I will take it. I was running around the store telling people "That piano is MINE". About 20 minutes later when I sat down to sign the contract I realized it was $38,500. I had no clue, or didn't even think it could cost that much. I was so embarrassed for taking up the womens time, I asked for the rest room to flush myself out of the store. I looked at my wife, and said "write the check". Like I said I was so embarrassed I was going to purchase it instead of saying I had no clue how much they were.

The sales women realized something was wrong, and my wife told her. She then asked it I needed the Disklavier, and if Yamaha was the only piano I would look at. I said "no I don't need the Disklavier", I just thought it was cool. She said what was cool was playing it myself.

Well the next think I know she is showing me the Nordiska, and telling me the story of where it's made, and how (Dongbei Piano), Abel hammers, Solid Spruce soundboard, ect. Well a hour later she was mine. And for a lot less then the Yamaha.

 

[mazersteven]

Here is a cool thread I started over at Piano World.

http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/1/10476.html