by Michael

Tin Pan Alley

We were listening to Stevie Ray Vaughn’s Tin Pan Alley (plugging the Audio Note M9 directly into the wall is significantly better than through our [usually only somewhat problematic $60, sounds better than most $2K+ … OK, $5K+ …power conditioners], power-strip) and wondered just where Tin Pan Alley was.

I thought it was next to Hells Kitchen in Manhattan. Neli thought it was a euphemism for skid row.

But we was wrong.

From Wikipedia Tin Pan Alley:

“Tin Pan Alley is the name given to the collection of New York City-centered music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century. The term is also used to describe any area within a major city with a high concentration of music publishers or musical instrument stores – a good example being Denmark Street[1][2] in London’s West End. In the 1920s the street became known as “Britain’s Tin Pan Alley” because of the large number of music shops, a title it still holds: the Tin Pan Alley Festival is held there each July.”

So now we have to listen to the lyrics all over again… and try and figure out what they REALLY mean. 🙂 Oh man. The pain. The PAIN.

in High-end Audio HiFi and Stereo / News 0 comments
 by Michael

CES 2011 Attendance

[Guess it was a successful CES. Impressive. Though numbers at the CES part of high-end audio, I would say, were lower and at THE SHOW part of of high-end audio… higher.]

“The International CES® today announced that 31,677 industry professionals from outside the U.S. attended the 2011 International CES January 6-9, 2011, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Up 30 percent from last year, international attendance at the 2011 CES set a new record for the show’s 45 year history. An independent audit, performed by Veris Consulting LLC, confirms CES’ status as the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow and North America’s largest annual tradeshow of any kind. Overall, the 2011 International CES welcomed 149,529 technology attendees during its four day run.”

in CES 2011 / High-end Audio HiFi and Stereo / Show Reports 0 comments
 by Michael

The Prevalence and/or Lack of Ambient Hall Sound in Certain Kinds Of Music

I was listening to classical music on the car radio – which is pretty much what I listen to, and not just because it is more or less commercial-free, which is nice, and not just because it is more or less news-free, which is also nice.

Anyway, I noticed that much of the individual instruments of the particular piece, I forget which, could be heard echoing in the hall where the recording was made. And, you know, a LOT of recorded classical music has along with it the sound of the hall. I like this. It makes the instruments feel fuller and the decay is more interesting and natural.

Funny how a LOT (all?) of popular music has no ambient hall sound at all, either recorded in a studio, and the sound of the studio is edited out if it exists at all, or, if recorded live, the sound of the hall is again edited out, often along with editing out the sound of the audience.

What cinches this for me, personally, is that many bootlegs, recorded live in concert, have an abundance of hall sound… and I really like this. Again on the car radio, this time the Fort Collins station, they were playing a country rock band playing in what sounded like a largeish stadium. The lead guitar was echoing slightly in the hall there… and I loved it.

But back to classical music… it is hard to think of any that we have here where I can recall it having no concert hall sound effects. Maybe this is like science fiction book covers having certain styles and colors, and mystery novels a similar but different style and color… i.e. this is the way it has always been done and we are used to it and the people who record the music just continue to do it the same was it has always be done, and, well, here we are with posts like this commenting on it. 🙂

in High-end Audio HiFi and Stereo / Philosophy 4 comments