How many of you actually "listen" to music anymore?

Brothers of Briar

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When I am upstairs in the office, I am often listening to music. Sometimes for background, sometimes seriously. I have a couple thousand vinyl albums for serious work. A fair bit on high quality FLAC files. For when I just need the background various computer files, MP3, wave, and the FLAC all played though a tube DAC. I have several MAC1900 receivers, just in case. I got sick and tired of trying to keep the old Dual turntables running and replaced them with a UTurn Audio table. I rebuilt four of my Klipsch Heresy's with new Bob Crites crossovers and titanium diaphragms. I am even hanging on to an old Technics 100w per channel receiver because I loved them back in the day. So yeah, I am pretty serious without dropping tens of thousands on the system. (Although I hate to imagine how much I have wrapped up in vinyl.)
 
Really heartening to see how many audiophiles there still are out there. As in those that still engage music as the primary activity rather than it being a background or some such. Perhaps there's hope after all in this modern world!

And on that note, I need to come clean about the nature of this thread -

As some of you may be aware, I'm a musician who produces albums of original compositions. Some of you already have my last compilation (the somewhat overly romantic one - which is clearly not part of my day-to-day persona, yet was something that I needed to do. LOL!)

The upshot is that I'm currently working on a rather large and involved project. Certainly the most ambitious one I've ever embarked upon, and one in which is challenging me at every level. More than that I will not reveal at this point, yet if I can pull it off as intended it should be pretty good in all ways.

One clue here - it's intended to be enjoyed in much the same way as a movie. Thus, one would start at the beginning and watch it all the way through. And one would then gain the perspective of the story line and developments of the plot through to the end - unlike if one would single out individual scenes because they appealed for one reason or another. Where would the sense of continuity be then?

And so, this project is intended to be in that same vein - a story which needs to be consumed from start to finish and focused upon. Not relegated to the background while one prepares supper or such.

It'll be some little while until this is ready go live. Hard to say exactly but I hope to release it before the end of this summer. And BoB will be among the first to receive complimentary copies.


Cheers,

RR
 
Every morning after breakfast I sit and have my cup of coffee, read and listen to classical music on the cable music station for at least an hour.
 
I found the perceived loss of physical music to be mostly hype. The audience that has dropped out is the audience that was probably not a heavy group of buyers anyway.

In the meantime, the diehards fuel the interesting part of the industry, and they're still buying physical copies.
 
I guess I'm like Dutch. I do listen to music, but when I'm doing something else, usually something quiet. They go part and parcel for me. I have ADHD and having something to do with my fingers really helps me concentrate. For me knitting, spinning, sewing, doing dishes, things like that are the perfect time for me to get lost in my music. I find these quiet episodes really ground me to what is happening in my life. When I go back and listen to the song or album again it's like stepping into a time machine.

I can't listen to the Passenger album, All The Little Lights, without being transported back to a quiet, snowy evening in 2013. I was sitting at my dining room table in my house on Stouffer Ave in Chambersburg. The boys were sleeping downstairs, Elizabeth was still at work. I remember everything so clearly because of the powerful pull of music and muscle memory. The kitchen had a yellow cast from the lights above the table and the kitchen sink and the street outside was quiet, that same yellow light falling on the new snow . Everything in my life was in flux at that moment. My livelihood and our home was up in the air. We were preparing to spend what we knew would be my mother's last Christmas in New York. I was in a new relationship. Everything was unknown, uncertain.

I had my sewing machine set up on my table. I was making fleece pocket warmers for everyone for Christmas. There were snips of string and small pieces of fabric and a big bowl of dried rice laid out. I sat in front of my good 'ol Kenmore sewing machine in that soft, yellow light with Michael David Rosenberg singing in my ears about the things that stop you dreaming. It was an awful, scary time for me personally, but somehow with every note he sang and every chord he played I found peace. I sang along. I watched the snow fall. I felt the vibration of my sewing machine. I felt the clean slice of my scissors.

Music has a way of tying me firmly to a memory, and it's that reason that I will always listen to music. Even memories from long ago. I spent countless weekend evenings with my dad in a log cabin that was off the grid. Every weekend we listened to Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz and the Prairie Home Companion while dad filled the cabin with pleasant pipe smoke. I learned to be quiet and still and to listen. For me the things going on with my hands were the background noise, not the music.
 
Somehow I missed this thread.  I've been a musician all my life. Got into hi-fi in the early 70's when it was starting to explode with the receivers and bookshelf speakers that flooded the market.  The only tv I watch is when I am in the same room as the wife to talk to her.  I've had many speakers and built quite a few.  This is the last set I built (8ft tall, 16 drivers in each):
P1000815.jpg


This is my 8 ft long subwoofer I built with 4 of the Stereo Integrity 18" woofers in it (my son designed and builds the woofers):
IMG_3047_zps2f755c26.jpg

IMG_3030_side_zps9d8f391e.jpg


I have 1400+ LP's and had multiple turntables,(Thorens,B&O,Dunlop Systemdek,Oracle Delphi)but my Holy Grail is the Micro Seiki DX-1000 which accepts 3 tonearms.  I have a new Sumiko Blackbird cartridge for it that Soundsmith recently installed a ruby cantilever on it
micro_seiki_ddx1000_3_arms_zps4iqjaia1.jpg


My amp is a 6 channel Cinepro which puts out 575 watts into a 4 ohm load per channel.  It weighs 85 pounds.  I now have two pairs of Clements RT-7 speakers running 2 per channel, stacked to give me a 8 ft tall column of speaker on each side(they are seen in the top photo) only just one pair in that picture.  I also use Solus rear speakers which use the same 7" tall ribbon tweeter as the Clements(same guy, different company name now). Had many great speakers through the years, Magneplanar Tympani IVa, Infinity Column Towers.) Recently sold my Audio Research SP-11 preamp, and now have a Pioneer Elite C-72 preamp to get me by.

Since I play a lot by ear, i can usually tell you what note is being played, so I listen and savor each and every note.  Last time I looked on my iPad list, there was one song I have played 187 times now.  The was a series of books called "Conversations with God" and the theme of it was that God's outlook was "Nothing Matters"...I say BS

Music matters.  If everyone in the world was taught to enjoy music as a youngster, and we lived in a society that supported musicians, maybe there would be 1/2 the violence in the world.

Good thread.  I'm also a headphone junkie as I want to be able to listen to what I want while being around others. My favorites are my Beyer DT990 Pro and my new AudioQuest Nighthawk;
Audioquest%20Nighthawk_zpsjp4fhtpj.jpg
 
I find it heartening that so many of you have taken the time to respond to this old thread and offer positive insight. That's what I was hoping for.

Many of you are involved with music on a personal level, whether on a professional or casual basis. That you take the time to make music a focus rather than a background noise is music to my ears (pun intended).

I'll just leave you with this snippet for now - there is a method to my madness in the purpose of this thread. It's coming to fruition in the near future. All will be revealed in due course.

As they say - watch this space!

;) 



Cheers,

RR
 
I like this thread.
Sorry I missed it the first time around. I've got some strong feelings on the topic, but I'm not sure they add much. I'll think about it.
Yes, I listen to music.

I feel a rant coming on. Or at least a story about Keely Smith and my Mall Stick.
 
In the car I only listen to the radio when I CAN listen. Same at home. I am a lyric listener, so I have to pay attention to hear them. What did the singer have to SAY? Consequently, I tend to listen to singers who DO have something to say. I am also a bit hard of hearing, so I Must focus to really hear what's going on.
 
thedeep":uj7tck4q said:
In the car I only listen to the radio when I CAN listen. Same at home. I am a lyric listener, so I have to pay attention to hear them. What did the singer have to SAY? Consequently, I tend to listen to singers who DO have something to say. I am also a bit hard of hearing, so I Must focus to really hear what's going on.
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You would like the music of Gino Vannelli then.
 
being that im a singer songwriter I find music to calm my soul and mind and center me so with out it I wold not be able to sustain my self even if its beating 2 rocks tighter to a beat I need something daily
 
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