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What are you listening to? Part III
- Thread starter S.B.G
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And this one popped up onto my feed tonight, also. No Static At All....
Most modern western music is based on 12-tone Equal Temperment, where an octave is divided into twelve equally-spaced "steps". It is actually a compromise, so that a harpsichord, piano, glockenspiel, marimba etc could play in any key, equally out-of-tune (if only slightly), something good horn, string, and vocal performers can adjust for automatically (I did not learn this until my last year of college jazz band, and admit I couldn't hear what the director was yelling at me about; sigh).
Here is a Bach guitar piece played on an infinitely-adjustable fretboard guitar; see if you can hear the difference.
I've noted that Henrick, the bass player for The Dirty Loops, plays a bass that has microtonally-adjusted frets, but they're embedded, so (from what I've read) his bass sounds much better in certain keys, but worse in other keys (the human ear is not as finely tuned to pitch in the lower registers, and if its worth the bother, well, I can't hear it personally.)
It's even more fun to recognize that dividing an octave into 12 equally-spaced steps... why twelve? Well, that was arbitrary! African scales were divided into five steps between octaves (not sure if they were equally-spaced, @rm5 or other trained musicians here can correct me) and early slaves in the US, while trying to play their own music on instruments designed for 12-tone equal temperament, tried to bend certain notes (like the 3rd, and the 7th, downwards) and that gave us... the Blues!
Wendy Carlos released an album in my early twenties where she experimented with different tunings, both twelve-tone, but not equally-spaced, and scales that were divided into, say, 19 pitches per octave. I listened to that CD a lot, and suddenly could hear where, on pop/rock radio, those standard tunes sounded, well, OUT of tune! Give Beauty in the Beast a listen, if you want to stretch your ears for fun (while looking up that album title I noted she has released a lot more albums than I realized, and now that I can stream I've got some exploring to do).
Here is a Bach guitar piece played on an infinitely-adjustable fretboard guitar; see if you can hear the difference.
I've noted that Henrick, the bass player for The Dirty Loops, plays a bass that has microtonally-adjusted frets, but they're embedded, so (from what I've read) his bass sounds much better in certain keys, but worse in other keys (the human ear is not as finely tuned to pitch in the lower registers, and if its worth the bother, well, I can't hear it personally.)
It's even more fun to recognize that dividing an octave into 12 equally-spaced steps... why twelve? Well, that was arbitrary! African scales were divided into five steps between octaves (not sure if they were equally-spaced, @rm5 or other trained musicians here can correct me) and early slaves in the US, while trying to play their own music on instruments designed for 12-tone equal temperament, tried to bend certain notes (like the 3rd, and the 7th, downwards) and that gave us... the Blues!
Wendy Carlos released an album in my early twenties where she experimented with different tunings, both twelve-tone, but not equally-spaced, and scales that were divided into, say, 19 pitches per octave. I listened to that CD a lot, and suddenly could hear where, on pop/rock radio, those standard tunes sounded, well, OUT of tune! Give Beauty in the Beast a listen, if you want to stretch your ears for fun (while looking up that album title I noted she has released a lot more albums than I realized, and now that I can stream I've got some exploring to do).
Fun fact: movie buffs can receive a crash course in Wendy Carlos by watching A Clockwork Orange (yet another example of Stanley Kubrick's mastery of music in films).
I remember when Wendy was Walter. A Clockwork Orange is indeed a Kubrick masterpiece (music and film). Carlos' interpretation on the Moog of "Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary" by Henry Purcell is a great example of Baroque music in the movie.
Listening now to the first Album I played when I got my new turntable. Not the first played on my new Innuos Stream1 but wanted to listen and compare, as well as I could with a long time gap. I can say both the vinyl and Qobuz high res stream played from the Innuos Sense app on the Stream1 sound amazing.
I actually like to listen 80s, 90s pop song. Even come Rap, like Mc hammer, Vanilia ice etc. Next is electronic dance music.
STOP!!!
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HAMMAH TIME!!!!
ALRIGHT STOP
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.
COLLABORATE & LISTEN
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ICE IS BACK WITH A BRAND NEW AD-DI-TION!!!!
Sorry, my forever 12 year old self is a compulsive Ice & Hammer fan Adult self needs a boost this morning so getting pumped for a busy day with some Chevelle.
.
.
.
HAMMAH TIME!!!!
ALRIGHT STOP
.
.
.
COLLABORATE & LISTEN
.
.
.
ICE IS BACK WITH A BRAND NEW AD-DI-TION!!!!
Sorry, my forever 12 year old self is a compulsive Ice & Hammer fan
Adult self needs a boost this morning so getting pumped for a busy day with some Chevelle.
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Listened last night to several albums from the wonderful Pink Martini.
Agree completely; I love them.
Actually, I had the pleasure and privilege of hearing them play live, twice, during two of their European tours.
Wonderful.