Category: Music

Mistracking

A couple of weeks ago I said, “But false advertising is bad, and I assume there will be repercussions.”

Euphonic Inaccuracy

So now somebody is suing MoFi. Can’t see much financial compensation coming from this action.

https://www.billboard.com/pro/mofi-lawsuit-class-action-analog-vinyl/

The undisclosed use of DSD digital masters is the basis for the lawsuit. Some audiophiles seek out DSD sources, usually in the Super Audio CD format. They’re often the same people who are buying the vinyl releases and, yes, Mofi sells SA-CD! You’d think that would have been enough of a hint for the hardcore vinyl enthusiasts.

https://mofi.com/collections/digital

There are some extremely expensive CD/SA-CD decks with analog outputs. But the last time I checked, even the least expensive Sony Blu-ray players support SA-CD over HDMI. I have a couple of SA-CD discs that play through my Onkyo A/V receiver’s DAC.

Since the demise of the mainstream hi-fi magazines — Stereo Review, High Fidelity, and Audio — that did actual lab testing, including anechoic chambers for speakers, reviews have been almost entirely subjective. Oh, for the days when you could sit at a stereo store and click a button to immediately switch between two sets of speakers! Customers could make their own subjective judgments, limited only by their budget and the selection of speakers offered by the dealer. (Speaker preferences are ultimately always subjective, but the quality of an HDTV picture can be judged objectively.)

For objective audio equipment testing, today there is Amir at Audio Science Review. Amir doesn’t believe in magical audio snake oil. What about RCA cables for the analog outputs on those expensive SA-CD decks?

Monkee Man

Facebook friend Andrew Sandoval has pointed out this profile of Micky Dolenz, the last surviving Monkee.

And speaking of Andrew…

Being a band created for a TV show, the Monkees were controversial in their day. Twenty years later, Andrew encountered some trouble himself for being a young fan of not only the Monkees, but the Beach Boys.

Cancel Culture Wars

Following up on a mention by mih of Carl Orff’s crowd-pleasing “Carmina Burana”, the opening poem is the one that’s familiar to most everybody.

Orff was a German who remained in Germany throughout the war. I was thinking I touched upon this difficult subject not very long ago, but it was longer ago than it takes to get a Bachelor’s degree. Slow down, space/time! Slow down!

Sweden’s Neglected Composer

Herbert Von Karajan’s career didn’t suffer after the war. Perhaps it isn’t surprising I was unable to find a Karajan recording of Orff’s composition.

After a 1941 performance of the popular Carmina Burana, the composer himself said admiringly, ‘the orchestra under Karajan sounds fantastic’.

https://holocaustmusic.ort.org/politics-and-propaganda/third-reich/karajan-herbert-von/

https://holocaustmusic.ort.org/politics-and-propaganda/third-reich/orff-carl/

Separating artists from their art isn’t always easy. Sometimes it isn’t possible, but their work must at least be put into context of time and place. Whether for a musical figure, or a cartoonist like the Belgian Georges Remi, aka Hergé, who was accused of Nazi collaboration.

For decades, Robert Crumb’s uninhibited portrayals of women and Blacks were both celebrated and controversial. Today, Crumb’s name is political poison and, rightly or not, he is seen by many as a toxic misogynist and racist. Space/time continues, freeing some in the process while trapping some others.

Session Man

Another musician from the solid gold years of Los Angeles recording studio greatness has died. Guitarist Bill Pitman was — wow! — 102.

Thanks to those damn bureaucrats at the American Federation of Musicians, with their blasted rules and forms, we can see where and when Pitman worked on “Good Vibrations”.

https://www.wreckingcrewfilm.com/afmcontracts/BeachBoys_GoodVibrations.pdf

The Beach Boys were under contract to Capitol Records, which is listed as their employer, and yet the sessions were held at Gold Star, Western Recorders and Sunset Sound. Like the Beatles by that time, it seems that what Brian wanted Brian got, although the Beatles almost always recorded at EMI’s Abbey Road studios. One of the “Good Vibrations” sessions ran between 11:30 PM and 3:00 AM, which was also typical of the hours kept by the Beatles.

At the start of the record, right after “… the colorful clothes she wears…” going into “… and the way the sunlight…” there’s a noticeable shift in the sound. Brian must have spliced two different takes together. Were they recorded on the same day, or even in the same studio?