Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Paul & Giacomo
Just heard about this gem on my new favourite talk radio station - CFRB 1010. Regular British Bloke Sings Puccini, beautifully on YouTube. Tears in my eyes.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Making the most of digital music
O recently asked me for advice regarding digital music. I provided some comments (actually in person) but since then there's been a few other occasions that suggest I should write some of this stuff down.
Finding music
Read this blog. Well that's an ok start if you like the same music I do, otherwise here are a few ideas:
There are a plethora of formats to make your digital life confusing these days, incl. music. I prefer to keep it simple with mpeg (MP3). AAC and WMA are the others you bump into and are typically associated with specific vendors, AAC with Apple/iPod and WMA with Microsoft/Windows Media Player. MP3s will play on all personal players and on home/car systems when burned (copied from the computer) on CDs. More info for geeks. Once you pick a format, then choose the quality that fits your listening style. I choose to rip (copy music from CD to the computer) and download at 192 kbps. Some say 128 kbps is CD quality but I disagree. Test the quality differences out yourself wherever you listen to music. Note that the higher the quality the bigger the file, the slower the download, rip and burn. Interestingly ACC offers better quality at smaller file sizes (better compression I imagine) and some download sites vary the cost with the quality you choose.
Buying music
I've covered this topic on quite a few controversial blog posts already, so I don't think I need to say much more. Usual suspects are: iTunes (although there continue to be problems with the proprietary nature of their downloads); Napster and Puretracks (in Canada). However most put DRM in effect and limit your sharing and copying. As one cynical person said, it's like buying a CD and about a year later they come into your home and take the CD back. No big secret that I buy my music online from the controversial Russian site allofmp3.com (which has no such limits and is much cheaper that other big players, although it's tagging is a little weak), and honestly, I don't feel too guilty about it. I go and see a lot of concerts, I buy music DVDs blah blah blah...
Organizing your collection
This is easy for some people, but very difficult for me. A few things I do in keeping my music organized:
[finishing this up on day 2 - taking a little longer than planned to get thru this one, and I'm still probaly going to miss some crucial element - drat !]
Playing digital music
There are many possibilities these days on how, where and when to play and listen to digital music from iPod equipped family cars to mobile phones to the comfort of your very own living room couch.
One simple, and key piece of connectivity gear that is a must-have is a micro-RCA cable. On the micro jack end it plugs into the headphone thingie on all digital music players (incl. a computer itself) and on the other it has stereo white/red RCA jacks to plug into your your existing home hi-fi system. Note that you don't necessarily need all those special cradles and base stations to have digital music playing through your hi-fi.
The variables of home design, budget, equipment, technical savvy will come into play when trying to optimize your own digital music listening system. My solution at home is quite simple and reasonably effective:
My home computer with about 3,000 tracks of digital music is located at the back of the house on the main floor. The living room with my hi-fi system is in the front of the house on the main floor. I have a second pair of hi-fi speakers mounted high on the back wall of the kitchen connected to my hi-fi with speaker cables partially hidden under the floor when the basement was renovated. I have a long (20' perhaps) micro-RCA cable connected to the sound card jack on the back of the computer to my hi-fi. One trick here is I have a "y" connector between the cable and the computer so you can simultaneously hear the computer speakers and the hi-fi. Note that this isn't usually possible if you just use the front headphone jack on the computer. I use iTunes to manage the music and Suze uses Musicmatch to create playlists against the same source music.
Problems: Windows alarms, email notifications etc will be heard on your hi-fi. And if the kids want to play a computer game, you're out of luck. This is where you may also need a more portable back-up plan. Burn come MP3 CDs from your computer on a regular basis and play them directly on your newer model DVD or CD player (most newer model portable CD even play MP3 CDs) connected to your hi-fi. Or synch your portable music player and connect that using the same cable or a handy second one directly to the hi-fi.
Next move for me is adding a third pair of speakers for the deck at the back of the house this spring. The neighbours will love it ! However, complexity comes when adding a third pair of speakers to a standard hi-fi receiver. Extra box probably involved to handle the connections and potential circuit overload.
My home theatre is a completely separate system in the basement that has no connectivity to the computer but does include a DVD player that can play MP3 CDs. It's currently pining for a sexy HD TV.
Finding music
Read this blog. Well that's an ok start if you like the same music I do, otherwise here are a few ideas:
- Hardcopy. Music mags, local entertainment weeklys, etc. My fave is Q Magazine.
- Your local record store. Most have sample stations these days and a great way to hear stuff on the way home from the subway. Most will let you listen to a CD if you're still unsure.
- Full content streaming audio. 2 flavours - online radio stations (my fave is Virgin Radio) and streaming music sites like Pandora. I just found (via a tip from the Post) a new one of this type called finetune that I've been spending too much time on today. Check out pjmixer on filetune to listen to an extended collection of my best of 2006. This may now be the best way for me to share music with friends and family.
- Radio and satellite radio. Make note of those tracks that you hear on local radio rotation every 60 minutes (if you can stomach the advertising) or tune you cable box or satellite radio receiver to one of hundreds of finely tuned stations.
- Online sample sites. This is your last stop before your online or full reality CD purchase. Most music download sites offer 30 seconds of high quality sample of any track you can buy (if 30 secs is enough of a sample for you) or some offer lower quality full samples. Some online music sites like Q also offer samples.
There are a plethora of formats to make your digital life confusing these days, incl. music. I prefer to keep it simple with mpeg (MP3). AAC and WMA are the others you bump into and are typically associated with specific vendors, AAC with Apple/iPod and WMA with Microsoft/Windows Media Player. MP3s will play on all personal players and on home/car systems when burned (copied from the computer) on CDs. More info for geeks. Once you pick a format, then choose the quality that fits your listening style. I choose to rip (copy music from CD to the computer) and download at 192 kbps. Some say 128 kbps is CD quality but I disagree. Test the quality differences out yourself wherever you listen to music. Note that the higher the quality the bigger the file, the slower the download, rip and burn. Interestingly ACC offers better quality at smaller file sizes (better compression I imagine) and some download sites vary the cost with the quality you choose.
Buying music
I've covered this topic on quite a few controversial blog posts already, so I don't think I need to say much more. Usual suspects are: iTunes (although there continue to be problems with the proprietary nature of their downloads); Napster and Puretracks (in Canada). However most put DRM in effect and limit your sharing and copying. As one cynical person said, it's like buying a CD and about a year later they come into your home and take the CD back. No big secret that I buy my music online from the controversial Russian site allofmp3.com (which has no such limits and is much cheaper that other big players, although it's tagging is a little weak), and honestly, I don't feel too guilty about it. I go and see a lot of concerts, I buy music DVDs blah blah blah...
Organizing your collection
This is easy for some people, but very difficult for me. A few things I do in keeping my music organized:
- When ripping your favourite older albums to your computer, I only pick the tracks I've come to loved over repeat listening - say 5 or 6 tracks. If you always skip track 11 on that Flock of Seagulls classic, then why rip it and have it pop again when you're least expecting it.
- Make sure track, album and artist are correctly tagged.
- Choose a limited set of genres that make sense to you. For instance, I am way too heavily weighted on Rock/Pop. Note that genre tagging on the file does carry between players.
- Rate your music so you can create best ofs easily and remember which tracks you like more than others when tackling more obscure named album tracks.
- Add one more categorization - upbeat and mellow. You may need to dig a little deeper into the player to find out where to do this, e.g. I use Grouping within iTunes.
- Start creating playlists, then begin to combine them for more intelligent mixing - this could itself turn into a whole other subject in efficient and effective playlist management.
[finishing this up on day 2 - taking a little longer than planned to get thru this one, and I'm still probaly going to miss some crucial element - drat !]
Playing digital music
There are many possibilities these days on how, where and when to play and listen to digital music from iPod equipped family cars to mobile phones to the comfort of your very own living room couch.
One simple, and key piece of connectivity gear that is a must-have is a micro-RCA cable. On the micro jack end it plugs into the headphone thingie on all digital music players (incl. a computer itself) and on the other it has stereo white/red RCA jacks to plug into your your existing home hi-fi system. Note that you don't necessarily need all those special cradles and base stations to have digital music playing through your hi-fi.
The variables of home design, budget, equipment, technical savvy will come into play when trying to optimize your own digital music listening system. My solution at home is quite simple and reasonably effective:
My home computer with about 3,000 tracks of digital music is located at the back of the house on the main floor. The living room with my hi-fi system is in the front of the house on the main floor. I have a second pair of hi-fi speakers mounted high on the back wall of the kitchen connected to my hi-fi with speaker cables partially hidden under the floor when the basement was renovated. I have a long (20' perhaps) micro-RCA cable connected to the sound card jack on the back of the computer to my hi-fi. One trick here is I have a "y" connector between the cable and the computer so you can simultaneously hear the computer speakers and the hi-fi. Note that this isn't usually possible if you just use the front headphone jack on the computer. I use iTunes to manage the music and Suze uses Musicmatch to create playlists against the same source music.
Problems: Windows alarms, email notifications etc will be heard on your hi-fi. And if the kids want to play a computer game, you're out of luck. This is where you may also need a more portable back-up plan. Burn come MP3 CDs from your computer on a regular basis and play them directly on your newer model DVD or CD player (most newer model portable CD even play MP3 CDs) connected to your hi-fi. Or synch your portable music player and connect that using the same cable or a handy second one directly to the hi-fi.
Next move for me is adding a third pair of speakers for the deck at the back of the house this spring. The neighbours will love it ! However, complexity comes when adding a third pair of speakers to a standard hi-fi receiver. Extra box probably involved to handle the connections and potential circuit overload.
My home theatre is a completely separate system in the basement that has no connectivity to the computer but does include a DVD player that can play MP3 CDs. It's currently pining for a sexy HD TV.
Friday, February 2, 2007
Why music is better than the movies (and maybe TV)
With music, it can be all around you. Especially if you're an iPod or you're home wired. You groove, you dance and you sing (badly) while doing important stuff like doing the dishes or tidying or filing a mound of financial receipts.
With movies, to get the most out of the experience you really need to "buy in" to the movie. That means focus, that means few distractions. Hence the problem, you need to set time aside for a movie.
Well, some TV can be enjoyed "in the background" (especially repeats of Seinfeld or Friend) or "a glance every 3 minutes" for the less intense shows.
And if you've been reading the blog who'll appreciate how important music is (in my life). But then again, don't most of my grand visions come from movie inspirations ?
Q.E.D music is better than the movies.
With movies, to get the most out of the experience you really need to "buy in" to the movie. That means focus, that means few distractions. Hence the problem, you need to set time aside for a movie.
Well, some TV can be enjoyed "in the background" (especially repeats of Seinfeld or Friend) or "a glance every 3 minutes" for the less intense shows.
And if you've been reading the blog who'll appreciate how important music is (in my life). But then again, don't most of my grand visions come from movie inspirations ?
Q.E.D music is better than the movies.
Sunday, January 7, 2007
2006 Music Roundup
First post of 2007. But before I get deep on new ideas, I wanted to share some music highlights for 2006. Plus I'd like to try out a few new ideas for sharing music !
I've given a few of you my 2006, best of CD. But I didn't include a playlist on a lot of handouts nor did I add any clever annotations.
Top songs for 2006. Grouped and ordered by genre and tempo. Note that the track may be pre-2006, but may have only made its way to my ear'oles in 2006. A little of everything !
Links to preview tunes should work (but I've been having a lot of trouble with them all day). Warning that the site is the infamous pseudo-illegal Russian download site, but should be harmless for a quick naughty listen. Some links are for entire album.
I've given a few of you my 2006, best of CD. But I didn't include a playlist on a lot of handouts nor did I add any clever annotations.
Top songs for 2006. Grouped and ordered by genre and tempo. Note that the track may be pre-2006, but may have only made its way to my ear'oles in 2006. A little of everything !
Links to preview tunes should work (but I've been having a lot of trouble with them all day). Warning that the site is the infamous pseudo-illegal Russian download site, but should be harmless for a quick naughty listen. Some links are for entire album.
I chose to include the album covers for a few reasons...it perhaps tells another story about the band; it's a little throwback to the nostalgia or having a vinyl LP cover to hold in your hands as you're listening to the music; it may help you find the CD if you love the track(s) so much you want to own it !
Wednesday, December 6, 2006
Heavy Metal
The movie is Metal: A Headbanger's Journey
You may not have heard about it, but it has received lots of great reviews and if you've ever been a fan, I'm sure there's something in there you'll enjoy. If heavy metal has never been in your life, the movie serves as a perfect documentary on the power of music and it's impact on, or reflection of society. How did I hear about it ? Well of course, I did used to be a bit of a headbanger in my early Windsor high school years. But more interestingly, I actually played ultimate for a few years with the guys that made the movie - Sam Dunn and Scott McFadyen. Our team was called Norge which may have some connection to this movie !
Great movie, really well put together, entertaining, insightful, thought provoking. Got a bit of a headache though ! Favourite spots - heavy metal fussball; Dee Synder and Dio interviews. Those dudes in Norway were friggin scary - I've asked Sam if he was spooked interviewing them in person ? Disappointments - no disc shots ! 8/10.
For the record, my early days in Canada gave me the opportunity to see some classic heavy metal / hard rock bands in Detroit and then I reconnected with the punk stuff in university. Blue Oyster Cult, Nugent, Van Halen, AC/DC, Rainbow to Killing Joke, Forgotten Rebels and Problem Children to name a few.
A few lines from one of my all-time favourite bands (although a stretch to be categorized as heavy metal - too much love!):
It rained flowers when the music began
Love all around when the music is loud
Saturday, December 31, 2005
2005, Best ofs
I wanted to get a quickie in before the end of the year, what better way than to plop down a few best-of lists. The music one is legit, the others are more off-the-top-of-head.
Music. Yes, this is the playlist on the CD.
Music. Yes, this is the playlist on the CD.
- All These Things That I've Done - The Killers - say no more
- Talk - coldplay - great buzz gig
- Hard to Beat - Hard-Fi - seeing them at Horseshoe Tavern in January, album of the year
- Rebellion (Lies) - Arcade Fire - Montreal eclectic talent
- Do You Want To - Franz Ferdinand - cheeky lads
- Tiny Little Fractures - Snow Patrol - a little older album that just snuck in
- Oh My God - Kaiser Chiefs - great performance at Live8
- LSF(Lost Souls Forever) - Kasabian - Midlands lads with Manchester sounds
- All Because of You - U2 - biggest band in the world ?
- Better Now - Collective Soul - solid rock, Bowie or Iggy soundalike ?
- Galvanize - The Chemical Brothers - what's that damn sample ?
- Guilt Is A Useless Emotion - New Order - old geezers that can still put a good dance track together
- Dare - Gorillaz - groovy baby
- Forbidden Love - Madonna - alt track to big hit, great dance album
- 24 - Jem - a diamond in the rough
- Don`t Lie - Black Eyed Peas - a good dose of hip hop
- Gold Digger (Feat. Jamie Foxx) - Kanye West - great hip hop, great sample, dodgy explicit lyrics
- Other Side Of The World K.T. Tunstall - lovely Scottish lass who took the time to sign a CD cover for me "To Phil, love K.T." - you betcha
- Folsom Prison Blues Joaquin Phoenix - I became an instant Johnny Cash fan after seeing Walk the Line a few weeks ago and Joaquin does a stellar job
- Crash
- Walk the line
- Cinderella man
- Batman begins
- Layer cake
- Sin city
- The station agent
TV. Simple (I don't watch much)
- Jon Stewart
- House
- Dead like me
Saturday, November 12, 2005
The instant impact of music...
Just listening to a few choice new tracks from Madonna's latest release (see Rolling Stone, Sun and Guardian reviews) - big dance record !
Instantly thought of my old friend JB as he was an early believer in Ms. Ciccone. The crew dismissed her as too poppy, but 20 years later, she's still making an impact !
Great track called "I love New York" instantly makes me think of my good friends J&A in NYC and the street vibe of the one of greatest cities in the world.
Gotta dance.
Instantly thought of my old friend JB as he was an early believer in Ms. Ciccone. The crew dismissed her as too poppy, but 20 years later, she's still making an impact !
Great track called "I love New York" instantly makes me think of my good friends J&A in NYC and the street vibe of the one of greatest cities in the world.
Gotta dance.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)