NJAS Wall Posting

NJAS Member Wall Postings and Comments

The difference between Fixed and Float formats
Article Link for 32-Float Wav Files
The articled linked here will help explain some of the difference between various hi-res audio formats. This is mostly to the benefit of recording engineers worried about avoiding clipping (headroom) rather than fidelity, though with more headroom, you can better preserve fidelity overall. With almost all recording done close-mic'd, the sound levels are very high and have to be mixed down in the final recording. If you are recording live in the field with an ambient arrangement, the levels will hopefully not exceed 100dB or so. Adult human hearing has very poor instantaneous dynamic range, which is a discussion for another day.

giggle to your grave
Comments:
§ love it!
⤷ posted May 1, 2020

Get your data now!
Music Brainz Database Download Page
If you rip your own CD's (those shiny disc things everyone used to own to play music), please be aware that FreeDB.org is shutting down March 31st. This is the free as in beer organization that provides the automatic track listings and artist info for many-many cd ripping programs. If you use a proprietary ripper like Roon, they will probably have a solution ready to go by the end of the month and you will just have to update your software. Otherwise, you'll need some sort of alternative.

For the computer savvy, I've listed the download page for MusicBranz. They allow anyone to download their entire database, so you can install it on your network to get the info. It's a fairly large 4GB compressed file, though, so be aware of any download issues. You can also grab their interface software.

You can grab the FreeDB.org database from http://ftp.freedb.org/pub/freedb/. They also provide some software for an interface. It will all shutdown by the end of the month.

Lacquer plant burns to the ground in California
Loudwire Article
The main production facility for Apollo Masters in Banning, California was destroyed by fire Feb 6th, according to many sources now (see early LoudWire article above though it's being widely reported now). As only one of two lacquer production houses in the world (yes, two in the whole world), the fire might impact record production in the coming months. It's unclear how far in advance mastering houses order their lacquers, which determines what is still in the pipeline, but it's doubtful a shortfall can be avoided for too long. That said, labels that depend on only small runs for sales can probably source mastering discs from small plants that don't normally make them but work with similar compounds. 3D printing, anyone??
Comments:
§ Try not to gloat, Jim. ;-)
⤷ posted Feb 10, 2020

How the Industry Promotion Machine Works
The Manufacturing of Billie Eilish
If you caught the Grammys and noticed the sweep by Billie Eilish, keep in mind that we live in an age of manufactured commenting. The article above details the many steps by Interscope Records to create and promote Billie as a thing to push album and single sales. If you want some idea of how the modern record industry works and how astroturfing (a term from the IT world) is alive and well, settle in for a long read. This doesn't mean that Ms Eilish NHRN? doesn't deserve to win her Grammys--though the recently uncovered Grammy nominations scandal doesn't help--it does mean that the promoted narrative of her arrival on the scene is a complete fabrication. The problem is that the press accepts the fake narrative even though it takes only a few moments of Googling to disprove it. So the question becomes: who are they kidding? Who is falling for this? It's both easy than ever to fake fan appreciation and easy than ever to uncover the fakery. When Christopher Cross beat out Pink Floyd's The Wall for album of the year in the last and only other Grammy sweep, he had very little (but not zero) industry backing. As a result, his career dried up outside of Japan. The view of the industry that it wanted to promote of itself--nice and safe Christopher Cross--was at complete odds with how it really operated--The Wall. The end result was a somewhat meaningless Grammy win. Today, Eilish is 'safe enough' for industry-wide PR but also a product of companies like Interscope that really know how to play the game. Read online music reviews with some trepidation.

TV Crew Visits NJ HiRailers--We Have Video
NBC At the NJ HiRailers Club
See the video of a trip to our recent club party hangout.

Article missing
Once upon a time, I wrote a spoof review of a direct-drive seam--turbine turntable, probably in an Audio April issue (1983-1999), but possibly in High Fidelity (prior to 1982). It was one of my favorites, but I can't find it in my archives. If any of y ou guys run across it, or recollect where it appeared, I'd greatly appreciate a lead or link to it.

Aside from the trifling matter of getting a steam turbine to run at a steady 33.33 rpm, it had some real advantages: (1) no electricity, so no hum (though hiss could be a problem; (2) Venting a little steam into the dustcover gave you a dust-free, positive-pressure atmosphere for playback, plus static reduction due to the humidity; (3) if the record was warped, you could simply turn up the heat a bit until it softened and flattened itself out.
Comments:
§ Ivan, I DEFINITELY remember all the hysterical "Lirpa Labs" reviews, especially the one you're talking about. As I recall, they were all printed in the "April fools" issues of Audio. I will try to ferret out more details as I can remember. -Izzy
⤷ posted Aug 27, 2019
§ go here: https://americanradiohistory.com/Audio-Magazine.htm to download any issue of Audio, and lots of other mags too. A GREAT resource!
⤷ posted Aug 27, 2019
§ it's the 1986 issue, BTW
⤷ posted Aug 27, 2019

(Makers of the SugarCube click and pop filtering machines)
Sugarcube at Indiegogo
As many of you know, I am a beta tester for the SC-2 from Sweetvinyl. The company has decided to offer several new models with new features and a smaller form factor. Read more at the link. (I have no financial or other connection with Sweetvinyl other than being a beta tester for the SC-2.)

Optical Networking for Audio Has Arrived
(I am not connected with Small Green Computer in any way other than as a customer.)

Master Tapes Lost
NY Times Magazine Article
Universal Music, separate from the movie studio, lost their master tape collection of recordings in 2008 in a fire, and hid the fact with the passive acquiescence of the press (including the NY Times) until the story broke earlier this month, possibly as a result of ongoing lawsuits. Since records of the collection were also lost, it's not clear the extent of the damage, but probably the entire collection of masters they owned or had acquired and had provided rental storage space for was lost. This will make master-reissues impossible (if there were any such plans), as well as for any back-catalog unreleased materials.

The industry is notoriously shady, and the quality of any recording compared to the true master should be doubted, even when marketed as having come from the master. It points to the need for artists and later their estates to maintain control over their own recordings--moving away from the factory model that has dominated for so long. Otherwise, everyone just loses out to industry insiders' cash grab tactics. While most consumers are happy with the sub-mp3 quality of streaming services, audiophiles have been almost naively hopeful that some semblance of quality could be obtained from original masters--though any such attempt would cut into the profits of the recording and often eliminate them when sales were only expected to be in the hundreds or thousands. The original recordings were of very high quality typically because the producers needed every available option when doing the mix, but the final consumer versions where made as cheaply as possible without much regard for sound quality. This disconnect has led to the neglect of old original masters in literal warehouses, and reissues made from MP3 digital copies, then marketed as new and improved. At least the fire allows the press to raise these issues with the general public for the first time probably since the introduction of the CD back in the early 80's.

My other hobby is target shooting. One of my dear friends that passed away last year in WA, had a BD today. It just so happens that one of my best friends in the Society, passed away a year ago tomorrow from ALS. Rest assured that I will be making two toasts tomorrow. One for my friend in WA and the second for my NJ friend. See you at the VPI meeting. It has been a long time between meetings for me, but having Cancer makes things like that happen.

John P.

Beethoven will never be safe again!
Our intrepid line rider heroes tackle the imposing B5, with hilarious results (at times).
Comments:
§ Jim,
Thanks a lot. That cheered me up. I've been depressed for awhile.
⤷ posted Mar 17, 2019

Sound Blocking Science!
Article looks interesting!

Patented RJ-45 Plug Claims High Performance
Link to Brochure
Home adoption of Ethernet is on the wane as most people now choose WiFi instead of wired connections, but WiFi still isn't great for audio. It's fine for controlling audio servers, but sketchy for transmitting high resolution audio files. That doesn't bother the typical MP3 streaming home user. It's also barely possible to stream video over WiFi, though not recommended. The problem is video will hog the connection, denying everyone else in the home WiFi. Also, the feed has to be encrypted and then de-encrypted, adding to the bandwidth woes.

Audiophiles should consider CAT-6 at a minimum, CAT-7 is shielded CAT-6, but has no true official spec. Optical/Fiber is now a great deal for home use at 1G speeds, but 10G and 40G are still expensive. The business world adoption of 40G will probably mean a price drop for 10G soon though. By cheap, 1G laser modules are $7 and the Ethernet adapters are $40. This is plenty fast for home use up to about 384K. You would need compatible cards, etc. and you would need all your gear to be 10G compatible to go any faster. Keep in mind that there is very little music available at super high resolution. The real gains are for 4K video, which is why new WiFi specs seems to come out every month.

CAT-8 seems to be a way to get 40G performance by making better RJ-45 connectors. This would necessitate rewiring everything copper and tossing out any audiophile Ethernet cables. However, it might make a good final connection between and optical system and the server and/or computer. With fiber you won't need to rewire, but the end points will need upgrading. Another intriguing possibility is to simply use these better connectors on a slower system. Maybe they improve performance in traditional CAT-6 settings.

Thanks to Phil S. for sending me this link.

A Cynic's Guide to a Perennial Topic
Slate article to read at your own peril.
Since online journalism consists of mostly opinion pieces written by twentysomethings these days, we now have the insane mashup of the perennial "new american songbook" with hipsterdom. When culture feature article writers run out of ideas, they come up with a "new american songbook" list--essentially songs they would like to see live perpetually in the mainstream, even if they were never really well known to start with. You see articles like this all the time.

What the writers gloss over is why the "American Songbook" exists in the first place. It has to do with desperate record producers, mostly. Say you are a producer and the new record doesn't quite have twelve songs yet--the artist has run dry. Heck it might be an album of covers. Or, you need to save some money on songwriters because your artist can't write their own material. What do you do??

The answer is to do what other producers have done. In fact, they essentially share a list amongst themselves. It's a list that's been honed down to "things shown to have worked in the past". Experimental failures have been eliminated. We are talking about songs that meet certain criteria: widely familiar, easy to sing and arrange, nothing offensive, nothing too artsy. In other words, the songbook is about things that eventually get covered over and over again by multiple artists. These are not songs that get played by the public over and over, or sung at weddings, or used at live events like baseball games, but covered by other artists. They aren't going to be challenging. They aren't going to be obscure. They need to be singable by most artists. They need to allow simple (read: cheap) arrangements. They shouldn't offend anyone. There are reasons artists cover "Misty" and "Moon River" a lot. It helps that the original version is somewhat lost to time, because everyone knows where "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" comes from to the peril of remakes. Songs that eventually date themselves, like "Tea For Two" do fade, though never die.

The problem for the songbook idea these days is the perpetual availability of the originals through streaming and the loss of the concept of an "album". Not only can bands and artists get away with releasing just singles, but unlike in the past, consumers are never far from the original or at least most popular version. Covering a song when there are ten versions on Spotify at everyone's fingertips is just inviting competition.

The Slate article is ridiculous for several reasons: it contains songs from within the past five years--hardly time tested, it contains smash hits that will make the remakes pale by comparison, too many "difficult" songs, songs that are already dated, is too inflected by the choices of music critics and not producers, and the list misses whole classes of songs from other areas such as movies, TV shows, video games, Broadway, anime and other admittedly non-American sources. Latin-American hits are already beating songs sung in English for YouTube view numbers, and Asian pop hits can't be too far behind in the coming years. Gone also are the days that everyone knows the same core songs and therefore provide a ready list of starting material that producers can go to and not risk their necks.

Where are covers coming from these days? Mostly the Eighties and still a lot of stuff from the Seventies; but since streaming has all of this covered, these fillers are going mostly unnoticed unless they are a TV theme song or pick something out of obscurity. That said, the artists doing the most covers are largely Latin, where the idea is more popular and sometimes allows the song to be translated into Spanish. Songs that aren't being touched largely come from earlier decades, particularly the sixties--though songs from the sixties were being covered almost from the moment they were released--traded around by producers like baseball cards--and artists often covered themselves by reworking their past material until they were satisfied with the results. It was the golden age of covers but seems to have exhausted itself.

Of course, artists are probably less than thrilled to have released a new album only to see one of the covers be the biggest hit--their original material immediately fading into obscurity. A sale is a sale, I guess, though it's got to hurt some. Novelty acts like Susan Boyle come and go without leaving a legacy outside of aspirational karaoke circles. Singers these days have to provide the whole entertainment package: singing, dancing, personality, personal drama and sex appeal. They sell books and lines of clothing and make videos, appear in movies, TV shows, commercials, video games and magazines. They constantly market themselves on talk shows, Twitter and getting into "news cycles" with their antics. This all suggests the music alone is not self-sufficient nor self-sustaining. Will this just get worse over time?

To get back to the Slate list specifically, the only song that might fit the bill is "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion. Its main weakness is the strong association with Madame Dion herself, eclipsing potential rivals without a fight, but a producer could throw together a cover in less than a day and it fits the other criteria really well, so it gets my vote. Caveat reader.