Beyond the sound of things, and into the soul of things.
The vices we had in our youth are almost forgotten memories that can be triggered by music. My thesis is that the intensity of the memory is dependent on the quality and intensity of the music; the ultimate rig would bring back the memory associated with the music in life like detail. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJPJ6SYQ5Fk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJkxFhFRFDA |
Black light posters, bongs, and "head shops"; where one was met by the sweet fragrance of incense; where those of one mind could debate the merits of various Turkish pipes; I remember it as if it was yesterday, with all of those black light posters lining the walls; these are visions incited by the music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45cYwDMibGo |
Nandric, you have stated my past philosophy. When you have lived as long as I have, along the way, you will discover that the most important aspects of your life can not be proven to even exist. If high school education lack in subjects of philosophy of science and logic then we get such contributions about ''the soul'' as in this thread. |
Ron, I'm a technician who is comfortable with a plethora of measuring instruments; I have discovered that they're useless when you get into the highest echelon of HEA. Although HEA is not cheap, the "highest echelon" does not mean megabuck components. I am in the group of people who are driven by the desire to hear "the essence" of music in their listening room. Initially, I had SS. Since it had very high specifications, that appealed to me. One day it broke; that's when I decided to see what the fuss was about those ancient noisy tubes; after all, my SS was close to 0 distortion and noise, which the tubes could not match. I was given a "loaner" CJ PV-10; it was noisy with bad tubes in one channel, but it reproduced music that could clearly be heard in spite of the noise and distortion. Now there are tube components as quiet as SS; plus, they reproduce music as opposed to sounds. I suppose everyone knows that motion pictures are no more than a series of still photographs. Eyes are different from ears; that fact has never bothered anyone, we still see the illusion of people in motion. "Music", not sounds, but music, is much more complex. Music is about us, as living beings with an inner component that I call a "soul". Music resonates with that inner component, some musicians project that component; a rig that reproduces that component in a listening room is of the highest order; you wont be able to just walk in and get one off the shelf, you can't just throw money at it, and expect it to appear; you have to work for it. Back to motion pictures as compared to audio; when audio is treated the same as motion pictures, we get the sound of music, but there is something missing; it's the emotional component I call "soul". |
No matter who the people are, or what the language, they will have a word for "soul"; from the Kalahari Desert to the Amazon Rain Forest, the people will have a word for soul; the essence of life in human beings. When a person dies, their soul leaves the body; since it's weightless and invisible, some people claim that it doesn't exist; but there are many things which exist that we can't see. I'm making a claim that I can prove better than you can disprove. I'm claiming that the soul of certain musical artists is captured on vinyl, and that my rig can reproduce that captured soul, to the extent that it seems as though the person is in the room. Although there is a proclivity to associate the word "soul" with African American music, I'm using it in a universal sense to include any music that projects a palpable sense of life; specifically the life that the music portrays. Bobbie Gentry's "Ode To Billie Joe" is just such a song; it projects a palpable sense of life in her neck of the woods; if you heard it on my rig, you would swear she was in the room. Since soul is both invisible and weightless, how can you prove that her soul isn't in the room? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZt5Q-u4crc How about a little more soul in the common accepted use of the word; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJOX5tCd1qs |
Shortly after we were born, there is a good possibility we were exposed to music. What kind of music would depend on where we were born; someone born in the swamps of Louisiana would be exposed to a different genre than someone born in metropolitan Chicago. After we discovered we could wiggle our toes, we heard music, and a beat that we could wiggle our toes to; we were really on to something. Naturally, that was the best music in the world, it resonated our tiny souls. Now that you're an Audiophile, you can recreate that same music in your listening room with such an astounding degree of realism, that when it contains "soul" (that's the component in music that causes your heart to palpitate, and it makes you feel good) it resonates with your soul. This genre of music was determined a long time ago, and although it varies from person to person, the subject of conversation here; is the ability of one's rig to project that emotional component of the music I call "soul"; which by the way can be in any genre of music; it could be "hill billy" soul, in which case you would want to stomp your feet, instead of tapping your toes, and I'm sure there is another name for this component in "hill-billy" vernacular, but a rose by any other name is still a rose. I contend that vinyl, or master tape, projects this intensely personal element of music better than any other source. As a matter of fact, the cartridge is the only component in the chain that resonates with your personal soul, and it should be chosen with great care, that is specifically for this purpose. For these reasons, the cartridge is the most important element in the chain that reproduces music. |
Geoffkait, what the world needs now is more poetry like this; To lie in the meadow and hear the grass sing, To have all these things in our memories hoard, I really like that picture, and I have memories of grass singing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nmeiWp2OpU |
Nandric, I don't have the slightest clue as to what you're talking about; it might be related to "Plutonian Physics"; that pertains to the laws of physics as they operate on that planet; stuff could fall up instead of down. I was discussing "perception" of the sound stage in HEA, which is based on "The Propagation of Sound Waves"; that's physics on this planet, and if you could see the sound waves you would know that it's real. The common name for this phenomenon is "room treatment". Beyond the sound of things, and into the soul of things, describes my perception of specific pieces of music that project a living presence if you have HEA and a room that is capable of "Audio Holography"; that's an invisible audio image that puts the artists in your listen room on a 3D sound stage. When "high end salons" existed, one could walk in and hear this phenomenon for themselves. Since that's no longer the case, there are many who don't believe such a thing exists; primarily because they have been unable to achieve it. Although this phenomenon makes what I'm discussing more palpable, you can experience the "soul" of the music I have chosen on a good "mid-fi" rig. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhgUUe5czxc Since you're from Europe, I realize it's quite possible that you will not be able to perceive the "Soul" in this tune, although it's got plenty plenty soul; but "unseen" is the nature of soul. Enjoy; "Beyond the sound of things, and into the soul of things." |
Prof, we're on the same page; " "I’m just pointing out that it’s a leap to go from our own personal preference to "therefore the technology itself is incapable of X."The other technology is fully capable of X for many other people." What I posted went beyond audio in a vacuum; my life experiences were interwoven, but they were triggered by the LP and not the Hi-Res drawdown. Of course someone else would have to participate in order to consider that post valid. The title of this thread is about what makes you a human being; different from all other beings before you, and all of those who will go after you. A very long time ago, an old man who had become a good friend was retiring; he told me, "Orpheus, you gotta get what you can, when you can, while you can, cause when you get my age, you "Kan't", and the only things you will remember, is what you didn't get." That was ages ago, but to this very day, every word he spoke rings true. When I was young, life was offered up like a banquet every day, "A little of this, a little of that, and don't forget a dab of the other thing." That's the way life went for many years, until one day I looked up and I was old. Now my life is memories of the life I lived that are incited by HEA. Consequently, it's not easy to tell whether or not it's the memory or the music. |
Prof, my language would seem to indicate that I have moved into the "supernatural realm"; however, my experience was, and still is what it is, in this time and dimension. If I knew before hand, which was HI-RES download, and which was LP, that would give no credence to my statement, but I didn't. These things happen, that can't rationally be explained, when you get to the very end game of HEA. I'm not trying to give anybody a snow job, I've paid 30 years of my life to get where I am. If you notice, I did not mention money, because that's secondary; it was whatever it took. I enjoy digital every bit as much as you; I've just taken it to a higher level by placing it in the "analog realm" through the use of a reel. All innuendos aside, I stick CD's in a player and listen to them when I'm in a hurry, and they sound very good. |
Let us examine the transformation of the music as it goes from the CD player, into the reel input amp, into the recording heads that reorient magnetic particles on tape. Once this is done, the playback of the tape is pure "analog"; there is no "digitalis" or any of the other terms that are used to describe CD. The only way I can tell the difference between LP and CD is by record noise. CD's that are inherently bad don't get recorded; this did occur in the beginning. "Coloration" or transformation; I have a problem with the word coloration, I choose the difference in the sound of the CD after "Transformation". |
Primitive people never wanted their pictures taken because when they saw a picture of their smiling faces, smiling back at them, they believed you had captured their soul. When I hear my favorite artists at their best when they were young, I know I have captured their souls; that's because my rig brings them into the listening room. There is so much talk of "live"; I have gone to concerts with audio not half as good as my listening room. "Ascribing properties to nonexistent entities is curious business"? I don't think so; if I have duplicated an event in my room, that is so real I can tell the age of the person when it was recorded, and I was there; I can perceive that person in my room, from a time in the past when they were at the height of their creative power. |
The way I'm using the word "soul", is only remotely connected to "soul-music", but to what is projected in the best recordings and playback. Since I treated the room, people I saw live, seem to be in the room; I can even tell the age they were when the recording was made by the sound of their voices. Aretha Franklin is 2 years younger than me, which means she was 21 when I saw her at a club in Detroit, and she sounds 21 on this double LP, which is a combination of what she recorded in 64 and 65. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R1NBEJL-Qs I find those lyrics comical for a pretty 21 year old girl who had yet to gain weight; but that's what I'm talking about when speaking of living "soul"; it's like the artist has been re-created and is in your listening room. |
I remember drop-outs, but that's all; I haven't experienced one in ages. Maybe it's something different in the newer tape formulation. I know this is going to sound like heresy, but I swear it's not easy telling CD's from LP's on playback. When you think of just how much the sound of a CD changes once it has been recorded on a 2 track reel; then you'll understand how much it has metamorphosized into an LP on playback. All this talk about the reel has reminded me; "It's time to buy some more tape." |
My reel is the ultimate, it puts me in a trance, and I'm listening to records I recorded. Here again, it might be about experience, the same as in TT's and LP's; I always change rollers in a timely fashion, clean heads and demagnetize; the sound is sparkling and powerful. Why LP's sound better on 2 track playback is a mystery to me? |
Lewm, I have been into R2R since the 70's, and loved every minute. I have a Technics RS 1500 2 track that's reliable and easy to work on. It's highly recommended and not too expensive. I've thought of buying one used, then have the seller send it to be refurbished, discuss with those people how much would it take to make it like new, and go from there. An LP recorded on a 2 track reel will sound even better on playback. If you have ever wanted R2R, now is the time; that's because blank tape is available. |
Geoffkait, what I spoke of, possibly has to do with one's ability to perceive, as well as the best rigs ability to deliver all that is on the LP. A Hi-Res download is from the Master-Tape, and should be close to identical. What I spoke of was almost ethereal; the sound was transferred on the Hi-Res, but not the emotional impact of the music; the music was stripped of it's emotional soul during the transfer. With the right rig, in addition to the audio, there is an emotional component that is received in the sub-conscious which triggers all the memories, and experiences surrounding the music that is generated by the LP, that's not generated by the Hi-Res. Intensity of listening is required to experience this. |
