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mikeweil

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Posts posted by mikeweil

  2. Hearing aid a help?

    in Audio Talk

    Posted

    Here in Germany NHS covers ear cleaning, and only doctors are authorized to do so. Audiologists look into your ears, but when they discover the gunk they send you to the doctors, who also have to inspect and approve the functioning of your hearing aid. 

  4. Dizzy Gillespie's Orchestra/Big Band Afro (aka Manteca)

    in Discography

    Posted

    I have a French 7 CD box set on United Archives that claims to be the "Complete Big Band Studio Sessions 1946-1960", lists the track "6/8" in the booklet and on the paper sleeve of the respective CD, but does not include it but has the suite as on the Norgran LP MG N-1003 (which I have a Verve LP replica CD from 2002).

    I smell a discographical messup here: The third part of the suite "Jungla" is in 6/8 time - maybe this part was re-recorded at the end of the session and given the track title "6/8" and a new master number but used replacing the original take of "Jungla". 

    Musically, that part is pretty much identical to the parts titled "6/8" in both "Afro Cuban Jazz Suites" that Chico O'Farrill recorded for Verve in 1950 and 1952.

  5. Hearing aid a help?

    in Audio Talk

    Posted · Edited by mikeweil

    1 hour ago, sidewinder said:

    Wax removal by a specialist with one of those ultrasonic gizmos would be worth trying, IMO.

    That may or will result in improved hearing but will not show you any deficiencies compared to your hearing capacities at age twenty without suffering from rock concert PAs.

    2 hours ago, Dan Gould said:

    I agree with Mike that consulting an audiologist is the best course, but in the States now, decent quality hearing aids are available "over the counter" (or seemingly mostly "over the internet").  A smart deregulation move IMO though they are not recommended for anything past "moderate" hearing loss.

    I tried one of those without satisfying  results. Modern hearing aids prescribed by a doctor and adjusted by an audiologist will be customized to improve your hearing in the frequency ranges affected - those intenet gadgets cannot do that.

  7. Harpsichords! Favorite Players, Recordings, Styles . . .

    in Classical Discussion

    Posted · Edited by mikeweil

    Probably my top favourite male harpsichord player is Skip Sempé, born in New Orleans but moved to Europe for advanced studies and stayed. I can recommend any of his solo or duo harpsichord recordings, but these stand out (the first two were reissued with differerent covers:

    MC01MzU3LmpwZWc.jpeg

    MC01MDY3LmpwZWc.jpeg

    MDgtNDI0MS5qcGVn.jpeg

    OTAtODE5Ni5qcGVn.jpeg

    NzUtNDIwNC5qcGVn.jpeg

    He linked several videos of his playing on his webpages: https://paradizo.org: https://www.youtube.com/user/CapriccioStravagante/videos

    If I could take only one Scarlatti disc to the desert island, it would be the one above!

  8. Hearing aid a help?

    in Audio Talk

    Posted · Edited by mikeweil

    You all should consult a doctor and get an accurate survey of your hearing deficiencies. It 's not just the volume that's reduced. With my ears, e.g. there is a loss of 20-30%  in the perception of high frequencies that makes it difficult to understand spoken language as I do not hear certain consonants any more, like "s" or "f", and no longer hear the overtones or the rings of cymbals etc. I know the music and what I do not hear anymore! At least without a hearing aid.

    Gheorge - try a hearing aid - you might hear things you never heard before, like the ring of cymbals that you miss on recordings (although I agree with you that drums are too low in volume on most recordings). You simply cannot feel high frequencies in your body!

    Hearing deficiencies develop slowly and you get used to them without noticing what you do not hear when you first hear a new recording. I thought my speakers were getting old until I got my hearing aid and all the treble was still there - I just couldn't hear it as well as before.

  13. Harpsichords! Favorite Players, Recordings, Styles . . .

    in Classical Discussion

    Posted · Edited by mikeweil

    Here's an appetizer, Willism Babell's transcription of a Händel opera aria  that shows pretty well what you can do. The player, Alexander von Heissen, is a rising star on the scene  I witnessed his exams concert at the Frankfurt music university a year ago and have a ticket for his concert at the city's biggest venue next week.

     

     

    The man who built this copy of a Ruckers instrument happens to have his workshop in a 18th century house in Frankfurt where my grandparents used to live, btw.

  20. Harpsichords! Favorite Players, Recordings, Styles . . .

    in Classical Discussion

    Posted

    9 hours ago, T.D. said:

    This is a really deep subject which I'm not qualified to answer (not being a big harpsichord listener).

    Maybe best to visit a classical forum. There you could find threads of scores of pages devoted solely to Bach WTC harpsichord recommendations, for instance.

    My experienc with classical forums is that they are dominated by music lovers that prefer performances on modern piano and know little about harpsichord performance or are even opposed to it.

    7 hours ago, HutchFan said:

    Perhaps.  But this thread is in the Classical section of this forum.  And it's primarily Classical music that I was hoping to discuss.

    Okay, I will try to do my best and explain some about the history of the instrument and the approaches to intrerpreting the music. It's a complex but intriguing subject.

  23. Harpsichords! Favorite Players, Recordings, Styles . . .

    in Classical Discussion

    Posted

    I think we need to distinguish between modern harpsichords as built in the early 20th century as used by Landowska and in latter day pop and jazz, and baroqoue music played on historic instruments or copies, since these are totally different musical worlds. I will startanother thread.

    The excellent Rameau disc is an example for the latter is an example for historially informed practice.

  25. What vinyl are you spinning right now??

    in The Vinyl Frontier

    Posted · Edited by mikeweil

    8 hours ago, soulpope said:

    Excellent ....

    It really is. I had not listened to this since I bought it and pulled it to find out whether I need the Byas Mosaic set. But it will be hard to gather the funds for it this year.

    7 hours ago, Gheorghe said:

    The only downer for me with those old studio records was or is, that you don´t hear the drummer recorded properly. 

    I understood more of what Bird and Co are doing when I heard live albums like "One Night at Birdland" where you hear Art Blakey really loud, and it makes you to understand the music much better if you hear what the drummer does. 
    I mean Savoy had them all, Max Roach, Kenny Clark, Shadow Wilson, Art Blakey and who was there, but you don´t HEAR them. I think someone recommended to me the Black Lion Byas Album "Anthropology" where you hear the band better. 

    Engineers back then had the problem that bass drum kicks could throw the cutting stylus out of the groove. That is why they held back or were muffled. And that is how it became a standard in the recording business. I agree with you. Drummers and rhythm are so underrated.

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