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Jim Alfredson
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Posts posted by Jim Alfredson
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May 21!!! Smithsonian!!!!!! I'm there!!!!!!!!!
Return engagement:
Actually it's the first engagement. The original date was set for Oct 2013 and then the sequester happened and government shutdown. This was our first opportunity to reschedule.
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organissimo is heading east! Check out our dates in Marlboro, Syracuse, & Rochester NY, Philly & Harrisburg PA, and Washington DC at the Smithsonian! I hope to see some board members at these shows.
Wed - May 20
7:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Falcon Theater - Marlboro, NY
1348 Rte 9w
Marlboro, NY 12542
Ph: (845) 236-7970
http://www.liveatthefalcon.com/
Thu - May 21
5:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Smithsonian Take 5 Concert Series
8th and F NW
Washington, DC 20004
Ph: (202) 633-1000
http://americanart.si.edu/calendar/index.cfm
Fri - May 22
11:30 PM - 2:00 AM
Chris' Jazz Cafe
1421 Sansom St
Philadelphia, PA 19110
(215) 568-3131
Sat - May 23
3:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Harrisburg Art Festival
A matinee show at this family-friendly hometown event.
Riverfront Park in Harrisburg, PA
http://www.jumpstreet.org/events/artsfest/
Sun - May 24
7:00 PM - 10:00 PM
River City Blues Club
819 S Cameron St
Harrisburg, PA 17104
Tue - May 26
8:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Wescott Theater, Syracuse NY
524 Westcott St
Syracuse, NY 13210
Ph: (315) 299-8886
http://www.thewestcotttheater.com/
Wed - May 27
8:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Flour City Station, Rochester NY
170 East Ave
Rochester, NY 14604
Ph: (585) 413-5745
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I've been addicted to Guild Wars 2 lately. Before that it was Wasteland 2, which was a lot of fun.
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It's indicative of the Fatar keybed that everyone is using these days. Nord uses the same one as does the Crumar Mojo. It is what it is.
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That's cool!
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I have been playing Fridays at a restaurant in the Detroit area lately. Not every Friday, but several. And we have to play so quiet that we are often drowned out by the regular conversations of the tables near us. So yes... we can play quietly if that's what is required.
Hardly any organissimo gigs are miked with a PA and all that. We play acoustically in the room, albeit with two electric instruments (guitar and organ). -
We raised about $700. Not too shabby!
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It's definitely an estimation based on the dynamic range of vinyl which is only about 65db, maybe 70db if you really push it. Remember, bit depth is all about dynamic range. The dynamic range of 16bit audio is 96db. The dynamic range of 24bit is 144db. And remember that the decibel scale is logarithmic. So the difference between 96db and 144db is tremendous.
The sampling rate determines the frequency range. Vinyl can actually reproduce supersonic frequencies above human hearing but that doesn't mean the needle, the phono pre, the amp, or the speakers can do so. -
I dunno; the writer failed to sway me. Even if what he writes is correct, his sneering tone makes me think his mind has preconceived notions.
Take this for example: "The CD-quality standard—which Young and HRA proponents say isn't sufficient—wasn't adopted randomly. It's not a number plucked out of thin air. It's based on sampling theory and the actual limits of human hearing. To the human ear, audio sampled above 44.1 kHz/16-bit is inaudibly different."
But I remember reading that within a few years of the CD's introduction, people thought 16-bit was inadequate. That's why even vinyl remasterings in the '90's touted 20- and 24-bit mastering.
Yes, but that increased bit depth was in the mixing / production stage, not the final output stage. The bit depth of vinyl is essentially about 12bits if one were to convert vinyl specs into the digital world. Whenever you are processing digital audio it's always wise to use a higher bit-rate but for the final product 16bits gives you a theoretical 96db of dynamic range, which is more than enough for almost all music. Even the most dynamic orchestral recording usually has a swing of around 70db before the noise floor of the venue, the microphones, the preamps, and everything else starts to become a factor.
A sample rate of 44.1kHz is also more than enough. I've done a lot of experiments. I even released a Blu-Ray version of my THEO album with stereo mixes in 24bit / 96kHz but honestly they don't sound any better than the 16bit / 44.1kHz mixes on the regular CD. As I mentioned in another thread, the low end on the 16bit mixes is a bit more "solidified" which is something 16bit does for some reason. It's not necessarily better, just slightly different. The cool part about the Blu-Ray is the surround mixes, imo.
The argument that higher sampling rates result in more detail has never made any sense. It also goes against human physiology. Our ears can only hear up to 20kHz but most people don't even have that much upper end left. Most of us can only hear up to 16kHz or so due to hearing damage or simply age. Then there are the microphones that are used to capture the music. The majority of microphones drop off precipitously at 20kHz. Even some of the best only go to about 22kHz or so. There are a few measurement mics that go up to 30kHz but the majority of microphones in the average recording studio's mic locker do not capture much above 20kHz. Most dynamic mics, which are often used on drums, horns, and vocals, usually roll off steeply at 15kHz! And let's not forget the mic preamps that must amplify the minuscule electrical signal from the mic. They too are rarely linear beyond 20kHz... because why should they be? We can't hear that stuff anyway! And if the microphone isn't picking it up due to it's limitations and the preamp isn't amplifying it due to it's limitations, then how is it going to be on the recording? ESPECIALLY older, pre-digital recordings! The frequency response of even the best, well-maintained tape machine back then was barely over 25kHz.
The upper frequency limit of 96kHz audio according to the Nyquist theorem is 48kHz. That's over twice what our ears can actually hear. For 192kHz it's 96kHz!!!! It's completely pointless. It would be like a TV manufacturer making a TV that can output colors in the ultraviolet and soft x-ray parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. I don't care how good your eyes are, you cannot trump the physical bandwidth of your senses!
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As I said, I'll buy that people can hear it when they present proof.
Either way, if you have to listen that hard to hear it, what's the point? Sounds more like straining than it does listening, IMO.
Not at all. It's akin to learning about color theory in painting. If you don't know theory then you really don't know what you're looking at. Notice this has nothing to do with appreciation of the artwork in question, but rather understanding the analytical side of it. Likewise, there are cues to listen for in lossy compression formats; it's not about straining but about knowing where to 'look'. For example, lossless 16bit and 24bit sound remarkably similar but for some reason 16bit digital tends to solidify the bass in a certain way. But you don't really notice it unless you compare the two side by side. For lossy compression, it's really about the high-end. There's an 'air' and shimmer in the high end that is often times lost during conversion. But it depends on the quality of the algorithm. That said, for all intents and purposes 320kbps is very very good and damn near indistinguishable from 16bit wav.
Check this plug-in out: http://www.sonnoxplugins.com/pub/plugins/products/codec/codectoolbox.html
It allows the mix engineer to audition different codecs in real-time and then make mix decisions based on the results. It's a very handy tool that theoretically can be used to optimize the audio for the intended format.
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Just listened, Jim.
Really enjoyed the album. You can hear the Genesis (I'd go further and say 'Lamb' era Genesis) inspiration. Which is not a criticism in any shape or form. I've long felt the critical insistence on the eternally new leads to all sorts of avenues that have only just started to be opened up being left behind as the next stylistic fashion sweeps in.
Strong songs, lots of the key changes I love from the original era and some great soloing.
You can be proud of it.
Thank you very much. Yes... The Lamb was a huge inspiration on my musical development. I lived and breathed that album my junior and senior years of high school. And I also agree that many paths were left unexplored in music and I've been attempting to discover them for years, including my work with organissimo.
I posted a full song on YouTube so people can get a feel for the record.
The video is also on Facebook via this link. If you click on that and SHARE it on FB, you're automatically entered to win a $100 gift card from Amazon. No strings attached, it's as easy as clicking "SHARE". The gift card will be given away on the date of release, which is Jan 27th, 2015.
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The test has to be very strictly controlled and set up. If there is anything more than a 0.5db difference in volume between the two samples, that will be perceived and could skew the results. Also, 320kbps sounds drastically different than 256kbps and is much, much harder to distinguish. The playback software must be taken into account as well. Some software is better at decoding mp3s than others.
That said, there is a difference if you know where to listen. -
It's the annual bump! Check out the first post for some free holiday music.
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I just saw this so I apologize for the late reply.
Pretty much any USB stick will work. The files that the SK saves and loads are very small so even a 4GB stick is more than enough.The video you linked is not me but it's a good explanation of how to use the file system. The USB port on the SK is 2.0 I believe.
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We always had turkey growing up. Every year since my wife and I married and bought our home, we've hosted my siblings, their spouses, and children (I have five sisters, a brother, and a step-sister). The first year or two we also had turkey until my wife asked the profound question, "Why are we just having Thanksgiving redux?" Since then, we've fixed roasted leg of lamb along with the appropriate side-dishes (lots of root vegetables prepared in various ways). It took some convincing initially for my siblings to break away from the moldy tradition of turkey, turkey, turkey but now it's become a new tradition that everyone looks forward to each year.
Which reminds me; time to order the leg! -
I bought it as a download-- I need instant gratification-- but can't figure out where the download button they refer to is. (Thought I'd post this here as well as on the website in case Jim reads it here first. )
Had a gig tonight and didn't get your email until late. There should be a download link the email from Big O that serves as a receipt. If not, please let me know.
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I was supposed to play there on January 15th but I guess Pete Fallico is pulling his series from there (the one that booked Joey D). Bummer.
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Thank you for the kind words.
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Hi folks,
From now until January 7th, 2015 receive 10% off any order by entering the coupon code HOLIDAY2014 at the Big O Store! All CDs and merchandise included! It's the prefect time to give the gift of music. The new organissimo T-shirts are there as well as CDs from yours truly.
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I believe it was Stefan Wood who was recently arguing with me that you can't build home studios that rival, or at least come adequately close enough, to professional studios. I know folks who have done it, and have read about many others. If you have the time, patience, and money it can be done.
Honestly, it doesn't even take that much money these days. It used to be you had to spend $3000+ just to get ONE good condenser microphone. None of the mics I use cost more than $500 new and I certainly didn't pay retail for any of them. And do-it-yourself acoustical treatment is dirt cheap.
I am lucky to be good friends with a local studio owner (Glenn Brown) who has all the great outboard analog toys that make everything sound amazing and the ears to use them. I've learned everything I know about engineering from him. But we didn't really use much of that expensive outboard gear on THEO. I mixed it "in the box" (computer) and he used his regular mastering chain on it. That was it. There were a couple of things we fixed in the box and I had to purchase some plug-ins to do it right, but he guided that process and the results speak for themselves. The record sounds amazing. All dynamic processing, all the effects, all the EQ was done in the box except for the final mastering compression and limiting.
Even the piano is "in the box". I've had so many people ask me what piano I recorded and it's actually the Pianoteq plug-in.
BTW, Scott... we've talked before about Roger Waters and Amused To Death. Knowing you dig that album, I think you'd like THEO.
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You made a Prog record in your basement.
Yeah, I know. It's crazy. The drums sound HUGE and they were recorded in a 12ft x 20ft 1970's wood-paneled rec room with 7ft ceilings. It's amazing what you can do if you have the patience and knowledge. A lot of it was recorded on the road in hotel rooms as well and all the bass was done by Gary in either Los Angeles or Florida on his laptop with a cheap two channel interface and ProTools LE.
Don't get me wrong, I like listening to vinyl but I recognize it's really only about nostalgia and not sound quality. I think surround sound is much more engaging and exciting and even regular digital stereo sounds far superior.
R.I.P., Mr. Alfredson...
If that comment doesn't have the wolves chomping on your ass it's only because they fear you as the owner of this site.
*edit*
Didn't mean to discount the rest of that excellent post, but I need to think a little more on the subject before offering up anything intelligent in response.
Suffice it to say, I share your concerns.
Nobody needs to fear having an opinion about sound. However, as subjective as sound is the specs for modern digital don't lie.
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If the end user is still listening to the music and thoroughly enjoying it, does the consumption habit somehow change the entire dynamic?
For the content creators it certainly has, yes. You cannot make a living on streaming royalties, even if you're Pharrell.
http://mediaor.com/post/104921631679/martin-bandier-us-streaming-rates-are
John Legend’s All Of Me, which has a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Solo Performance, was streamed 55 million times on Pandora during the first three months of 2014, said Bandier. That generated $3,400 in publisher and songwriter royalties.
Meanwhile, Pharrell Williams’ Happy had 43 million Pandora plays over the period, and $2,700 in publisher and songwriter royalties.
We live in an amazing time where someone like me can produce an album like THEO (which strained my capabilities in many regards... musically, technically, technologically, etc.) in a basement studio. That's incredible and inspiring to me. But there's the flip side; who is going to hear it? And more to the point, who is going to pay to hear it? I am not only competing with my contemporaries any time I release an album but I'm also competing with 90+ years of recordings by long-dead artists (or artists long past their prime) and all the other entertainment choices that compete for people's hard-earned money. And when making the decision to spend money a lot of people opt for free streaming or paying the miniscule monthly fees.
Vinyl at least presents a revenue source, even though the format should have died. Don't get me wrong, I like listening to vinyl but I recognize it's really only about nostalgia and not sound quality. I think surround sound is much more engaging and exciting and even regular digital stereo sounds far superior.
I certainly don't know what the answer is. And I don't even know if more consumption is a good thing. The reason I know a handful of albums backwards and forwards is because they are all I had for years and years. The intimacy from those experiences definitely shaped who I am as a musician. Does endless consumption lead to endless dilution? Is that a good or bad thing? I don't know.
organissimo LIVE in Syracuse, Rochester, Philly, Harrisburg, DC +
in Live Shows & Festivals
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I think that was 2006. Long time ago. We no longer have Peaches in the repertoire, since we've been through two guitarists since then. We'll get it back in the setlist one of these days.
It will be great to see you again!