Well, dear readers, I must write these here notes in a hurry for I must get to bed at a reasonable hour. This entire past week I haven’t gone to bed before three in the morning, due to excessive listening to music, for which I bear full responsibility, oh, yes, for which I bear full responsibility, although what a bear has to do with responsibility I have no idea. I suppose there are responsible bears out there, though, although I haven’t personally met any.
Yesterday was a perfectly fine little day with no horrible things happening but no real miracles, so please, I hate to keep asking, but please keep sending those strongest most excellent vibes and xylophones for Major Miracles. I was up by ten after maybe six-and-a-half hours of sleep. Once up, I answered e-mails, did some work on the computer, and then got ready to mosey on over to Genghis Cohen for a lunch with dear reader Jeanne. We had a fun time with lots of chatter about this and that and also that and this. A lot of topics were discussed and, of course, we ate some food, too. Now, I’ve mentioned before, but the lunch chef at Genghis Cohen is not a patch on the butt cheeks of the evening chef (I think he gets there around five), so while everything was good, nothing was up to the usual Genghis Cohen nirvana. Of course I ordered the orange chicken (extra crispy) and the Kung Pao chicken and some green beans, and Jeanne ordered some vegetable moo-shoo, and I really didn’t know she wouldn’t be eating anything that I ordered save for some green beans. The orange chicken they brought was neither crispy or extra crispy and for the first time ever I sent it back – a moment later our server returned, sheepishly, with my extra crispy orange chicken – she’d brought me the wrong one. I ate nowhere near what I usually do and I left a lot of food that I chose not to take home with me.
I came back to the Valley and picked up some packages, then came home. One of the packages contained new speakers for the computer. I’ve had Harmon Kardon sound sticks, which are very cool looking and which sound okay – they had a huge, ugly subwoofer that sat underneath the kitchen table, although it really didn’t do much of anything. All this listening I’ve been doing made me realize I just wanted better speakers, so I began researching and came upon speakers I liked. There were two models and I opted for the cheaper set because the more expensive ones were bigger and would take up too much room. It took a while to discombobulate all the damn wires from the sound sticks, which is what I did first. Then I did the wiring for the new speakers – all very simple, and got the power plugged in and these use a USB cord and go right into the computer. I played a track and huge sound issued forth but I realized, surprisingly, that was the computer speakers – I’d never actually used them and you know what – they sounded better than the sound sticks. I had to go into sound preferences and choose the new speakers, and then I began listening.
Of course they sound completely different than the other speakers – they’re warm, full bodied, and spacious, but it really took some time for my ears to get used to them. One tiny problem is they say the tweeters should be at ear level and they aren’t. So, I ordered two little risers that tile the speaker slightly upward – those will be here on Sunday. Even just tilting it up myself made a difference – the high end was suddenly much nicer. As I listened to various things my ears acclimated to the new sound and thus far I am really enjoying these. They were not expensive and I had an Amazon gift card I’d completely forgotten about and credit to boot, so they actually cost nothing. If I ever reconfigure this table I might opt for the slightly larger ones, although these really do sound great.
I got the Andre Previn early 70s The Planets – many rave about it – I listened to the first two movements and while I’m enjoying the performance the sound is weird and tubby – and this is one of those high end masterings, which should sound amazing. I wonder what the non high end mastering sounds like? So, I think by now it’s safe for me to say that the Steinberg, for me, is the best, and boy does it sound great on these new speakers. Then I played some of the Colin Davis Sibelius symphonies. I immediately nuked the first, second, and seventh because the Ormandy is just so wonderful and as nice as these are they just don’t compare. I may reupload them at some point. But I’m really enjoying the other symphonies – he’s very good with this music and the orchestra is great. This set also has a lot of the smaller pieces Sibelius wrote, so they’re nice to have. But boy do I love this music. I also listened to Roy Harris’ famous third symphony – didn’t much care for it, and a William Schuman symphony that I also didn’t much care for, and then quite a few things by Gian Carlo Menotti that I was able to easily get to in the hall closet. I began with his ballet, Sebastian – it’s really great, and everything I heard was basically very much to my liking. I did find A Mall and the Night Visitors but I held off on listening because I’m getting a Blu-ray of the 1955 broadcast that just came out. Back when I was a kid, we watched it every year – don’t know if I saw the original in 1951 as I would have only been barely four years old, but I’m pretty sure I must have started watching it in 1953 or thereabouts. I always loved it back then so I’m curious to see it again after all these years.
Today, I’ll be up by nine, I’ll get ready, and then I’ll mosey on over to the recording studio – it’s the same studio where we did the vocals for Unsung Sherman Brothers and the cast album of Welcome to My World, although we’re in a different room this time. We’re there for six hours, and if I can last without eating, then I’ll go have a nice dinner after. If not, I’ll just come on home and relax.
Tomorrow is exactly the same and after we wrap we’ll all go out for a meal. Next week is all meetings and meals and, of course, Thanksgiving. I’m always invited to Barry and Cindy’s house, but they had to cancel at the last minute due to Cindy’s mom being ill. So, not sure what I’ll be doing now. If nothing comes up, I’ll just have a turkey sandwich and be done with it.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a recording session, eat, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What was your first stereo set up – what equipment did you have – was it separate components or all in one? And what was the most high end stereo equipment you ever had? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have new and improved speakers.