Audio Flynn Posted October 18, 2003 Share Posted October 18, 2003 I have been a critic of using heavy metal or techno for critical listeneing of components. Vocal, Accoustic instruments, drums, and amplified guitar are ones i can relate to live through my being in the room with bands over the years. One CD that has me a bit baffled is the newest Peter Gabriel CD, "UP". I have been listening to Gabriel in low fi since 1976 with the origonal Genisis band. I have heard him live 3 times including last fall tour with the Blind Boys of Alabama. -------------- I find this guy to be a perfectionist in all aspects of music writing and production. In keeping with PWK as I remember; he uses a Bosendorfer piano; a stable accoustic instrument to find in the mix. And it does sound very natural. My Chorus IIs are next to a piano in the living room. It does not sound as good as the recorded Bosendorfer. Baffling thing is the bass pedal "synthesiser" he uses; in addition to Tony Levin on the bass guitar. The bass pedal sound is quite amazing! It makes 16-18 watt peaks of LK-48 sound like a subwoofer. It makes the short list of techno CDs eligible for critical listening in my book. Has anyone else have an opinion of this CD or other Peter Gabriel software Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben. Posted October 18, 2003 Share Posted October 18, 2003 I'm quite fond of his previous studio effort "US". Produced by Daniel Lanois, there is a lot going on in the mid- and background. The track "Washing of the Water" is a special moment. Lanois is one of my favorite producers ever. He is very good at creating textures using a wide variety of sounds. "So", also produced by Lanois, is a bit more sparse, but still excellent. Other albums of note include his own "For the Beauty of Wynona" and Dylan's "Time Out of Mind". As for other "techno" stuff, the band Soul Coughing is very interesting. Bjork's recordings are personal favorites, both musically and production-wise. Portishead's self-titled debut blows my mind to this day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkrop Posted October 18, 2003 Share Posted October 18, 2003 If you are defining techno as rave style dance hall music I agree. However if you rule out synthesized music, I disagree. I think bands like Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk can be used for showing off one's system or critical listening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted October 18, 2003 Share Posted October 18, 2003 The more the music coming out of the system pleases me, the less critical I listen. It seems I fall into a critical listening mode when something is amiss and I can't put my finger on it. With a new piece of gear, I may listen critically for a few days, but if my ears/brain can adjust and accept what their hearing as "pleasent" and "satisfying" -- I can easily migrate to "just listening". I don't have any experience with Techno, or most Metal for that matter. However, I do believe that if a person listens to material that is primarily made up of amplified instruments, they can focus on building a system that accrurately reproduces the tone and timbre generated by the amplification sources. For example, I'm very familiar with the sound of Gibsons and Fenders being played through Marshalls and Fenders. Trying to recreate this sound in my room is fairly different than the criteria someone else uses who is trying to reproduce the sounds of unamplifed instruments. When I say "amplified instruments", I am primarily thinking of solid body instruments that lack much of the harmonic information found in "acoustic" instruments. There is a big difference in the sound of a Gibson CL-20 and a Les Paul, or a Grand Piano and a Rowland electric piano. Peter Gabriel's recordings sound good coming out of a 2" paper cone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audio Flynn Posted October 18, 2003 Author Share Posted October 18, 2003 I put "techno" in quotes because i do not know how i would like to label the genre. I certainly think European synthesizer music works as a label. Includes Eno, Yes, ELP, Genesis, and Kraftwerk; and so on. Not Rave at all. "Peter Gabriel's recordings sound good coming out of a 2" paper cone." Dean is that good or bad? I will interpret as good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tubinhard Posted October 18, 2003 Share Posted October 18, 2003 Oh yeah, very good. If all recordings sounded as good as his -- you wouldn't need vinyl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synthfreek Posted October 18, 2003 Share Posted October 18, 2003 FYI-The debut Portishead LP is titled Dummy and it is quite good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben. Posted October 20, 2003 Share Posted October 20, 2003 ---------------- On 10/18/2003 6:51:45 PM synthfreek wrote: FYI-The debut Portishead LP is titled Dummy and it is quite good. ---------------- Duh- brain fart. Their 2nd album is self-titled, but I was thinking of Dummy. Saw them live in support of the 2nd release. One of the best shows I've seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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