Noise, noisy music and music

This early morning while walking in the desert, uncrowdy park, peeing the dog, it arrived to my ears a very annoying - awful I'd say - distant noise - i.e. a public bus accelerating with a roaring, so alien sound if compared to peaceful birds singing in the park heavenly sounds.

You'll agree that some definite noises are utterly obnoxious and badly digested by our ears: burglars, aircrafts and the like...

The above brought me to think to loud musical signals reproduced through my music system: when I was younger I remember I was turning volume control quieter when some loud distorted electric guitars or heavy climaxes or extremely low notes were happening, fearful to "offend";-) or "damage" the speakers, amp or even the cartridge, so "baaaaad" was the music!

During the years, the situation changed: when I was - say - listening to some Deep Purple or Ten Years After disc or even to Hans Reichel's;-), instead of lowering volume setting, I began to feel much better as the system was improving in every detail.

I learned that it wasn't me a silly young guy being fearful of distorted signals-through-the-speakers, BUT (once the owner and user of) a lesser system adding distorsion to distorsion, so being unnatural AND unmusical, also in these weird passages.

I'm now able - at present days - to enormously enjoy also the wildest, ugly music (or the loudest/heaviest orchestral or percussive climax) with a sense of easiness and relief, never, EVER feeling the distorsion as painful or disturbing.

All parameters in my music system vastly changed in the years from my teens, first system... what didn't changed is my almost perverse and physical hate for noises... roaring buses, for first;-)

... but at home, also one of the weirdest disk I own, actually a CD-R of Japanese (!!!) crickets in the countryside, masterfully recorded by Shinichi Tanaka-san and used as a system stress-test, "passes" harmoniously in Gotorama... annoying natural noises, correctly rendered, at least.