Breathing buildings

In a De Chirico-like town, people emptied by vacation frenzy, I noticed these during my dog-peeing trips... some are ancient - dating from XV/XVI century, others are simply old, replicas or new, industrial... but ALL seems a gothic mouth allowing ancient buildings to breath.

They also remind me of obscure, ancient alchemic meanings, but maybe it's something book hinted, as I'm (shamelessly) re-reading H.P. Lovecraft these days;-)

I like'em all...

Records appraisal and pricing

Books about records pricing

Useful.

Last Shop Standing - a book by Graham Jones

An often hilarious investigation into the music industry's suicidal decline.

Author Jones takes a trip around Britain seeking survivors of an industry ravaged by newspaper promotional giveaways, supermarkets sellind CDs and the impact of computer downloads.

The result: an entertaining tale of encounters with shops both good and bad - one in Bolton the worst, apparently - and customers so outrageous, that they defy belief.

There are revelations about Van Morrison's ever-grumpy relationship with indie shops, a personal appearance by Billy Bragg to promote his album "Life's a Riot" that ended with no sales and one terse observation that it's "Just a pile of shite", and a Brummie customer who believed that if he bought a Japanese Sinatra pressing, it would feature Frank actually singing in Japanese. Brilliant!

Indeed.

Volume

The gain-control truly is music-lover best friend, as it is the audiophile fearful Golem!

Let me better explain this: when yesterday evening I was enjoying an hour of music, i.e. "Reckoning" by Ani di Franco on a nicely recorded double-disk, I noticed in the quiet evening how the playback volume was deeply affecting the music and its trueness.

The resolution, when reaching the "right" loudness, was greatly enhanced and improved, all nuances in voice and its sibilants, down to studio noises and ambience, the guitar strings rattling at the peghead... ALL was much more elegant and true-to-life.

The easyness in enjoying music was something I missed a lot during the previous work-in-progress weeks at my studio, like I always exagerated the playback volume, always too high, wrong and NOT tailored to the kind of music I was listening to: in fact and not by chance, I never completely relaxed and/or enjoyed those quite tiring listenings.

I "knew" this like an illumination, yesterday evening... after purchasing the Thomas Mayer VT25/WE437/LCR preamp(s) with its high resolution Dave Slagle's TVC stepped volume, I learned and became conscious in appreciating the enormous difference an accurate volume setting makes to the overall beauty of a given listening session, while before, when using my old Marantz 7C preamp, the volume was almost fixed between nine and ten 'o clock, almost unaware of the disc which was on the turntable platter.

Something which wasn't "that" good!

Same feeling I have when I'm using my stock EMT 930st and Garrard Shindo 301... EMT's is much more forgiving (broadcasting quality, remember?!?!) and "medium" sounding - i.e. its character is slightly, yet definitely, "veiling" music differences and subtleties - an EMI disc sounds like a Decca, on 930st with its 155st RIAA, which is simply untrue.

With my 301 Shindo in slate plinth, well... any disc needs a different volume setting than the previous or the next one... furthermore, there are also differences between tracks on same side due to mikes placement/studio work/mixing and EVERY disc should (and do) sound different from each other, period!

The above and this apparently stupid topic - re-considering the importance of volume - makes a lot of difference when properly performed.

The average audiophile (and audio-store keeper) usually uses volume control to, for example, impress pals (and customers) with disco-like SPL, trying to correct a flawed system detail and harmonic retrival capabilities (lacking of quality) with higher and higher SPL (adding quantity) and the like.

It's - nothing more, nothing less - the old trick used in some cheap restaurants - i.e. - called a "trattoria" in my country: loads of so-so food, enormous dishes simply lacking that most welcome quality Italian cuisine is worldwide famous for.

Quantity vs. quality...

That's why, in so-so tuned audio system, an acoustic guitar seems to use ropes-like strings and the singer cavern-sized mouth;-) - BIG is easier than good, don't you?!?!

Maybe guilty is the poor quality of ancillary components and gears assemblying, BUT sometimes it's only poor fine-tuning, speakers positioning and... yes, volume control (mis)use.

In my system, which I'm slowly re-shaping, re-tuning to the new, so different music room I'm actually living with - saying nothing new, BUT not only a wall/brick/floor/ceiling enclosure, BUT a true audio component - the volume setting is my best friend, indeed, folks...

It's different music someway "clicking" with the room to reach a convincing reproduction of a performance, not a mess of sounds vomited by speakers to the (helpless) listener ears.

That's why I'm humbly hinting any "audiophile" to re-learn to use gain-control in their music systems, as a rite-of-passage, considering volume as a shaping-tool to reach a music-satisfying experience instead of a weapon to offend - i.e. ears, musical tastes, composers and their music, room.

Sax and the City

Yes, folks... yesterday evening I was like "possessed" by the spirit of Trane and Bird;-)

I arrived at The Room after dinner and, at last, in (almost) full Gotorama glory, I strongly felt the "need" for some sex... aehm, mean sax;-)

I began with a seldom heard John Surman "The road to St. Ives", followed by the fantastic, sadly unfamous "Journal Violone II" by Barre Philips (always with Surman), and "Thimar" by Anouar Brahem, with Dave Holland and John Surman... than needed more classic sax sounds...

... so, I got a sip of Steve Lacy's "Paris Blues" on Owl (WOWOWOWOW...) and finished the evening with another Owl wax, a Lee Koonitz and Michel Petrucciani's masterpiece titled "Toot Sweet"... the Owl recording sure has its BIG merits, but the sadness of thinking about how great was, IS, Petrucciani... how I miss him and his music!

This very disc sure represented the zenith of an extremely various, yet very sax-oriented musical evening.

It's almost amusing thinking in what conditions I (musically) lived for a couple of months, without my beloved Gotorama system... also one vinyl side makes me NOW content, but, like happened few hours ago, a three hours long listening session is light as a feather, it's like fresh air, unfatiguing, entertaining, pleasant, deeply satisfying.

A miracle... like music is... then I walked homebound in the fresh evening air - whistling "Goodbye, Pork-Pie Hat" theme - and the stars were bright;-)

Atelier du Triode: Italians do it better? A colourful bunch of classy tube gears

Atelier du Triode's site

These people seem to truly know their business: N.O.S. tubes, transformers and caps and resistors, and a dadaist approach really seldom seen.

Will meet them soon for a listen and will report, so... stay tuned!

Beautiful.

Happy birthday

Will sure sound silly to most of you, but... as it VERY seldom happens - if I'm correctly guessing, it already and previously happened two times only - find it worth quoting and writing about it.

After a short, yet nice, 100% computer and mobile-free vacation, I today had a very pleasant listening session at my new studio - aka The Room - after an IPod-only diet for weeks.

I hauled to the new studio only a small part of my vinyl records collection - i.e. some jazz and some newly bought items, still waiting to be put in alphabetical order - under proper file in my larger home collection - so my listenings are quite limited in choice, these summer days... nonetheless, I love this unesay situation, as I'm finding hidden treasures which I only listened once in eons.

This morning I wished to listen to some Don Cherry's music - namely "Brown Rice" from mid '70s - which I used to listen to and groove in a lot, decades ago.

I found the shelf and, with above mentioned "Brown Rice", I also picked up some more obscure Don's stuffs - "Mu" - part 1 and 2 - on Byg Actuel label, a live on Wergo, a Blue Note titled "Music for Improvisers", "Orient" double-lp on Charly records and... a SteepleChase disc, formerly a Johnny Dyani Quartet featuring Don Cherry, Dudu Pukwana and Makaya Ntshoko, titled "Song for Biko".

I guess I only listened to this very disc once, so, like it was a brand new, freshly purchased wax, I put on the EMT 930st's platter and prepared to give it a curious listen... and... WOW, folks: what a disc!

Also the recording is VERY SteepleChase's quality, as I already appreciated several times with some Chet Baker, John Tchicai and Archie Sheep's vinyls I own: a broad soundtstage, superb dynamics and detail: goose-bumps a go-go!

Johnny Dyani's double bass is larger than life, BIIIG, DEEEEP sounding and the music is very reminiscent of some Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath Ogun's discs from early '70s... very South-African with its "kwela" folk-tinted melodies, but so fresh and intriguing and surprising new to be a timeless humble treasure.

The drummer, M. Ntshoko - also a fantastic player - was a Dollar Brand's group musician and his polyrhythmic textures are just amazing, always so fluid and relaxed, still keeping a sense of drama... its feeling reminded me of Louis Moholo, one of my most beloved drummers ever, always coming from South Africa and often appearing on superb Ogun's discs.

Their - Moholo and Ntshoko's - drumming isn't jazz, but much, MUCH more ancient sounding stuff... almost alien-sounding, always changing and ready to build and change a climax with a cymbal caressing... simply wonderful!

On first track, "Wish for Sunshine" and on second, that "Song for Biko", the quartet is truly swinging: Don Cherry's cornet keeps the voice I learned to appreciate in the years... it's Ornette Coleman and ethnic, Codona/ECM's sound and universal music... but, most of all, it's Don's VERY own voice.

A truly superb disc which deserved this fortuitous (re)discovery... it sounded so "proper" and "right", today and I enjoyed it a lot.

... and, Zen-like, or simply by chance - is it the same?!?! - I read on liner notes: "Recorded July 18th, 1978"...

... so: happy birthday!

Splash!

The Salmon's Choice

Completely unlogical, like a salmon swimming against the river stream, it's that so definite, strong feeling of "being 120 percent right" when I apply more than "logic", "instinct".

It's like that "quality" pouring from this or that object or gear or, simply, a choice, an idea - both aesthetic and technical - be sort-of DNA-hinted more than a fruit of guessing and thoughts: the best ideas come, like blossoming in the mind, naturally.

It recently happened with the new R-120/WE 171A 5W amplifier: it's an unassuming, old-timey looking, little gizmo built around one pair of those sought-after irons, as used in WE 91A classic Mirrophonic amplifiers, using WE 300B in its classic way: the Western Electric 171A.

WE 300B triode needs an 80mA plate voltage, BUT, measuring and carefully tracing the square waves at the oscilloscope, the 171A weren't at their VERY best with 300B... oh, oh?!?!?! The King is naked;-)

Some homeworks and tubes data-sheets browsing, plus the fortunate availability of a N.O.S. quartet, well worth some years of music and sonic bliss, of R-120 triodes, made the 2+2=4, indeed... and now, me and my friend Gianni didn't read it on a magazine, pals;-))) - being thirsty and hungry of searching isn't something to be copy-catted: IT IS, pure and easy as breathing.

R-120 makes also an awesome Fivre single-plate 2A3 to sound a tad forgiving in micro-detail, still being among the very best sounding (little) triodes ever conceived: AD1, 45, 50, RE-604, 71A, 10Y... then there are the large triodes outsiders: 212, 849, 851, RE-241, 211, 845, TH-100 and the like, BUT I'm talking about intimate, homely use... not power-plant giant tubes.

So, using some instinct, first, the 60mA needed to drive R-120 proved to be, both sonically and at the oscilloscope with a BEAUTIFUL square wave clearly showing an easier load for the old 171A, and a truly amazing choice: low end richness, smoothness and details and soundstage depth 2D4... ALL is here!

A true little monster delivering more than 5W: 5,000.00 mW;-)))

Also the painstackingly choosen WE wire resistors, the yellow caps, the Cornell Dubilier only paper in oil, so important, when used properly, to add a "magic" to any sound, un-mechanical, smooth and ear-friendly... like in a haute-cuisine recipe... too much an ingredient, also the best available, can ruin a prelibate dish... measure, loving components choosing and listenings.

The little copper chassis amp was a winner when still on the work-bench... remember? The salmon, the unlogical choice of NOT using a WE 300B, BUT a seldom seen R-120 triode with the most classic of 300B irons ever... the Real McCoy, used "wrong"!

I love our passion, folks... and being a salmon!