silly self-deprecating pop-punk-noise thing. musically, this is pretty tight. neat bassline. the percussion, i clearly remember, was tapped out onto a wood desk with two bic-style pens. try it. it's fun.
well, actually, i should add a few more words because it otherwise seems rather pointless.
i was at the time talking about starting a punk band with a friend of mine, named matt. there was actually a song recorded with matt on vocals and bass and myself on guitar (i can't remember the name of it, and don't have a copy of it). the name of the project was meant to be "second class citizens", with an acronym stylized as 2CC. nothing else came of it.
but i had initially written this song for that purpose and demoed it out to show him. that kind of explains why it's different than the other stuff on these early demos.
eventually, it became clear that the project wasn't developing, so i just added my own vocals. as the song was meant for matt to sing on, i didn't have any thematic concept attached to it. so, what i did was take random words out of the dictionary. it was honestly just a close-your-eyes-pick-a-page-pick-a-word process. then, i added the chorus in reaction to the random dictionary process.
....except the bridge. that's an nwa reference.
i guess you could maybe pull something accidentally insightful out of it regarding my view of lyrics in mainstream punk (or grunge) at the time. it could be interpreted as a parody, but i wasn't consciously thinking of it like that.
recorded in march, 1997. remastered on nov 3, 2013.
Sunday, November 3, 2013
i wish you could hear how good these phones sound, though....
....i just compared them to a newer model of sennheisers i got last year and they're just not on the same level...
when i put the 440-IIs back on, all i could think was "why did i ever take them off?".
it was like taking a pair of ear plugs out.
like switching from grey-scale to colour.
like walking out of the city and taking a breathe of fresh air...
like, the way they're able to separate the fuzz guitar in the middle section of mountains made of steam so that it's directly harmonic to the guitar part is...it's almost impossible, really....there's *no* blur....
and, then when the bow comes in, i can clearly hear the buzz on the fucking string. spectacular!
i'm wondering if the model name is a coincidence or a hint.
something about these sennheisers, though, is that they don't have those big muffy ear pieces - and that's an asset, as i find they muffle. all the new phones come with all this noise cancelling stuff that fucks with the signal. no. i want clear, crisp, perfect reproduction...
about five or six years ago, i picked up a pair with some funny digital processing in them that reduces more or less to a boost on the high and low; it was meant to compensate for mp3 compression, and it did give the sound a nice boost through an mp3 player. but, they were impossible for mastering. that's what i'm trying to avoid.
but the market has changed. back in the 80s and 90s, people bought high-end headphones to listen to record player and cd player signals through high end amps. so the focus was on reproducing the signal exactly. that's sort of rare nowadays; the market now is for mp3 players, laptops, djs...
...and because the sources suck, the phones companies have come up with all these digital tricks to try and make their product sound better. basic reproduction is a niche market, now.
....i just compared them to a newer model of sennheisers i got last year and they're just not on the same level...
when i put the 440-IIs back on, all i could think was "why did i ever take them off?".
it was like taking a pair of ear plugs out.
like switching from grey-scale to colour.
like walking out of the city and taking a breathe of fresh air...
like, the way they're able to separate the fuzz guitar in the middle section of mountains made of steam so that it's directly harmonic to the guitar part is...it's almost impossible, really....there's *no* blur....
and, then when the bow comes in, i can clearly hear the buzz on the fucking string. spectacular!
i'm wondering if the model name is a coincidence or a hint.
something about these sennheisers, though, is that they don't have those big muffy ear pieces - and that's an asset, as i find they muffle. all the new phones come with all this noise cancelling stuff that fucks with the signal. no. i want clear, crisp, perfect reproduction...
about five or six years ago, i picked up a pair with some funny digital processing in them that reduces more or less to a boost on the high and low; it was meant to compensate for mp3 compression, and it did give the sound a nice boost through an mp3 player. but, they were impossible for mastering. that's what i'm trying to avoid.
but the market has changed. back in the 80s and 90s, people bought high-end headphones to listen to record player and cd player signals through high end amps. so the focus was on reproducing the signal exactly. that's sort of rare nowadays; the market now is for mp3 players, laptops, djs...
...and because the sources suck, the phones companies have come up with all these digital tricks to try and make their product sound better. basic reproduction is a niche market, now.
sent to sennheiser support (via online form)
sent to sennheiser support:
hi.
i've had a pair of hd 440-II's for about twenty years now. that's two thirds of my life. these 440-II's have followed me everywhere - from bus rides to high school in the 90s with a cassette player right into recording studios for mastering processes. every piece of music i've ever connected to or created has been heard through these phones.
after 20 years, they're getting a little shorted, and i feel it's time to replace them.
i would like to replace them with another set of 440-IIs. otherwise, the world would just sound entirely different. better specs, worse specs - it wouldn't matter. my recordings would all sound wrong; my favourite records would become alien. my universe would just implode in on itself...
yet, they appear to be discontinued. i am very distraught by this thought.
and, so, i have two questions:
1) do you have any hd 440-iis sitting around somewhere?
2) if not, what is the closest model?
if you end up answering (2), i would like to request that you take the time to run the question by some engineers that can answer it properly, rather than try and sell me on something. i'm not looking for the phones with the best specs, or the cheapest phones or any other such thing - i am looking for phones that can replace the 440-ii's with the least amount of variance.
thank you,
jessica
hi.
i've had a pair of hd 440-II's for about twenty years now. that's two thirds of my life. these 440-II's have followed me everywhere - from bus rides to high school in the 90s with a cassette player right into recording studios for mastering processes. every piece of music i've ever connected to or created has been heard through these phones.
after 20 years, they're getting a little shorted, and i feel it's time to replace them.
i would like to replace them with another set of 440-IIs. otherwise, the world would just sound entirely different. better specs, worse specs - it wouldn't matter. my recordings would all sound wrong; my favourite records would become alien. my universe would just implode in on itself...
yet, they appear to be discontinued. i am very distraught by this thought.
and, so, i have two questions:
1) do you have any hd 440-iis sitting around somewhere?
2) if not, what is the closest model?
if you end up answering (2), i would like to request that you take the time to run the question by some engineers that can answer it properly, rather than try and sell me on something. i'm not looking for the phones with the best specs, or the cheapest phones or any other such thing - i am looking for phones that can replace the 440-ii's with the least amount of variance.
thank you,
jessica
why does this model of headphones have to be discontinued? FUCK.
they're still kicking, somehow. but, they're dying a slow death and i need to replace them. i really, really, really want to replace them with the same model. even if i get something with drastically better specs, it's going to sound different, and it's going to throw me for a loop. these are literally the only headphones i've ever had to record with.
any headphone geeks out there reading this? suggestions for something that sounds similar? anybody happen to even have a pair?
sennheiser hd-440 IIs.
guess i'll look on ebay. but if you have a pair or know somebody that does....
they're still kicking, somehow. but, they're dying a slow death and i need to replace them. i really, really, really want to replace them with the same model. even if i get something with drastically better specs, it's going to sound different, and it's going to throw me for a loop. these are literally the only headphones i've ever had to record with.
any headphone geeks out there reading this? suggestions for something that sounds similar? anybody happen to even have a pair?
sennheiser hd-440 IIs.
guess i'll look on ebay. but if you have a pair or know somebody that does....
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