Thursday, December 24, 2015

i've decided to reboot the alter-reality back approximately four months, which is actually fast-forwarding it four months. instead of the alter-reality existing 18 years and four months in the past, it now exists a strict 18 years in the past. so, it is now dec 24, 1997 in the alter-reality. i'm going to switch back to the track that would exist on that date, which is inrisampled. the track will switch again on january 8, 2016 - which maps back to jan 8, 1998. i haven't checked to see if i'm in sync with leap years; i guess we'll find out...

there's a few reasons i'm doing this. see, i started creating the tracks i've been stuck on for months when i got a four-track for christmas in 1997. i'm now about to finish them over christmas, 2015. i like the symmetry in this.

and, the symmetry across the years is broadly useful, too. realigning the tracks to the weather will help me retrace them better.

i've also been stuck, and it's screwed with me in a broader sense. there were things i wanted to go over in this period that i've had to skip because i'm mixing the material i wanted to promote.

i kind of didn't want to ever do this, but the situation i find myself in right now suggests it makes a lot of sense. so, i'm throwing myself back. it's only four months...

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/inrisampled

i won't be posting further obligatories until i catch back up, which won't be until the end of april.

season 2


23-12-2015: headphone testing

tracks worked on in this vlog:
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj-2

i need to come online quickly post a reassessment of these phones.

when i first put them on, i realized they fit a little oddly but figured i'd get used to it. i walked around and did groceries and thought they sounded great - although they had an exaggerated bottom. when i took them home, that bottom got very muddy. i was sitting upwards the whole time i was testing them. i noticed that they seemed to fit my ears better if i twisted them forward, so the headband was on my forehead, or if i flipped the stereo around. i kind of concluded it was probably a factory defect, and they were meant to have the l and r on opposite sides - although they were wired correctly relative to the labels. i was getting a little remorse.

see, i got a $150 pair of headphones because i was hoping i could use them as a back up studio monitor. the testing i was doing suggested to me that this was a bad decision, and, worse, i'd have to flip the stereo to use them as walking phones. yuck, right.

i eventually got the idea tonight to lie down as i was listening to my 2001 record and everything immediately snapped into place. see, when you're lying down, you want to push the phones forward a little - the headband comes up on your forehead. so, the cups on the phones snapped in and the exaggerated bass disappeared.

so, it's almost like these phones have two settings. as walking phones, the bass is really pretty crazy. as lying down phones, they really balance out and actually sound very nice - not as nice as my very flat 440-IIs, but certainly an upgrade over my last pair of walking phones.

that's something that might be useful to point out about this model. these are sennheiser hd-449s. if you want them reasonably flat, you really have to listen to them lying down.

i'm going to try and mix with them tomorrow to see what happens. if i can use these as stereo backups, i will probably keep them solely for stereo backups and get a pair of $60 phones for walking that don't have these oval, noise isolation pads.

reacting to a review of the new sennheisers

you mentioned something about the ears.

i got a pair of these the other day, and was initially blown away not by the lack of mids but by the exaggerated bass. it was just way too much. what i eventually realized is that you have to push the phones forwards on your head to get them around your ears properly, and if you don't then the improper isolation can really make it sound like you're listening in a hollow cavern. the only way pushing your phones on your head like that makes any sense is if you're lying down.

if you really like an absurdly exaggerated bass, i guess they can work for you as walking phones. but, i'd really suggest that these phones are really only going to sound right if you listen to them on your back, and that applications are planned around that fact accordingly.