the guitar loop is taken from a popular nirvana song, whereas most of the building sound pasted on top is from civ 2. no real message here. just a particularly savvy squirrel that's getting ready for winter by building some kind of fortress.
created in the fall of 1997.
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/about-a-squirrel-2
Saturday, November 9, 2013
skaters (original album mix)
the original version of this track, along with a write-up, is over here:
jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/skaters
this version is sped up a little bit and has some keyboard sequencing added to it but is otherwise pretty similar.
recorded in jan, 1998.
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/skaters-1998-archived-112-kbps-mp3
jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/skaters
this version is sped up a little bit and has some keyboard sequencing added to it but is otherwise pretty similar.
recorded in jan, 1998.
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/skaters-1998-archived-112-kbps-mp3
useless (original album mix)
kind of a new wave / synth pop track. as can be heard, i'm still not out of the clutches of trent reznor - there's an awkward nin sample in the middle of the track.
this is the first track with my new synth on it. that's a large part of what the track is.
this isn't the first document that demonstrates my struggle with coming to terms with the futility of existence, but maybe it's the first meaningful one. in a very real sense, that struggle has defined most of my life. listening to the lyrics now, they seem sort of trite. yet, there's a large amount of who i've become within these words.
recorded in jan, 1998.
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/useless-valium-sped-up
this is the first track with my new synth on it. that's a large part of what the track is.
this isn't the first document that demonstrates my struggle with coming to terms with the futility of existence, but maybe it's the first meaningful one. in a very real sense, that struggle has defined most of my life. listening to the lyrics now, they seem sort of trite. yet, there's a large amount of who i've become within these words.
recorded in jan, 1998.
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/useless-valium-sped-up
boogeyman reconstruction (discarded first vocal take)
this was recorded over the christmas holidays on my brand new 4-track. i ended up rejecting the track, then redoing the vocals for the second demo. it is itself a redone version of a track on one of the cassette demos:
http://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/boogeyman-depressed
you can hear that the drum programming was fairly meticulous here, adding all kinds of unusual sounds. there's no synths or samples here, it's all ry30.
while the strong backbeat improves part of the track, i prefer the cassette demo, overall.
recorded in dec, 1997.
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/boogeyman-first-vocal-take
http://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/boogeyman-depressed
you can hear that the drum programming was fairly meticulous here, adding all kinds of unusual sounds. there's no synths or samples here, it's all ry30.
while the strong backbeat improves part of the track, i prefer the cassette demo, overall.
recorded in dec, 1997.
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/boogeyman-first-vocal-take
Friday, November 8, 2013
publishing inrisampled (inri003)
i spent the summer and fall of 1997 programming drum tracks into an ry30, notating them into a tablature program and sequencing them using noteworthy composer. i did not know how i was going to record these tracks. i think i was expecting to use the computer, but that was probably naive; instead, i was gifted a 4-track recording machine. i then spent the next year and a half rearranging and rerecording the songs i programmed over that period. as these tracks were recorded into my pc, they are time stamped...so i have a much clearer understanding of when they were finished.
the jump to incorporating computers into the recording process is something i always wanted to do, it's just that it wasn't really previously feasible. first, there was a learning curve. i was a smart kid, though; the learning curve was just a time concern. the larger problem was simply access to a pc. i did have a pc at my disposal, but it did not have a modem and it was only equipped to run windows 3.1, which basically meant i could run civ 2 and wolfenstein and little else. the windows 95 computer had dial up but it was in a central location for family use.
when we moved across the city, my dad bought a new computer and i happily inherited his old one. this gave me internet access, which allowed me to download some freeware. it also gave me the time i needed to learn how to do certain things.
i'm separating out a handful of my first electronic sound experiments and collecting them together into an ep. what these blasts of noise have in common is that they were constructed on a windows 95 computer out of samples or generated sound and with very primitive software while i was waiting to get some kind of recording equipment. most of it was pasted together meticulously using the windows 95 sound recorder; the rest of it was constructed in cool edit, which i used as a sort of a synthesizer.
for the most part, these weren't really ever meant to be songs. i ended up using them as connectors, introductions, background. "continuity". yet, i find the idea of throwing them together here to be interesting from an autobiographical perspective.
created in mid 1997. sequenced in november, 2013. as always, please use headphones.
credits:
j - cool edit (wave synthesis, digital wave editing), windows 95 sound recorder (sampling, digital wave editing), yamaha ry30 drum machine (programming)
released dec 1, 1997
1) the beginning is from a disney film or something, i can't recall which one. it's all wiped away by a wash of war drums and civ2 samples. it's more misanthropic than anti-war, really.
2) noises generated with cool edit. it seemed like the coolest thing in the world, at the time.
3) homer, indeed. i think that might be the ry30 with the drums, recording directly into the back of the pc.
4) i'm using cool edit as a synthesizer and a wave editor, but i think the core of it was done with the sound recorder.
5) some more sound created and manipulated in cool edit.
6) so, there's this dude, and he sounds sort of like one of the monsters from doom II, and he lures a cow with a weird mating call and then attacks it and it's kind of twisted and hilarious. subtle vegan brainwashing? yes, but more on an environmentalist level.
7) the guitar loop is taken from a popular nirvana song, whereas most of the building sound pasted on top is from civ 2. no real message here. just a particularly savvy squirrel that's getting ready for winter by building some kind of fortress.
the jump to incorporating computers into the recording process is something i always wanted to do, it's just that it wasn't really previously feasible. first, there was a learning curve. i was a smart kid, though; the learning curve was just a time concern. the larger problem was simply access to a pc. i did have a pc at my disposal, but it did not have a modem and it was only equipped to run windows 3.1, which basically meant i could run civ 2 and wolfenstein and little else. the windows 95 computer had dial up but it was in a central location for family use.
when we moved across the city, my dad bought a new computer and i happily inherited his old one. this gave me internet access, which allowed me to download some freeware. it also gave me the time i needed to learn how to do certain things.
i'm separating out a handful of my first electronic sound experiments and collecting them together into an ep. what these blasts of noise have in common is that they were constructed on a windows 95 computer out of samples or generated sound and with very primitive software while i was waiting to get some kind of recording equipment. most of it was pasted together meticulously using the windows 95 sound recorder; the rest of it was constructed in cool edit, which i used as a sort of a synthesizer.
for the most part, these weren't really ever meant to be songs. i ended up using them as connectors, introductions, background. "continuity". yet, i find the idea of throwing them together here to be interesting from an autobiographical perspective.
created in mid 1997. sequenced in november, 2013. as always, please use headphones.
credits:
j - cool edit (wave synthesis, digital wave editing), windows 95 sound recorder (sampling, digital wave editing), yamaha ry30 drum machine (programming)
released dec 1, 1997
1) the beginning is from a disney film or something, i can't recall which one. it's all wiped away by a wash of war drums and civ2 samples. it's more misanthropic than anti-war, really.
2) noises generated with cool edit. it seemed like the coolest thing in the world, at the time.
3) homer, indeed. i think that might be the ry30 with the drums, recording directly into the back of the pc.
4) i'm using cool edit as a synthesizer and a wave editor, but i think the core of it was done with the sound recorder.
5) some more sound created and manipulated in cool edit.
6) so, there's this dude, and he sounds sort of like one of the monsters from doom II, and he lures a cow with a weird mating call and then attacks it and it's kind of twisted and hilarious. subtle vegan brainwashing? yes, but more on an environmentalist level.
7) the guitar loop is taken from a popular nirvana song, whereas most of the building sound pasted on top is from civ 2. no real message here. just a particularly savvy squirrel that's getting ready for winter by building some kind of fortress.
Re: Fw: Neue Anfrage aus dem Sennheiser Kontaktcenter vom 2013-11-03 [##SVS-Web-SK]
From: sennheiser.ca
To: "Jessica Murray" <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>
Hi Jessica,
The required cable is available in our Montreal warehouse.
Part number: 069427
Cable steel 3m jack3.5/jack6.3
Cost: $ 36.19
Shipping: $ 9.00 plus applicable taxes.
Grand total: $ 51.06
Please send a cheque or a money order to:
Sennheiser (Canada) Inc.
221 ave. Labrosse
Pointe-Claire, QC
H9R 1A3
Please make the cheque or money order payable to:
Sennheiser (Canada) Inc.
Reference: Parts department.
Have a lovely weekend!
To: "Jessica Murray" <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>
Hi Jessica,
The required cable is available in our Montreal warehouse.
Part number: 069427
Cable steel 3m jack3.5/jack6.3
Cost: $ 36.19
Shipping: $ 9.00 plus applicable taxes.
Grand total: $ 51.06
Please send a cheque or a money order to:
Sennheiser (Canada) Inc.
221 ave. Labrosse
Pointe-Claire, QC
H9R 1A3
Please make the cheque or money order payable to:
Sennheiser (Canada) Inc.
Reference: Parts department.
Have a lovely weekend!
remastered inri001 re-release completed
my second
demo, recorded over the second half of the tenth grade, is a
considerably more polished recording. by this time, i had learned a lot
about how to record things and had improved my drumming and keyboard
playing. while the vocals remain highly erratic, ranging from
precociously insightful to devastatingly stupid, the music here is
actually not far from a professional recording.
recorded in spring 1997, remastered in fall 2013. as always, please use headphones.
recorded in spring 1997, remastered in fall 2013. as always, please use headphones.
credits:
j - guitars, effects, bass, drums, keyboards, tapes, vocals, sounds, metronomes, production
released june 1, 1997
demo #27: nothing to say
this is really the only thing that's quite like this in my discography, partly because the synthesizer is a tool that wasn't fully available to me at the age that i would have written more upbeat psychedelic pop songs like this (15-17). by the time i had really secured access to a synth i could use on my own terms, i had defaulted fairly heavily to a type of structured synth pop - and i then grew out of pop altogether rather quickly.
this is also the absolutely last thing that i recorded before i lost my studio for the first time due to moving across the city. specifically, the drums were sold (i was given a drum machine as a replacement, which worked out just fine) and the 4-track i was using went back to my dad's friend, who owned it. i ended up getting a 4-track for christmas, and a synth for my birthday. i spent the next six months refocusing in various ways, and honing in on a more electronic sound.
i think i needed that time, and this song (along with the few before it) are evidence of that. the music was tightening up, but i was getting a little bored with the topics i was exploring.
so, this closes this introductory experimental/learning phase of my musical career.
the explanation of this functions on two levels. i knew this was the end (for the foreseeable future) as i was recording it, so it's written as a reflection. maybe it's true that i didn't really have anything worthwhile to say...
however, the lyrics are all restatements of things that i heard other people around me say at school. i'm reflecting equally on the irrelevance of daily conversation, and suggesting that if this is what we're wasting our time doing then maybe we should all just give up and go home. so, it's a little tongue-in-cheek at the same time as it's not. as always...
musically, this is one of the more developed pieces in the early demos - it's the second keyboard driven vocal track i did, and required sneaking into my sister's room to record the parts. i think there's something forward-thinking about it as it kind of foreshadows a strain of indie/psych/punk/pop that was popular in the mid 00s. but, i'm honestly not sure what i was drawing on. like i say, it sort of stands out...
recorded in may, 1997. remastered on nov 8, 2013.
this is also the absolutely last thing that i recorded before i lost my studio for the first time due to moving across the city. specifically, the drums were sold (i was given a drum machine as a replacement, which worked out just fine) and the 4-track i was using went back to my dad's friend, who owned it. i ended up getting a 4-track for christmas, and a synth for my birthday. i spent the next six months refocusing in various ways, and honing in on a more electronic sound.
i think i needed that time, and this song (along with the few before it) are evidence of that. the music was tightening up, but i was getting a little bored with the topics i was exploring.
so, this closes this introductory experimental/learning phase of my musical career.
the explanation of this functions on two levels. i knew this was the end (for the foreseeable future) as i was recording it, so it's written as a reflection. maybe it's true that i didn't really have anything worthwhile to say...
however, the lyrics are all restatements of things that i heard other people around me say at school. i'm reflecting equally on the irrelevance of daily conversation, and suggesting that if this is what we're wasting our time doing then maybe we should all just give up and go home. so, it's a little tongue-in-cheek at the same time as it's not. as always...
musically, this is one of the more developed pieces in the early demos - it's the second keyboard driven vocal track i did, and required sneaking into my sister's room to record the parts. i think there's something forward-thinking about it as it kind of foreshadows a strain of indie/psych/punk/pop that was popular in the mid 00s. but, i'm honestly not sure what i was drawing on. like i say, it sort of stands out...
recorded in may, 1997. remastered on nov 8, 2013.
demo #26: stupid
i was violently anti-tobacco in my teens. to an extent, i still am.
i like the music here. something i'm realizing going through these old songs is how much they shadow the creation of post-rock, which was beginning to happen right at about the same time but that i had no realization of. i was in tune with something without realizing it.
lyrically, again, i wish i had articulated myself just a bit better. i wouldn't present the health care argument at this point; i guess my thinking has evolved away from that kind of base liberalism and to something a bit more universal in scope. well, i reject the entire concept of currency at this point, so it doesn't make a lot of sense. nor do i think we'd have to make resource-based decisions if it weren't for the limits provided by currency. so, i'm retracting that statement.
i think the general theme remains valid, though. smoking tobacco is hard to describe without using the word 'stupid'.
recorded in april, 1997. remastered on nov 8, 2013.
i like the music here. something i'm realizing going through these old songs is how much they shadow the creation of post-rock, which was beginning to happen right at about the same time but that i had no realization of. i was in tune with something without realizing it.
lyrically, again, i wish i had articulated myself just a bit better. i wouldn't present the health care argument at this point; i guess my thinking has evolved away from that kind of base liberalism and to something a bit more universal in scope. well, i reject the entire concept of currency at this point, so it doesn't make a lot of sense. nor do i think we'd have to make resource-based decisions if it weren't for the limits provided by currency. so, i'm retracting that statement.
i think the general theme remains valid, though. smoking tobacco is hard to describe without using the word 'stupid'.
recorded in april, 1997. remastered on nov 8, 2013.
demo #25: sick
ok, so this. i forgot about this. umm...
i think i was trolling, but i think i was also applying the disturbed pathologies i was exploring in these songs to people around me and realizing that maybe we're all fucked up inside in our own different ways. there's actually somewhat of a message of egalitarian social reform buried in this. are any of us really 'better' than any of the rest of us, or are we all guided by the same contemptible, morbid fantasies? a little cliched, but...
....i think i was mostly just trolling.
i was also coming to the point where i had finished exploring what i wanted to explore and wanted to shift directions, thematically. the song is meant to be a sort of a summary of what i'd written previously, offering a conclusion.
i should also trigger this. the attempt was to be shocking on a dark humour level rather than seriously disturbing, but it's at least somewhere near that line that separates out good taste.
recorded in april, 1997. remastered on nov 8, 2013.
i think i was trolling, but i think i was also applying the disturbed pathologies i was exploring in these songs to people around me and realizing that maybe we're all fucked up inside in our own different ways. there's actually somewhat of a message of egalitarian social reform buried in this. are any of us really 'better' than any of the rest of us, or are we all guided by the same contemptible, morbid fantasies? a little cliched, but...
....i think i was mostly just trolling.
i was also coming to the point where i had finished exploring what i wanted to explore and wanted to shift directions, thematically. the song is meant to be a sort of a summary of what i'd written previously, offering a conclusion.
i should also trigger this. the attempt was to be shocking on a dark humour level rather than seriously disturbing, but it's at least somewhere near that line that separates out good taste.
recorded in april, 1997. remastered on nov 8, 2013.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
demo #24: not that there’s anything wrong with that
so, i'm glad this isn't the first track i'm uploading. by this point, it should be clear that i had a tendency in this period to take first person perspectives of unsavoury characters in order to mock them - skater thugs, rapists, terrorists...
standard punk rock technique.
here, i'm a homophobe. and i'm kind of harsh; there's a certain level of comedy through the track if you have a dark sense of humour (and this was intentional), but it's harsh. so i should trigger warning this.
in truth, i was the stupid fag that was getting told to go away, although i was always very coy about my sexuality. well, how do you bring the topic up to a bunch of mostly sexually insecure teenage boys that have never dated and don't appear likely to date in the near future? i've mentioned to many people that i've never really been interpreted as a gay male, and that's absolutely true; it's not really the level i got attacked on. it wasn't even on the level of being effeminate; i've never really exaggerated my femininity, ether. the rejection was more on the level of not being able to relate to guy things. at that age, a certain kind of mindset deduces that not caring about certain guy things logically implies homosexuality. the logic is airtight, with the right axiom.
it's a little more complex than that, though. there was a sort of shielding effect at work. not with me, really (as mentioned, i just avoided the topic on just about every level), but with some of the other kids i was associating with. i'm not going to name any names, but i was sort of mocking them a little. what's between the lines is that old freudian suggestion, and in hindsight it really doesn't matter if i was right or not (it was out of line).
but, yeah. this is my mocking homophobe track, complete with aggro nu-metal riff, or at least the closest thing to an aggro nu-metal riff i could muster up. actually, i was a fan of life is peachy - and limp bizkit hadn't released their first disc yet, so i think i was actually sort of predicting something.
recorded in april, 1997. remastered on nov 7, 2013.
standard punk rock technique.
here, i'm a homophobe. and i'm kind of harsh; there's a certain level of comedy through the track if you have a dark sense of humour (and this was intentional), but it's harsh. so i should trigger warning this.
in truth, i was the stupid fag that was getting told to go away, although i was always very coy about my sexuality. well, how do you bring the topic up to a bunch of mostly sexually insecure teenage boys that have never dated and don't appear likely to date in the near future? i've mentioned to many people that i've never really been interpreted as a gay male, and that's absolutely true; it's not really the level i got attacked on. it wasn't even on the level of being effeminate; i've never really exaggerated my femininity, ether. the rejection was more on the level of not being able to relate to guy things. at that age, a certain kind of mindset deduces that not caring about certain guy things logically implies homosexuality. the logic is airtight, with the right axiom.
it's a little more complex than that, though. there was a sort of shielding effect at work. not with me, really (as mentioned, i just avoided the topic on just about every level), but with some of the other kids i was associating with. i'm not going to name any names, but i was sort of mocking them a little. what's between the lines is that old freudian suggestion, and in hindsight it really doesn't matter if i was right or not (it was out of line).
but, yeah. this is my mocking homophobe track, complete with aggro nu-metal riff, or at least the closest thing to an aggro nu-metal riff i could muster up. actually, i was a fan of life is peachy - and limp bizkit hadn't released their first disc yet, so i think i was actually sort of predicting something.
recorded in april, 1997. remastered on nov 7, 2013.
demo #23: skaters
this is maybe a little hard to understand, if you weren't a teenager in a very specific period - about '91-'99, the 90s i guess, when the nu metal shift "corrected" things and tough guys went backing to being metalheads.
that period overlaps with a period when punk fashion moved from subculture to dominant culture. as with any other failed social revolution, the period is more defined by certain subculture traits being co-opted than it was by any meaningful change in social attitudes, even if it did correspond with a move towards liberalizing social attitudes in the older members of gen x.
i remember playing this for my aunt, who was a teenager in the 80s, and she was just confused by it. in her day, the skaters were the skinny punk kids that got picked on by the meathead jock metal heads. as mentioned, i think people that were teenagers in the 00s may more readily associate with this as well.
but the 90s were weird in this sense. skater culture in the 90s was defined by a sort of thuggish machismo gang mentality that overlapped more into gangster rap than punk rock. what you had where i grew up was a lot of upper middle class white kids skating because it was advertised to them as the "cool thing to do" and in the process co-opting this sort of survivalist 'hood mentality into a tool of oppression that they used to bully and intimidate the kids that, a decade before, would have identified as skateboarders. those kids may have maintained an interest in punk rock, but weren't generally accepted into the skater clique - which was essentially the "in group".
the culmination may seem a little surreal nowadays, if for no other reason than that it's been forgotten. but i remember sneaking through back alleys, evading skateboarding gangs made up of kids into slayer, while i had socal punk music blasting through my headphones. and i'm sure you'll get similar stories if you ask around - or maybe you were also that kid.
on one hand, this track was constructed to be sort of precious, and i think that it is. it's a pretty catchy pop song, really. on the other hand, i think i was trying to be a bit tougher than i actually was. i wasn't one to back down from confrontation - i'm still not. while i think it's true that i could have taken most of these brats one-on-one, i probably would have mostly chosen not to. see, the fear was always more that they'd convert the boards into weapons and then jump you. in canada, guns aren't much of a concern, but knives are.
...and the fear often came out of trivial reasons. talking with somebody's girlfriend. having a pair of headphones or a pair of shoes that might be worth something. basic thug shit.
in hindsight, the analysis here is a little simplistic. suggesting that these kids are going to grow up into pimps is problematic on numerous levels, although i can state with blunt honesty that a number of the people the song was about have grown up to be petty criminals with lengthy criminal records. i have to own that lack of depth and how it comes out in sometimes less than ideal statements, but i'm going to once again blame that on my age.
overall, i like this track on both a musical and thematic level. i just wish i had articulated myself a little bit better.
recorded in april, 1997. remastered on nov 7, 2013.
that period overlaps with a period when punk fashion moved from subculture to dominant culture. as with any other failed social revolution, the period is more defined by certain subculture traits being co-opted than it was by any meaningful change in social attitudes, even if it did correspond with a move towards liberalizing social attitudes in the older members of gen x.
i remember playing this for my aunt, who was a teenager in the 80s, and she was just confused by it. in her day, the skaters were the skinny punk kids that got picked on by the meathead jock metal heads. as mentioned, i think people that were teenagers in the 00s may more readily associate with this as well.
but the 90s were weird in this sense. skater culture in the 90s was defined by a sort of thuggish machismo gang mentality that overlapped more into gangster rap than punk rock. what you had where i grew up was a lot of upper middle class white kids skating because it was advertised to them as the "cool thing to do" and in the process co-opting this sort of survivalist 'hood mentality into a tool of oppression that they used to bully and intimidate the kids that, a decade before, would have identified as skateboarders. those kids may have maintained an interest in punk rock, but weren't generally accepted into the skater clique - which was essentially the "in group".
the culmination may seem a little surreal nowadays, if for no other reason than that it's been forgotten. but i remember sneaking through back alleys, evading skateboarding gangs made up of kids into slayer, while i had socal punk music blasting through my headphones. and i'm sure you'll get similar stories if you ask around - or maybe you were also that kid.
on one hand, this track was constructed to be sort of precious, and i think that it is. it's a pretty catchy pop song, really. on the other hand, i think i was trying to be a bit tougher than i actually was. i wasn't one to back down from confrontation - i'm still not. while i think it's true that i could have taken most of these brats one-on-one, i probably would have mostly chosen not to. see, the fear was always more that they'd convert the boards into weapons and then jump you. in canada, guns aren't much of a concern, but knives are.
...and the fear often came out of trivial reasons. talking with somebody's girlfriend. having a pair of headphones or a pair of shoes that might be worth something. basic thug shit.
in hindsight, the analysis here is a little simplistic. suggesting that these kids are going to grow up into pimps is problematic on numerous levels, although i can state with blunt honesty that a number of the people the song was about have grown up to be petty criminals with lengthy criminal records. i have to own that lack of depth and how it comes out in sometimes less than ideal statements, but i'm going to once again blame that on my age.
overall, i like this track on both a musical and thematic level. i just wish i had articulated myself a little bit better.
recorded in april, 1997. remastered on nov 7, 2013.
Fw: Neue Anfrage aus dem Sennheiser Kontaktcenter vom 2013-11-03 [##SVS-Web-SK]
From: sennheiser.ca
To: s
Cc: "Jessica Murray" <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>
S, would you be so kind as to render an assist here?
To: s
Cc: "Jessica Murray" <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>
S, would you be so kind as to render an assist here?
Re: Fw: Neue Anfrage aus dem Sennheiser Kontaktcenter vom 2013-11-03 [##SVS-Web-SK]
From: "Jessica Murray" <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>
To: sennheiser.ca
i'm really relieved by how easy it's going to be to fix these.
i have a credit at a music store in ottawa (steve's) that i'm going to try and cash in, but i'm not sure if it's enough to cover it. if that doesn't work, i'll want to order the part (the 069427) directly from you via check or money order. could you put me in contact with s for that? if she can send me the price, i guess i'll attach the check to the service form and send that in....?
jessica
To: sennheiser.ca
i'm really relieved by how easy it's going to be to fix these.
i have a credit at a music store in ottawa (steve's) that i'm going to try and cash in, but i'm not sure if it's enough to cover it. if that doesn't work, i'll want to order the part (the 069427) directly from you via check or money order. could you put me in contact with s for that? if she can send me the price, i guess i'll attach the check to the service form and send that in....?
jessica
Re: Fw: Neue Anfrage aus dem Sennheiser Kontaktcenter vom 2013-11-03 [##SVS-Web-SK]
From: sennheiser.ca
To: Jessica Murray <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>
I'm sorry!
I missed this entire thread.
Let's see what you come up with, in terms of experimentation. We take cheques, so if you decide a parts order is for you, s. on the Parts Desk can give you bottom line. Same deal for repairs, it just lengthens the process somewhat.
We're not huge, so we've never set up a warranty depot chain. In fact, the only one we ever did set up, dropped us because he didn't get enough business! Considering that we have a fairly large product catalogue, I guess that's a good thing!
To: Jessica Murray <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>
I'm sorry!
I missed this entire thread.
Let's see what you come up with, in terms of experimentation. We take cheques, so if you decide a parts order is for you, s. on the Parts Desk can give you bottom line. Same deal for repairs, it just lengthens the process somewhat.
We're not huge, so we've never set up a warranty depot chain. In fact, the only one we ever did set up, dropped us because he didn't get enough business! Considering that we have a fairly large product catalogue, I guess that's a good thing!
The
HD 440 II was designed to be user serviceable. This is no longer true
with our products, save for the really high end stuff. This is why I
mentioned rehabilitation of the old, rather than buying new.
The cable will come out without destroying anything. Wiggle the boot while firmly pulling downward on it. It's been in there a long time, it'll be stubborn. Observe polarity! Letter faces out.
The cable is steel on your model. Big on strength, but tough to solder. If it's not completely trashed, you can put a new plug on. Your call on whether it's worth it.
This model was one of the first to come from the Tullamore factory. They make almost all of Sennheiser's European product nowadays. A few(Uber-expensive) models come from Germany, while the buds and streetwear are out of China.
If your problem is intermittent operation, you can reverse the cable and see if the problem switches sides. If it doesn't, the capsule is trashed, and there's nothing to be done about it. Those parts are long out of production. (One of our techs still uses a pair of these, just to underscore how durable they are)
069427 is the number of the cable, just FYI
if you're not following that, it's excellent news - i just need to replace the fully modular cord.
i remember seeing an audiophile shop down on.....ottawa street. be back in a few minutes, hopefully with good news.
The cable will come out without destroying anything. Wiggle the boot while firmly pulling downward on it. It's been in there a long time, it'll be stubborn. Observe polarity! Letter faces out.
The cable is steel on your model. Big on strength, but tough to solder. If it's not completely trashed, you can put a new plug on. Your call on whether it's worth it.
This model was one of the first to come from the Tullamore factory. They make almost all of Sennheiser's European product nowadays. A few(Uber-expensive) models come from Germany, while the buds and streetwear are out of China.
If your problem is intermittent operation, you can reverse the cable and see if the problem switches sides. If it doesn't, the capsule is trashed, and there's nothing to be done about it. Those parts are long out of production. (One of our techs still uses a pair of these, just to underscore how durable they are)
069427 is the number of the cable, just FYI
if you're not following that, it's excellent news - i just need to replace the fully modular cord.
i remember seeing an audiophile shop down on.....ottawa street. be back in a few minutes, hopefully with good news.
Re: Fw: Neue Anfrage aus dem Sennheiser Kontaktcenter vom 2013-11-03 [##SVS-Web-SK]
From: sennheiser.ca
To: "Jessica Murray" <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>
The HD 440 II was designed to be user serviceable. This is no longer true with our products, save for the really high end stuff. This is why I mentioned rehabilitation of the old, rather than buying new.
The cable will come out without destroying anything. Wiggle the boot while firmly pulling downward on it. It's been in there a long time, it'll be stubborn. Observe polarity! Letter faces out.
The cable is steel on your model. Big on strength, but tough to solder. If it's not completely trashed, you can put a new plug on. Your call on whether it's worth it.
This model was one of the first to come from the Tullamore factory. They make almost all of Sennheiser's European product nowadays. A few(Uber-expensive) models come from Germany, while the buds and streetwear are out of China.
If your problem is intermittent operation, you can reverse the cable and see if the problem switches sides. If it doesn't, the capsule is trashed, and there's nothing to be done about it. Those parts are long out of production. (One of our techs still uses a pair of these, just to underscore how durable they are)
069427 is the number of the cable, just FYI.
To: "Jessica Murray" <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>
The HD 440 II was designed to be user serviceable. This is no longer true with our products, save for the really high end stuff. This is why I mentioned rehabilitation of the old, rather than buying new.
The cable will come out without destroying anything. Wiggle the boot while firmly pulling downward on it. It's been in there a long time, it'll be stubborn. Observe polarity! Letter faces out.
The cable is steel on your model. Big on strength, but tough to solder. If it's not completely trashed, you can put a new plug on. Your call on whether it's worth it.
This model was one of the first to come from the Tullamore factory. They make almost all of Sennheiser's European product nowadays. A few(Uber-expensive) models come from Germany, while the buds and streetwear are out of China.
If your problem is intermittent operation, you can reverse the cable and see if the problem switches sides. If it doesn't, the capsule is trashed, and there's nothing to be done about it. Those parts are long out of production. (One of our techs still uses a pair of these, just to underscore how durable they are)
069427 is the number of the cable, just FYI.
Re: Fw: Neue Anfrage aus dem Sennheiser Kontaktcenter vom 2013-11-03 [##SVS-Web-SK]
From: "Jessica Murray" <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>
To: sennheiser.ca
sorry, one more question.
i'm looking at replacement parts, and it almost looks like the cord clicks into place. well, here's a picture of a replacement part:
you can see what i mean. i'm getting the feeling that i can maybe pull the cord out and then snap a new one in. but i obviously don't want to determine if that's the case or not through experiment.
these are the 440-IIs. there's a big MADE IN IRELAND on the side if that makes a difference. could you determine for me (i understand you may have to forward me to a different department) if the cable is meant to snap in and out that way or if the plastic needs to be broken to recable?
i know it seems like it should be designed to disassemble, almost everything is nowadays, but this model is from the 80s...
jessica
To: sennheiser.ca
sorry, one more question.
i'm looking at replacement parts, and it almost looks like the cord clicks into place. well, here's a picture of a replacement part:
you can see what i mean. i'm getting the feeling that i can maybe pull the cord out and then snap a new one in. but i obviously don't want to determine if that's the case or not through experiment.
these are the 440-IIs. there's a big MADE IN IRELAND on the side if that makes a difference. could you determine for me (i understand you may have to forward me to a different department) if the cable is meant to snap in and out that way or if the plastic needs to be broken to recable?
i know it seems like it should be designed to disassemble, almost everything is nowadays, but this model is from the 80s...
jessica
Re: Fw: Neue Anfrage aus dem Sennheiser Kontaktcenter vom 2013-11-03 [##SVS-Web-SK]
From: "Jessica Murray" <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>
To: sennheiser.ca
on second thought, i've taken a little closer look at the phones and it looks like the cord is connected to the phones as a single piece. of course, it must be soldered into place underneath the plastic, but it doesn't appear like there's a way to replace the cord without breaking the plastic apart and regluing it. there's no screws or anything. i kind of don't want to do that as a first attempt.
i think i can probably get the phones back in working condition by just replacing the plug, which is a quick soldering job that i can do myself.
if that doesn't work, i'll want to send them in to have the plastic taken apart and put back together - i'll recontact sennheiser if that turns out to be necessary.
thanks for your response,
jessica
To: sennheiser.ca
on second thought, i've taken a little closer look at the phones and it looks like the cord is connected to the phones as a single piece. of course, it must be soldered into place underneath the plastic, but it doesn't appear like there's a way to replace the cord without breaking the plastic apart and regluing it. there's no screws or anything. i kind of don't want to do that as a first attempt.
i think i can probably get the phones back in working condition by just replacing the plug, which is a quick soldering job that i can do myself.
if that doesn't work, i'll want to send them in to have the plastic taken apart and put back together - i'll recontact sennheiser if that turns out to be necessary.
thanks for your response,
jessica
actually, i think it's obvious that i should get something similar.
i've got a price estimate coming in from sennheiser but i expect it to be ridiculous.
so, i think what i should do is take the phones down to a store and see if i can find a similar cord. then see if i can find a soldering iron....
i should really probably have a soldering iron.
i've got a price estimate coming in from sennheiser but i expect it to be ridiculous.
so, i think what i should do is take the phones down to a store and see if i can find a similar cord. then see if i can find a soldering iron....
i should really probably have a soldering iron.
Re: Fw: Neue Anfrage aus dem Sennheiser Kontaktcenter vom 2013-11-03 [##SVS-Web-SK]
From: "Jessica Murray" <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>
To: sennheiser.ca
yeah, they seem to have just shorted permanently, and i'd kind of feel better about letting sennheiser fix them then taking them to a random shop.
i found this order form:
http://www.sennheiser.ca/live/download/Sennheiser_Repair_order_form.pdf
....but i don't have a credit card and, despite my previous rhetoric, i do need to watch the price very carefully. they're obviously well past whatever warranty my dad bought in the early 90s. do you have any licensed repair centres in windsor, ontario i could just take them in to and pay out cash for? if not, i'm wondering if you could give me a quick price quote and let me send you a check.
the symptom is that one of the ears is deaf. there's two possible causes, and i'm not sure which one is dominant. one of the ears has been a little loose, solved by jiggling it a bit. also, the base seems to have a short in it, solved by rotating it. it's the second of these that i've been doing more often. either way, there's two shorts in the wire.
if i'm going to do this, i'd prefer to just replace the entire copper wire altogether, from the phones right down to the plug. i don't want to do it twice, kind of thing. how much do you think that would cost?
To: sennheiser.ca
yeah, they seem to have just shorted permanently, and i'd kind of feel better about letting sennheiser fix them then taking them to a random shop.
i found this order form:
http://www.sennheiser.ca/live/download/Sennheiser_Repair_order_form.pdf
....but i don't have a credit card and, despite my previous rhetoric, i do need to watch the price very carefully. they're obviously well past whatever warranty my dad bought in the early 90s. do you have any licensed repair centres in windsor, ontario i could just take them in to and pay out cash for? if not, i'm wondering if you could give me a quick price quote and let me send you a check.
the symptom is that one of the ears is deaf. there's two possible causes, and i'm not sure which one is dominant. one of the ears has been a little loose, solved by jiggling it a bit. also, the base seems to have a short in it, solved by rotating it. it's the second of these that i've been doing more often. either way, there's two shorts in the wire.
if i'm going to do this, i'd prefer to just replace the entire copper wire altogether, from the phones right down to the plug. i don't want to do it twice, kind of thing. how much do you think that would cost?
ok. they're not as bad as i thought - coming from a quality source,
and with the noise reduction turned off. they're not replacements for
the 440-II's, but given that i'm just running everything through the
same filters *anyways* (same source...i'm doing it track-by-track but i
haven't deviated from the base algorithm of custom izotope patch + nr), i
think i can use them while i'm waiting for them to get fixed. so i
shouldn't get slowed down at least.
i'll also say that they died on me once before and came back. i wonder if it's temperature related, even. i'm going to let them sit for a few days and see if they come back.
....and, now to wade through all kinds of audiophile nonsense trying to get a straight answer about how important the wiring is in the sound...
i'll also say that they died on me once before and came back. i wonder if it's temperature related, even. i'm going to let them sit for a few days and see if they come back.
....and, now to wade through all kinds of audiophile nonsense trying to get a straight answer about how important the wiring is in the sound...
i got a response back from sennheiser. they are indeed long out of production, and the response i got basically told me that if i want a similar sound, i'm fucked - they don't make anything remotely like this model anymore, so i'm better off trying to get them fixed than replacing them.
he also explained that if i end up getting new ones, i want to focus on open back models. after doing a little googling, i think he's right - and i think that the fact that most of the headphones i've tried have been closed back might be the biggest sound degradation issue i've been unable to get over. that muffed sound seems to be defined by this difference. but that's going to cost me probably close to $300.
it's imperative, though. i can't do anything without headphones.
the pair i got back in january are just not useful for recording. even at the time, i remember wishing that i would have got a gift certificate or something. they turned out to be ok for the laptop. but they run on a battery that turns on a "noise reduction". batteries in headphones isn't a good idea at all. but, that's secondary to all the processing at the headphone stage. i need headphones with zero processing - clean reproduction. those ones are made for people that want to listen to mp3s on their cell phone, not people that are recording or mastering things.
...and when you turn off the battery they're just glorified ear buds. i'm going to try them though....
he also explained that if i end up getting new ones, i want to focus on open back models. after doing a little googling, i think he's right - and i think that the fact that most of the headphones i've tried have been closed back might be the biggest sound degradation issue i've been unable to get over. that muffed sound seems to be defined by this difference. but that's going to cost me probably close to $300.
it's imperative, though. i can't do anything without headphones.
the pair i got back in january are just not useful for recording. even at the time, i remember wishing that i would have got a gift certificate or something. they turned out to be ok for the laptop. but they run on a battery that turns on a "noise reduction". batteries in headphones isn't a good idea at all. but, that's secondary to all the processing at the headphone stage. i need headphones with zero processing - clean reproduction. those ones are made for people that want to listen to mp3s on their cell phone, not people that are recording or mastering things.
...and when you turn off the battery they're just glorified ear buds. i'm going to try them though....
:(
seem to be gone, and it's an emergency. no headphones = no recording. or, for right now, no remastering. which basically means no reason to continue to exist.
i'm going to try and get them fixed, but if i can't then i may have to sell some gear to get new ones. having one pair of good headphones is more important than having two guitars.
hopefully, i can get them fixed, though. that means plans for a telephone and border clearance are going to have to be put on hold for another month, maybe two.
and that i'm going to have nothing to do but read for the next little bit. ugh.
i don't feel i'm at fault. i left them in a safe space, woke up, and caput.
there's two problems. one of the ear plugs is a little weak, but it hasn't been a problem lately. the larger problem has been at the base, which has been solved by spinning the jack around. it seems like it may be a contact problem inside the base, but i have to admit that i'm not intuitively grasping what may be wrong with it.
seem to be gone, and it's an emergency. no headphones = no recording. or, for right now, no remastering. which basically means no reason to continue to exist.
i'm going to try and get them fixed, but if i can't then i may have to sell some gear to get new ones. having one pair of good headphones is more important than having two guitars.
hopefully, i can get them fixed, though. that means plans for a telephone and border clearance are going to have to be put on hold for another month, maybe two.
and that i'm going to have nothing to do but read for the next little bit. ugh.
i don't feel i'm at fault. i left them in a safe space, woke up, and caput.
there's two problems. one of the ear plugs is a little weak, but it hasn't been a problem lately. the larger problem has been at the base, which has been solved by spinning the jack around. it seems like it may be a contact problem inside the base, but i have to admit that i'm not intuitively grasping what may be wrong with it.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
demo #22: screwed up
this was meant to be really catastrophic sounding, with fuzzed out guitars really saturating the sound. while it seems to exist in the same genre as other early post-rock bands that started off around the same time, it would actually be a few more years (mid '99) before i learned that the genre existed and was rapidly developing an audience. i point this out to avoid easily constructed misconceptions about where the sound in the track came from. while it's certainly happening in parallel to the developing post-rock sound, and is perhaps best categorized that way, i was not yet aware of it. i was still just an alt rock kid, at the time.
there were drums recorded, but i mixed them out because i found they added too much lift to the sound. the intended aesthetic was catastrophic: dreary, claustrophobic, hopelessly noisy. it's sort of meant to be a bit of a lucid experience, looking back at myself through a haze. who knows what an oobe actually sounds like, but this is a guess. so, the drums were just getting in the way of that. the absence of a rhythm may give the impression of slowing the track down, as well. headphones are a good idea to get the swirl and compression.
lyrically, this is actually one of a handful of songs that is explicitly related to feeling transgendered. you have to read into it a bit to get that. it could be about anything, really. but, gender issues are what it was *actually* about. that's not something i talked to anybody about for several more years. i was probably more of a dour realist then than i am now; by 16, i had actually resigned myself to the seemingly clear truth of there not being anything i could realistically do about it, except write mopey songs about feeling like i was living a lie.
recorded in march, 1997. remastered on nov 6, 2013.
there were drums recorded, but i mixed them out because i found they added too much lift to the sound. the intended aesthetic was catastrophic: dreary, claustrophobic, hopelessly noisy. it's sort of meant to be a bit of a lucid experience, looking back at myself through a haze. who knows what an oobe actually sounds like, but this is a guess. so, the drums were just getting in the way of that. the absence of a rhythm may give the impression of slowing the track down, as well. headphones are a good idea to get the swirl and compression.
lyrically, this is actually one of a handful of songs that is explicitly related to feeling transgendered. you have to read into it a bit to get that. it could be about anything, really. but, gender issues are what it was *actually* about. that's not something i talked to anybody about for several more years. i was probably more of a dour realist then than i am now; by 16, i had actually resigned myself to the seemingly clear truth of there not being anything i could realistically do about it, except write mopey songs about feeling like i was living a lie.
recorded in march, 1997. remastered on nov 6, 2013.
demo #21: circus
so, we all know what the most important thing that happened in the 90s was....
yes. oj. you were expecting this, admit it.
i feel that, despite the myriad of angles and analyses, the most important question of all was never asked: what would homer j simpson think about the trial of orenthal j simpson? this answers that question, by exploring the optics around the whole thing from the perspective of homer.
seriously.
ok, so maybe the oj trial wasn't actually a joke, but it certainly seemed like it was. and that's actually kind of what i'm trying to get across here. i watched far more cnn than the average 16 year-old (note the particularly egregious decision to rhyme "menendez brothers" with "unabomber"), but i was still mostly getting my news on the topic from conan. on that level? it was, in fact, a joke.
thinking back, we were all so ridiculously obsessed. the school (this is the second half of grade 10) actually arranged to have live televisions on every floor to broadcast the verdict. classes were suspended to watch, then cancelled to discuss. like, did that even happen for the fucking moon landing?
so, i'm sort of mocking the whole thing. yet, i'm also mocking the idea that it was somehow turning oj into some kind of role model. 'cause it definitely wasn't. well, unless, maybe, you think on roughly the level of homer j simpson.
i spent a lot of time trying to clean the audio on this up and eventually concluded that i can't do much besides boost the mids. if you listen closely, there's some neat guitar harmonies, but they're really buried and i just can't get them out. i don't remember most of the lyrics, exactly, and can't really make them out well.
there is a frank zappa sample at the beginning of the track.
recorded in march, 1997. remastered on nov 6, 2013.
yes. oj. you were expecting this, admit it.
i feel that, despite the myriad of angles and analyses, the most important question of all was never asked: what would homer j simpson think about the trial of orenthal j simpson? this answers that question, by exploring the optics around the whole thing from the perspective of homer.
seriously.
ok, so maybe the oj trial wasn't actually a joke, but it certainly seemed like it was. and that's actually kind of what i'm trying to get across here. i watched far more cnn than the average 16 year-old (note the particularly egregious decision to rhyme "menendez brothers" with "unabomber"), but i was still mostly getting my news on the topic from conan. on that level? it was, in fact, a joke.
thinking back, we were all so ridiculously obsessed. the school (this is the second half of grade 10) actually arranged to have live televisions on every floor to broadcast the verdict. classes were suspended to watch, then cancelled to discuss. like, did that even happen for the fucking moon landing?
so, i'm sort of mocking the whole thing. yet, i'm also mocking the idea that it was somehow turning oj into some kind of role model. 'cause it definitely wasn't. well, unless, maybe, you think on roughly the level of homer j simpson.
i spent a lot of time trying to clean the audio on this up and eventually concluded that i can't do much besides boost the mids. if you listen closely, there's some neat guitar harmonies, but they're really buried and i just can't get them out. i don't remember most of the lyrics, exactly, and can't really make them out well.
there is a frank zappa sample at the beginning of the track.
recorded in march, 1997. remastered on nov 6, 2013.
RE: point form update
From: the initial landlord
To: "'Jessica Murray'" <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>
Jessica, I have just started this morning to read my e-mails since last week....sorry. I see your many e-mails. I will stop around this morning some time before noon to look at all the concerns.
To: "'Jessica Murray'" <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>
Jessica, I have just started this morning to read my e-mails since last week....sorry. I see your many e-mails. I will stop around this morning some time before noon to look at all the concerns.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
re: point form update
From: Jessica Murray <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>
To: the initial landlord
so, sorry, for (3) i was wondering if i should just go ahead with that or not...?
To: the initial landlord
so, sorry, for (3) i was wondering if i should just go ahead with that or not...?
point form update
From: Jessica Murray <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>
To: the initial landlord
hi.
sorry about those rambly emails. i'm a reading person, and sometimes forget that other people aren't. so, you wanted this in point form...
1) the handle is really unusable. my options are between ice cold and steaming hot showers. the point in the middle that would be normally chosen is the point where the shower turns off. i've realized that if i turn it just a tad to the hot side then there's just barely enough flow to have a hot shower, but it's a problem on two levels - (a) i'm really showering in little more than a trickle and (b) it really is ridiculously hot. and that's coming from somebody that likes unusually hot showers. if it's too hot for me, it's absurd! so, i'm wasting all kinds of hot water...
i guess i can take a look at it myself, if you want. i have no idea how it works, though, so i'd be fumbling around trying to figure it out...
2) the little bit of moisture on the ground seems to just be condensation, probably magnified by the ridiculous temperature. i think the caulking is a little weak at points and could probably benefit from a second run. but that's not imperative. the shower is *not* leaking right now.
3) to clarify about the windows - they seem ok. i don't think they need any work. but i'd like to put some plastic around them anyways. it could save you a bit on heating, but what i'm more interested in is locking the heat in to boost the air temperature, whether it makes a difference for the thermostat or not.
j
To: the initial landlord
hi.
sorry about those rambly emails. i'm a reading person, and sometimes forget that other people aren't. so, you wanted this in point form...
1) the handle is really unusable. my options are between ice cold and steaming hot showers. the point in the middle that would be normally chosen is the point where the shower turns off. i've realized that if i turn it just a tad to the hot side then there's just barely enough flow to have a hot shower, but it's a problem on two levels - (a) i'm really showering in little more than a trickle and (b) it really is ridiculously hot. and that's coming from somebody that likes unusually hot showers. if it's too hot for me, it's absurd! so, i'm wasting all kinds of hot water...
i guess i can take a look at it myself, if you want. i have no idea how it works, though, so i'd be fumbling around trying to figure it out...
2) the little bit of moisture on the ground seems to just be condensation, probably magnified by the ridiculous temperature. i think the caulking is a little weak at points and could probably benefit from a second run. but that's not imperative. the shower is *not* leaking right now.
3) to clarify about the windows - they seem ok. i don't think they need any work. but i'd like to put some plastic around them anyways. it could save you a bit on heating, but what i'm more interested in is locking the heat in to boost the air temperature, whether it makes a difference for the thermostat or not.
j
Fw: Neue Anfrage aus dem Sennheiser Kontaktcenter vom 2013-11-03 [##SVS-Web-SK]
From: sennheiser.ca
To: <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>
Thanks for writing.
Twenty years would be just about right.
There have been a number of successive generations to the 440 over the years, and if you're looking for an exact replacement, you'll be looking for a long time!
First: In that style range, there are no more supra-aural models. Doughnuts rule. The only supra-aural types are the more miniature 2** series. Pretty good headphones in their own right, but perhaps a bit petite for your requirements.
My recommendation, based on style, type and sound quality, not necessarily price or specs, would be HD 428 or HD 448. These are closed back models, as opposed to yours, but they acquit themselves well in overall sound. Wearing comfort and weight are about par.
If you need open style, you really have no choice but to move up to the 500 series. The 518 would make the most sense here. Quite a bit larger in style, these are considered *High End*.
All of this having been said,
Why not fix yours? You can get pads, you can get cables, you can't get capsules, but if they're still working, why ditch them? You know better than I do what shape they're in, but I'll put that out there.
(Interesting email address. Good thing I'm not a zoologist. My sister is, though.)
Kidding aside, need more info? Please let me know.
To: <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>
Thanks for writing.
Twenty years would be just about right.
There have been a number of successive generations to the 440 over the years, and if you're looking for an exact replacement, you'll be looking for a long time!
First: In that style range, there are no more supra-aural models. Doughnuts rule. The only supra-aural types are the more miniature 2** series. Pretty good headphones in their own right, but perhaps a bit petite for your requirements.
My recommendation, based on style, type and sound quality, not necessarily price or specs, would be HD 428 or HD 448. These are closed back models, as opposed to yours, but they acquit themselves well in overall sound. Wearing comfort and weight are about par.
If you need open style, you really have no choice but to move up to the 500 series. The 518 would make the most sense here. Quite a bit larger in style, these are considered *High End*.
All of this having been said,
Why not fix yours? You can get pads, you can get cables, you can't get capsules, but if they're still working, why ditch them? You know better than I do what shape they're in, but I'll put that out there.
(Interesting email address. Good thing I'm not a zoologist. My sister is, though.)
Kidding aside, need more info? Please let me know.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Sunday, November 3, 2013
demo #20: unintelligible
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.
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.
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....
Saturday, November 2, 2013
an adventure
i was just sitting here, very late on a friday night, reading a book, and something sort of triggered your memory.
i don't know if anything ever triggers my memory, or if you've burned everything that might, or if that's even possible - if you can ever really contain the smoke that rises, phoenix-like.
this isn't meant to be a flowery email.
i just wanted to say that you and i need to go on another adventure one day, somewhere, somehow...
i think we will, once you can get out of that blasted orb...
j
i don't know if anything ever triggers my memory, or if you've burned everything that might, or if that's even possible - if you can ever really contain the smoke that rises, phoenix-like.
this isn't meant to be a flowery email.
i just wanted to say that you and i need to go on another adventure one day, somewhere, somehow...
i think we will, once you can get out of that blasted orb...
j
demo #19: confusion
continuing on with the theme of exploring mental illness, in this song i'm trying to get in the head of somebody who has difficulty controlling the penis and ends up resorting to self-mutilation. in a sense, it's a sarcastic allegory on the question of thinking with one's cock. in another sense, it's a transgendered teenager carrying out a sort of morbid fantasy.
musically, this is the first song-oriented keyboard-driven track in my discography. it's not the last one, but these tracks are relatively rare, coming from me. production wise, it's also a huge step forwards.
recorded in mar, 1997. remastered on nov 2, 2013.
musically, this is the first song-oriented keyboard-driven track in my discography. it's not the last one, but these tracks are relatively rare, coming from me. production wise, it's also a huge step forwards.
recorded in mar, 1997. remastered on nov 2, 2013.
Friday, November 1, 2013
demo #18: bipolarity
the idea here was to jump from the "super happy fun song" to a very dark ambient piece, thereby emulating a deep mood swing - and setting the tone for the rest of the demo. i think i pulled this off remarkably well, for a 16 year-old.
the super happy fun song consists of me playing the same guitar pattern through different patches on my zoom 1010 multieffects pedal - a spectacularly terrible all-in-one digital effects pedal, but the source of essentially all the effects on my first several demos. the super happy fun, though, doesn't quite feel genuine. it seems to become saturated and overtaken by it's own monotonous pretension, eventually imploding into itself....
the second half of this is my first attempt at effects-based ambient music. it's just a few simple patterns on the keyboard, and a lot of effects work. that's the 1010 again. nothing fancy. no computers.
i should point out that i had to sneak into my sister's room to use the keyboard (and her electric metronome).
recorded in march, 1997. remastered nov 1, 2013.
the super happy fun song consists of me playing the same guitar pattern through different patches on my zoom 1010 multieffects pedal - a spectacularly terrible all-in-one digital effects pedal, but the source of essentially all the effects on my first several demos. the super happy fun, though, doesn't quite feel genuine. it seems to become saturated and overtaken by it's own monotonous pretension, eventually imploding into itself....
the second half of this is my first attempt at effects-based ambient music. it's just a few simple patterns on the keyboard, and a lot of effects work. that's the 1010 again. nothing fancy. no computers.
i should point out that i had to sneak into my sister's room to use the keyboard (and her electric metronome).
recorded in march, 1997. remastered nov 1, 2013.
windows
From: Jessica Murray <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>
To: the initial landlord
hi again.
the windows aren't perfect, and i overheard the conversation you had about the people upstairs; i wouldn't ask for new windows. but, they do need to be weather-sealed. i'm happy to just go around with saran wrap, but i thought i'd ask if you have some other idea before i do that.
j
To: the initial landlord
hi again.
the windows aren't perfect, and i overheard the conversation you had about the people upstairs; i wouldn't ask for new windows. but, they do need to be weather-sealed. i'm happy to just go around with saran wrap, but i thought i'd ask if you have some other idea before i do that.
j
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Re: shower - success. i think. but the handle needs some attention.
From: Jessica Murray <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>
To: the initial landlord
also: there's a water coming from the ceiling in the bathroom tonight, and it's been raining again all day.
i don't know how it makes any sense, but everything seems to be random except the rain...
j
To: the initial landlord
also: there's a water coming from the ceiling in the bathroom tonight, and it's been raining again all day.
i don't know how it makes any sense, but everything seems to be random except the rain...
j
Re: shower - success. i think. but the handle needs some attention.
From: Jessica Murray <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>
To: the initial landlord
aaaaaaactually, i just checked a second time and the caulking may be a little bit weak right over the spot it was previously leaking. that could explain that bit of moisture.
j
To: the initial landlord
aaaaaaactually, i just checked a second time and the caulking may be a little bit weak right over the spot it was previously leaking. that could explain that bit of moisture.
j
shower - success. i think. but the handle needs some attention.
From: Jessica Murray <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>
To: the initial landlord
hi.
i just got out and i didn't notice any actual leaking.
i'm going to * this mildly, though. see, it's a little damp (very, very mildly) on the tile in the same spot as it was before. it doesn't seem to be leaking from the shower. i don't know if that's a reason to be concerned or if it's condensation from the wood ceiling or even just me dripping. i'll keep you updated, i guess.
i did notice some kind of little insect, though, as i was looking around. i've seen bugs around there before and just killed them. this one got away, though - and seemed to disappear into the concrete. i wasn't sure if it was an ant or a baby centipede. it was fast. is it possible that there could be some ants in the concrete causing the leak?
google suggests this is possible, but only if there are existing cracks in the concrete. i don't know. i know i saw something appear to disappear into the concrete.
*but i also know i see things sometimes and shouldn't rely too heavily on isolated experiences*. i was thinking about that being a possible problem, and that's when i tend to imagine things. it's actually reasonable to suggest that the reason i couldn't kill it is because i hallucinated it.
so, i guess i'll have to let you know if i see that a second time...
i have seen the odd ant in here, all in the living room near that little storage room, but i've lived in basements most of my life and know it's not really unusual to see what they call 'explorer ants' - even in brand new, finished basements. they're just looking around, and won't come back if there's nothing there to get. it's important to get them when you see them, but it's not necessarily a sign of infestation. the fact that i leave all my food in the fridge should dissuade them. the best way to avoid bugs is to not leave food out...
the handle, though, needs some kind of fix. i sort of assumed that you just had it oriented backwards, which i wouldn't care about, but it's worse than that. the way it was before was how you'd expect it to work - off when it's to the far right, then moving from cold to hot as you turn it to the left, reaching maximum flow somewhere about halfway. somehow, the blend between hot and cold seems to have been broken. *when you turn it to the left it's pure cold, and when you turn it to the right it's pure hot, with no way to blend the two*.
the way i got around that today was to rely on the amount of time it takes for the water to turn from cold to hot. so, i'd turn it really cold for a bit, then pull it back to a very low flow on the hot side and wash while i was waiting for it to warm up. then when it got too hot, i'd turn it back to cold and repeat.
but that's not just ridiculous, it's also really wasteful, and requires a very mild flow to be workable. i don't know how this works, and it doesn't really matter to me if it's lined up right (i don't care if hot means cold), but i think it's really important to get the blend of hot/cold working again so that the temperature is actually adjustable.
j
To: the initial landlord
hi.
i just got out and i didn't notice any actual leaking.
i'm going to * this mildly, though. see, it's a little damp (very, very mildly) on the tile in the same spot as it was before. it doesn't seem to be leaking from the shower. i don't know if that's a reason to be concerned or if it's condensation from the wood ceiling or even just me dripping. i'll keep you updated, i guess.
i did notice some kind of little insect, though, as i was looking around. i've seen bugs around there before and just killed them. this one got away, though - and seemed to disappear into the concrete. i wasn't sure if it was an ant or a baby centipede. it was fast. is it possible that there could be some ants in the concrete causing the leak?
google suggests this is possible, but only if there are existing cracks in the concrete. i don't know. i know i saw something appear to disappear into the concrete.
*but i also know i see things sometimes and shouldn't rely too heavily on isolated experiences*. i was thinking about that being a possible problem, and that's when i tend to imagine things. it's actually reasonable to suggest that the reason i couldn't kill it is because i hallucinated it.
so, i guess i'll have to let you know if i see that a second time...
i have seen the odd ant in here, all in the living room near that little storage room, but i've lived in basements most of my life and know it's not really unusual to see what they call 'explorer ants' - even in brand new, finished basements. they're just looking around, and won't come back if there's nothing there to get. it's important to get them when you see them, but it's not necessarily a sign of infestation. the fact that i leave all my food in the fridge should dissuade them. the best way to avoid bugs is to not leave food out...
the handle, though, needs some kind of fix. i sort of assumed that you just had it oriented backwards, which i wouldn't care about, but it's worse than that. the way it was before was how you'd expect it to work - off when it's to the far right, then moving from cold to hot as you turn it to the left, reaching maximum flow somewhere about halfway. somehow, the blend between hot and cold seems to have been broken. *when you turn it to the left it's pure cold, and when you turn it to the right it's pure hot, with no way to blend the two*.
the way i got around that today was to rely on the amount of time it takes for the water to turn from cold to hot. so, i'd turn it really cold for a bit, then pull it back to a very low flow on the hot side and wash while i was waiting for it to warm up. then when it got too hot, i'd turn it back to cold and repeat.
but that's not just ridiculous, it's also really wasteful, and requires a very mild flow to be workable. i don't know how this works, and it doesn't really matter to me if it's lined up right (i don't care if hot means cold), but i think it's really important to get the blend of hot/cold working again so that the temperature is actually adjustable.
j
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
record runner valued customer card
i also found a debit card for steves that has roughly $50 on it, iirc.
remastered inri000 re-release completed
these are the first demos i recorded, written 1994-1996 and recorded in the second half of 1996. this corresponds to the end of my 15th year and the beginning of my grade 10 school year. on the one hand, it's an intriguing document of a socially maladjusted teenage punk. on the other hand, it's a 15 year-old kid learning how to use a recording studio (and how to play the drums). influences are displayed on my sleeve just a little too loudly at times.
i was attempting to create something that could be described by the words disturbing, schizophrenic, unique, bizarre, twisted. looking back, i think i succeeded more than i realized at the time. this is a difficult listen that would be appealing to fans of very early nirvana, very early sonic youth and soundtrack-era swans, as well as fans of the more difficult passages present in mid-90s nine inch nails. i manage to maintain a strange sense of melody, though. in truth, my current adult self is somewhat impressed with my teenaged self at this current point.
that being said, it should not be forgotten that i was fifteen. i am at times rather crude, and i display a childlike understanding of certain issues. most poetry written at the age of fifteen is not particularly insightful. again, though, i surprise myself at points.
this is the first time i'm publishing these demos in any form. i've remained frighteningly self-conscious of them over the years. over the last seventeen years, the audience has been limited to a single friend, an aunt, a sister and an ex-girlfriend. initial reactions suggested i take some time to perfect my performance skills, particularly my drumming skills. however, this indicated a lack of understanding of my intent in the overall sound. the playing is quite purposefully abstract with the aim of exploring mental illness.
the demos were initially dub-mastered onto a 110 minute tape that would have flipped after the eighth track. that tape was at some point recorded into a soundblaster and compressed very heavily; this is the only source of the material that i still have. so, i had to decompress the files from those 128 (or worse) kbps mp3s and run them through some digital mastering equipment in an attempt to "undo" the compression. what that is is a half-effective trick to recover data that is in actuality forever lost. nonetheless, i should point out that while these files were recorded entirely in 1996, they were substantially digitally modified in late 2013. as always, please use headphones.
credits:
j - guitars, effects, bass, drums, vocals, keyboards, tapes, sounds, percussion, production.
released December 25, 1996
i was attempting to create something that could be described by the words disturbing, schizophrenic, unique, bizarre, twisted. looking back, i think i succeeded more than i realized at the time. this is a difficult listen that would be appealing to fans of very early nirvana, very early sonic youth and soundtrack-era swans, as well as fans of the more difficult passages present in mid-90s nine inch nails. i manage to maintain a strange sense of melody, though. in truth, my current adult self is somewhat impressed with my teenaged self at this current point.
that being said, it should not be forgotten that i was fifteen. i am at times rather crude, and i display a childlike understanding of certain issues. most poetry written at the age of fifteen is not particularly insightful. again, though, i surprise myself at points.
this is the first time i'm publishing these demos in any form. i've remained frighteningly self-conscious of them over the years. over the last seventeen years, the audience has been limited to a single friend, an aunt, a sister and an ex-girlfriend. initial reactions suggested i take some time to perfect my performance skills, particularly my drumming skills. however, this indicated a lack of understanding of my intent in the overall sound. the playing is quite purposefully abstract with the aim of exploring mental illness.
the demos were initially dub-mastered onto a 110 minute tape that would have flipped after the eighth track. that tape was at some point recorded into a soundblaster and compressed very heavily; this is the only source of the material that i still have. so, i had to decompress the files from those 128 (or worse) kbps mp3s and run them through some digital mastering equipment in an attempt to "undo" the compression. what that is is a half-effective trick to recover data that is in actuality forever lost. nonetheless, i should point out that while these files were recorded entirely in 1996, they were substantially digitally modified in late 2013. as always, please use headphones.
credits:
j - guitars, effects, bass, drums, vocals, keyboards, tapes, sounds, percussion, production.
released December 25, 1996
demo #17: suicide
the second part of the two part suite that ends this mess.
it's probably predictable that i ended with a song about suicide. i had to fast forward a section, though, because i don't want to get sued. it remains legally sketchy in a way i'm very self-conscious of.
i guess there's been a lot written about this, and it was a long time ago. that being said, maybe this is interesting in the sense that it's one kid's reaction to it - albeit a few years later, so there was a bit of time to process it.
recorded in december, 1996. remastered on october 30, 2013.
it's probably predictable that i ended with a song about suicide. i had to fast forward a section, though, because i don't want to get sued. it remains legally sketchy in a way i'm very self-conscious of.
i guess there's been a lot written about this, and it was a long time ago. that being said, maybe this is interesting in the sense that it's one kid's reaction to it - albeit a few years later, so there was a bit of time to process it.
recorded in december, 1996. remastered on october 30, 2013.
demo #16: viewless
this is the first section of a two-part suite that ends this demo tape.
i was simply being incredibly facetious through the track, to the level that i think my point got lost in the sarcasm. ignored youth, and whatnot; not the tv, so therefore not worth listening to.
musically, this is a bit of a step forward into a bigger type of epic rock. the production is awful; i corrected that when i re-recorded it. the tape, here, gets mangled and blurry at points entirely on purpose.
recorded in december, 1996. remastered oct 30, 2013.
i was simply being incredibly facetious through the track, to the level that i think my point got lost in the sarcasm. ignored youth, and whatnot; not the tv, so therefore not worth listening to.
musically, this is a bit of a step forward into a bigger type of epic rock. the production is awful; i corrected that when i re-recorded it. the tape, here, gets mangled and blurry at points entirely on purpose.
recorded in december, 1996. remastered oct 30, 2013.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
listening to lee ranaldo's last night on earth...
this may be a little out of fashion right now, but maybe that's exactly why it's so refreshing to hear.
Monday, October 28, 2013
on the death of lou reed
well, that's a shame.
i'm not much of a fan. i don't really see how the velvet underground were, sonically, that different than the byrds. i don't hear the novelty, i just hear rather substandard mid-60s hippie folk bullshit. nor was i able to connect with reed's later music or writing very well - it just moved so slowly, and with such pomp. really, i'd consider him to probably - bar none - be the single most over-rated artist of the 20th century.
however, i can hear and acknowledge the direct and substantial influence he had on a large proportion of the artists that i hold in the absolute highest regard. michael stipe. sonic youth. swans. throbbing gristle. peter gabriel.
i guess he's like that distant grandfather that you only met a few times and didn't really connect with, but that you heard stories about your whole life. i may not feel his absence, but i think i can feel his departure - whether actually or merely as a symbolic date, an era very seriously just ended.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-lou-reed-dead-20131027,0,4221650.story
i'll acknowledge that part of it is a generation gap. i'm so far removed from the 60s pop sound that....it's just entirely alien. i have no first hand experience. neither of my parents listened to this stuff. nor did my grandparents. it was something i'd seen in movies, and never had much of an attachment to.
so, the subtle and supposedly revolutionary differences that existed between the byrds and the vu are just glossed over as minor production differences, which is in truth what they actually are; the velvet underground are only radically different from the byrds if you've been living a reality saturated with byrds-like pop, mass produced as a product, for the last five+ years. if you have no measurable consciousness of anything at all until 15 years after they broke up, and no reference point to approach the era with, the vu and the byrds seem to be remarkably similar.
certainly, the velvet underground seem to have more in common with the byrds than they do with any punk band.
i've tried. a few times. but in the sense that it acts as a precursor to 70s, 80s, 90s acts i like, it fails because it's far more rooted in an era that i don't remotely understand - the 60s - than it is in anything that i do.
i guess it's sort of ironic. you put on an old beatles or hendrix or floyd or crimson record and it still sounds modern. it could have been recorded last week. however, you put on the velvet underground and you're instantly transported to 1966. it is far more tied to it's temporal surroundings than any of the other major, influential acts of the period.
influential or not, they sound far more like their era than they do like anything that followed - meaning that you have to understand and/or like 60s hippie folk pop in order to connect.
...and that it should be understood more in relation to what existed around it, which is what it was in truth a part of, rather than in relation to what followed from it, which it in truth was not a part of.
to put it another way...
the vu are often understood in terms of what they were reacting against. in order to really understand a reaction, you have to understand the whatever that's being reacted against. that's the part of the whole thing that falls apart and that i suspect may fall apart for most people in the long run. i was never normalized to the byrds, the mamas and the papas, the animals and whatnot (i was normalized to the beatles, the who, the pink floyd, frank zappa, led zeppelin, cream, hendrix, king crimson, yes, genesis... ), so the jump from normal to abnormal is entirely lost on me - it just all sounds the same.
but that inherently links them to the 60s, and seals their fate as a "60s folk band" rather than some kind of proto-punk act.
zappa is not a bad comparison as he did the same thing to heavy blues on some level. a flower child may not really hear the difference between zappa and zeppelin, but somebody that likes "progressive music" would instantly.
i'm just showing my ignorance, right? why don't i go listen to those old byrds records over and over so that i can understand them properly so that i can react to the velvet underground properly? if i had any respect for the classics....
but, can't you see that i'd be intimately familiar with those byrds records if they had any legitimate claim to being labelled classics?
so, why should i go listen to bad pop music from an era that ended before i was born in order to properly understand the reactions to it?
see, these are some of the problems inherent in canonizing the velvets. i don't think the music holds up on it's own, and the context is too convoluted to reconstruct. the canonization is premature; within a generation, they will be forgotten.
well, maybe not forgotten entirely, but reduced to a footnote as an influence on more radically creative music.
just to point a last thing out - a lot of the things that the vu get credit for were actually done by pink floyd first, or borrowed from people like reich and xenakis. i don't doubt that the velvets were directly influential. but even if you strip out the "it really just sounds like a byrds 8-track that got warped in somebody's car" criticism, there's *still* not much novel there....
it's really floyd that gets the "first underground rock band" award. and if you've never heard early floyd from this period, you probably wouldn't recognize it.
this is a taste, afaik the only thing that ever made it out to record.
(note that floyd would cite zappa, who would cite varese. but also that there was a fair bit of free jazz produced in the period.
i know, i'm missing the point, it's the lyrics.)
ok. to be balanced. and to backtrack to the "official narrative" of the velvets influencing punk. it's convoluted. i think it should be largely rejected, except in the local scope of the velvets influencing the new york "downtown" scene.
see, you can give the velvets and their members some credit for helping form a bridge between the beat movement and what got labelled the new york punk movement, although it's never been clear to me exactly what new york "punk" had in common with british punk or detroit "proto-punk". don't get me wrong. i like a lot of bands that came out of new york in the mid to late 70s, although maybe more so the stuff that came out in the very late 70s and early 80s. if you toss out the stuff like the ramones, new york "punk" was always very consciously difficult in whatever form it took. that makes it rather unpunk, relative to the initial british meaning of the term.
it's not like i'm the first person to draw a contrast between british and american punk. but it's less pronounced if you're discussing the ramones v. the clash, or the damned, or the sex pistols. there are a lot of similarities there. but going a little under the surface, if you try and draw a comparison between patti smith or television and crass then it's clear you're not in the same genre anymore. "punk", in this context, becomes a sort of buzzword without meaning. the new york "punk" scene, in this context, is hard to understand as anything other than an art rock scene grasping onto a trendy term. but, it was an art rock scene in an artistically dead society; in england, it was more like over-stimulation. so it's not just different genres, but reactions to fundamentally different pressures. in time, ironically, it was the new york sound that dominated london (see joy division), while the uk sound got shipped out to california.
see, if punk in britain was a mod movement about rejecting prog and getting back to the basics of rock then new york was a different thing altogether, partly because prog wasn't as entrenched in the united states. instead, you had disco. and new york punk was definitely explicitly anti-disco. so, there was a shared sort of theme there, but very different in scope. in new york, it almost seemed like there was a push to become *more* prog in rejecting the vacuousness of disco - which became post-punk/industrial - after it accepted a shared theme of beat-driven music *from* disco. yet, a lot of the early new york bands were more a type of art-rock, and it's that art-rock that eventually developed into what became alt rock through the influence of new york "punk" bands like sonic youth.
(although sonic youth is the exception, here. they were initially punk as fuck, even if they were clearly influenced by psych rock and maybe, in the end, became a psych band.)
all that to say that there's a continuity from ginsberg through to ranaldo that passes through lou reed, and that the velvets had a role to play in keeping that "downtown scene" alive during those dark days when disco dominated. but it's a relatively minor role - a curator role.
but, yeah. i like this. you can quote me on it.
"the banana record? yeah, it sounds like somebody took a byrds 8-track and left it out in the sun."
i know, i know - “i think there was a lot of elegance in the lyrics he wrote.”
yeah, i'm familiar with the material, and i know that's what people get out of it. and i've been inspired by a lot of people that he inspired, so i'm getting a lot out of it second hand. i cited stipe and ranaldo specifically.
it just seems to me like he's writing from behind this sort of dramatic screen that exists, that he's presenting very carefully worded works of fiction and passing them off as experiences. it's not just him, i have this criticism of a lot of folk music. it seems like it's an act, in other words. well, of course it's an act, on some level - all art is, and if i was walking around rejecting everything on that level i'd be rejecting all art, which i'm not doing. it's just that, with him, it seems really transparent. so, you're claiming it's honest and naked and whatnot, but what it strikes me as is very produced to *seem* honest and naked and whatnot. which is sort of the definition of contrived.
i'm kind of arguing in the form of a conspiracy, though. the more evidence you present that it's raw, the more contrived it's going to seem. but, isn't it a conspiracy, seriously, when you really analyze it?
i'm getting kind of meta and confusing, but i think what i'm trying to get across there is clear.
i guess relating to it sort of relies on giving in to the fantasy, and ignoring the truth that it's an act. which i'm not usually able to do.
“i think a lot of his lyrics are really personal.”
well, if you work in the warhol perspective, which is deeply relevant in reed's case, it sort of cheapens it by reducing it to a product. it doesn't help that he's so deadpan all the time - it just sort of stresses the feeling that it's constructed.
”maybe his lyrics don't seem lived in because they're often observational and in the third person.”
i think it's more his presentation, but, putting that question aside, i don't generally find myself at all interested in the subjects he's exploring, either, which is more of a subjective criticism. but i have a general disinterest in music that's focused largely around discussing relationships or largely focused around drug addiction. if i were to name my 100 favourite artists or something, almost none of them would be that type of songwriter or exist in the singer/songwriter/folk kind of category. i could probably ignore the deadpan, perceived lack of sincerity and generally not particularly interesting music if i could relate to his topics of choice a little more readily. when i look at what he influenced that i can relate to, it's often more in the writing style than the subject matter. stipe, for example is quite political; ranaldo is very introspective. stuff like swans and throbbing gristle took the nihilist themes to a different level, and inserted the emotion that reed tends to lack...
i'm not much of a fan. i don't really see how the velvet underground were, sonically, that different than the byrds. i don't hear the novelty, i just hear rather substandard mid-60s hippie folk bullshit. nor was i able to connect with reed's later music or writing very well - it just moved so slowly, and with such pomp. really, i'd consider him to probably - bar none - be the single most over-rated artist of the 20th century.
however, i can hear and acknowledge the direct and substantial influence he had on a large proportion of the artists that i hold in the absolute highest regard. michael stipe. sonic youth. swans. throbbing gristle. peter gabriel.
i guess he's like that distant grandfather that you only met a few times and didn't really connect with, but that you heard stories about your whole life. i may not feel his absence, but i think i can feel his departure - whether actually or merely as a symbolic date, an era very seriously just ended.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-lou-reed-dead-20131027,0,4221650.story
i'll acknowledge that part of it is a generation gap. i'm so far removed from the 60s pop sound that....it's just entirely alien. i have no first hand experience. neither of my parents listened to this stuff. nor did my grandparents. it was something i'd seen in movies, and never had much of an attachment to.
so, the subtle and supposedly revolutionary differences that existed between the byrds and the vu are just glossed over as minor production differences, which is in truth what they actually are; the velvet underground are only radically different from the byrds if you've been living a reality saturated with byrds-like pop, mass produced as a product, for the last five+ years. if you have no measurable consciousness of anything at all until 15 years after they broke up, and no reference point to approach the era with, the vu and the byrds seem to be remarkably similar.
certainly, the velvet underground seem to have more in common with the byrds than they do with any punk band.
i've tried. a few times. but in the sense that it acts as a precursor to 70s, 80s, 90s acts i like, it fails because it's far more rooted in an era that i don't remotely understand - the 60s - than it is in anything that i do.
i guess it's sort of ironic. you put on an old beatles or hendrix or floyd or crimson record and it still sounds modern. it could have been recorded last week. however, you put on the velvet underground and you're instantly transported to 1966. it is far more tied to it's temporal surroundings than any of the other major, influential acts of the period.
influential or not, they sound far more like their era than they do like anything that followed - meaning that you have to understand and/or like 60s hippie folk pop in order to connect.
...and that it should be understood more in relation to what existed around it, which is what it was in truth a part of, rather than in relation to what followed from it, which it in truth was not a part of.
to put it another way...
the vu are often understood in terms of what they were reacting against. in order to really understand a reaction, you have to understand the whatever that's being reacted against. that's the part of the whole thing that falls apart and that i suspect may fall apart for most people in the long run. i was never normalized to the byrds, the mamas and the papas, the animals and whatnot (i was normalized to the beatles, the who, the pink floyd, frank zappa, led zeppelin, cream, hendrix, king crimson, yes, genesis... ), so the jump from normal to abnormal is entirely lost on me - it just all sounds the same.
but that inherently links them to the 60s, and seals their fate as a "60s folk band" rather than some kind of proto-punk act.
zappa is not a bad comparison as he did the same thing to heavy blues on some level. a flower child may not really hear the difference between zappa and zeppelin, but somebody that likes "progressive music" would instantly.
i'm just showing my ignorance, right? why don't i go listen to those old byrds records over and over so that i can understand them properly so that i can react to the velvet underground properly? if i had any respect for the classics....
but, can't you see that i'd be intimately familiar with those byrds records if they had any legitimate claim to being labelled classics?
so, why should i go listen to bad pop music from an era that ended before i was born in order to properly understand the reactions to it?
see, these are some of the problems inherent in canonizing the velvets. i don't think the music holds up on it's own, and the context is too convoluted to reconstruct. the canonization is premature; within a generation, they will be forgotten.
well, maybe not forgotten entirely, but reduced to a footnote as an influence on more radically creative music.
just to point a last thing out - a lot of the things that the vu get credit for were actually done by pink floyd first, or borrowed from people like reich and xenakis. i don't doubt that the velvets were directly influential. but even if you strip out the "it really just sounds like a byrds 8-track that got warped in somebody's car" criticism, there's *still* not much novel there....
it's really floyd that gets the "first underground rock band" award. and if you've never heard early floyd from this period, you probably wouldn't recognize it.
this is a taste, afaik the only thing that ever made it out to record.
(note that floyd would cite zappa, who would cite varese. but also that there was a fair bit of free jazz produced in the period.
i know, i'm missing the point, it's the lyrics.)
ok. to be balanced. and to backtrack to the "official narrative" of the velvets influencing punk. it's convoluted. i think it should be largely rejected, except in the local scope of the velvets influencing the new york "downtown" scene.
see, you can give the velvets and their members some credit for helping form a bridge between the beat movement and what got labelled the new york punk movement, although it's never been clear to me exactly what new york "punk" had in common with british punk or detroit "proto-punk". don't get me wrong. i like a lot of bands that came out of new york in the mid to late 70s, although maybe more so the stuff that came out in the very late 70s and early 80s. if you toss out the stuff like the ramones, new york "punk" was always very consciously difficult in whatever form it took. that makes it rather unpunk, relative to the initial british meaning of the term.
it's not like i'm the first person to draw a contrast between british and american punk. but it's less pronounced if you're discussing the ramones v. the clash, or the damned, or the sex pistols. there are a lot of similarities there. but going a little under the surface, if you try and draw a comparison between patti smith or television and crass then it's clear you're not in the same genre anymore. "punk", in this context, becomes a sort of buzzword without meaning. the new york "punk" scene, in this context, is hard to understand as anything other than an art rock scene grasping onto a trendy term. but, it was an art rock scene in an artistically dead society; in england, it was more like over-stimulation. so it's not just different genres, but reactions to fundamentally different pressures. in time, ironically, it was the new york sound that dominated london (see joy division), while the uk sound got shipped out to california.
see, if punk in britain was a mod movement about rejecting prog and getting back to the basics of rock then new york was a different thing altogether, partly because prog wasn't as entrenched in the united states. instead, you had disco. and new york punk was definitely explicitly anti-disco. so, there was a shared sort of theme there, but very different in scope. in new york, it almost seemed like there was a push to become *more* prog in rejecting the vacuousness of disco - which became post-punk/industrial - after it accepted a shared theme of beat-driven music *from* disco. yet, a lot of the early new york bands were more a type of art-rock, and it's that art-rock that eventually developed into what became alt rock through the influence of new york "punk" bands like sonic youth.
(although sonic youth is the exception, here. they were initially punk as fuck, even if they were clearly influenced by psych rock and maybe, in the end, became a psych band.)
all that to say that there's a continuity from ginsberg through to ranaldo that passes through lou reed, and that the velvets had a role to play in keeping that "downtown scene" alive during those dark days when disco dominated. but it's a relatively minor role - a curator role.
but, yeah. i like this. you can quote me on it.
"the banana record? yeah, it sounds like somebody took a byrds 8-track and left it out in the sun."
i know, i know - “i think there was a lot of elegance in the lyrics he wrote.”
yeah, i'm familiar with the material, and i know that's what people get out of it. and i've been inspired by a lot of people that he inspired, so i'm getting a lot out of it second hand. i cited stipe and ranaldo specifically.
it just seems to me like he's writing from behind this sort of dramatic screen that exists, that he's presenting very carefully worded works of fiction and passing them off as experiences. it's not just him, i have this criticism of a lot of folk music. it seems like it's an act, in other words. well, of course it's an act, on some level - all art is, and if i was walking around rejecting everything on that level i'd be rejecting all art, which i'm not doing. it's just that, with him, it seems really transparent. so, you're claiming it's honest and naked and whatnot, but what it strikes me as is very produced to *seem* honest and naked and whatnot. which is sort of the definition of contrived.
i'm kind of arguing in the form of a conspiracy, though. the more evidence you present that it's raw, the more contrived it's going to seem. but, isn't it a conspiracy, seriously, when you really analyze it?
i'm getting kind of meta and confusing, but i think what i'm trying to get across there is clear.
i guess relating to it sort of relies on giving in to the fantasy, and ignoring the truth that it's an act. which i'm not usually able to do.
“i think a lot of his lyrics are really personal.”
well, if you work in the warhol perspective, which is deeply relevant in reed's case, it sort of cheapens it by reducing it to a product. it doesn't help that he's so deadpan all the time - it just sort of stresses the feeling that it's constructed.
”maybe his lyrics don't seem lived in because they're often observational and in the third person.”
i think it's more his presentation, but, putting that question aside, i don't generally find myself at all interested in the subjects he's exploring, either, which is more of a subjective criticism. but i have a general disinterest in music that's focused largely around discussing relationships or largely focused around drug addiction. if i were to name my 100 favourite artists or something, almost none of them would be that type of songwriter or exist in the singer/songwriter/folk kind of category. i could probably ignore the deadpan, perceived lack of sincerity and generally not particularly interesting music if i could relate to his topics of choice a little more readily. when i look at what he influenced that i can relate to, it's often more in the writing style than the subject matter. stipe, for example is quite political; ranaldo is very introspective. stuff like swans and throbbing gristle took the nihilist themes to a different level, and inserted the emotion that reed tends to lack...
Saturday, October 26, 2013
demo #15: permission
see, i was never very rebellious. no, honestly, i wasn't. i just sort of didn't care. it was really never a question of rebelling against authority because the mere idea of authority was clearly preposterous. so, it was sort of more like i found myself laughing at the idea that other people thought they had some kind of "authority" over me....even as i found myself in logical agreement with those supposed "authorities" 95 times out of 100.....
i probably would have rebelled a little harder if my upbringing was more strict. it wasn't, though. authority was just something that never really existed, except as a rough set of largely rational suggestions.
you know those charlie brown episodes where adults are all squeaky and weird sounding? that's what i was thinking. although, again, the downward spiral appears as an embarrassingly strong influence. it's sort of ironic to write a song like this based on lines from some other person's songs. thankfully, we don't need to rely on the ingenuity of teenagers to keep the world spinning.
the backing vocals are my little sister. she was pretty little at the time, too. 12, even. also ironic: i told her what to do and what to say. i at least got *that* irony at the time, though.
i still like the bridge section, though.
recorded in december, 1996. remastered on oct 26, 2013.
i probably would have rebelled a little harder if my upbringing was more strict. it wasn't, though. authority was just something that never really existed, except as a rough set of largely rational suggestions.
you know those charlie brown episodes where adults are all squeaky and weird sounding? that's what i was thinking. although, again, the downward spiral appears as an embarrassingly strong influence. it's sort of ironic to write a song like this based on lines from some other person's songs. thankfully, we don't need to rely on the ingenuity of teenagers to keep the world spinning.
the backing vocals are my little sister. she was pretty little at the time, too. 12, even. also ironic: i told her what to do and what to say. i at least got *that* irony at the time, though.
i still like the bridge section, though.
recorded in december, 1996. remastered on oct 26, 2013.
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