TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

I'm interested to know where you all listen to your music? In the car, at etc?

Mark.

In the office or in the car, although I tend to listen to the radio in the car (Radio 2).

I suppose I'm fairly lucky as place I'm working at the moment don't mind if you listen to the radio or use your PC to play CD's (thru headphones of course!!).

They've even set up a directory on the network where you can load tracks so everyone can have a listen, there's quite a mix too.....everything from Slipknot to Vivaldi!!!!

Train on the way to and from work - earphones with no leakage (take note all those "tss tss tk tk tsss" people  ;) )

   In the car,though there's only a tape player and I'm too lazy to copy to cassette usually so it tends to be older stuff  :-[

   But mostly sitting here.My computer has the only bass speaker I own that can make my chair jump !!  ;D

Thanks Pete,

Re: The other week I had to use his car one morning and played "Over The Next Hill" as I drove along.
Full bore through his system it sounded amazing, must get one for the Passatt !

Sounds like a good idea to me, but make sure you either have a separate amp and level control, or a passive volume control on the sub box. Too much of it and it can be a pain.

Cheers,

Mark.

Modified only to split out parts of the thread into the topic 'Car Audio' - Sandra :)

I listen to music mostly in the car but also when I cook and surf (on the net, I mean!).  When I'm alone in the car I listen to music that my husband can't stand!  Right now it's King Crimson's Live in Nashville.   

Cooking and surfing and currently playing :  Nothing is Easy, Live at the Isle of Wight by... Tull!  (the dvd is coming out soon, BTW).
Annette

I too listen mostly in the car - so about two hours a day unless the traffic's really bad!  My partner and I don't always agree on music so it's the best way to do it without argument.  We have problems when we're both in the same car, though.  I like listening to music in the car because I can have it as loud as I like and nobody talks through the best bits! :)

I also listen in the kitchen when I'm cooking but it's sometimes a bit difficult to hear above the fan oven and the extractor fan!

Mostly the car as I drive a lot for work.  Standard CD player that came with the Ford Fiesta three and a half years ago.  Second to that, its through the PC using earphones, so I dont disturb my other half watching eastenders.  When I am on my own the cheap panasonic stereo system (loudish).  On the occasional long flight I use  a Sony minidisc player on 3x compression, sounds OK when up loud to lose the airplane noise!

Mark

Hello all,

For me, this thread is proving very interesting.   ::)

I hope more of you post messages here? Come on Anji, Jude and Cocker etc. Where are you?

Thanks,

Mark.

P.S. I will respond when (hopefully) some more of you reply?

Mostly at home at the moment but this will change as we start going away more in the summer.

At home when using the computer or doing housework etc this is from MP3 music files or CDs played through PC using external speakers, or through a couple of small mini hi-fis in the kitchen and bedroom. For serious listening it is the stereo in the living room with a different selection as this is where the record deck and vinyls live.

In the van when driving we have music on most of the time, either MP3s or CDs. In the van camping we have a small set up of a laptop with the music files on and a CD player, with external speakers.

I suppose you could say the only place I don't listen to music is at work, where it would not be practical.

Fortunately my husband and I have a wide and similar taste in music, with very few disagreements. :)

Sandra

Oh alright then Mark.

Here we go

Either in the sitting room with an old set up  consisting of:
ADC Record Deck (rarely used because a) one of the speakers sits on it and b) it's covered in photos
Sanyo CD player bought at village plant sale bric-a-brac stall for £2.00
AIWA Cassette deck
JVC Amp and Tuner
Mission Speakers

or in the Pink Room (don't laugh) with an equally old set up:

Technics Deck
Sony CD
AIWA  Double Cassette Deck
Technics Tuner
Quad Amp and Pre-Amp
Rogers LS3/5A speakers

All left over from the tape duplication company days that we used to run.
But I like the sounds from both of them
oh and occasionally in the pigsty where I listen to the Home Service on my G.E.C. bakelite radio which crackles a bit.

not often in the car cos it's too clever by half

Jude

P.S/ very occasionally via the computer but the tiny goodman speakers keep turning themselves off

I love to listen to music at home on my 5 cd-changer which I bought last year! I put on 5 favourites and turn it up loud and enjoy!  ;)

Mainly in the kitchen when cooking. 

I have been trying to listen to a personal CD player when walking home from work but without much success.  I can't find earphones which will stay put.  I have small ear holes and no matter how hard I try to screw in the different things I've tried they keep coming out or just sit in the wrong place so that I don't get the full benefit of the sound unless I hold them in.  I would be grateful for any suggestions for things that might fit better.   :-\

Ears and heart.

Oh, I see.

(This is the kind of thing I put myself through....

I like it LOUD in the car  ::)  but, being not very with-it nor up-to-date, have only a cassette player in there....and occasionally use a Sony Discman

here comes the technical bit

with dodgy wiring/connections - you know, the sound is suddenly GONE! from one speaker, so I have to wiggle the wire about, and toss the Discman (not dissimilar to tossing the discus) about on the passenger seat (a skill which has been favourbly remarked upon, you're right) until

SUDDENLY SHOCKINGLY LOUD again out of the previously muted speaker BURSTS the sound !

It's exhausting.
Now, if I have some spare dosh sometime soon, I'll get a CD player fitted in the car. No! No! says Claudie (Banks?), get an iPod, or a iBis, or a bIro, or somesuchother small-and-groovy malarky.
But I am not ready for such a thing yet.
I am a late developer.  :) (actually, not so very long ago, I was the one who said "But what would I need a modem for?)

At home....I have another not-nearly-good-enough sound system.
And (as I've mentioned before) an unreliable and difficult to control knob.
The one for the volume. Heigh ho. You know how it is.

But. In the new house, I will have brought my Mordaunt Short speakers down from the loft, and will be able to play all this wonderful music to its fullest advantage.  )

Meanwhile...... :)

PS Whistler, I have a stretchy hairband you could wear, as a stylish ears/phones/hairband combo.......if you'd like....

I used to hear all the new music when it was played as background to last week's action on Football Focus. But this year they don't show any action I've noticed so I have to get my music from elsewhere.

Not much on the Radio (Four). Except fatuous album reviews on "Front Row" which are, generally speaking, b*****ks.

My HIFI:

I have a Technika CD radio player bought recently from Tescos for 14.99. Brilliant but occasionally jumps a bit.

But mostly, I listen to stuff on my laptop through laptop speakers that cost about twenty quid. Usually I use sound enhancement called Lambs Navy Rum and the odd wierd cigarettes I'm given from time to time.

These are the happiest days of my life.

In my bed room! being a 'un-sociable teenager' I 'spend all my time in there' talking to people on the internet, burning incense sticks, playing guitar/mandolin/bodhran or washboard. Or listening to music through my 8 Speaker Kenwood system that makes me bed move!
if i am in the car with dad i get to play what i want, but with mum who hates Richard Thompson i usually have to listen to s**ty radio 1.
Olly

Oy Olly - bit of respect for your mother!!!! I have every sympathy for her! Now then! My idea of a Kenwood is a food mixer  ::) does that play cd's??? Think I'll give it a try  ;D

You need a woman and quick !!
got one :P
but it doesent make me any less sad or 'un sociable' towards my family!

Have every symathy with you about radio 1, try radio 2 at least they play a good mix of music, even my 15 year old is coming round to this fact, instead of listening to our awfull local commercial radio station

One day that will change tho Olly! You know we see things differently sometimes - you say either I say either, is the glass half empty or half full  ??? Know what I mean???? Yeah Bill radio 2 is a good listen, I agree and sometimes they play Fotheringay and say "That was Fairport Convention" which makes me smile cos they don't say "That was Fairport 30 years ago!!!!!!" Don't go out and try and buy this song with the female singer etc!!!!!

Enough already! :)

I think I've reached that point where my point can be made. Most of you listen on crappy systems, no?

True music lovers listen to the music, and enjoy the effect that the music brings. Others listen to "the system" (that might be flat (or fat? or not?) in responce?). Ever noticed how, when you are in a car driving, and listening to music, or the radio, and you realise with horror that you cannot remember anything of the past 100 miles. Oh, the power of the mind!

Most of you listen in 1/8" earphones, ipods, computer systems, crappy hi-fis, good, but old systems, involuntary mono mode. Who knows? Most of the time, without even realising, you are very cleverly filtering out background noise from cars etc.

I therefore, have to consider this phenomenon. Thats why I have about 5 sets of crappy speakers, that probably tell me more about the sound, than the one really good set.

Music is a very humanistic emotion. It's not technocratic. My job is, on the face of it technocratic, and as result, I must not loose sight of all things emotional and musical. And that includes the equipment and how musical that equipment sounds.

What is flat (in audiophile terms)? I have many sets on mics and monitors, eqs etc. that all claim to be flat in responce. So why do they all sound different? I don't know, and I don't really care!

Thanks all for answering my question, and I hope some of you will find this thread interesting and a result will enjoy continued, free and easy pleasure in listening to music, whatever system you are listing on?

Mark. ;) :o ;D

P.S. It's a trait of mankind - to believe what we are told - check out Noam Chomsky's, Chronicles of Dissent.

   Sorry,Mark.I don't believe you.

   ;)

"I don't like music" - Martin "Lancelot Barré", 1989

Maart

yeah, that's right, isn't it. Music's b*****ks really.

Hi Maart,

Re: "I don't like music" - Martin "Lancelot Barré", 1989

I can imagine martin saying that! ;D

Do you remenber how was it said, and in what context?

Mark

Yeah I can hear that too, Mark, especially under the questioning of a novice interviewer.   LOL!!!

Seriously, it always kills me to hear musicians say that they don't really listen to other peoples' music. If you're in the music biz, isn't it logical that you'd be somehow influenced by music or at least enjoy it?   I've recently seen an interview with Ian where he says that he got into Indian music because of eating Indian food.  Strange, that.

Annette

Hi Annette,

Not at all! I had to tell my local ruby house owner to stop playing David Sanborn, and play some real Indian music. Also got to have the velvet paisley wall paper. Not to mention Tiger "beer" (said in Homer voice), and all the other goodies they offer! :) :D ;D ::)

He now does, and I think everybody feels better for it!

Re: If you're in the music biz, isn't it logical that you'd be somehow influenced by music or at least enjoy it?

I know David Silvian would not listen to other music for fear of it influencing him. Same goes with Tori Amos. When she's writing she stops listening to music, other than her own. I can relate to this, although I don't practice it myself.

Mark.

P.S. See Amusing anecdotes? for David Sanborn story

I started to reply to this the other day and then got locked out for a while due to my own ineptitude.

Anyway, most of us listen on the systems we can afford. Just because a system is in a car or an environment that isn't acoustically balanced doesn't mean we ignore quality for the joy of listening.

For myself, I really enjoy it when the production is such that it can be enjoyed on  a wide variety of systems. The sound in my office is very different to my lounge, to my car. For tracks like "Janie Runaway" by Steely Dan, I can hear a totally different set of instrumentation when it's on the expensive system. It still sounds great on crappy speakers, but it does sound different.

Some music sounds rubbish on a crappy system - Philip Glass' Koyaanisqatsi being a prime example.

By the way I have a pair of background-cancelling headphones that are fantasic for white noise, such as aircraft, but noises such as voices and sudden sounds get straight through.

Hi Andy,

You must be the wealthy one? ;-))

Yeh, valid point.

Don't you just a hate those recordings, when listening in headphones and experience an uncanny sound - like someone breathing in your ear, or a distant shout, or telephone ringing that freaks you, makes you rip off the headphones to realise that it's nothing but a quiet house (or that air stewardess trying to get your attention)?

How do they work (these fancy headphones)? Is it through some kind of phase cancellation?

Mark

P.S. I can tell you (off topic) , as it will all come to an end soon. There are some F.C. Lyrics  where the backing vocals were deliberately sang to wrong "silly" lyrics. Can anybody guess which songs they are?

 ;D ;)

They weren't all that expensive - Sony noise cancellation 'phones, bought at JFK on a business trip.

Yes, I believe the technology is phase cancellation They have a mike on the outside of each earpiece to take in external noise, the input to each is then inverted and played back through the earphones to cancel it out.  I have to change their batteries regularly.

I've heard many interesting background noises - an Oasis track that has a nokia ringtone halfway through (can't remember which track) - in fact telephones ringing is  regular occurrence as far as I can tell. There was a classical american pianist who used to sing along with his playing, no voice mike but it got picked up by the piano mikes. (His name escapes me, too).


I'm really not enough of aficionado of FC's songs, so have no idea. Si Tu Dois Partir? Royal Seleccione?

There's some interesting backing lyrics to "Closing Time", sounds like the lads are having a good time on a friday night, possibly in the Chequers (assuming the place isn't mythical, I know nothing!)

I mostly listen to music on my iRiver whilst riding my motorcycle to work or home.  So not only do I have MP3 compression and tiny earphones that aren't properly in my ears cos the helmet moves them about, I have traffic and wind noise to contend with too.  I do tend to lose the subtleties, especially in the treble, and I always have the bass turned WAYYY up on the EQ...

A real treat is to be able to listen to music on my wireless headphones.  It's the main reason I volunteer to do the cooking!  At last, full frequency response and no extraneous noise as they're proper cover-the-whole-ear headphones.  Don't know what the radio connection does to the quality though...

I don't have a good enough ear to really be able to tell whether I'm listening to a "quality" system or not.  I think the production values have much more to do with whether I enjoy a recording or not.  Which would explain why I don't enjoy most 70's, early 80's stuff - too trebbly.

Mrs Peluche bought me a new iPod last week ... so now I tend to listen to music whilst walking the dog 4 times a day. I must admit that I'm amazed by such BIG sound from such LITTLE box !!! I'm catching up on albums that I bought and never really listned to properly, plus playing some albums I've not heard in years :
Current iPod playlist -
Porcupine Tree - In Absentia
Mostly Autumn - For All we Shared
Genesis - Lamb Lies Down ...
Rush - Exit ... Stage Left

Dog's going to well walked this week  ;D
Chris

Hi Miss Piggy,

What do you ride?

Is there a law against wearing headphones in a helmet? Never thought about that before now?...

Yes, the Closing Time Bv session was great! lots of fun there. Maarts falsetto contributions are superb! But I won't give the game away on the lyric front - you can just keep guessing?

Andy. If you wiggle your head when wearing those phase headphones, I bet you it really sounds strange, no?

Chris, was it your birthday, or have you just a really kind wife? Nice one!

mark.

Dunno Mark, never even thought to try. I'll give it a go when next I wear 'em.

Birthday in two weeks time ... so I guess I was just lucky !! Mind you, she says life is much quieter nowadays when I pop off to prepare dinner, I take the iPod and let her play her own stuff !!!!

Me, I ride a Triumph  ;D
(http://www.pelucheproperties.com/tt.jpg)

Niiiiiiiiiiice Bike!!!! ;D ;D

Although I prefer the Speed Triple meself :) ;)

It's not a real Triumph... there's no oil puddle underneath! :)

Blimey Chris! You'd have to have some pretty nifty head phones to ride and listen on that one! LOUD Ones!

I bet you listen to Metallica's Black album when you ride - none of that woosey folk music?  ;)

Mark.

Nice one Andy !!!

I'll never have another triple in my life ... I paid Triumph huge amounts of money (back in the days when ...) for one of the first 100 T595's off the line (serial number 00057). You know, the raving mad 955cc triple, bright yellow thingummy. It got recalled after two weeks due to a 'problem with the snapping of headstocks'. They gave me an ol' BMW hire bike whilst they took it away and fixed it in Hinckley (two weeks). I suggested they might offer Jain and I some nice Triumph leathers in way of compensation ... they told me to 'go away' as they'd already gone to the huge expense of a new chain !!! I sold it and bought a Ducati  ;D

Nice bike, the TT.  Rode one a whole 200 yards once (it belonged to a colleague at work).  Mine's a Buell (American sports bike - Harley motor but it goes round corners and stops).  XB9S Lightning.  A bit like this one...

Actually, this excact one!  Picture taken at Cropredy last year...  I don't usually ride with the panniers & top box on...

(http://www.bike-pix.com/albums/album73/aaa.thumb.jpg) (http://www.bike-pix.com/forum/modules.php?full=1&set_albumName=album73&id=aaa&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php)

(*Broadband users can click on that image for a full-size version, might be a bit big for dial-up!)
Thanks to ukbeg.com for hosting!

It's LOVELY!!

As far as I know there's no law in the UK against wearing headphones on the bike - how exactly is it worse than having a car stereo on?  I make sure I can still hear sirens etc...  I don't listen to Metallica often - makes me ride too fast! :D

Nice bikes there, although I do prefer the classic looks. I love the bonneville, will get one one day (when I have some money).

Nice bikes!

They are kind of like old valve recording gear, old bikes that is - they do things newrer bikes don't and visa-versa. I like the look of older bikes. The sound and the four stroke chug-a-lug, and torque. I guess the newer bikes are better technology, but miss some of that funky appeal?

I have often though about getting a bike again...

When I was 16, I had a Honda 125 that I rode into what I think is called a harrow. One of those metal things with long spikes that farmers drag across Fields!  ??? It was left in a farm lane, and I was going too fast to stop on gravel and dust.

It impaled the bikes gearbox, and my head ended up between two of them, inches from instant death. Kind of put me off a little. Since, I've only ever used bikes to thrash around the fields and bridle paths near the studio, which is probably as dangerous?

But I do like them all the same.

Mark.

All this is right off of topic! ;D

I'm sure Mark will correct me if I'm mistaken but I believe the background noise on Closing Time was recorded in the The George Inn in Barford St Michael. You hear Tracy Bullard who was the landlady at that time,call "come along then boys" incidentally that's the same Tracy who later worked with Chris Pegg in the Woodworm office.

Quite correct Martin, but at the end of the track the lyrics of the backing vocals get quite fun.  I think someone liked the aceeeeeeddd bit!

Are we back on topic yet?

Gonna have to listen to some backing vocals - any clues Mark?  An album to listen to in particular?

I also find it difficult to listen to other people's music especially if I'm writing stuff. Trouble is, if it's too good you can think why am I bothering and also it's too easy to write something and find you've unconsciously based it on someone else's work. Does that make sense?

Jude

In my ears

Just when I was about to come up with a witty, urbane, sexy response along comes Randle and spoils it all  ;)

top reply Randle  [;-)

I seem to remember there's a "Matty Groves is coming up next" in the BVs on closing time

Tim

I like to listen to music at every opportunity even when it gets me into trouble,
I listen at home in the kitchen, in the bath, in the living room,  I sneek CD's onto the player at work which are not approved of by management,
the music is more important than the job, on my I-pod to and from work in front of the PC
Im an addict I just cant stop Im sorry its what I live for music is my life.

Wherever I can but mainly in my car when I travel to work and when at home then in the office  on the pretence of working from home  ;D

Hi Tim,

Yes, but I was thinking more of a lyric that could sung in a way that sounds very similar, but is not the same as you would expect?

Mark.