Saturday, March 17, 2012

The Subjectivist Mantra

...and no it isn't mine, but I love it anyway!

“If it measures good and sounds bad, it is bad; if it measures bad and sounds good, you have measured the wrong thing” ....Daniel von Recklinghausen, Chief Engineer at H.H. Scott

Try this instead of Yoga or TM...

Words to listen by.

4 comments:

  1. Oh man, so true...if I had a dime for every guy tryin to make a claim with his crumby soundin gear, based on specs. Funny these guys never just claim that it sounds good. That always tells the real story to me. I don't know the specs of half the gear I own.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Something those folks will never get even though they supposedly believe in the scientific method is that they can't control for every variable. Especially when it comes to listening and sound. Our own unchanged systems sound different to us depending on mood, temperature, the grid, whether we got any this morning and a whole host of other factors. Add to that the pressure of being either in an unfamiliar place or at home with unfriendly (read looking to stick it to you) faces and you have skewed any possible result.

    Doesn't take golden ears to hear the differences presented at various levels in audio. Anyone can be trained to hear differences, anyone. I once asked my wife to listen carefully to 3 different sets of interconnects and tell me the difference. She didn't hear any difference at all. I then asked her to listen again as I clued her in on what to be listening for. We listened for quite a while. I then went through them all with familiar music and she reliably chose which one was which every time. She knew what she was listening for. She has now learned how to do that on her own.

    As objectivists like to say we don't have much of an aural memory, true. But we do have a brain and a way to get around that...take notes. Over the years I've learned to take mental notes of what I hear and don't hear with various pieces and that's why I can usually remember the basic characteristics of a piece I heard 3 yrs ago. I remembered what struck me as salient about the sound of that particular piece and how it differed from others I've heard...it ain't a gift and it don't make me special. Anyone can do it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Art, Please share what you heard at Dale's the other day - as I'm sure it was a insightful trip. I'm all ears. Be well little brother, Oscar

    ReplyDelete
  4. I certainly will my friend. I am waiting on some information from Dale. I will take my time and share my thoughts and how I learned through revelation, something altogether new. It was a listening session that still has me scratching my head...a revelation.

    ReplyDelete