Bare Naked

Posted on 2 September, 2015 by odo

It’s been done before, many times, by Coltrane, Redman, and others. Strip away the drums, the piano, strip away everything—no guitar, no percussion, no backup vocals, no strings—nothing but a single voice and acoustic double bass. It’s a great musical challenge. Unlike ten fingers on a piano or guitar capable of playing melody, harmony, accompaniment all at once, here are only two voices. The music is stark. To be able to create interesting, full figured, complete musical presentations, especially of popular tunes we all know well, with two instruments, each producing a single line, is a formidable feat. Petra Magoni and Ferruccio Spinetti have shed the cover of other accompanists, dropped the pasties and the g-string, and gone totally naked. Exposing oneself like this is bold. It takes guts, talent, and a certain self-aware confidence. They’ve been unabashedly streaking through Europe, and occasionally elsewhere, for over a decade—quite a streak.

But simply flashing us wouldn’t go very far if their talent weren’t shapely enough to trigger lust. Petra’s seductive soprano does a slinky pole-dance with each cover. They have a way of zooming in on the essentials, then fluffing them up to their full glory. Ferruccio’s handiwork on the bass will make you shudder. He lifts Petra high overhead, drives the rhythm, and lays down the harmonic flesh. Their mutual fertility dance grinds with vitality. Listen (you’ll need headphones with good bass response to fully appreciate)—

I Will Survive

Eleanor Rigby

Roxanne

Their eponymously titled first album is a good tease. Are the followups as voluptuous? Have they developed, grown, expanded, or are they vainly hoping to hang on to youth’s beauty? I won’t know until I pick up one of their recent releases. Has the recording quality improved, too? Not that this recording isn’t good, it passes, just barely. Has Petra’s voice matured? Has her phrasing become more finessed? Has Ferruccio’s aggressive technique gotten more ferocious? I’m looking forward to hearing what they’re doing today, eleven years later.

So, yea, I’m not raving, but I am ogling. There’s a heat here that I hope has gone from X to XXX. They’ve got my attention. Will they hold it and get me there?

(||) Rating — Music : A ║ Performance : A- ║ Recording : B- ║
 Musica Nuda, Musica Nuda, BHM Productions, 2004

Posted in Discover, Music reviews | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Best Loudspeaker

Posted on 19 August, 2015 by odo

hearing the recording

Reading the online audio forums you frequently see questions asking about the best speakers for rock & roll, or the best for classical, or the best for you name the category, style, genre. It’s an obvious question. Different musical styles definitely have different characteristics and place different demands on the loudspeaker. And each of us has experienced listening to speakers that sound pretty good playing this, and not so much playing that. Sounds logical.

There are also various schools of speaker design. One that stands out is the “mimic a musical instrument” school. We’re playing music, therefore it follows that a speaker should act like a musical instrument. Sounds logical.

Who’s to refute logic?

No one. In this case, there is nothing to refute, because there is no logic behind the “best loudspeaker for fill-in-the-blank” school, or the “mimic a musical instrument” school. In both cases a conclusion was drawn from faulty assumptions, not faulty logic. Asking the wrong questions guarantees the wrong answers.

Back up for a moment.

Q. What is a loudspeaker supposed to do?
A. Convert the electrical waveform from the amp into the corresponding acoustic waveform for our ears.

There’s nothing musical about that. It’s not trying to create music. It’s not even trying to recreate music. The goal is to transduce the electrical signal into sound waves without adding or subtracting anything. A speaker that mimics a musical instrument will be adding its own resonant sound to the signal—wrong. A speaker that sounds good for R&R, but not classical is incapable of clear transduction of the signal. Its distortions are “good” for R&R, but disastrous on classical. A speaker that sounds good reproducing small acoustic ensemble, but not brassy big band or large chorus, is one that gets overloaded by more complex signals. While its distortions are not objectionable with simpler music, maybe even pleasant, they get amplified with the size of the ensemble and become unpleasant. A speaker that’s good for “blank,” is only, barely good ‘nough for anything.

The fact is, a loudspeaker doing its job will sound equally good on all types of music. It will not add its own sound, like a musical instrument, or be limited by the demands of various styles, as in getting bogged down with complexity. It will not reinterpret or alter the EQ. It will transduce accurately the signal provided. Nothing more, nothing less, nothing musical about it.

Read parts one and two of the Hearing series — [The Color of Sound] & [Pro Gear]

Watch a revealing documentary about the pop music business in the ’60s and ’70s. Tells how many of the big stars of the day only sang the vocals. Leaks a few recording studios trade secrets for getting a BIG sound out of a small ensemble. Makes public why “live” concerts never sounded as good as the recording, and why getting that concert sound at home is not only impossible, it’s nothing desirable to emulate : [The Wrecking Crew].

Posted in Audio, Discover | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment