BAASnotes.com – Bay Area Audiophile Society

Colors of Noise: Visualizing Electronica

Beautiful, evocative, and trippy, this vid takes you on an entertaining journey rendered by two German artists.

If you can’t take electronica, try this one instead. Far more sedate.

Or this one for something in between.

Cool stuff.

Downloads available here.

(Lehmann’s other videos are also notable, for reasons other than music.)

Music@Menlo to Kick Off 2010 Summer Festival

If you love chamber music, let me recommend a local festival put on by Music@Menlo in – where else – Atherton (near Menlo Park!). This Merc article provides a nice preview.

Great music, performed well. And sometimes much better than “well.”

If you don’t believe me, try a couple of their well-produced CD’s (available on the web site).

Good listening!

Lang Lang Plays iPad at SF Davies Hall

Virtuoso pianist Lang Lang stunned SF’s Davies by whipping out an iPad and playing “Flight of the Bumblebees.” Video here.

The software powering the performance was Magic Piano from Smule.

I wish I had been there…makes me want an iPad too!

Bob

Must-see Movie for Vinyl-lovers

“To Have and to Hold” – as in LP (not book) – is an upcoming documentary film about the hold that vinyl has over music-lovers everywhere.

The film is still in production, but you can get a taste of it from this “teaser” video.

Great stuff. This film should build on Fremer’s work, raising awareness and entertaining all at once.

Keith Richard’s Exile

An engaging Guardian article provides the backstory on the Stones masterpiece – “Exile on Main Street.”

The self-imposed exile to France, conducted to evade Britain’s putative 93% income tax, provided the backdrop for drunken debauchery, in-fighting, and raw rock & roll.

The article presages an upcoming re-release of “Exile.”

{Thanks, Aaron}

Nature’s Well-tempered Joke on Music

Ever wondered what “well-tempered” – as in claviers and turntables, not steel – really means?

This lengthy but well-written Slate article takes you through it.

In the process, you’ll learn about Bach’s motives and methods for WTC, instrument tuners’ dilemmas, and a special musical construct named “the wolf.” Music excerpts help motivate the text.

A little geeky, but fun nonetheless.

California Audio Show (CAS) Exhibitors List

The list is up – and it’s growing.

I think the show is already at critical mass – and worthy of a visit.

July 30 – August 1 in Emeryville.

Bob

Apple Launches New Macbooks with Firewire 800

Apple just released a great (to the converted at least) new lineup of laptops.

As I expected, all feature Firewire 800 ports.

So the (audiophile) rumors of Firewire’s demise are greatly exagerated…

Bob

More album cover art doings

Two new developments in the world of album cover art, both from the UK:

• About a successful album cover artist
• Album art on postal stamps

(Thanks to Aaron K for pointing these out.)

Bob

You’ve heard of audiophile cable break-in devices…

…how about automated violin break-in devices?

Who will be the first audiophile to apply this gear to a speaker cabinet?

(Cable break-in cookers are, of course, still available – starting at $800.)

Bob

New audiophile show coming to the Bay Area!

This summer, we will once again be blessed by a local audio show. And attendance will be free to registered guests!

So save the dates: July 30 – August 1

The event will be in Emeryville and comes courtesy the good folks at Dagogo.

Organization is still in its early stages. In speaking with Constantine Soo, Dagogo founder, last week, I learned that several key exhibitors had signed and invitations had gone out to many more.

Given that at least twenty high-end vendors call NorCal home, I’d expect a very nice event. Of course, many non-local folks will also exhibit.

I will later send out an email containing a registration link…

How is it that an audio engineer, an Amazonian tribesman, and a small child think alike?

In audio:

• Frequency bands are commonly expressed in octaves and decades
• Volume settings (attenuation) and gain are expressed in decibels (dB)
• Treble falls off rapidly with distance – exponentially in fact

The common ground is that all of these quantities are logarithmic (the inverse of logarithmic is exponential).

Well, it turns out that reclusive tribes deep in the Amazon think the same way. So do small children.

Click the link above for a fascinating look at the Munduruku tribe and its numerical methods. (They can only count to five!)

And click here to learn more about logarithms in audio.