Unappreciative audience, aka people who just dont get it

MajorFubar

New member
Mar 3, 2010
690
6
0
Visit site
So while wife and children were visiting her family in Scotland last week, I was working on a new song, a cover of Cars by Gary Numan. When they came back on Tuesday evening, I allowed my two teenage boys to listen to my first stab at a master, but because it was late I made them listen on my headphones, one using my HD580’s and the other using my RS180’s, both open back. I said to Mrs Fubar afterwards ‘do you want a listen?’ Her reply, without any hint of sarcasm, ‘Do I really need to? I’ve just heard it leaking out the back of two pair of headphones’. Ah well. I only spent one full day umming and ahing whether one of my Mini Moog synth brass lines should be 1dB higher or lower, and how far apart I should spread my double-tracked vocals in the stereo image. From a HiFi perspective this is probably the equivalent of me yelling from the living room, ‘come and listen to these amazing new speakers!!’ and she shouts back, ‘Don’t need to, I heard them from the garage’.
 

Electro

Well-known member
Mar 30, 2011
192
3
18,545
Visit site
Some people if not the majority of people just don't get music full stop and or the profound effect it can have on some people .

I think for most people music is just a soundtrack to their life with certain songs underpinning events and the rest is just to fill in the silence or to fit in with others .

It all sounds the same to them no matter what it is played on because thay don't really listen to it .

This belief is reinforced when I go to live music, there is always a group of people who insist on talking to their friends at shouting volume all through the performance because they get bored after a couple of minutes of listening and they seem to love the sound of their own voice more than anything else .

I am often tempted to go and ask them why they bothered to pay for a ticket and then talk all night but it would probably cause more fuss than it's worth.
 

thewinelake.

New member
Jan 22, 2016
58
0
0
Visit site
Mind you....

There is another school of thought that would say that audio is merely a channel for the music to flow down. Listening to a great song playing through the speaker of a mobile phone can still make one laugh or cry (maybe this only works if it's a piece you already know?). I'm sure some people could even appreciate music simply by reading the score and playing it in their head.

It does annoy me, though, when I'm in the car and my wife keeps turning the volume down.

Well I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?

I wonder what system David had - bet it was Active ;-)
 

MajorFubar

New member
Mar 3, 2010
690
6
0
Visit site
thewinelake. said:
There is another school of thought that would say that audio is merely a channel for the music to flow down. Listening to a great song playing through the speaker of a mobile phone can still make one laugh or cry (maybe this only works if it's a piece you already know?). I'm sure some people could even appreciate music simply by reading the score and playing it in their head.

True enough, and there is a marked diffrence between being 'just' a lover of music, and being a lover of music AND being a HiFi enthusiast who enjoys a better reproduction of the same. I'm not going to tread down that tired old hackneyed path of why are less females interested in high-fidelty reproduction, other than to comment that if anyone thinks hardly any women are interested in HIFI, they should see the gaping gender-gap at the other end, i.e. producers, sound designers and engineers. That said, in my field of musical interest, two of my most influential idols are both female: Delia Derbyshire and Wendy Carlos. But to be fair, when Wendy Carlos produced what to me are her most seminal works, she was a bloke.
 

Electro

Well-known member
Mar 30, 2011
192
3
18,545
Visit site
thewinelake. said:
Mind you....

There is another school of thought that would say that audio is merely a channel for the music to flow down. Listening to a great song playing through the speaker of a mobile phone can still make one laugh or cry (maybe this only works if it's a piece you already know?). I'm sure some people could even appreciate music simply by reading the score and playing it in their head.

It does annoy me, though, when I'm in the car and my wife keeps turning the volume down.

Well I've heard there was a secret chordThat David played and it pleased the LordBut you don't really care for music, do you?

I wonder what system David had - bet it was Active ;-)

No the active systems are used by the devil and his followers to try and tempt passive people to the evil side . *wink* .
 

steve_1979

Well-known member
Jul 14, 2010
231
10
18,795
Visit site
thewinelake. said:
Mind you....

There is another school of thought that would say that audio is merely a channel for the music to flow down. Listening to a great song playing through the speaker of a mobile phone can still make one laugh or cry (maybe this only works if it's a piece you already know?). I'm sure some people could even appreciate music simply by reading the score and playing it in their head.

It does annoy me, though, when I'm in the car and my wife keeps turning the volume down.

Well I've heard there was a secret chordThat David played and it pleased the LordBut you don't really care for music, do you?

I wonder what system David had - bet it was Active ;-)

At work I enjoy listening to music from an £12 X-Mi Mini ii portible speaker as much as I do from my AVIs or Sennheisers despite it being mono, very low quality and having no sub bass at all. Even in a noisy room with lots of background chatter which all but drowns out the speaker.

So long as the musical message can get through, after a short time my brain automatically seems to filter out the background noise and fill in the gaps that the speaker can't reproduce and all that I notice is the music playing.
 

steve_1979

Well-known member
Jul 14, 2010
231
10
18,795
Visit site
MajorFubar said:
So while wife and children were visiting her family in Scotland last week, I was working on a new song, a cover of Cars by Gary Numan. When they came back on Tuesday evening, I allowed my two teenage boys to listen to my first stab at a master, but because it was late I made them listen on my headphones, one using my HD580’s and the other using my RS180’s, both open back. I said to Mrs Fubar afterwards ‘do you want a listen?’ Her reply, without any hint of sarcasm, ‘Do I really need to? I’ve just heard it leaking out the back of two pair of headphones’. Ah well. I only spent one full day umming and ahing whether one of my Mini Moog synth brass lines should be 1dB higher or lower, and how far apart I should spread my double-tracked vocals in the stereo image. From a HiFi perspective this is probably the equivalent of me yelling from the living room, ‘come and listen to these amazing new speakers!!’ and she shouts back, ‘Don’t need to, I heard them from the garage’.

I love that song and would be interested in listening to your cover version. That is of course unless there's a copyright issue when posting it on a public forum.
 

MajorFubar

New member
Mar 3, 2010
690
6
0
Visit site
steve_1979 said:
I love that song and would be interested in listening to your cover version. That is of course unless there's a copyright issue when posting it on a public forum.
the biggest issue I have is posting up songs where I've sang the vocals. I'm not really a great singer, or even a good singer. I hit the right notes and that's about it. I'll upload the instrumental version [without my vocals] to YouTube and put a link here.
 

MajorFubar

New member
Mar 3, 2010
690
6
0
Visit site
https://youtu.be/jQdyHQk9TZE

Credit where credit is due, the drumtrack was created by my brother. He felt he couldn't get the right sounds from his Yamaha keyboards to complete the track and he asked if I wanted a go at it, seeing he'd spent a lot of time creating the drum track. Seemed a shame to waste it, so I accepted.
 

steve_1979

Well-known member
Jul 14, 2010
231
10
18,795
Visit site
That's actually really good. *good*

When I played it side be side to the original Gary Numan version and swapped between them yours sounds much better. Yours is clearer and more precise sounding. I'd never noticed it before but the original is version actually sounds a bit muffled and 'blurred'.

The mixing and balancing of the different instrument volumes sounds spot on to me too. Give yourself a pat on the back there Major and I'm not just saying that to be nice either. If I thought there was anything less than perfect I'd be honest and tell you.
 

Andrewjvt

New member
Jun 18, 2014
99
4
0
Visit site
MajorFubar said:
steve_1979 said:
I love that song and would be interested in listening to your cover version. That is of course unless there's a copyright issue when posting it on a public forum.
the biggest issue I have is posting up songs where I've sang the vocals. I'm not really a great singer, or even a good singer. I hit the right notes and that's about it. I'll upload the instrumental version [without my vocals] to YouTube and put a link here.

Vocals please
 

MajorFubar

New member
Mar 3, 2010
690
6
0
Visit site
Thanks for your kind comments Steve_1979 they are really appreciated.

Andrewjvt said:
Vocals please

You're very welcome to sing some if you feel up to it. Rip the audio from my video and overdub some. If you publish the completed song on YouTube or elsewhere all I ask is that you credit me as the musician and include a link to my YouTube video. So as the Americans say feel free to knock yourself out *music2*
 

Andrewjvt

New member
Jun 18, 2014
99
4
0
Visit site
MajorFubar said:
Thanks for your kind comments Steve_1979 they are really appreciated.

Andrewjvt said:
Vocals please

You're very welcome to sing some if you feel up to it. Rip the audio from my video and overdub some. If you publish the completed song on YouTube or elsewhere all I ask is that you credit me as the musician and include a link to my YouTube video. So as the Americans say feel free to knock yourself out *music2*

Im afraid my singing days are over since i performed at the splash festival years ago with very bad flu/bronchitis and i damged my vocal chords and to this day i can never hit the notes i used to lol. Was mostly screaming though anyway.
 

Romulus

Well-known member
Nov 21, 2014
185
85
18,670
Visit site
MajorFubar said:
So while wife and children were visiting her family in Scotland last week, I was working on a new song, a cover of Cars by Gary Numan. When they came back on Tuesday evening, I allowed my two teenage boys to listen to my first stab at a master, but because it was late I made them listen on my headphones, one using my HD580’s and the other using my RS180’s, both open back. I said to Mrs Fubar afterwards ‘do you want a listen?’ Her reply, without any hint of sarcasm, ‘Do I really need to? I’ve just heard it leaking out the back of two pair of headphones’. Ah well. I only spent one full day umming and ahing whether one of my Mini Moog synth brass lines should be 1dB higher or lower, and how far apart I should spread my double-tracked vocals in the stereo image. From a HiFi perspective this is probably the equivalent of me yelling from the living room, ‘come and listen to these amazing new speakers!!’ and she shouts back, ‘Don’t need to, I heard them from the garage’.

My dear fellow if I heard Cars by Gary Numan I would run for the Hills..!
 

MajorFubar

New member
Mar 3, 2010
690
6
0
Visit site
Romulus said:
My dear fellow if I heard Cars by Gary Numan I would run for the Hills..!
A wise man once said, 'each to his own'. The same wise man said, 'If you've nothing constructive to say, then don't bother'. :)
 

torikoos

New member
Aug 4, 2016
9
0
0
Visit site
Electro said:
Some people if not the majority of people just don't get music full stop and or the profound effect it can have on some people .

I think for most people music is just a soundtrack to their life with certain songs underpinning events and the rest is just to fill in the silence or to fit in with others .

It all sounds the same to them no matter what it is played on because thay don't really listen to it .

This belief is reinforced when I go to live music, there is always a group of people who insist on talking to their friends at shouting volume all through the performance because they get bored after a couple of minutes of listening and they seem to love the sound of their own voice more than anything else .

I am often tempted to go and ask them why they bothered to pay for a ticket and then talk all night but it would probably cause more fuss than it's worth.

Spot on :)

And then there is the current sad fact that young people nowadays don't get to hear a decent stereo, due to the portable nature of music and gadgets , and many highstreet 'electronic' stores don't even sell proper 'HiFi' anymore, let alone have a corner in the shop with a demo set up. They've become accustomed to it and will need a lot of convincing to listen properly. (They're often too busy checking their status on FB, instagripe etc).
 

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts