Interesting Sounds

Ever since rebuilding my speakers and completing my music room I’ve been on the lookout for interesting recordings to show them off (or up).  I’ve posted a couple of inquiries over on the music board I frequent, but nobody over there seems to have a clue.

One guy did point me to a pipe organ recording which has some nice long sustained 32 Hz notes, which is sorta impressive.  “The King of Instruments” and all that.

Another guy suggested Harry Partch’s instrument Marimba Eroica, which supposedly can hit a 22 Hz fundamental — but finding a recording of it is another matter.  I’ve had several Partch LPs over the years, and a couple of CDs now, and none of them or anything online features the Eroica.  There’s a YouTube clip but like all YouTube clips it is not hi-if.

Partch reminded me however of another ensemble I investigated a few years ago called the Thai Elephant Orchestra.  It consists of a bunch of elephants in Thailand banging on drums of their choice in rhythms of their choice.  It sounds about like what you’d think, from this description.  Very Harry Partchian, in fact.  Possibly THE ONLY example (that I know of) of non-human animals making non-human-directed music on instruments.  And they seem to enjoy doing it.

Which brings me finally to a CD I ran across today called the Seattle Percussion Collective, which is two guys hitting a bunch of stuff in the studio.  Some of it is pitched — bells, xylophones, glass bowls — and a lot of it is just drums and blocks and percussion instruments.  Like Partch and the Elephant Orchestra calling this stuff “music” requires a bit of mental gymnastics, but playing it back on speakers is, to put it mildly, astonishing.

A month or so ago I collated all my percussion CDs into one spot, under "Per."  I wanted to be able to find them without remembering the specific ensemble names (which I'm having trouble doing).

With Ginger Baker's passing last night I decided to investigate his solo albums that I DIDN'T have.  Didn't find anything I particularly needed.  I already have a pretty good selection of his work:

• Cream
  
• Blind Faith
  
• Air Force 1 & 2
  
• Horses and Trees
  
• Middle Passage
  
• Going Back Home
  
• Falling Off the Roof
  

I find that, as a drummer, he basically plays solo all the time -- and any other musicians playing along have to either fall in line with him, or be left behind.  He "does not play well with others."

And as percussion recordings -- to show off speakers  -- nothing he has recorded is any great shakes.

Which brings me to my percussion recordings.  I believe I've mentioned a few before -- the Copland "Fanfare," Paul Winter Consort, Group 87, Blade Runner 2049 soundtrack -- all killer recordings.  But I also have a small collection of recordings by various percussion ensembles bought specifically to blow my fucking doors off:

• Seattle Percussion Collective (2010) - a probably private issue mentioned above that I have never seen referenced anywhere else.  Killer dynamic recording of tuned and untuned percussion, though not terribly musical
  
• Line Upon Line Percussion (2011) - an Austin trio I found on iTunes and again not mentioned anywhere else.  Another absolutely killer recording and some pretty amazing musicality for percussion-only
  
• Ensemble Bash - "Launch" (1996) and "A Doll's House" (2013) and "Orchestralli" (2004, with Stewart Copeland) and "Hook.Mesh.Stub.Cud" (1992, by Graham Fitkin).  Nice recordings, though nothing really outstanding
  
• Repercussion Unit - "In Need Again" (1987) an old favorite of mine and one of the first all-percussion CDs I ever bought
  
• Iannis Xenakis - "Percussion Works" (2006) and "Pléides" (1987) - Xenakis is on the deep end of the listenability pool, but these recordings are pretty dynamic
  
• a collection of old "stereo demonstration discs" dubbed to CD-R by yours truly or others.  All are fun, though not modern high definition digital recordings: "Modern Pop Percusssion" (1972) by Vincent Gemignani, "Percussion Project Rostock" (1993), "Potent Percussion" (1961) by Don Catelli, "Mallet Magic" (1957) by Harry Breuer, "Percussion Sextet" (1961)
  
• "The World of Stomu Yamash'ta 1 & 2" (1971) which were THE VERY FIRST COMMERCIAL DIGITAL RECORDINGS ever made.  Very dynamic, but musically barely listenable
  

I also have 3 or 4 albums by Blue Man Group, which are pretty fun to listen to.  They play a lot of home-made percussion instruments which are impressive.

But having googled Ginger, I decided to make another search today for percussion ensembles, and ran across another one this afternoon that I'd never seen anywhere: Pulse.

This was available on iTunes for $10 and Amazon for $16 and sounded pretty good on headphones, so I downloaded it and burned a copy.

OMFG.  The big drums on this are To. Die. For.  Very big, very dynamic, hugely impressive, like "Fanfare" but continuous.  I'm afraid I'll blow out my woofers.  They're that dynamic.

Holy crap.

Okay, curiosity got the better of me.

I've been googling "Pulse Percussion Ensemble" or "Pulse Percussion Orchestra" and coming up with nothing, just an L.A.-based youth percussion marching band.  They have no recordings listed on their website, and the CD I downloaded doesn't really sound like them.

No other Pulse ensembles.  No information about the CD, or pictures of the liner notes. Very rarely is there absolutely no information anywhere.

So, in a fit of curiosity, I ordered the real CD from Amazon.  In addition to having bought a download on iTunes.  Not very smart.

But I'm dying to know who's behind this damn thing!

Wah-wah. Joke's on me.

This thing is a commercial CD-R -- with no, zero, zip liner notes or other information. I'm no smarter than I was yesterday.

We were talking about Halloween movies over on another board and somebody recommended "A Dark Song." It looks terrible -- spells and witches and conjuring up the dead -- but the soundtrack in the trailer, by Ray Harman, is another story. Tortured bass bowing, huge frame drums, subtle synthesizer underpinning.

The soundtrack album was not available at Amazon or iTunes, even though the movie's a couple of years old. On further googling I discovered that Harman had posted the whole thing for sale on Bandcamp.

Woo-hoo, another sonic spectacular. These days composers are finally starting to take advantage of the dynamic and frequency range possibilities of digital recording.

The music is spooky and very unusual and hugely impressive on my stereo. Just what I like.

I will not get into a dispute over the difference of opinion regarding the contrasting quality and capabilities of analog and digital recording and playback. But in evaluating these things, it is necessary to consider the biological characteristics of the recipient/evaluator of the product (sound).
The ability of the human (and most other animals) to hear and accurately interpret sound will change - degrade - with age. Typically, a human male 60 years of age, cannot hear a 6 KHz sound with a sound level much below 40 dB spl. That compares unfavorably to a 20-year-old male who can hear the same sound at about 8 dB spl.

So when you applaud composers for "finally starting to take advantage of the dynamic and frequency range possibilities of digital recording", you may want to consider that your experience has been elevated by you having you having improved your ability to adjust your equipment to more accurately simulate accuracy.

Also the first octave (16-32Hz.)  Analog sources do not store it.

I've tested my ears, and I'm deaf above 8K.  But hey, here's a secret.  There are no music fundamentals above 5K and very little overtone content of any kind above 5K.  If you graph almost any recording -- and I have -- even ones with lots of cymbals and bells and stuff -- the graph dives straight down above 5k and by 10k it's 40dB down.

Oh, and by-the-way?  It's not "a difference of opinion."  It's verifiable fact.

NoCoPilot wrote:

It's not "a difference of opinion."  It's verifiable fact.

And there is our first difference of opinion.

NoCoPilot wrote:

Woo-hoo, another sonic spectacular.  These days composers are finally starting to take advantage of the dynamic and frequency range possibilities of digital recording.

How is is that you get so excited about some quasi-illusory superiority of digital recording when you can only hear a small portion of the sound.

Hubris.

_Howard wrote:

And there is our first difference of opinion.

"Alternative facts," Kellyanne?  

Listen, it's not subtle, it's not opinion, it's as clear-as-day on my system.  Everyone else who has sat with me here agrees.  Your experience may differ, your opinion may differ, your ears may differ.  But in my room, on my speakers, it's a stark undeniable reality.

<snip - never mind>

_Howard wrote:

<snip - never mind>

If you could get yourself up to San Jose airport, you could fly up for a couple days and I'd be glad to show you.  Paine Field is 2-1/2 miles from me.  I have a guest bedroom.  We'd love to host you.

$103 round trip on Alaska.

I'd let you sit in my new car. Which is the same as your daughter's new car.

NoCo, that is a very kind and thougthful offer. Not too far in the past, I would undoubtedly have taken advantage of your generosity. Unfortunately, I am no longer able to travel with any degree of comfort and so must, regrettably, decline. But I do thank you for the offer. It could have been interesting, to say the least.

I think that our differences are more a matter of semantics than anything else. That, and the difficulty in carrying on a conversation over the internet.

By the way, my daughter does not have a car. My wife, however, has a new Subaru Forester Touring.

Ah well, you probably would've wanted to fiddle with the knobs anyway.

From 1970 to 1992 drummer Max Roach hosted a part-time all-percussion ensemble he called "M'Boom." In addition to trap drums and kettle drums and gongs and shakers and handheld percussion, the octet featured vibes and marimba and tuned bells and -- occasionally -- musical saw.

They put out six albums which are, by and large, hurricane-force percussion-fests. One would have to be a drummer, or a lover of drums, to appreciate these albums.

The first one, called "Re:Percussion" (1973, a live recording) was apparently put out without Roach's permission. He was signed to another label at the time, so this album (on Strata-East) was withdrawn from release and all unsold copies were destroyed. This makes it one of the rarest albums out there. A couple weeks ago I discovered a YouTube video of the music, in an absolutely trashed condition, but it was all that was available. I spent all last week cleaning it up, tick by pop. After a lot of work, including considerable digital goosing, it eventually emerged as a pretty good recording.

M'Boom's second album, also called "Re:Percussion" (1973, Baystate Records) was recorded at the same concert. One (of the two) tracks was posted to YouTube in excellent condition. The other exists online nowhere -- so I substituted a different performance of the same song by the same ensemble from 1971, and burned one CD of the complete(?) concert.

The other albums were located at iTunes or Amazon. Considering the age of these recordings, both the recording quality and the artistic evolution of the all-percussion ensemble are remarkable.

Max Roach. There's a name I haven't heard in many years. Just reading the name makes my ears hurt just a little.

NoCoPilot wrote:

Ah well, you probably would've wanted to fiddle with the knobs anyway.

As I said, my wife has one of the same cars (is yours bronze?). She is kind enough to let me fiddle with her knobs when I've been a good boy. (Oh my God - I really have become a dirty old man!)

I think I've been a dirty old man for at least twenty years.