Seven 9s and 10s

Superpower

Heather:
I was outside laying in the grass.

Heather:
Anyway, I'm not feeling this place today whatsoever. I'm trying not to be cranky about it but.

Heather:
I couldn't just lay there without overhearing a terribly idiotic conversation happening behind me.

Heather:
Once they said this gem I got up and came inside: "College is so much harder than the real world because you're going out and getting drunk with so many people and that just complicates everything"

Me:
It's times like that when I wish I had a superpower with which I could summon a giant butt that would descend from the sky, fart loudly, and deposit a fantastically enormous and stinky turd right on top of them.

Terrible Lies

In reference to the post that I reblogged yesterday about the Loudness Wars…

Follow that big green link to download a zipped file I threw into my Dropbox.

I made Apple Lossless Audio versions of the original 1989 CD version of NIN’s Terrible Lie and the 2010 Remastered CD version of the same song.

If all you’ve ever known is the 2010 version, you probably wouldn’t realize anything was wrong with it. But when you compare it to the original, it becomes immediately apparent just how much worse it sounds… all in the name of loudness.

Trust me. You’ll only need to listen to about 10 seconds of each to notice the dramatic difference. I think it’s worth your time.

 

Beginnings - Junip

Track:
Beginnings

Artist:
Junip

Album:
Junip

72 plays

Junip - Beginnings

OMG. You guys. The new Junip album is excellent.

Listen to this. Seriously.

It feels slightly darker to me than their last release, both lyrically and musically, and that’s reflected in the perfectly stark album cover.

I’d marry José González’s voice if that were somehow scientifically or legally possible.

High-res kenyatta: alandistro: Do you ever wonder why some music isn’t as much fun to listen to as it used to be? It’s because it is literally straining your ears to hear it.  This is a screen shot I took comparing the waveform for two releases of the SAME recording of the SAME song, “Terrible Lie” by Nine Inch Nails. The top waveform came from the original 1989 CD release. It’s pleasing to hear. It’s dynamic. There are loud parts and there are quiet parts, and it lets you feel the music breathe. The bottom waveform came from the remastered 2009 CD release celebrating the 20th anniversary. Sure, it’s louder, but take a look at the “brick wall” the signal runs into as it builds. When this happens, the music no longer kicks, it just all levels out. It’s flat. It’s boring. And it fatigues your ears very quickly. This is a VERY common problem with most CDs recorded and (re)released over the last decade. I won’t write up a 10 page rant here, I’ll just leave you with this brief introduction, and a link to the Loudness Wars page on wikipedia for further reading, if you’re interested. Reblogged after seeing this post on Hank Green’s blog. The Loudness War WP article is fascinating. I’ll estimate that 80% of people who listen to music don’t care about this, but they should. There is an immediately noticeable difference between the way that top waveform and that bottom waveform sound. Most people never really consider the health of their ears. Just look at how few people are wearing earplugs the next time you’re at a live music event. It’s just not worth it. Protect your hearing. Wear earplugs and avoid music that has been overly processed when you have the option. I mostly dislike listening to vinyl (it’s entirely inconvenient) but it’s a good place to start if you’re looking to start listening to and enjoying music that isn’t going to damage your hearing, because it’s just physically impossible to cut a waveform like that bottom example into vinyl.

kenyatta:

alandistro:

Do you ever wonder why some music isn’t as much fun to listen to as it used to be? It’s because it is literally straining your ears to hear it. 

This is a screen shot I took comparing the waveform for two releases of the SAME recording of the SAME song, “Terrible Lie” by Nine Inch Nails.

The top waveform came from the original 1989 CD release. It’s pleasing to hear. It’s dynamic. There are loud parts and there are quiet parts, and it lets you feel the music breathe.

The bottom waveform came from the remastered 2009 CD release celebrating the 20th anniversary. Sure, it’s louder, but take a look at the “brick wall” the signal runs into as it builds. When this happens, the music no longer kicks, it just all levels out. It’s flat. It’s boring. And it fatigues your ears very quickly.

This is a VERY common problem with most CDs recorded and (re)released over the last decade.

I won’t write up a 10 page rant here, I’ll just leave you with this brief introduction, and a link to the Loudness Wars page on wikipedia for further reading, if you’re interested.

Reblogged after seeing this post on Hank Green’s blog.

The Loudness War WP article is fascinating.

I’ll estimate that 80% of people who listen to music don’t care about this, but they should. There is an immediately noticeable difference between the way that top waveform and that bottom waveform sound.

Most people never really consider the health of their ears. Just look at how few people are wearing earplugs the next time you’re at a live music event. It’s just not worth it. Protect your hearing. Wear earplugs and avoid music that has been overly processed when you have the option.

I mostly dislike listening to vinyl (it’s entirely inconvenient) but it’s a good place to start if you’re looking to start listening to and enjoying music that isn’t going to damage your hearing, because it’s just physically impossible to cut a waveform like that bottom example into vinyl.

(via kellydeal)

High-res Here’s my 2013 NHL Playoff Bracket. This would be my “betting” bracket. In other words, this is who I actually think will win, rather than who I want to win. The teams that I want to win in each round are printed in green. I didn’t spend as much time as usual thinking about this, but I feel confident that the Leafs can stun the Bruins in Round 1, setting up a great rivalry matchup against Montreal in Round 2. Pittsburgh and Chicago are just too strong and deep to ignore, and they’ll be very tough to beat.

Here’s my 2013 NHL Playoff Bracket.

This would be my “betting” bracket. In other words, this is who I actually think will win, rather than who I want to win. The teams that I want to win in each round are printed in green. I didn’t spend as much time as usual thinking about this, but I feel confident that the Leafs can stun the Bruins in Round 1, setting up a great rivalry matchup against Montreal in Round 2. Pittsburgh and Chicago are just too strong and deep to ignore, and they’ll be very tough to beat.