Leaderboard

A few phone snaps from a photo fair today. Showing a rare example of will power I came home with -1 cameras. These are held three times a year in Newark, CA, but also show up once in year in Portland (coming September), if anyone up there is interested. The 2.7MP Nikon D1, originally $10K in today’s dollars, that I picked up for $40 here last show, were going for $75 today. #digicamtrend

Some "New" music. Some Background / an Ad, in case you are unfamiliar with the work.

So, I was mentioning how Capt. Whirlygig CNC'd me the parts to build the same pocket screw jig that he built recently. The ping ponged parts made the job really easy! It went together quickly and accurately. Thanks Naaman! The toggle clamp, safety switch and spiral bit arrive later today, so I'll get those attached next weekend and take it on a maiden voyage. It's a two action setup. The router bit cuts the pocket, then you use a small drill bit to cut the screw hole. You can see the brass guide for the 5/32" drill bit. A nice smooth operation.

Voena - Voices Of The Heart. Amazing children's choir, taking on some very good music, and doing it well! Fairly good recording as well...

Now this is pretty cool. Minor Threat set lists from their June 26th 1983 NYC show. Very neat penmanship for a bunch of punk kids. That said, I'm pretty sure "12XU" is said "One, Two, X You" there, Lyle.

Worst. Parson’s. Table. Ever.

I did search but I couldn't find a dedicated thread about DIY electrostatics so in the spirit of getting the discussion started, here is something I've been working on. Well over a decade ago I bought up all the spare Sennheiser HE60 parts to assemble new headphones. The first thing to go out of stock was the main housing so to assemble the last pair, I had to adept a HD650 housing to take the HE60 drivers. Ever since then it has stuck in my head to make my own drivers for those housings and well... here is version 2.0: I bought a ratty old HD650 and completely stripped it apart. Headpad, earpads and cable went into the trash while the rest went for a long bath. First step is to make the baffle flat so a lot of cutting with nice, sharp, flush cutters. I naturally forgot to take a picture of that step... Next step was to fully measure what area I had to work with and design PCB's to match that, while maximizing the open area. The end result is three different PCB's, as they are all setup to be dual sided. One for the stators, one which holds the diaphragm and finally the simple outline which holds the dust covers and can act as a spacer. Some pics of them assembled in the housing: Four nylon screws hold the sandwich together, fixed with PEEK nuts to get extra gripping power as the assembly had to be as flat as is possible. Dust covers placed away from the stators so they don't cause any issues. Earpad side: Due to the screws, some earpad mountings have to be cut up to get the pads to fit but yeah, they are just cheap crap from China so who cares. I could cut a slot in them to try and make it fit but maintaining as much pressure on the drivers as I can is far more important. Final assembly with a King Sound cable as I have a couple of those sitting around. For the diaphragm I used my usual stock of 1.4um film and the earpads are just the cheapest leather pads I found on ebay. I have a couple of nicer ones but these are the thickest and that helps make them more balanced sounding. The diaphragms were stretched by hand on a mirror (which is my preferred way) and glued with wood glue (thanks for the tip Aumkar!) which is just perfect for this. Coating is anti-static spray which means they energize in five seconds or so which I can live with. Now for the sound... pretty damn good for something so simple and literally being the second set I assemble. Well that and zero effort has been put into sealing the baffle or just any sealing at all. I just stuck the PCB's onto the baffle and built up the stack. Overall sound signature is similar to the HE60 but not as diffused and with far more bass output. Maybe a tad too much at times as there are some oscillations that I can pickup at very high volume levels and under high excursion. I tend to go with slightly less tension on the diaphragm so that might be it. Treble is very pronounced with the thinner pads but with the ones pictured, it is just perfect. These are not forward at all and the soundstage is excellent for this size of a driver and non-angled earpads. Sensitivity is slightly lower than the regular Stax sets but still only marginally so. All in I'm very happy with the roughly 150$ outlay for these. Now this is version 2.0 but the first version used a HD58X from Drop, brand new in the box that I cut up. Same driver profile but thicker stators so the efficiency was really bad plus the stators had full solder mask on them. Now I'm out of the spacer PCB's for the dust covers so next time I order PCB's, I'll make another set. I also have some diaphragm spacers which would work well for normal bias as I've always wanted to mess more with that.

Hope you both feel better soon, Shelly and Ric!

Enjoy, Ric! Sorry y’all feel crummy too. There seems to be something nasty. I got tested at the doctor’s office for flu and COVID but tested negative. Still, I’ve had body aches, fever, sore throat for 10 days straight, etc. ‘we need to get "For now, I have music" on t-shirts’ yes!

Hope you feel better soon Shelly from both things. We all have been wiped out with something, likely a cold, this week also. Coming out the other side and joining you also on Zorn/Harris, though less elegantly at Internet Archive. Doesn't seem to be on the normal streaming services. https://archive.org/details/john-zorn-2020-songs-for-petra Also we need to get "For now, I have music" on t-shirts.

I’ve been stuck in the house with the worlds worst cold and pink eye. Hoping to get back to teaching in person tomorrow. For now, I have music.

I never finished the first one but I'm not opposed to revisiting. My brother and sister in law love it.

Joinery is for suckers.

i bet if you asked them your family would happily replace you with a new espresso machine.

Think I might have to knock-off this guy’s custom dining tables. So nice.

Well when you reach my age leaking is a everyday occurrance and we learn to live with it and move on.

I guarantee that seeing them on fire hurdling next door is just as safe.

Unfortunately, it's training those eyes for that look. Next stop AI.

New Lana Del Ray. I think she just keeps getting better. I'd love to see her in concert this year if she goes on tour.

Some results. I have made a complete pass using my Marantz model 40n -> Stax SRD-7 -> Stax SR-007 setup. It has been fascinating. I have grown to appreciate the work. It didn’t get tiring even after 40+ listenings. I found that I really appreciate a good recording/mastering, but the performance has to rule them all. Here are my thoughts on my preferences in ascending order. Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 1, Violin Concerto No. 2 & Violin Sonata No. 1 Neeme Järvi, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Lydia Mordkovitch, Gerhard Oppitz 2009 https://album.link/i/1656559337 – The performance borders on the screechy a lot in the first movement. The lead is pushed forward, and in the higher registers can be a touch harsh, not all the time, but enough to be distracting to me. I am not saying that my Prokofiev has to be pretty, but I have to be able to follow your story. The dynamics and pace were all there. And the third movement was pretty sublime. Prokofiev: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2; Five Melodies Anne Akiko Meyers 2010 https://album.link/i/398214615 – We played a bit with the shrill at the opening of this one. There are some nice dynamics, but the upper registers of the violin were not as controlled as I would have liked. There seemed to be a little bit of a veil over the recording, slightly muted, I played with the volume and it was the recording. Anne has the techniques down, the transitions from playing, to plucking to strumming were seamless, that does not happen for all of these performances. There is just a slight harshness in their playing that pulls this away from a really great performance for me. Prokofiev & Nielsen: Violin Concertos Liya Petrova 2018 https://album.link/i/1434309960 – A Very nice recording. Performance was strong and consistent. The dynamics of the recording were slightly compressed that stole some of the power out of the bigger moments. Overall a nice balance of the orchestra and lead, but Liya does get lost a bit in the third movement, when it is very important that she be pushed forward. The pacing was comfortable, just enough to keep the action moving. Prokofiev: Violin Concertos Maria Milstein, Phion Orchestra, Otto Tausk 2023 https://album.link/i/1656675394 – Unknown artist, label, orchestra, conductor, new recording. Here we go. I liked it. The pacing is slightly slow, but they do some good things with it. Nice balanced recording, slightly violin forward. Overall good performance with some character and highlights of understanding of the work. Great dynamics. Prokofiev: Violin Concertos Nos.1 & 2 / Tchaikovsky: Sérénade mélancolique Leila Josefowicz, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Charles Dutoit 2001 https://album.link/i/1452220126 – I wasn’t initially into this performance. It had a nice balance in the recording, but it seemed just too slow without the lift of expression. But there was something there. The violin sound was fuller, almost like it was being played on a viola. This kept me intrigued and listening for more. The performance is a little sloppy here and there. But Leila finished so well that it still gets an honorable mention. Prokofiev: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 - Stravinsky: Violin Concerto in D Major Cho-Liang Lin, LA Phil 1992 https://album.link/i/401535446 – Almost too balanced? Full bodied recording, delicacy and weighty. In the end was it a little too perfect? Maybe. This Sony recording is very good, and it seems to me that the performance is almost note perfect. I think it gave me a really good basis of what prokofiev wrote, without interpretation. I know that this is not fair, and I feel bad, because everything is done so well, but if I am not pulled into the interpretation, there is not much I can do. Prokofiev: Violin Concertos Nos.1 & 2 / Stravinsky: Violin Concerto Kyung Wha Chung, André Previn, London Symphony Orchestra 1990 https://album.link/i/1452190869 – This gets a lot of points for just being what it is, Chung, Previn, LSO, Decca. I am pretty much all in from the start. It did deliver on most points. The recording was done very well, with great space and dynamics. The only thing that pulled me out of the recording was Chung not creating the flow that I wanted and felt from others. There were times when I was presented with a note, and then another note, and they didn’t seem to be connected. Also there seemed to be a disconnect between bowing, plucking and strumming. This work has them all and they need to be seamless to have the work come together. Glazunov & Prokofiev : Violin Concertos - Elatus Anne-Sophie Mutter, Mstislav Rostropovich & National Symphony Orchestra 1997 https://album.link/i/80023300 – The sleeper in the group. It shouldn’t have been with Anne-Sphonie and Rostropovich at the helm. I guess that there is less to complain about than to shout about. It is well recorded and wrapped up in a nice sounding package. Enjoyable, but I was never quite drawn all the way in. Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 1 - Walton: Viola Concerto - Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending Isabelle van Keulen, NDR Radiophilharmonie 2018 https://album.link/i/1438420362 – One of the slowest recordings, but it does not feel that way. Isabelle has a lovely way of hitting the notes and then bringing in the vibrato, to get the attack then body and warmth comes in. A good modern recording, with a nice soundstage and balance from solo and orchestra, with dynamics. I felt that they had something to say. Some performances are slow because the performer cannot keep up, I felt like Isabelle wanted to show me some of the passages that are so pretty that I had missed them. And I was thankful. James Ehnes Plays Prokofiev James Ehnes, Gianandrea Noseda, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Amy Schwartz Moretti, Andrew Armstrong 2013 https://album.link/i/1608385372 – A darker brooding performance and take on the work. And it works. Well recorded by Chandos. Balanced from front to back. Fast when it is fast and melodic when it needs to be as well. Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No.1 / Sibelius: Humoresques Op.89; Violin Concerto Ilya Gringolts, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Järvi 2004 https://album.link/i/1452182124 – There is a focus on subtleties and dynamics from Ilya. Not too surprising coming from DG. Almost a perfect recording. You are placed in the fourth row, and you are rock solid there with the orchestra laid out in front of you, with Ilya a few feet in front of them, very nice. The pacing is quick, but not fast. It gives a lot of movement to the work. We are going somewhere, and I think I want to follow. Prokofiev: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 - Violin Sonata No. 2 David Oistrakh 2004 https://album.link/i/696929966 – A historical recording - 1954 - Conductor – Lovro Von Matačić - London Symphony Orchestra. David is the father of Igor Oistrakh, we will get to that in a bit. The recording does not have the dynamics of the others, and there is hiss. A great performance? - absolutely. Technical abilities in spades, and a lightness on fast passages that really shines in the third movement. It falls short just because of some of the sonics. Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No.1 & 2 Gil Shaham, London Symphony Orchestra, André Previn 1996 https://album.link/i/1452224616 – LSO, Previn, DG. Okay Gil, let’s do this. I really liked the pacing. The recording is detailed and clean. I like that Previn has different approaches based on the performer. Feels like a collab between them. Gil wanted to run, and he can run, and LSO was right there to follow. This was not that high on my list until this final listening. It might have needed a full system to really have it come to life and make me pay attention just that little bit more. I didn’t listen to these together to start with, and it was when I was about 3 minutes into the first movement, I started to think, wow this one really does sound a lot like the great performances release. Well a quick discogs search later, and yup. They are slightly different masterings of the same performance. Prokofiev: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 Isaac Stern 2019 & Prokofiev: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 Isaac Stern, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy 1983 https://album.link/i/1522244483 – Just a great recording. The power and balance are all on display. Isaac attacks when he needs to, and relaxes into the melody when it is warranted. The orchestra and Ormandy are right there to support everything he is doing. It sounded more like jazz, that they were listening to each other and playing off each other. It is a 1965 recording and does not have the inky black background levels. But as far as pure listening - it is a pleasure. The second movement is almost too fast, but Stern can hold it together. For streaming the 1983 Great Performance version of the 1965 recording is the one to pick. Prokofiev: Violin Concertos Nos 1 & 2 Itzhak Perlman 1982 https://album.link/i/1025523737 – The subtlety and phrasing is just amazing. A master playing a masters game. Does he drop a few notes? yeah, and no shits given. Itzhak has such a flow that it is hard to keep up with him sometimes. But when you do it is a beautiful ride to be on. The recording is a little violin forward, for reasons, but still a good recording. Prokofiev: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 1 in D Major, Op. 19 (Digitally Remastered) Sergei Prokofiev 2014 Tidal link - https://tidal.com/browse/album/36944865 (I am not sure where else you can find this) – Then there is Igor Oistrakh (son of David above) paying something very different. This is so far beyond anything else in the list that it should be a new category. Variations of Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto? It is hard to explain what this recording does for me. It builds tension, it releases it, it makes me marvel at virtuosity, it lets me peer into the music like never before. Does it sound good? Luckily, yes it does, not great but good enough. Apparently Prokofiev was not the biggest fan of his readings, but he got over it. Way back when I did my first pass of all these, this recording stuck out to me and had me saying wow more than once. Others play trills, Igor plays bird songs. My favorite version, even if I may listen to Itzhak more in the long run. So no one has read this far - but I will have three of these in rotation. Itzhak is just so good, Stern for power, and Igor for the pure fun of the music. It was a fun ride. None of these are bad at all. Remember that these were my top selections from around 50 total recordings. Not planning on another marathon anytime soon, but you never know.

About half of this coffered ceiling and 1/3 of the wainscoting was missing. I had to manufacture some of the trim that is no longer available. Painters have done a fantastic job making my work look even better.

IT FUCKING WORKS. makes music and everything. transformers stone cold after 1 hour.

This is a must watch for anyone with a shop or garage...

RIP Gordon Moore https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/newsroom/news/gordon-moore-obituary.html https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/24/23655844/gordon-moore-intel-co-founder-creator-moores-law-died https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/25/gordon_moore/

RIP Israel "Zuny" Zelitch. 99 years old, he was in the same Independent/Assisted Living facility as my mother-in-law. In times after his wife passed, and my father-in-law was gone, he was a wonderful companion to her. She passed in June 2021, he just passed today. A brilliant and fascinating man, not much for idle conversation but had some fascinating stories. Also a major part of local Yiddish organizations, and very well known in that community. Unfortunately he was unconscious soon after catching COVID recently, was moved to hospice where his son (wearing basically a hazmat suit) got to say goodbye. A woman from that Yiddish community was called and they held the phone to his ear while she spoke; he actually twitched his eyes several times. Shortly thereafter, he passed. One link with info about him: https://portal.ct.gov/CAES/ABOUT-CAES/Staff-Biographies/Israel-Zelitch Karen and I had met his son and daughter-in-law years back, when our kids went to the same after-school program. We also found out his son's wife was my neighbor growing up! We got to reconnect after we found out Zuny was his dad. Karen was able to share some stories about Zuny and her mom that his son was so thankful to hear. Just a wonderful family, and a fascinating man. RIP Zuny, you may have two women vying for your attention now! 🙂

Our rain brought us visitors... One of two about 22 inches height.

Same thing kind of happened to a mate of mine. Lifelong skier, really skilled. Skiing in Austria with his adult daughter, he was descending at speed off-piste, a ski hit a rock and pitched him downslope into a tree. He was wearing a helmet, but clobbering a tree with your head at 30mph is not going to end well. Helicoptered off the hill, he ended up in the neurology ward for quite a long time. He's kind of recovered five or six years on, but still has some problems in concentrating. Which is tough for a serial entrepreneur. He was CEO of his latest company before the accident. Nothing like as bad as Michael Schumacher's skiing accident which reduced him to being a pale shadow of his former self, wheelchair bound and with difficulty in communicating. He apparently manages to watch F1 on the television and understand what he's seeing. Or Fabio Casertelli in the 1995 Tour de France, who lost control while descending the col de Portet d'Aspet at speed (usually 50mph plus), and his head hit a concrete bollard at the side of the road. Dead at the scene. Not wearing a helmet, which was not necessary on mountain stages at that time.

BBC News - Lance Reddick, star of The Wire and John Wick, dies aged 60 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64959805 https://variety.com/2023/film/obituaries-people-news/lance-reddick-dead-the-wire-john-wick-1235557886/ https://www.tmz.com/2023/03/17/the-wire-star-lance-reddick-dead-dies/