Dusty Chalk

(waits for another Alton Brown post before posting another American Gods post)

RIP the two servicemembers and one civilian in the attack in Syria the other day. (pours one out)

"According to multiple sources, the couple were killed by their son Nick, and their bodies were discovered by their daughter Romy. " Oh, man, that's fucked up. Two someones are going to need a lot of therapy...I wish them both eventual peace. something something not oedipus something something

Finally getting around to American Gods, picking up where I left off (starting season 2).

I don't have experience with a lot of ribbons, but I was fortunately stopped from going down that rabbit hole by my local professional musician friend, Dave, many years ago. There are a lot of ... not good ribbon mics in the budget area. And yes, I know "DIY" ≠ budget, but since ribbon mics are so easy to get wrong, I wouldn't. I have my beloved Shure KSM313, which I would recommend for string ensembles (and vocals, which was going to be my primary application), but they are not cheap, and a matched pair will be even worse. Instead of ribbons, you would do well getting a matched pair of large condensers, like a Rode NT2A. (I have two, but they're not matched...that said, if you're not adamant about imaging, you can always do a Blumlein pair, which doesn't require a matched pair, and yields a very comfy stereo playback experience.) General comment for both of you: I would recommend listening to grawk over me on this subject, he has far more experience in this. I even still have some of his hand-me-downs.

Ryan Miller in the first several shots reminds me of someone. Actor, comedian, or something.

No. Not unless your head has the acoustics of styrofoam, the dummyhead needs to mimic the acoustics of a human head, mostly because of the proximity of your head to the microphones (earholes). The sound at the microphones is a very complex signal that is not just a function of the sound coming from the sound sources (unadorned live music -- throats and musical instruments; recordings -- speakers), but the HRTF that the acoustics of your head do to the sound as well. Paging @Dreadhead...

I won an album today. Sharon Mansur's Trigger -- which is jazz fusion and unholy carp, this might break me -- it's right up there with Hiromi and Fox Capture Plan! Just listen to this shit:

Someone called me out because "Drone" was in my top 5 genres in my Spotify wrapped, so I'm leaning into it and listening to my favourite drone musician of all time, Chris Meloche: https://tidal.com/artist/ARTIST_TOP_TRACKS/view-all?artistId=7876954&moduleId=ARTIST_TOP_TRACKS&moduleIndex=0&type=TRACK_LIST

I was curious, so I Googled it...nice!

Happy belated birthday, Todd! I do very much hope you had the best of days yesterday! (party favour noise)

Happy birthday! (party favour noise)

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Man in the High Castle, The Last Emperor, Bond film Licence to Kill, much from the Mortal Kombat franchise, bunch of action movies(!), &c.)

Newb question: I just bought 10 lbs. of coffee (enough to last me a year). What's the best way to store it? Hermetically sealed, frozen, or other?

Snarky Puppy, Metropole Orkest, Jules Buckley, Somni (LOL that ending, where the drummer is air drumming over his drums after they get quiet the second time.) This is their second collaboration, the first one being Sylva which I absolutely adored (probably because I got to see it live).

That's awesome! Congrats to him on being the furthest from Trump one can get.

Thanks for that. And this! This is really well shot/directed. Almost gives me a Jonathan Demme vibe (yes, I realize the chronology is reversed). Von Karajan is of course a favourite, but my first was this one: I grew to a big appreciation for Concertgebouw Orchestra, not just from this recording, but multiple recordings across multiple conductors. And since you're a Rick Wakeman fan, I will also recommend his soundtrack for Crimes of Passion. I know that seems like a non-sequitur, but it's not, trust me.

Happy belated birthday! (party favour noise)

Happy belated birthdays, Juan and Jeff! (party favour noises)

Watch 'til towards the end to understand why I find this relatable.

Yeah, I don't know if I could even pick just 5...still...so I guess I haven't changed much, but my old top 5 are no longer my top 5, so I'll give it a shot: 1 & 2: Animals and Wish You Were Here still, but I don't listen to them much, even though I have the WYWH Immersion box and Animals remaster with me, they're both unopened. So they might still be my favourites? I do still love jazz (Keith Jarrett's solo piano concerts, like the Sun Bear box; Return to Forever/Chick Corea/Al Di Meola; et al), but the new number one in that category has become: 3: Hiromi's Sonicbloom, Time Control -- it still has to be part of her Sonicbloom group. I mean, I love all her stuff, but her work with David Fiuczynski and the others was just peak. Shoutout to Greg Howard (RIP) for the single most electrifying solo instrument performance, Water on the Moon. 4: I do still love prog, but my tastes have mellowed so I'd have to go with Porcupine Tree's The Sky Moves Sideways. 5: I do still love what I used to call e-metal, but the public seem to have settled on calling it "electro-rock" (Curve, Garbage, Stabbing Westward, Placebo, Muse, Kardi, et al), but this is an easy one, as I still listen to all of their albums regularly, so pick any: Al1ce, The End of the Beginning, The Thirteenth Hour, As Above So Below Plus, it's also Post-punk! 6: My love for all the various incarnations of synthesizer-based music (from "Kosmische Musik" to synth-pop to ambient) isn't well represented here, as is neither all the centuries' worth of "classical" music or "instrumentalism" (Jean-Michel Jarre, Mike Oldfield, Vangelis, et al), so... Isao Tomita, The Planets

Does that lift the veil? 🙃