G'day,
This is a little trick I use to clean up the sound from my amp and speakers.
Here t'is:
Sit comfortably, relax and take a deep breath. Hold it for 6 seconds - exhale.
Take another deep breath and this time while holding it for 6 more seconds imagine a warm day on an empty sandy beach. Slowly exhale.
Take a third deep breath and while you are holding it imagine you are still enjoying a warm day on an empty sandy beach but now you have an ice cold drink in your hand...have a sip. Exhale.
Again, another deep breath and while you are holding it imagine a gentle breeze cooling your skin as you enjoy a warm day on an empty sandy beach with an ice cold drink in your hand...have another sip. Exhale.
Breath deep once more and while you are holding it imagine the sound of the waves calmly lapping the shoreline, the gentle breeze cooling your warm skin as you enjoy a warm day on an empty sandy beach with an ice cold drink in your hand. Exhale.
Once again breath deep and while you are holding it imagine a soft pillow to rest your head on while you relax and take in the sound of calmly lapping waves at the shoreline, the gentle breeze cooling your warm skin as you enjoy a warm day on an empty sandy beach with an ice cold drink in your hand. Time for another sip. Exhale.
You are now ready to appreciate some music.
Cheers
This is a little trick I use to clean up the sound from my amp and speakers.
Here t'is:
Sit comfortably, relax and take a deep breath. Hold it for 6 seconds - exhale.
Take another deep breath and this time while holding it for 6 more seconds imagine a warm day on an empty sandy beach. Slowly exhale.
Take a third deep breath and while you are holding it imagine you are still enjoying a warm day on an empty sandy beach but now you have an ice cold drink in your hand...have a sip. Exhale.
Again, another deep breath and while you are holding it imagine a gentle breeze cooling your skin as you enjoy a warm day on an empty sandy beach with an ice cold drink in your hand...have another sip. Exhale.
Breath deep once more and while you are holding it imagine the sound of the waves calmly lapping the shoreline, the gentle breeze cooling your warm skin as you enjoy a warm day on an empty sandy beach with an ice cold drink in your hand. Exhale.
Once again breath deep and while you are holding it imagine a soft pillow to rest your head on while you relax and take in the sound of calmly lapping waves at the shoreline, the gentle breeze cooling your warm skin as you enjoy a warm day on an empty sandy beach with an ice cold drink in your hand. Time for another sip. Exhale.
You are now ready to appreciate some music.
Cheers
Good idea. This is the kind of tuneup that would work well for me. How many times have we sat down to listen and turned it off after 5 or ten minutes because our mood precluded enjoyment?
OK, this is a ritual that I can get behind. I'll go one further by offerring up the suggestion of a resonably fine cigar.
Hey, wait a minute, are we not describing a procedure that couldn't possibly have an actual effect upon any of our equipment and therefore the resulting sound, but will almost certainly make it more enjoyable? Uh-oh. Sounds like we are going through some sort of mental conditioning where the result is a foregone conclusion...
Well, works for me nonetheless. Try it with and without the foil hat.
Hey, wait a minute, are we not describing a procedure that couldn't possibly have an actual effect upon any of our equipment and therefore the resulting sound, but will almost certainly make it more enjoyable? Uh-oh. Sounds like we are going through some sort of mental conditioning where the result is a foregone conclusion...
Well, works for me nonetheless. Try it with and without the foil hat.
This works for me.
Also, has anyone noticed how any music sounds the best when first listened to and gets lousier the more one thinks about it, but when one's in a clean state of mind, poof, suddenly magic comes.
The ritual, wine, cigar, drugs, and this possibly share the same principle.
Also, has anyone noticed how any music sounds the best when first listened to and gets lousier the more one thinks about it, but when one's in a clean state of mind, poof, suddenly magic comes.
The ritual, wine, cigar, drugs, and this possibly share the same principle.
Yes, just like how if you start thinking about one word over and over and how it is produced using the mouth muscles, etc. it becomes really lame...
When I sit down for a listening session, I usually just let the movies play inside my head, since just about every song is also an image to me. New music requires a little more "concentration", if you can call it that.
When I sit down for a listening session, I usually just let the movies play inside my head, since just about every song is also an image to me. New music requires a little more "concentration", if you can call it that.
Although partly (I assume) tongue in cheek, there is certainly some truth here in terms of dropping your heart rate, relaxing your body & thoughts etc. Tai Chi, yoga, hypnosis & many others all work on similar principles & whatever your thoughts about many of their precepts, there are some basic physiological effects. No reason they can't apply to music, or listening to music as well.
Here's mine:
1. Give the wife and kid $100 and tell tham to go shopping. This greatly improves signal-to-noise ratio.
2. Turn off the cell phone, clamp it in a vise, then rotate the handle until you hear the "crack."
3. Go to the neighbor's house and put sugar into the gas tank of his lawnmower. This also helps signal-to-noise.
4. Load two shells into the shotgun as a noise suppression device should a peddler or Jehovah's Witnesses come to the door.
5. Open a bottle of 15 year old Macallan. If you are in British Columbia, Netherlands, or California, roll up a fattie and set your clock to 4:20.
6. Finish the bottle and/or the fattie.
I have found these measures, in combination, to be efficacious.
1. Give the wife and kid $100 and tell tham to go shopping. This greatly improves signal-to-noise ratio.
2. Turn off the cell phone, clamp it in a vise, then rotate the handle until you hear the "crack."
3. Go to the neighbor's house and put sugar into the gas tank of his lawnmower. This also helps signal-to-noise.
4. Load two shells into the shotgun as a noise suppression device should a peddler or Jehovah's Witnesses come to the door.
5. Open a bottle of 15 year old Macallan. If you are in British Columbia, Netherlands, or California, roll up a fattie and set your clock to 4:20.
6. Finish the bottle and/or the fattie.
I have found these measures, in combination, to be efficacious.
I'm not an audiophile.
I don't care if there is a better "sounding" amp,
speaker,
cable,
interconnect,
resistor,
capacitor,
op amp,
transistor,
FET,
pot(entiometer).
I don't worry about magnetism,
hysteresis,
ground pools,
negative energy,
stray neutrinos,
wire insulation material,
wire insulation colour,
energy storage,
smearing,
transparency,
openness,
closedness.
I don't believe in charms,
clever little clocks,
brilliant pebbles,
enabl,
talismans,
voodoo,
magic,
leprechauns.
I don't listen to my equipment,
I relax and listen to the music.
I don't care if there is a better "sounding" amp,
speaker,
cable,
interconnect,
resistor,
capacitor,
op amp,
transistor,
FET,
pot(entiometer).
I don't worry about magnetism,
hysteresis,
ground pools,
negative energy,
stray neutrinos,
wire insulation material,
wire insulation colour,
energy storage,
smearing,
transparency,
openness,
closedness.
I don't believe in charms,
clever little clocks,
brilliant pebbles,
enabl,
talismans,
voodoo,
magic,
leprechauns.
I don't listen to my equipment,
I relax and listen to the music.
Without a doubt, the fastest and most effective improvement you can make to any system is to engage the cannabis filter. So I have heard.
Sigh.... there was a time, not too long ago, when I did not have to imagine John's tune up. I lived it. <sniff, sob>
Now I have to resort to SY's tune up.
Now I have to resort to SY's tune up.
A few thoughts:
I think you must have excellent skill with the equipment. 🙂
And, I do like a variety of equipment, anywhere inbetween a large concert system versus my little battery powered kitchen radio. Those are all quite clear.
There are irksome things to listen to, such as the speakers on LCD tv's and almost everything audio from BestBuy/Sears/Walmart/Hastings. Most of those audio products give me a difficult time of relaxing and listening to the music, just because there isn't much music.
For those, some Peach Schnapps, Vodka, Pineapple, Triple-Sec whatever combination drinks seem to greatly improve the audio performance. . .
for those people who get irked (can't relax) if it isn't perfect.
One other thought comes to mind is that I get fairly angry if I wanted to crank up the audio because it sounds good, but then when I do crank it up, the enjoyment is blocked by either clipping or blaring. Blaring is an interesting problem if it isn't caused by frequency response.
Most audio solutions involve either big presentations in big areas -or- small presentations in small areas; however, I think it takes something different to do big presentations in small areas. Bridge amps, output caps/CHB, padded midrange, and that sort gets closer (to making big presentations in small areas without the blare). What else helps?
Sometimes simple is better, I just pull out an old piece of vinyl put it on the turntable plug the headphones sit back in my comfy chair and listen...
E, oh yeah Regards
E, oh yeah Regards
A thread that has started as a sarcastic response to the placebo effect being taken as a reality has turned partially into praise for the use of substances that dull the senses and slow the brain. So, we go from better performance through absurd science to better performance through sedation. I find it ironic that one wouldn't believe the grandiose claims made on other threads after a couple of one-hitters and scotch & soda...
"No, seriously man, put that plain white piece of paper under the front left rubber foot of the amplifier, take a pull off this Graffix, and then try to tell me there's no improvement in Micky Hart's kick drum!"
"No, seriously man, put that plain white piece of paper under the front left rubber foot of the amplifier, take a pull off this Graffix, and then try to tell me there's no improvement in Micky Hart's kick drum!"
An odd case of "component specific design"?
Actually, come to think of it, component specific design (specific model #'s, often, but not always, botique), can be a poor practice because it makes for results that are hard to duplicate, and near impossible in case a particular model number is discontinued. Its a risk for sure!
I "shot myself in the foot" twice that way already. Basically, the many changes of ROHS in combination with the poor practice of component specific design, got me over a barrel.
After some really fun experimentation, I found that beer was not an effective substitute for the exact components that I had desired. Although considerably more relaxed, decreased audio performance was still irksome.
Hi fwater,
The science behind the "placebo effect" is a deep and very important one and should not be dismissed. For a really good read about the placebo effect and many other medical science topics, read a book called "Bad Science" by Ben Goldachre. Great demolition job of Homeopathy.
As for Mary. J .Warner dulling your senses and slowing your mind, I would have to say Naaaaaaaaaaa! It does exactly the opposite with regard to your senses.
You sound like you automatically assume the negative with your assertion that it slows your mind. One of the most disturbing things about modern life is that we never allow enough time for deep contemplation. We are forced to fill our lives with so much **** (that we mostly do not need) which acts like a form of cholesterol in the mind and this reduces our capacity for clear thought. Our minds race from one thing to another in an attempt to keep a grip on everything. This is not healthy, it generates stress, and stress does all sorts of damage to your body over time.
Sure you can remove this "static" with relaxation techniques or whatever, but weed is particularily efficaceous at allowing your mind to be free of all the clutter that in the short term you do not need. Listen to the music and not your mind!
Slow your mind down and take a pause in your life. Yes, there is just so much you can do in life, but you cannot possibly do even a tiny percentage of what there is on offer so relax and enjoy the simple pleasures.....listening to music being one of the purest!
😎
The science behind the "placebo effect" is a deep and very important one and should not be dismissed. For a really good read about the placebo effect and many other medical science topics, read a book called "Bad Science" by Ben Goldachre. Great demolition job of Homeopathy.
As for Mary. J .Warner dulling your senses and slowing your mind, I would have to say Naaaaaaaaaaa! It does exactly the opposite with regard to your senses.
You sound like you automatically assume the negative with your assertion that it slows your mind. One of the most disturbing things about modern life is that we never allow enough time for deep contemplation. We are forced to fill our lives with so much **** (that we mostly do not need) which acts like a form of cholesterol in the mind and this reduces our capacity for clear thought. Our minds race from one thing to another in an attempt to keep a grip on everything. This is not healthy, it generates stress, and stress does all sorts of damage to your body over time.
Sure you can remove this "static" with relaxation techniques or whatever, but weed is particularily efficaceous at allowing your mind to be free of all the clutter that in the short term you do not need. Listen to the music and not your mind!
Slow your mind down and take a pause in your life. Yes, there is just so much you can do in life, but you cannot possibly do even a tiny percentage of what there is on offer so relax and enjoy the simple pleasures.....listening to music being one of the purest!
😎
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