Classical music is too dynamic!
fno...@yahoo.com
because it's not very good - i find i've been enjoying and appreciating
it more and more. But there are such shifts in volume. This is
especially true of Romantic music, but i've had problems in all
different time periods. The music will get very low/quiet, and i will
have to turn up the volume to hear it. Then it will get very loud, and
i'll have to quickly reach for the volume knob. I find i am constantly
adjusting the level when i'm listening to classical music.
I've tried normalizing my music, but i think that just makes sure the
peak volumes are at the same, and since classical music is so dynamic,
that doesn't solve the problem. When i use my ipod, there is an
equalizer setting for "classical" but that also doesn't help.
I'm sure the problem is that i mainly listen to music in the car, or on
my ipod, and not in ideal listening settings.
Has anyone else experienced this problem? Does anyone have any
solutions?
Thanks.
Matthew Fields
EQ, compression, and renormalization when preparing it for your iPod.
It makes the music sound like fecal matter but it gets it to a more steady
loudness.
Radio stations do that for you--have you tried radio lately?
Nobody guaranteed you that Mahler's 8th would be rewritten on the fly
to get quiet right during the cooldown of your routine or get loud
right when you merge into the highway alongside an 18-wheeler. There's no
substitute for going and actually hearing the music. Concerts, lots of 'em.
--
Matthew H. Fields http://www.umich.edu/~fields
Music: Splendor in Sound
To be great, do better and better. Don't wait for talent: no such thing.
Brights have a naturalistic world-view. http://www.the-brights.net/
Peter T. Daniels
>
> I've been finding it very difficult to listen to classical music. Not
> because it's not very good - i find i've been enjoying and appreciating
> it more and more. But there are such shifts in volume. This is
> especially true of Romantic music, but i've had problems in all
> different time periods. The music will get very low/quiet, and i will
> have to turn up the volume to hear it. Then it will get very loud, and
> i'll have to quickly reach for the volume knob. I find i am constantly
> adjusting the level when i'm listening to classical music.
I wonder whether your hearing has been damaged by listening to other
kinds of music too loud.
More than 40 years ago, John Culshaw put a note in the LP of Britten's
War Requiem (cond. Britten) stating that if you turn up the volume so as
to hear the very quiet part at the beginning, the loud parts will be too
loud for your hi-fi to accommodate. The initial CD release had a similar
problem, but it was remastered and the current version doesn't have that
problem.
> I've tried normalizing my music, but i think that just makes sure the
> peak volumes are at the same, and since classical music is so dynamic,
> that doesn't solve the problem. When i use my ipod, there is an
> equalizer setting for "classical" but that also doesn't help.
>
> I'm sure the problem is that i mainly listen to music in the car, or on
> my ipod, and not in ideal listening settings.
>
> Has anyone else experienced this problem? Does anyone have any
> solutions?
Consult an audiologist. The very delicate organs inside your ears don't
grow back if they've been permanently damaged, but it might not be too
late. (How old are you?)
--
Peter T. Daniels gram...@att.net
Kalman Rubinson
>I'm sure the problem is that i mainly listen to music in the car, or on
>my ipod, and not in ideal listening settings.
Very possibly. I find it difficult to listen in the car since the S/N
ratio is compromised by road noise and that limits the dynamic range.
At home, the systems are capable of a wide enough dynamic range for
most things and only concern for the rights of others limits me.
>Has anyone else experienced this problem? Does anyone have any
>solutions?
Listen on a real audio system in a low noise environment.
Kal
EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)
fno...@yahoo.com wrote:
> I've been finding it very difficult to listen to classical music. Not
> because it's not very good - i find i've been enjoying and appreciating
> it more and more. But there are such shifts in volume. This is
> especially true of Romantic music, but i've had problems in all
> different time periods. The music will get very low/quiet, and i will
> have to turn up the volume to hear it.
I think the idea is that it is SUPPOSED to "get very
low/quiet" as contrast to the louder portions! I know
popular music nowadays has only one voulme level - loud.
Unless your hearing has already been destroyed by high
volume pop music (it happens), try training your ears to
appreciate the soft parts without adjusting the volume.
It's true the engineers for some CD "re-masters" of vintage
recordings got a little carried away with the gadgetry
available to them, so you really CAN'T hear the soft parts
if you leave the volume controls set to "normal" levels, but
I think that's mostly on live performance VCR tapes
transferred to DVD. (The DVD of the Vickers/Freni "Otello"
being a case in point.)
--
NewsGuy.Com 30Gb $9.95 Carry Forward and On Demand Bandwidth
Adam Funk
> I'm sure the problem is that i mainly listen to music in the car, or on
> my ipod, and not in ideal listening settings.
I've noticed this too, but not with all types of classical music.
> Has anyone else experienced this problem? Does anyone have any
> solutions?
Try different kinds.
As you noted, Romantic music tends to have a lot of dynamic
variations. I find that Baroque music, especially organ music, is
quite suitable for the MP3 player. Some string music works, some
doesn't. Some choral music does, some doesn't (Schubert's Deutsche
Messe).
I also recommend Switched-On Bach and Switched-On Brandenburgs, but
this suggestion could be controversial because a lot of people dislike
them.
I've just accepted that some music I can listen to only at home.
HTH.
Brendan R. Wehrung
But he'd find the Mahler 8th to be just as dynamic in a concert hall or
(in the case I heard it) in a church. Few pop fans can imagine 2,000
people being absolutely quiet for a hour at a time so as not to miss ppp.
The solution is this year's birthday boy, Mozart, whose music was often
written for garden parties where there was going to be constant chatter.
That ought to compress very well. Any of the Strauss brothers would do
well too, since music for Carnival was played at balls whose attendees
numbered in the thousands.
Brendan
Michael Haslam
> "Matthew Fields" (sp...@uce.gov) writes:
> >
> > EQ, compression, and renormalization when preparing it for your iPod.
> > It makes the music sound like fecal matter but it gets it to a more steady
> > loudness.
> > Radio stations do that for you--have you tried radio lately?
> >
> > Nobody guaranteed you that Mahler's 8th would be rewritten on the fly
> > to get quiet right during the cooldown of your routine or get loud
> > right when you merge into the highway alongside an 18-wheeler. There's no
> > substitute for going and actually hearing the music. Concerts, lots of 'em.
> >
>
> But he'd find the Mahler 8th to be just as dynamic in a concert hall or
> (in the case I heard it) in a church. Few pop fans can imagine 2,000
> people being absolutely quiet for a hour at a time so as not to miss ppp.
> The solution is this year's birthday boy, Mozart, whose music was often
> written for garden parties where there was going to be constant chatter.
> That ought to compress very well. Any of the Strauss brothers would do
> well too, since music for Carnival was played at balls whose attendees
> numbered in the thousands.
But the dynamic range of Mahler in the concert hall is a more "natural"
experience than hearing it in a car, or on an iPod, or even on the best
sound system in the world. When the music is very, very quiet in the
hall you can still see the movements of the conductor and the musicians
which informs the listening. There are many deliciously quiet moments in
Strauss waltzes.
--
MJHaslam
Remove accidentals to obtain correct e-address
"Can't you show a little restraint?" - Dr. David Tholen
Hollenfeltz J.
<fno...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1143555832.2...@t31g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> I've been finding it very difficult to listen to classical music. Not
> because it's not very good - i find i've been enjoying and appreciating
> it more and more. But there are such shifts in volume.
afraid.
Doesn't that seem necessary to you?
>
> Has anyone else experienced this problem? Does anyone have any
> solutions?
>
> Thanks.
>
What about listening more to instruments with less volume range: Lute,
harpsichord, &c.
Some polyphonic choral works are sung quite un-dynamically too.
DavidFoss
>fnor...@yahoo.com wrote:
>> I've been finding it very difficult to listen to classical music. Not
>> because it's not very good - i find i've been enjoying and appreciating
>> it more and more. But there are such shifts in volume. This is
>> especially true of Romantic music, but i've had problems in all
>> different time periods. The music will get very low/quiet, and i will
>> have to turn up the volume to hear it.
>
>I think the idea is that it is SUPPOSED to "get very
>low/quiet" as contrast to the louder portions! I know
>popular music nowadays has only one voulme level - loud.
I've had to make this dynamics adjustment as well. When I'm listening
by myself, the extra dynamics is great! Louder loud parts and quieter
quiet parts add to my enjoyment of the music. This only becomes an
issue when other people are around. Music with a constant volume level
is better for background music. Its very difficult for me to have a
conversation with
someone in a car while the volume is going up and down. At that point,
I'm not
really actively listening anyways, so switching to less dynamic music
is no big deal.
When I'm by myself, I just turn it up enough to hear the quiet parts
and then enjoy the
extra loud of the loud parts. :-)
Matthew Fields
DavidFoss <david...@gmail.com> wrote:
>quiet parts add to my enjoyment of the music. This only becomes an
>issue when other people are around. Music with a constant volume level
>is better for background music.
Bingo! Much classical music is a foreground art.
Michael Haslam
>
> I've had to make this dynamics adjustment as well. When I'm listening by
> myself, the extra dynamics is great! Louder loud parts and quieter quiet
> parts add to my enjoyment of the music. This only becomes an issue when
> other people are around. Music with a constant volume level is better for
> background music. Its very difficult for me to have a conversation with
> someone in a car while the volume is going up and down. At that point,
> I'm not really actively listening anyways, so switching to less dynamic
> music is no big deal.
Why do you need any music at all if you are having a conversation?
>
> When I'm by myself, I just turn it up enough to hear the quiet parts and
> then enjoy the extra loud of the loud parts. :-)
Or you could listen with a similarly interested friend.
Victor Eijkhout
> Does anyone have any
> solutions?
Try in-ear earphones. Those cut down on the amount of ambient noise that
gets mixed in with the music. Etymotic makes good ones, but there are
other companies.
This is not a solution to be used in the car!
Victor.
Raving Loonie
for 2006, the following video may provide some creative ideas.
Set to the appropriate Classical music, it could be awesome !!!!!
( Wait a minute, isn't it already a quasi clasical arrangement ????
Help. )
It brings a whole new meaning to the term dynamic.
... Amazing. IMO, a great idea.
Download 5 Mb
http://alt.coxnewsweb.com/daytondailynews/video/christmaslights.wmv
Also see http://www.msftlabrat.com/funstuff/jingle.wmv % Mb
Further information, here
http://www.snopes.com/photos/arts/xmaslights.asp
Cordially,
RL