|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
130.226.56.2
I can't (or don't want to) sit still. My style is to turn the thing up so I can hear it in other rooms. (I have a flat that is basically a single long hall-shaped room, divided into various living, eating, music spaces with bedrooms at both ends and a kitchen and bathroom off to one side.
I walk around and tinker, clean up, work in my study (one of the bedrooms), watch the TV with the sound turned off (English or Danish sub-titles), cook, etc. When I have time, I'll sit in front of the things and read the paper or a book, but I rarely just sit there and listen.
Am I in a minority?
What do you do?
"What did the Romans ever do for us?"
Follow Ups:
I'm a musician ('cellist), and have never been able to deal with music as "background". If music is playing (live or through a stereo system), it's my foreground, and it must be the only thing I deal with. When I'm playing something on the stereo, it's because I intend to sit in my listening chair, and listen (eyes closed, usually; just as when I perform solo works on stage).When I read a book, or I'm at the computer, or even if I'm cooking...no music on the stereo. I'll listen to something like NPR radio (news, etc.), but again, no "background" music.
I sometimes get the feeling that people have been so influenced by film and television, they can't imagine life without a constant musical "soundtrack" (truth be told, I often find film soundtracks to be terribly distracting; unfairly dividing my attention between music and drama). For me, music is too distracting, so I have to sit down and listen to it. If I need to get anything else done, the music is off. When I visit friends, and they have music playing in the background, I often find myself distracted--and/or irritated--by either the music, or the conversation...depending on whichever is more, or less interesting. :)
Edits: 12/01/10
I spend a lot of time at my computer, and I listen there. Often, I'll sit in my listening room with the projector on, and surf the web on the projector screen while I listen.
I've made some fitful attempts to forex pipe sound into the kitchen, still have a wire running there but somehow never get around to setting it up. It would probably make sense to use an iPod instead, but I never used mine so I ended up giving it to a friend.
I think you can divide most into two groups, those that listen and those that listen critically. All forms of our hobby are equally legitimate, if the music is bringing you pleasure, then that's the important part.Thanx, Russ
P.S. I'm a critical listener.
Edits: 11/27/10
On a busy evening, I'm bouncing from one office/shop to another in the basement. Tubed tunes are going on either end, loud enough to here throughout.
On a mellow evening...I'm upstairs in the music room, enjoying the sweet spot between the Acoustat 2+2s. Bowls and beers.
"I can't compete with the dead". (Buck W. 2010)
Lights out - candles on - Crown and ginger - feet up – press play – good for a disc or two.
-----------------------------------------------
Most people don't know what they want - however ... they're pretty sure they haven't got it
Hearing music seems to be the one constant, at home, at work, on the train, on planes. But i don't care for elevator or department store music, but i do like some café music.
"What did the Romans ever do for us?"
You hear it but it's of little significance; though if you wanted to LISTEN to it you could.
The difference between listening to music and hearing it.
Depends how much effort you want to devote to it.
This thread shows the many ways one can choose to do so.
" Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination." -Michael McClure
Watch people's feet not their mouths, right?
"What did the Romans ever do for us?"
being able to enjoy music without the distractions of everything else in life is a true joy
though I'll often be doodling around on my laptop and tuning in to and out of the music.
Dean.
reelsmith's axiom: Its going to be used equipment when I sell it, so it may as well be used equipment when I buy it.
Evening, with all the lights out (with just the tubes glowing!) while the wife is in another part of the house watching TV. That's the best time for my undivided attention to listening.
I can listen at other times, usually while baking, but I dont pay as much to the overall tone of the recording. "Overall tone" of a recording to me is the soundstaging and palpability I get while in the hot seat. Otherwise, I just jump around the house (I'll never be on Dancing With The Stars!) or work on baking or play on the compy (if the wife is out, I can turn it louder too!)...
-There she goes again!
She's tidied up and I can't find anything!
There's a difference. I rarely play music as a background to other things. When I listen, I sit in one spot, giving the music my full attention, just as I would if I were reading a book. I listen primarily to classical music, and I strive to understand everything the composer and interpreter strive to communicate. To do less, I believe, is a disservice.
-Bob
I did not mean to disparage casual listening to background music, although my final sentence might certainly have given that impression.
My main point had to do with choice of words. If you're playing music while your attention is focused on other activities, I don't think you can be said to be "listening" to music. I think a better choice of words is "hearing" music. Probably a bit pedantic of me!
As to doing a disservice to composers by listening casually,I do think that's true. But I should have added that I see nothing wrong with enjoying music as a background activity as long as you acknowledge that you are not realizing all the rewards that the music has to offer through closer concentration. Sorry if I misrepresented my own thoughts.
-Bob
.., he was talking about listening to recordings. And to me at least, that is a distinction that is important to make. With recordings, a more casual listening spirit is possible - and even commendable, at times. We are free to give the music the sidelong glance (so to speak), as streams of related thoughts and passions come freely. I know I can replay a recording at anytime and listen to the recording in part or in full, as many times as I wish, so I am not necessarily worried about dishonoring the music by multi-tasking, etc.., about the house while the music is playing. And these are just a couple of the reasons why background music can be much more than simply background music - depending on who is doing the listening and why. By contrast, I can only hear a live performance once and rapt attention would definitely seem to be the order of the day.
I thought that pointing this out was a little mean spirited at first, but then I reconsidered. If this "listening style" is being put up as a subject for discussion, it really is worth pointing out that this is definitely not listening.
"I thought that pointing this out was a little mean spirited at first, but then I reconsidered. If this "listening style" is being put up as a subject for discussion, it really is worth pointing out that this is definitely not listening."
I would not put down "background listening". One always directs one's attention among multiple tasks. It's not a black and white question.
Only a small portion of the output of the acoustic nerve makes it to human consciousness, let alone recorded in long term memory. What information does make it depends on an immense amount of processing in the brain, and that depends on the listener's experience and training and especially the degree and type of attention the listener applies. Even if a listener is concentrating completely on the playback of a recording and is not thinking about any other subject he still has ample choice as to how to listen, i.e. he may function in recording engineer mode, audiophile mode, or musician mode, according to his training and experience and momentary desire. One can further subdivide these categories. There is vastly more information coming in that the conscious mind can process.
Tony Lauck
"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar
That's true, and I'm not putting down background listening. But I don't think that being enthralled by music is possible when you are concentrating on another task. Imagine talking to someone and writing a letter at the same time. I can't imagine doing either task very well. Listening to music while you're mowing the lawn does make sense though, because mowing the lawn takes almost no intelligence or attention.
Subliminal absorption does work, but in a generalized diffuse way, and it's subject to distortion by primary process thinking--free associations, strange detours, etc. To listen to music in this way can only yield an emotionally and intellectually unfocussed response. I know. I've done it, and sometimes a diffuse background mood enhancer is all I want out of music. But not all that often.
Being completely enthralled by music is something else. It requires great music and intense concentration. For maximum effect, it requires more than that. It also requires Grace. One can be transported completely away from the mundane world and get a glimpse of a better place.
Tony Lauck
"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar
oh dear Bob, I will grant you, I sit in rapt attention for most of my at home listening, and of course I do not, say, check my email or update my datebook while at Severance Hall, but music at home is many things to many people. For me, "background music" means I am not really listening, but others are different. Maybe that is how the music grabs them!
I have no argument with what you say, but part of my point was that if you're doing something else while music is playing, you can't really be paying close attention to it. That's absolutely okay by me, but I would maintain this is simply HEARING the music rather than LISTENING to it. It's somewhat analogous to looking at a book as opposed to reading it.-Bob
Edits: 10/20/10
First, the setting. I live in a townhouse with a reasonably large living room which opens to a dining room/kitchen/den half a level up. The music system is in the living room but can be heard easily from the other mentioned rooms. The TV (flat screen with modest surround system) is in an upstairs bed room.
I consider my listening to be either active or passive. I treat the active listening as if attending a concert. I go to the sweet spot in the living room and give the music my full attention. The only diversion may be to briefly read liner notes. The micro brew or single malt is not considered a diversion. ;-)
Passive listening for me is background. I may be at my computer in the den, working on a project at the dining room table, cooking, eating, whatever. Any music then becomes background or secondary.
Reading recently about multi-tasking, scientists have learned that humans cannot do more than two things at once and be effective. I can be aware of the music playing while I'm doing something else but I truly can only concentrate on one item at a time. If I try reading while music is playing I realize I loose track of the music completely (assuming I'm reading something interesting).
"Great googlie-mooglie . . . is that a real poncho or is that a Sears poncho?"
It does make the music sound more real and penetrating. Like I was listening to a chamber orchestra in another room.
Really interesting - and kind - responses to read. Thanks.
"What did the Romans ever do for us?"
nt
and I listen almost every week day late afternoons/early evening accompanied by a couple of glasses of wine.
Len
...sans the wine.
My system is in a separate room, and I use it mostly to relax. For an hour or two before bed most nights I just chill with the lights off. It's hard to get out of there most nights.
.nt
Len
...in my living room - converted to a dedicated listening room - I spend time there seriously listening to my big system and maybe perusing the newspaper at most.
The other system is a mid-fi surround system with my flat screen TV in the family room.
I can hook up my iPod and listen to it (6000 favorite songs in Lossless) as background while I read, we cook and eat or just hang out. Speakers also connected to this system outside on the patio.
Comfy chair and a beverage works for me (tea or coffee during the day, and a beer or wine at night).
I like to read the album cover before or when I'm listening. I have quite a few books on classical music, and will sometimes read about a particular piece and then listen to it.
That's what my mono system is for. With the stereo I sit and listen. If I try to read or do anything else I loose track of the music. It is a concert hall experience for me. I would never think of taking a book to a live concert.
If I'm puttering around the house I often have FM NPR or the local variant on.Dinner is sometimes CDs and sometimes FM, one room away from the system.
Actual listening is in the room, sitting on the sweet spot on the couch, listening to records or CDs. I may be drinking tea, coffee, beer, wine, brandy or Scotch. I also might be reading if the music and the text are not too demanding. If I'm really beat I'm lying on the couch and in that situation it is probably CDs I'm listening to.
Edits: 10/20/10
Any Hi Fi Am Talk radio guys?
...I like to sit in my sumptuously appointed listening chair, pour myself a glass of Bushmill's, turn up the volume, close my eyes, and by the end of the disc, I'm nodding off. I just can't help it. Music is soooo relaxing! (The Bushmill's might help too!)
I guess I don't have a style per se. I sometimes sit and listen while reading or paying bills, etc. I too have an "open concept" first floor, though, (reasonably small), and I also listen while puttering around. I understand the strict audiophile thing about sitting and ONLY listening. I do that once in a while, but very rarely these days. I enjoy my system much more than the days when I only listened. Back then, I was a bit too compulsive; and I think I was trying to be a good audiophile. Kind of silly, actually...at least in my case. The bottom line is I truly listen when and how I want to now.
Most of my listening is semi-casual with the wife during cocktail hour. While there is always a spirited discussion about my shortcomings going on, we do enjoy an eclectic mix of music played around 65 -70db. Can run the gamut from last night's Madmen soundtrack/Mark Knopfler Shangri-La to Friday nights where I bring out some Americana and live recordings of what I consider great bands (not in the 40's sense). I always sit in the sweet spot with the wife off-axis a bit. Been doing it almost nightly since I "retired" 4 years ago. Keeping the music fresh and not redundant over that long a time period is taxing!
I'm similar to you in listening style and way of life around the house.
We live in a small (box) apartment and at the right volume my system wonderfully fills the place with music.
I spend a good amount of time at the computer in the library next to the living room where the stereo is
and get great sound through the doorless doorways 8' away.
I DO sit on the couch for some more focused listening for a few hours a week, usually while reading.
I do dance with Rupert for about 5-10 minutes a night in front of the stereo.
He's teaching me some new steps. He loves Cubano musica!
" Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination." -Michael McClure
Right now, while my main system is being assembled, I mainly listen to my second system casually while I'm on the computer or puttering around the basement. It's decent enough to merit critical listening, but I really don't care about dissecting music right now. I'm in full enjoyment mode.
My Tivoli Audio radio is my "around the house" machine. We're blessed with one of the few remaining all classical 24/7 radio stations and it's on just about 24/7 here. Meanwhile my rig is in a separate room. That's my listen and relax or listen relax read room.
More during the days on weekends, even though I'm retired.
I often read and am interrupted when something attracts my interest in the music. When I listen to vinyl, I am more likely to pay attention to the thrill of the music.
I never listen outside the room and have no entire house system.
The hours - usually between 9 & 2 AM. The rest of the time it is off because I find it distracts me from whatever else I may be doing.
"Man is the only animal that blushes - or needs to" Mark Twain
That's why I decided a few years ago to upgrade my computer audio system with a pair of MMG's -- I realized that I spend far more time in front of my computer than I do anywhere else. In the end, though, I ended up doing the opposite, listening in my listening room while surfing the web -- reading the paper, etc.
...otherwise, I am like you - seem like can't justify, just doing NOTHING.
I am stunned to hear what I consider the most rewarding activity in human civilization--listening to music--described as "doing nothing'.
nt
But I can't do any serious reading while listening. War and Peace is out of the question :-)
Listening requires intent, attentive concentration. I have no audio in my car. I have to concentrate on traffic and texting teenage distracted drivers, and listening requires too much distraction from life and death situations.
Freedom is the right to discipline yourself.
Hello Frihed89!
So what are my listening technics or styles?
Serious : Sitting in the sweetspot eyes closed.
Casual : Anything from sitting at the PC in the dining room to walking around the house doing things.
However I'm really a rather fortunate individual because the sound of my system changes very, very little as I move about the room it's in and what's even better is the fact that I have only a couple of small "walls" that extend about 3ft from the back wall and run floor to ceiling at both ends of the kitchen, which is what seperates the audio room from the dining room on the other end where my PC is situated. So essentially except for those 3ft long walls nothing seperates the audio room from the kitchen and the kitchen from the dining room.
So if I want to sit at the PC and visit audio forums, peruse eBay or Audiogon or research an audio topic I just turn up the volume a couple of dBs and the only thing that really changes is I loose the soundstage and imaging. Remember I said earlier the sound of my system changes very, very little as I move about the room? Well that holds true when I change rooms as well! In fact that was a very informative lesson, because I've learned that I can often better judge the sonic virtues of my, as well as others audio systems from the next room!
Sometimes I even prefer sitting at the dining room table listening to music, because when I'm not concentrating on soundstage and imaging, I focus more on sound quality. Sometimes when I really crank the tunes it sounds like I'm in a bar with a band playing off to my left and that's intersting to experience at home!
Thetubeguy1954 (Tom Scata)
SETriodes Forum -- Central Florida Audio Society -- Fullrange Drivers
==============================================================
"The man that hath no music in himself nor is not moved with concord of
sweet sounds is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils."
- William Shakespeare
I too feel very fortunate that the sound of my system is not radically different when I'm in another part of the (open concept) house. It's different, but I can still enjoy it a lot. I also find that sometimes listening very casually "from afar" tells me a lot about my system. In fact, after making a change/tweak to my system, sometimes I will let it be for a while, just listening while doing other things. Usually, if I am enjoying the music more that way - i.e., without concentration and analysis - the change or tweak has been a positive one.
Hello jfz!
It's nice to know I'm not the only one who believes they can judge the sound quality of an audio system from an adjacent room.
Thetubeguy1954 (Tom Scata)
SETriodes Forum -- Central Florida Audio Society -- Fullrange Drivers
==============================================================
"The man that hath no music in himself nor is not moved with concord of
sweet sounds is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils."
- William Shakespeare
My stereo is on a separate floor, isolated from the rest of the house, so I have to actively seek it if I want music.
I usually just sit in the hot seat and listen. Sometimes I'll read, if I have a good book, but usually I just listen. In the evenings, I tend to turn the lights down low and listen with my eyes closed.
Jack
Along with sitting and listening actively, I sometimes:
Listen while on the computer or reading.
Listen while I watch movies like "Zoetrope" or "Inland Empire" with the tv sound off.
Listen while working.
Listen while playing air guitar (or cello, or drums or sax) :)
Music is almost always playing at my house.
For example, I might be reading a post on this board and find my hand frozen on the mouse, staring into space.
Well that is not really a listening style as much as it is the need to have a constant background music while doing something else.
I do this as well sometimes and I did it a lot in school while studying but I would not ever call it a listening style.
My listening style is to sit in between the speakers in a comfortable chair and perhaps with a glass of wine and maybe a friend or two and listen for an hour or two. Think about the music and its emotional effect on me and my mood.
Lights out...check, in the sweet spot...check, potables at hand...check, any other electronic media off, system warmed up, music at realistic levels...check, check and check.
If the system is on at all, then serious music listening is the order of the day first, last and always. Music should be six feet tall. There is no room for half ass at mi casa.
When I’m home listening it is usually in the sweet spot mind engaged to what’s playing. I like “looking at my music”
When I’m at work music is playing in the background, but for serious listening - I’m in the sweet spot usually with a bottle of beer sitting close by
It depends on the circumstances and the music. There's a lot of music that was written specifically to accompany other activities (dining, parties, ceremonies, etc.), music that adds to the enjoyment of the event without being designed to be listened to very closely. I often have such music playing while reading, fixing dinner, surfing the internet, etc. Other music was written specifically for the concert hall, where the music itself is the event. For music like that, I'm in "the chair" giving the music my full attention. Anything with lyrics also pretty much commands my attention as I'm trying to understand the message conveyed in the song. If I'm visiting and a friend plays something he thinks I might be interested in, conversation and any other activity stops while we enjoy the music that's playing.
... because I end up listening in the mid to farfield ranges so much of the time! I have a long, deep listening room that is perfect for walking around and doing things in as I listen. Not true when I'm listening to my headphone system, obviously. There are audiophiles who say that you are not one unless you sit down and concentrate solely on the music while it is playing. I do keep a listening seat in the sweet spot for those times when I want to "concentrate", but I don't feel like I'm being less of an audiophile if I decide to wander around.
"I can't (or don't want to) sit still. My style is to turn the thing up so I can hear it in other rooms."
That's basically what I do..........
"I walk around and tinker, clean up, work in my study (one of the bedrooms), watch the TV with the sound turned off (English or Danish sub-titles), cook, etc. When I have time, I'll sit in front of the things and read the paper or a book, but I rarely just sit there and listen."
Not much different here either, except with me, it's a computer instead of a TV....... And I do "sit there and listen" on occasion.
"Am I in a minority?"
Maybe, but you are not alone.
There is no right or wrong way to approach this.
That is why this is such an interesting question the OP has posted. We each have our paths into the ars musica! For example, at the symphony, I really like row F, slightly right of center. This is because I like to be able to watch the conductor interact with and the eyes of the concertmaster. I also like *that* proximity best of all. Some like row H. Some like row C. Some like balcony. Some like the balcony that creeps right up to either edge of the stage-sides.
At the symphony I also often just let my eyes go blank as I just plain listen.
At home, I often listen with the lights out, relatively nearfield to my mg 12's, but with the maggies about 9 feet apart, toed in. I prefer a "realistic" soundstage for home listening, ie, I don't like to try to reproduce "omg I am in the concert hall!" but rather find it much more easy to "suspend disbelief" and listen attentively with a relatively "miniaturized" soundstage. However, height is more important to me (hence the maggies; Sinatra sounds off to me if his stereo image is only 3 feet tall!!).
I listen at a proximity that approximates sitting in row F, but volume level wise, I listen more at levels like that around midhall. I prefer that, as it scales better to the size of soundstage I prefer.
Trying to explain *why* these are my preferences would be very difficult. All I know is, this is how I get sucked into a recording, again and again. This evening, in preparation for tomorrow night's performance at Severance Hall, I listened to Gould/Stokowski playing Beethoven's 5th piano concerto. Lights out, relatively nearfield, slightly wider stereo spread, focused but relatively miniaturized soundstage, volume peaks around 85-90 db. And again, there I was, sucked in.
Simple pleasures, man, I love this hobby.
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: