Although there will not be a dedicated Audio Note UK room this year at CES/THE SHOW, Audio Note equipment will be featured in two rooms at the Venetian.

Venetian room 29-327 - Robert Lighton Audio

Robert Lighton Audio will be showcasing their new RL10 95db efficient speakers along with:

Audio Note Meishu Silver Signature (9 watt Class A single-ended 300B line only integrated amplifier)
Audio Note M3 RIAA Phono Stage
Audio Note TT3 0.5 Reference turntable and/or Thorens turntable
Audio Note CD 4.1x CD Player

Robert is a long time fan/supporter of Audio Note gear, and these speakers are designed from the get-go to run off of low-powered tube equipment like Audio Note amplifiers. Should be very interesting.

Venetian Room 29-230 - Volent Audio

Volent Corporation will be showcasing their VL-3 speakers along with:

Audio Note Jinro (25 watt 211 SE integrated amplifier - $24,000 copper version of the Ongaku)

We’ve heard rumors that Volent speakers work well with the smaller 300B Audio Note UK amps - and, if so, they should, in all likelihood, kick butt on the Jinro integrated amp. Should also be an interesting room.

This is the 4th floor, the long hallway. Not sure why it is called ‘towers 3 and 4′. Always confuses the few brain cells I have dedicated to these kinds of things.

Several new companies here, it looks like.

This is the 4th floor, the short hallway. Mostly same ole well-known companies, although I had not heard of Scientific Fidelity before.

The 1st floor on the side of the Flamingo farthest from the strip, or basement, if you prefer, as it is kind of under the casino floor .

These are larger rooms, for the most part, and new this year would be Acapella setting up their own room and WAVAC showing with Lotus Group and their Granada Feastrex-driver speakers. Audio Power Labs might be fun too - I want to hear them with some kick ass speakers and source.

Floor 29, Venetian Towers. Don’t see any surprises here…

Floor 30, Venetian Towers. Looks like Piega has a room this year - have not seen them since the 2004? Stereophile New York show.

Floor 31, Venetian Towers. Only 1/3 of this floor is occupied this year - and it looks to be all meeting rooms and not likely to have any music playing. My feet are so happy! [but the rest of me is deeply disturbed]

Floors 34 and 35, Venetian Towers. Hansen, MBL and YG Acoustics have all moved to these separate, quiet, and some what exclusive [and not as trafficked] floors this year. YG Acoustics used to be way, WAY down on floor 2 across from the Sands conference center.

[Remember, the goal of this blog is to try to optimize the pursuit of the Ultimate Music Experiences. One method to pursue these experiences is to spend $$$ and setting up the Best System Ever - and 1/2 of the posts here on the blog are about the not so easy task of configuring and setting up these kinds of systems. The other 1/2 is how we can find some other kinds of methods that maybe do not rely so much on spending so much time and $$$… i.e. how we can be a little smarter about all this]

This post will try to apply the model of the previous posts, where we treat music as a ‘key piece’ that allows us to perceive the world in a much clearer manner, to try to, hopefully come up with ways to both more predictably generate those ‘Right Song’ phenomena and drug-like music experiences.

Relief - Relieving Cognitive Disconnects

At any given time, we have a number of problems on our plate, several things which are irritating us, or making us feel tired, or feel stupid.

It is these things that the ‘Right Song’ addresses and relieves.

There are also a number of songs that are not the ‘Right Song’ but will have patterns, pieces of the puzzle, that will help alleviate the cognitive disconnects we are having with the World.

In fact, almost every song has *some* patterns we may be able to use, or perhaps patterns that reinforce what we already know, so its ALL good

Pleasure/Appreciation/Expansion - Connecting to The Good Stuff

There are deeper issues in life than the things we worry and fret about on a day to day basis - beyond the bad, evil and incompetent running amok out there [love that word, amok] . YMMV but there is also life, beauty, eternity, spirit, truth, etc.

For me, as an example, rich, rich tones evoke the bright purple of a tulip, or the perfume of a rose, or the velvety softness of a rose petal. Pure, PURE tones remind me of straight lines and wonderfully calming symmetries and brand new chrome plating.

What if some of the aspects of music, then, the qualities of the sound, that predispose us to let the puzzle pieces in the music represent the deeper issues in life, commonly experienced issues that we are ALL more or less hard-wired to want to understand more fully.

These qualities [let’s call them AWESOMENESS, because they invoke a sense of awe which is important to get beyond the mundane interpretations of the patterns in the music. Well, YOU think of a better name then ] could be anything from excellent musicianship to high quality harmonics, to wonderful decay, to perfect micro-dynamics to… [macro dynamics?] These qualities just open to door to us appreciating the way the patterns and internal relationships of the music to itself represent similar things we see when we seek deeper truths in the world out there.

We still need the patterns in the music along with the quality[s], we still need the music to be complex enough, and rendered well enough, to have this ‘meat’ on the ‘bones’ - the bones being something like great harmonics, or great dynamics, or great detail, etc. The ‘meat’ [patterns/puzzle pieces] cannot have too much distortion, or be so fuzzy, or be so atonal, or bright, or all the other things that most hifi systems do incorrectly - because if they are their ‘message’ will be lost in the noise..

————

If this model is accurate [and it does match experience, where sometimes just one excellent component in a system of otherwise just ordinary but competent components can sound quite drug-like], then, we could expect to be able to build drug-like systems by having the system:

1) render AT LEAST ONE high-quality aspect to add some Awesomeness; micro-dynamics or tone for example [micro-dynamics is great, as is harmonic resolution (beyond just excellent tone), because they serve both as Awesomeness AND they can also contain complex patterns in and of themselves] to communicate to the brain that this is something awesome, something on the order of the beauty of a rose, and

2) be able to render music with a some amount of complexity. Complexity is somewhat difficult to define here. Being able to render classical music is the obvious prime example, but an excellent singer, on a system that can render the complexities in their voice [so many emotions!] i.e. its ability to render extreme harmonic resolution, can also do just fine.

Bet we can all think of systems that have 1) and not 2), or vis-a-versa. How about systems that have neither? I frequently waver between preferring systems dominated by 1) or 2) or having 1) and 2) completely balanced. How does one define ‘completely balanced’? Ultimate systems will have both, of course, and have MANY aspects providing lots of Awesomeness and the challenges become trying to get the system, which can render any amount of complexity, to reveal more and more of the deep inner complexities/patterns in the source music [i.e. lower and lower noise floors and better and better source media].

Hope everyone is enjoying and Neli and I wish you all a very merry musical holiday.

This post will illustrate one metaphor, an oversimplified model, of how music kind of helps the world make more sense by reflecting its patterns back at us in a different form… a musical form.

Here we are representing the world as a puzzle [ain’t it tho], and the brain trying to ‘piece it together’ but how we still have gaps between our understanding (the pieces around the listener’s head) and the puzzle of the world itself. Music here is providing some of the solutions to this puzzle.

Back to hifi. As we all know, lofi stereos cannot reproduce the complex passages in music; when they try it all comes out muddled and sounds like noise and it less than worthless, it is annoying.Lofi can only reproduce the most simple of melodies and least complex music [and even so, it does not do this very well].

HiFi music systems can reproduce all kinds of music, including that with a lot of complexity, which supplies the brain with lots and lots of patterns, puzzle pieces, with which to create possible interpretations of what is going on around us in the world.

A simple, somewhat contrived example, would be a situation where you might be having difficulties working with a 4-member team, some friction between expectations versus results, say - and after listing to Beethoven’s 5th, da-da-da-DUM, your brain kicks in a you realize that 3 of the team members are quite similar, but the 4th is quite different, and needs to be treated differently, with different expectations and handling on your part [I TOLD you it was contrived ].

Notice that we are completely ignoring the content of the lyrics here. “You can’t always get what you want” is indeed useful in understanding the way the world works [albeit we learn this, in my generation anyway, when we were very young from our parents on a daily basis]. But these posts are talking about how music affects us, not how the spoken word affects us.

This theory can be tested, I think, by, say, playing a number of songs for people who love baseball, with some of the songs having patterns that are similar to the patterns in baseball (lots of 3s… 3 outs, 4s… 4 bases… 9s…. nine bases, etc) and see if they prefer [are more comfortable,naturally familiar with] the songs with the baseball patterns compared the songs without these patterns.

Conversely, if one is writing a song for people who love baseball, perhaps using these patterns, and several of the more complex patterns found in baseball, might be quite advantageous [more complex patterns would including the fairly regular rhythms of, say, the swish of the pitch, the crack of the bat - or that of the ball hitting the glove. The response of the crowd rising/falling in the background, etc.].

[Another news flash from the CES 2012 news deluge. I’m not an Apple guy anymore - but perhaps one of you might find this, currently free, app of use. It seems to me that if your only source in your system is an iThing, then this app would be invaluable. Also, if the iThing’s microphone is any good, then having a frequency analyzer with you at all times would be a heck of a lot of fun - especially at shows. English does not appear to be their native language, and I am somewhat confused by what their target use cases[s] are beyond possibly these two].

“TigApp is a young and dynamic company which develops applications for the iPhone, iPad and iPod.

This application is focused on testing different audio systems for home and professional use.

The application serves as a reference generator of sounds or records for the purpose of setting up, testing and burn-in speakers, headphones and Audio components.

This application comes to the AppStore December 23, 2011 and will be free for a limited time.”

From the TigApp website:

Frequency generator

generates sinusoidal frequency or swap sinusoidal signal for testing

Noise generator

generates white, pink, brown, human and silence noise

white noise - noise containing all frequencies in the range defined by the same volume
pink noise - containing all the audio frequencies with a defined volume falls off at 3dB per octave
brown noise - containing all the audio frequencies with a defined volume falls off at 6dB per octave
human noise - containing all the audio frequency range with a defined volume adjusted according to physiological properties of the human ear
silence noise - white noise with reduced volume
Adjusting of the stereo base

when right speaker is on the right side and left speaker is on the left side - it’s OK

Indication of inverted phase

control of the inverted phase (swap of the plus and minus cable on one speaker)

Records for testing

music with the full spectrum frequency range for testing

Microphone

for ambient testing

Detail information

“Analogue” indicators:

Peak indicator - red color (-75dB - 0dB)
RMS indicator - black color (-75dB - 0dB)
Peak and RMS indicators for the left and the right channel

Frequency generator

Sinusoidal signal of frequency (1/3 octave scale, Peak -12dB, RMS -15dB):
20Hz, 25 Hz, 31Hz, 40Hz, 50Hz, 63Hz, 80Hz, 100Hz, 125Hz, 160Hz, 200Hz, 250Hz, 315Hz, 400Hz, 500Hz, 630Hz, 800Hz, 1000Hz, 1250Hz, 1600Hz, 2000Hz, 2500Hz, 3150Hz, 4000Hz, 5000Hz, 6300Hz, 8000Hz, 10000Hz, 12500Hz, 16000Hz, 20000Hz

Swap sinusoidal signal: 20Hz - 20000Hz (logarithmic course, Peak -12dB, RMS -15dB)
Swap sinusoidal signal: 20Hz – 630 Hz (logarithmic course, Peak -12dB, RMS -15dB)
Swap sinusoidal signal: 630Hz – 20000Hz (logarithmic course, Peak -12dB, RMS -15dB)

Noise generator

White Noise: Peak -10dB, RMS -15dB, frequency range 20Hz – 20000Hz)
Pink Noise: Peak -2dB, RMS -15dB, frequency range 20Hz – 20000Hz)
Brown Noise: Peak -2dB, RMS -15dB, frequency range 20Hz – 20000Hz)
Human Noise: Peak -2dB, RMS -15dB, frequency range 20Hz – 20000Hz)
Silence Noise: Peak -55dB, RMS -96dB, frequency range 20Hz – 20000Hz)

Adjustment stereo base

Bass Drums L: left side (Peak -2dB, RMS -15dB)
Bass Drums R: right side (Peak -2dB, RMS -15dB)
Bass Drums L-R-L: transition from left to right side and back (duration 30s, Peak -2dB, RMS -19dB)
Treble Drums L: left side (Peak -1dB, RMS -16dB)
Treble Drums R: right side (Peak -1dB, RMS -16dB)
Treble Drums L-R-L: transition from left to right side and back (duration 30s, Peak -1dB, RMS -21dB)

Indication of inverted phase

Guitar-normal: phase in order (Peak -0.3dB, RMS -14dB)
Guitar-Invert: right channel inverted (Peak -0.3dB, RMS -14dB)
Cool-normal: phase in order(Peak -0.3dB, RMS -13dB)
Cool-invert: pitch channel inverted (Peak -0.3dB, RMS -13dB)

Test records

Classic: duration 30s, Peak -0.3dB, RMS -15dB
Cool: duration 36s, Peak -0.3dB, RMS -13dB
Guitar: duration 36s, Peak -0.3dB, RMS -14dB
Jazz: duration 36s, Peak -0.3dB, RMS -15dB
News: duration 38s, Peak -0.3dB, RMS -15dB
Road: duration 50s, Peak -0.3dB, RMS -16dB
Microphone

Precise graphics indicators for the both channels (from -22dB to 0dB, step by 1dB)

[Getting a TON of news from CES this year. Very rarely is something somewhat relevant. Here is one of the ’somewhat cool but still not exactly relevant’s]

“AfterShokz is a brand new company on a mission to change the way the world listens to music on the go — with ear-free headphones that transport sound through your cheekbones. They’ve used patent pending bone conduction technology (initially developed for military special ops) to create the ultimate sports, mobile and gaming headphones. Benefits for users range from basic comfort, to long-term eardrum health, to increased safety during activity. This technologically-advanced product line will be available to the masses at everyday price points in time for CES — innovation yet to be matched. The flagship product (Sport) is currently one of the most popular semifinalists in the Last Gadget Standing competition: http://bit.ly/tLkmxA. “

We will now look at The Right Song and how it is able to affect us so deeply from a more abstract viewpoint.

We talked some time ago about how the patterns of notes in music [especially classical] mimics the patterns in reality and how listening to music can somewhat subliminally show us patterns that are occurring in our life - some of which we may not be all that aware of - helping us experience life more deeply and sometimes even helping us solve problems by revealing patterns that make the subtle relationships between the things we are dealing with more clear.

Patterns [I think of them as weighted undirected graphs mapped into a 2D projection, because I am more comfortable with 2D than 3D. YMMV.], in this context can mean professional relationships between you and your co-workers, between the various priorities in your life, between your kids multitudinous kinds of ’success’ in life and their overall well-being, … it can be just about anything. Perhaps you might think of these patterns as fractals [fractals have been matched to many patterns that organic life presents to us].

Back to The Right Song, and cutting to the chase, one can think of the patterns in the Right Song matching some kind of matching need for this pattern in the mind so that when the two come together, it is quite pleasurable. I think of this as two, very complex puzzle pieces, one being the Song and one being your current state of mind, and they fit together more or less perfectly. Or I think of it as two molecules, thinking back to high school chemistry, with one missing a few electrons [the brain] and one with a few extra electrons [the Song] and they come together to form a 3rd molecule [a happy brain].

In these two senses, the Right Song ‘completes me’ [back to Jerry Maguire again? And, no, I haven’t watched that movie for a year so this is NOT a Jerry Maguire inspired post. Or at least I do not THINK it is. Better go listen to some classical music… ].

One reason hifi works so well in making us feel good is that many more complex patterns are made audible in a given piece of music compared to what lofi reveals. With more patterns there is many more opportunities for the music to ‘fit’ the ‘holes’ the brain is producing.

We now another perspective on Druglike music:

Some high quality audio is just able to stimulate the brain in some areas and relax it enough in others enough that we experience wonderfully expansive states of mind.

The perfect song is a piece of music we are receptive to Right Now. It will have The Most Impact on us at this time.

But we also carry around with us medium term and long term patterns of receptivity [the sizes and shapes of the puzzle pieces of our mind], making us especially susceptible to enjoying certain songs and certain types of music.

So we can stimulate our minds to special states with high-quality hifi music, or we stimulate our minds with the Right Songs. Or we can do both - and at the same time.

Open questions are

A) how to determine what your Right Song is at this moment. More generally, is there a way to determine what your Right Music is at any given moment?

B) Is there a way to put yourself into a receptive state for a particular song or music? [e.g. you are going to a Stones concert. Or a rendition of Nelson’s Mass. Or you just got a new Bjorn CD]

One potential solution to A) is, maybe, to rapidly play small snippets of songs [say 2 sec each?] and have the listener stop and listen to a song when they Think it is The One, or use some kind of biofeedback so that our brains automatically pick The Song. Software that supported this feature would have as a side-effect a new kind of ’sampling music’ where people would listen to only parts of [potentially] dozens of songs each minute they are listening. Obviously some kind of streaming or disk-based audio system would be required as the back end.

I was driving in the car a few days ago and heard a song [classical, but with a lot of trumpets and with a Latin flair] that I knew was not going a be a song that I liked… and I loved it.

At that moment.

I’ve had enough of these experiences like that to know that if I went home and looked this piece up on Amazon and played a few clips, or worse yet, bought the CD, I would not like it all that much.

I remember hearing Bolero in the car one day, loving it, and then looking up the particular piece and… could take it or leave it.

All this is to say, for sake of argument, that at any time during our lives, there is an optimal song we could/should be listening to. That we would just LOVE at the particular moment.

You see, usually we just say we like a particular piece of music, a song, a group of musicians, because on average, we enjoy listening to their work.

Maybe we have listened to them enough that we have experienced this ‘right song at the right time’ phenomena while listening to them, which is some very positive reinforcement that we have chosen the right ‘favorite thing’ to be listening to a lot.

OK. So here it is, 12:05pm the Wednesday before Christmas. What would be the optimal song for me to be listening to now?

Is there any way to actually determine what it is?

Jerry Maguire: it takes a few tries, but he finally finds his Right Song at the Right Time

At the time of the most recent experience in the car, I was kind of spacing out, kind of bored, the landscape, albeit strikingly beautiful snow-covered pines in the Rocky Mountains, was black and white and dark green and coming across my brain as forbidding and soporific. The music, on the other hand, was upbeat and kind of tongue-in-cheek and simple enough to render OK on the Bose stereo.

So, can we just examine our mood and narrow down our choices of what to listen to, thereby increasing our chances of being able to hear The Right Song?

Through experience and observation, I think one can narrow down the genre where the Right Song, on average, might be found in the following circumstances/mood (YMMV):

Drunk: George Thorogood, Elvis Costello and other bar-band music
Tipsy: Country Music, Everything!
Morning brews: Bluegrass
Morning hangover: New Age
Leisurely long-term boredom: Classical
Stoned: Reggae, Everything!
Hallucinogens: Grateful Dead
Sad: The Blues [weird, I know]
Happy: Any one of your all time favorite songs [see Jerry Maguire clip]
Angry: Heavy Metal, Rap
Energetic: Rock & Roll

Are their other ways to narrow down and quickly find the Right Song? If you have ever tried to do this, and who hasn’t, you soon realize that the very process of trying to find the right song, even listening to a few that are NOT the right song, affects us so much that the Right Song will no doubt have changed from what it was to something completely different.

When we complain about ‘there is nothing to listen to, with 5000 CDs here, and untold 100,000s of songs online, we are really saying: “I have no idea what my Right Song for this moment is, and not knowing SUCKS!”