curious as to how may here are musicians (or at least try to play an instrument)

S Clark · « **Reply #40 on:** 20 Feb 2010, 03:43 am »

Piano. Years of Hannon exercises with Bach and Chopin sprinkled in. Piano is still the gold standard by which I judge equipment.

hum4god · « **Reply #41 on:** 20 Feb 2010, 03:52 am »

hi

i have been an opera singer , but actually that does not count as an instrument as we were told at the university when the music history professor greeted us with:

welcome musicians and singers .

oh well

and btw i consider my stereo as high end but thats perhaps because i am not active as a singer anymore ?

rklein · « **Reply #42 on:** 20 Feb 2010, 03:54 am »

Clarinet...Graduated with a Performance Degree from The Curtis Institute of Music in Philly. Subbed in the Philadelphia Orchestra and Pittsburgh Symphony while a student. Played in professional orchestras in Europe, South America, NYC, & Columbus, Ohio. Had to stop playing full-time. Still play in the Canton, Ohio Symphony and the Cleveland Pops Orchestra.

rklein

Rocket · « **Reply #43 on:** 20 Feb 2010, 04:27 am »

Hi,

I started playing trumpet when I was 10 years of age and played in brass bands for most of that time. Jazz music in Western Australia wasn't common at all here in the 1970's and I mostly played classical music during this period. At around 18 years of age I started chasing girls and partying and I gave the instrument up because of a lack of practice and commitment.

For many years I played sport and trained really hard and eventually I had a number of physical injuries that required a lot of operations. About 18 months I was desperate for a hobby because I would come home from work and generally watch television until I went to bed. Life was getting boring.

Anyway the aussie dollar was quite high at the time and I bought a getzen eterna 700 trumpet from the US and I started having lessons with a really good trumpet teacher locally (just got back from my lesson this morning). I have had lessons for 18 months and I have joined a jazz band and practice on Sundays. I get a real buzz from it all and at the moment I struggle to get to listen to my audio system because I practice trumpet for 1 hour everyday and time is short. I didn't play for 29 years and I now play better than what I did as a kid because of consistent practice and a great trumpet teachers.

I recently bought a secondhand Kanstul 1503 signature trumpet and it is a great instrument to play.

In our jazz band our lead trumpet player is 85 years old and still plays quite well for an old guy and is an inspiration for me.

Regards

Rod

US seems to make great hifi gear and musical instruments. My next trumpet will be a Schilke.

James Romeyn · « **Reply #44 on:** 20 Feb 2010, 04:43 am »

Quote from: hum4god on 20 Feb 2010, 03:52 am

hi

i have been an opera singer , but actually that does not count as an instrument as we were told at the university when the music history professor greeted us with:

welcome musicians and singers .

oh well

and btw i consider my stereo as high end but thats perhaps because i am not active as a singer anymore ?

Are we correct in assuming your gracious professor was a "musician" and not a singer? One might argue the singer takes precedence over the "musicians"...it is noteworthy that of all instruments the bowed string family (violin through double bass) is said to most closely mimic the sound of the human voice (sawtooth waveforms). It would seem less appropriate to say the opposite (the human voice most closely mimics the bowed string family) even though it is just as true.

The guitar is also a sawtooth waveform (harmonic structure containing the infinite number of components in the sine series), but the guitar emphasizes different harmonics vs. the bowed string family (bowed strings waveform more closely mimics overdriven electric guitar than non-overdriven electric guitar and/or flat top guitar).

Daedalus Audio · « **Reply #45 on:** 20 Feb 2010, 06:27 pm »

Quote from: ooheadsoo on 20 Feb 2010, 03:09 am

On the other hand, pros must listen to music/live music as a listener, not just as a player, just as much as us, if not more (for the most part.) Why don't they want to make it as much like the real thing as they can?

IMO, a good, perhaps Masters level, music theory class will really get your head and ears going about how music is constructed and how the western human hear works.

most pros recognize that recordings are like paintings and are not a true reproduction of the real thing. so the majority of professional musicians don't have killer hi-fi, because they know it won't give them the true experience of live music. the live sound experience is very different for the band (esp acoustic) who are right next to the instruments than for the audience who are listening through a usually bad PA. then there is the caveat that musicians don't have money and when they do they spend it on instruments not hi-fi.

thankfully there are exceptions and those are the people who have trained and performed who do get into great sound systems. many of the equipment designers fall into this category and work to make the tonality as close as possible so the 'painting' comes to life. of course we know the real sound is made with real instruments.
lou

jqp · « **Reply #46 on:** 21 Feb 2010, 06:01 am »

I started out playing a classical guitar in a high school music class, after learning chords and strumming on my own. In college I got a twelve string and then a steel string. I picked up flat picking and fingerstyle on the steel string also. Then I took a classical guitar class in summer school in college, with a real professional classical guitarist.

Years later I still play, and I have performed in coffee shops a few times. I always look for good recordings of acoustic instuments, but I find there is no real connection between being a musician and having a high end audio system. Playing an instrument did not make me want to have a high end system. I think a utility system is what you want to help with playing an instrument (headphones and a CD player/mp3 player). Or else a PC-based recording studio setup.

Having a high end system is a lifestyle decision whether you are a musician or not

- I always think of how fortunate we are to be "rich enough", like a king in the olden days who has musical performances at the snap of a finger

Although having a good ear certainly helps with audio decisions and appreciation.

James Romeyn · « **Reply #47 on:** 21 Feb 2010, 05:50 pm »

Quote from: jqp on 21 Feb 2010, 06:01 am

...Having a high end system is a lifestyle decision whether you are a musician or not - I always think of how fortunate we are to be "rich enough", like a king in the olden days who has musical performances at the snap of a finger Although having a good ear certainly helps with audio decisions and appreciation.

We can't be reminded of the above often enough. Thanks!

drphoto · « **Reply #48 on:** 24 Feb 2010, 03:05 am »

Hey, for you guitarist and Floyd fans here's a good video. There's only one Gilmour, but who ever this guy is does a very credible job. (he has a slow version, which I'm using to learn the solo)

Amazing what you can do w/ a pentatonic minor scale!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmG_mlbC4E0&feature=related

bpape · « **Reply #49 on:** 24 Feb 2010, 03:17 am »

Started playing the Trumpet at 4. Bugged my dad to teach me - he was in the Navy band. Went to college on a music scholarship (at least the first time

). Had the good fortune to have Larry Fogelberg as my teacher/director in high school. More talent in his little finger than most people will ever have. Pretty obvious where Dan got his from.

Don't have much time to play any more. Once or twice a year for church but that's about it.

Bryan

timind · « **Reply #50 on:** 24 Feb 2010, 03:23 am »

Nada. Am I the first negative responder. I have tried guitar lessons twice but just can't stick to it.

BikeWNC · « **Reply #51 on:** 24 Feb 2010, 04:12 am »

I started taking piano lessons two years ago after our daughter had completed her first year of lessons. We have a Baldwin L 6'3" grand. It's coming along slowly for me but I keep improving, though not as fast as I would like.

drphoto · « **Reply #52 on:** 25 Feb 2010, 06:27 am »

Hey somebody here likened audio playback to a painting. An interpretation of the original event. (sorry I don't remember who said and was too lazy to search)

I think that hits the nail on the head. It can't be the same. But it can be really good. Maybe it can even be better (in some ways)

When I first started mixing live sound a few years ago, I was recruited by a musician who thought I might have 'good ears' based on my interest in audio. (even though I didn't know much about pro sound)

My determination was we wouldn't sound like every other local rock band. Too loud, too bright and overly boomy bass. I realized I wanted the PA to sound like my home audio rig! But with difference being the dynamics you get w/ live music. The hard part technically was learning how to get the gain structure correct. Unfortunately, most live music venues have horrible acoustics. I wish we could have carried a bunch of BB adsorption panel with us.

I feel like home audio, can be 'correct' in most aspects, but lack the dynamics of live music.

Once again.....derailling my own thread!

Photon46 · « **Reply #53 on:** 25 Feb 2010, 10:54 am »

Took up guitar again about seven years ago. I had fitful interest and a few lessons as a kid but never stuck with it then. It's no surprise why good musicians start early as children, it takes a lot of practice time and that's hard to come by as an adult. I'm always finding myself torn between listening and playing, but such is life. It's definitely made me much more appreciative of the nuances that make a great musician and that alone is worth the experience.

funkmonkey · « **Reply #54 on:** 25 Feb 2010, 07:03 pm »

I wouldn't consider myself a musician, but I have dabbled with a few instruments.
drums when I was very young, saxophone in 5th and 6th grades, and then bass guitar during college, which I still play on occasion 20 years later.

I've played enough to really truly appreciate what a actual musician can do..

drphoto · « **Reply #55 on:** 25 Feb 2010, 08:06 pm »

Well said funkmonkey, you captured my intent better than I did.

Delta Wave · « **Reply #56 on:** 25 Feb 2010, 08:48 pm »

I've been playing guitar since I was a kid. Been in several bar bands throughout the years but never have the time to play these days. I play everything from Steely Dan to Slayer. Even took Brubecks "Take 5" saxophone to the guitar... gotta love it!
When I started it was "All metal, all the time" and I had more effects than a remasterd George Lucas film. Now it's just a boutique tube combo amp and a good old fashioned "Cry Baby" wah pedal.
Oh and you can NEVER own too many guitars.

nathanm · « **Reply #57 on:** 25 Feb 2010, 08:54 pm »

I got into guitar when I took an old door chime thingy - this hollow wood box with three steel strings on it with wooden balls on strings - and miked it up with my boombox and overdriven Radio Shack reverb unit. The hideous noises I made inspired me to build my first electric guitar, and then the second and third, and then a bass; and I started learning to play by ear with some help from a friend.

Eventually I realized I wasn't very good at making necks and fretboards and bought a proper guitar which I still use today. (I also bought a guitar from the aforementioned Jackman, which is great. It sounds so cheap and twangy, the opposite of what you usually hear, I love it!) Now I amass many megabytes of riffs with my Boss loop pedal with the intent of one day creating the Heavy Metal meets Mapleshade record that does not yet exist in the world to my knowledge. I used to have a bass too, but that's even more impractical to record than guitar. I also am nuts about electronic drums. I once bought a TrapKat controller, which cranked my appreciation of any human who can keep a beat with sticks into the stratosphere. It was an epic trainwreck of musical failure. The fingers work great, but swinging the arms and trying to tap the feet at the same time was painful to watch, had anyone been watching me.

I also have a clunky grasp of keyboard playing which also gives me a massive degree of respect for anyone who can make their two hands work independently. But usually whenever I play piano I forget what I had learned last time I played.

funkmonkey · « **Reply #58 on:** 26 Feb 2010, 12:53 am »

Thanks drphoto. You mentioned something in your OG post that I find interesting as well:

Quote from: drphoto on 19 Feb 2010, 06:03 am

...
I know a number of professional musicians, and the funny thing is none of them have anything resembling high end audio systems. Maybe because they're local musicians, and they're all poor!

Actually, one guy I know, who is an amazing guitar player, isn't poor, but he still has just mainstream, mid fi audio gear. I've been wanting to get him over here to hear my rig, but neither of us have much free time these days.

I know several actual musicians as well, and I agree their stereos tend to be mid-fi at best, (loaded or not). But, check out their collections of instruments, guitar amps, strings, skins, sticks, pics and bows...

Mike Nomad · « **Reply #59 on:** 26 Feb 2010, 03:56 am »

I've always been more interested in the recording side. I have way more time mixing/recording/editing than playing (guitar, mostly).

My playback gear is all mid-grade (except the headphones Beyer Dynamic DT-150s). I don't sweat it because: I don't have the extra cash for flash gear, and as a couple people have pointed out: you can record live music (but that's not the same things as capturing it).

Sometimes, it cracks me up seeing some of the high grade stuff people use to playback their favorites from the 60s-80s: The standard studio reference monitors for decades were JBL 4412s.