How much does speaker polarity matter?

[Michael A. Terrell]

Careful now, you don't want to spark off a torrent of drummer jokes!

or do you?

They're jokes? I thought they were true stories! ;-)


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[msg]

Boy oh boy ! Whatever happened to the good ol' days when I used to go and
watch bands like Uriah Heep playing in Johnny Walker's local just up the
road from me ? Makes you wonder how a heavy rock band like that was able to
set up in a pub concert hall, and just play, without all of this nonsense of
having to mic up the drums and then put the drummer in a plastic tub. Damn,
the musicians and roadies must have been good back then ...

Arfa

Indeed; don't you think your sentiment is akin to what I posted early in this
thread? (requoted here -- got no replies...):

Jeff Liebermann wrote:




How did we get to preferring artificial sound construction over the
amalgamated blend of sound heard in a hall? I prefer the direct-to-
wax from the pickup horn of jazz recordings in the 1920's over anything
mixed in the studio since 1955. The big band recordings in studios
done since the 1960s sound nothing like the dance hall experience
of the 1940s (or even bands on film for that matter) in part due to
the preferences of engineers at consoles.

<snip>

Regards,

Michael

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

Indeed; don't you think your sentiment is akin to what I posted early in this
thread? (requoted here -- got no replies...):

<snip>

Regards,

Michael

That's why I like to listen to WSM online. A vast library of live
recorcings from the early days pf radio, and a lot that were recoded
live, at the famous Ryman Auditorium, which was the long time home of
the 'Grand Ole Opry'.

http://www.wsmonline.com/


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[msg]

msg wrote:




That's why I like to listen to WSM online. A vast library of live
recorcings from the early days pf radio, and a lot that were recoded
live, at the famous Ryman Auditorium, which was the long time home of
the 'Grand Ole Opry'.

http://www.wsmonline.com/

Thanks for the link; I did a little snooping in the page source and
found a link that permits listening directly from Windows Media Player
(or any player that does Windows Media Streaming):

http://players.eonstreams.com/FastAim/Player/Play.php?PulseID=191205531&SecurityKey=62348&IsIE=0

This can be more convenient than using the embedded player in WSM's
web page.

I also recommend KCEA for jazz and swing (20's -> 40's), Shoutcast stream
(use Winamp, VLC, etc.) at:

http://69.12.217.101:8000/

Regards,

Michael

 

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Boy oh boy ! Whatever happened to the good ol' days when I used to go
and watch bands like Uriah Heep playing in Johnny Walker's local just
up the road from me ? Makes you wonder how a heavy rock band like that
was able to set up in a pub concert hall, and just play, without all of
this nonsense of having to mic up the drums and then put the drummer in
a plastic tub. Damn, the musicians and roadies must have been good back
then ...

Basically a roller coaster.

I started in this 'game' while still at school in the '60s. Working part
time at the local dance hall as a spot boy. Which had its own in house big
band. And a rudimentary PA system - Reslo ribbon mics, all three of them,
one vocal, one used by the lead sax on a solo and one on the piano. A 50
watt GEC valve 100 volt line mixer/amp driving a couple of line source
columns either side of the stage. The string bass had his own amp and
speaker.

Now this was Scotland and no dancing allowed on Sunday as it was the
devil's work ;-) so they had a 'concert' instead. Near always with a
visiting band, group or solo artist on tour doing a set as well as the
house band. I well remember The Beatles before they had a hit record.

And most of these bands on tour just used the house PA - they didn't
bring their own. One I remember which did and stood out for a great sound
in the hall was Emile Ford and the Checkmates.

But most pop vocalists rely on being able to hear both themselves and the
band for pitch and timing. Anyone who has ever 'done' Karaoke knows this
only too well. ;-) True musicians may be able to work around this but the
scene was moving away from those.

So we add rhythm foldback to keep them in time. Then they can't hear the
hall PA. So we add in vocal foldback. And it's all got louder. Kilowatts
of PA rather than 10s. Now the drummer can't hear himself...

 

[Arfa Daily]

Indeed; don't you think your sentiment is akin to what I posted early in
this
thread? (requoted here -- got no replies...):

<snip>

Regards,

Michael

Yes, agreed. I can't speak for jazz or big band, as I've never listened to
these live, but it is certainly the case for contemporary music. Gone are
the days (at least for the most part) when you could listen to a band live,
and then buy their album, and they sounded just the same. So many bands now
are just slaves to the recording process and the whims of the producer and
desk engineer. It was interesting here recently when Geldof I think it was,
collected together a bunch of modern bands, and had them re-record Sergeant
Pepper using the original 4 track Abbey Road equipment which he had managed
to acquire. It was done for the BBC to mark the album's 40th birthday.
Several of the bands commented that they found it virtually impossible to
obtain the same standard of recording as Lennon and George Martin did, just
using 4 tracks. Just goes to show how reliant they have become on technology
and other people, which is why I wonder about the validity of, or need for,
all of this on-stage mic'ing, and the spin-off problems it seems to cause
....

Arfa

 

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Several of the bands commented that they found it virtually impossible
to obtain the same standard of recording as Lennon and George Martin
did, just using 4 tracks. Just goes to show how reliant they have
become on technology and other people, which is why I wonder about the
validity of, or need for, all of this on-stage mic'ing, and the
spin-off problems it seems to cause

Sergeant Pepper didn't use just 4 tracks. Lots and lots of track bouncing.
Two machines running together. Over 700 hours studio time.
Not that I'm missing out the talent involved in all that.

 

[Ron(UK)]

Boy oh boy ! Whatever happened to the good ol' days when I used to go and
watch bands like Uriah Heep playing in Johnny Walker's local just up the
road from me ? Makes you wonder how a heavy rock band like that was able to
set up in a pub concert hall, and just play, without all of this nonsense of
having to mic up the drums and then put the drummer in a plastic tub. Damn,
the musicians and roadies must have been good back then ...

Arfa

I guess we were

Ron

 

[Meat Plow]

A lot of Bass guitar players can`t use in-ears for that very reason,
they are used to the slight delay and can`t cope with the instant
response in the ears. Some even go to the trouble of having a slight
delay reintroduced so that it all syncs up properly.

I didn't play bigger gigs long enough to have to get used to it
fortunately. I notice many bass players usually try to stand as close to
their amps as possible.

 

[Meat Plow]

Boy oh boy ! Whatever happened to the good ol' days when I used to go and
watch bands like Uriah Heep playing in Johnny Walker's local just up the
road from me ? Makes you wonder how a heavy rock band like that was able to
set up in a pub concert hall, and just play, without all of this nonsense of
having to mic up the drums and then put the drummer in a plastic tub. Damn,
the musicians and roadies must have been good back then ...

I guess it takes absolute dedication to your art. Especially those that
play an hour and a half on stage then go find a private club in town and
jam with the locals until 4:am

 

[z]

I wouldn't bet on that AT ALL ! I dount it's praticularly pistonic in action.

Graham

yeah, i guess that makes sense.
i was trying to say that the waveform from the drum when hit will
consist of a big coherent high pressure wave followed by a lot of
other stuff, but now i wonder if even that's not exactly true?

 

[Ron(UK)]

yeah, i guess that makes sense.
i was trying to say that the waveform from the drum when hit will
consist of a big coherent high pressure wave followed by a lot of
other stuff, but now i wonder if even that's not exactly true?

I don't think that coherent is the correct phrase. it`s a very complex
waveform.

Ron(UK)

 

[Ron(UK)]

I didn't play bigger gigs long enough to have to get used to it
fortunately. I notice many bass players usually try to stand as close to
their amps as possible.

That`s cos they like to feel their trouser legs flapping

Ron(UK)