|  |
|
| |
By: rorschach
Date: 1/10/98 4:42:55 PM
# Replies: 149
ya know, I generally live with the idea that on the whole, people are stupid. now granted theres huge exceptions to that conclusion but once in a while i run into people so brain dead that they make up for the people i know that DON'T fall into that catagory.. it all kinda evens out to a general grayish mud mentality. Today, I met one of those massively stupid ones. in McDonalds of course. my youngun is in LOVE with McDonalds food, and since she's been sick and not eating lately i thought to entice her to eat by taking her to her favorite gourmet eatery. after ordering our effluvia platters, one of the girls behind the counter took the cup lid rack down to restock and straighten it up, in doing so, a few loose ones fell to the floor. another girl came behind her and picked them up and PROCEEDED TO PUT THEM BACK IN THE RACK!!! I said YOU MUST BE JOKING! YOU JUST PUT CUP LIDS THAT WERE ON THE FLOOR BACK IN THE RACK? I THINK I'M GOING TO BE SICK RIGHT HERE! she took them back out of the rack and said "she just mopped the floor..." Some people just should NOT be allowed to reproduce.....
Response #1
By: Ralf
Date: 1/10/98 7:11:23 PM
Blame air bags.
Stupid people used to kill themselves by driving into immovable objects. Now they walk away unscathed, ready to continue spreading their DNA.
We have subverted natural selection.
Response #2
By: Tess Trueheart
Date: 1/11/98 8:48:41 AM
But it all works out in the long run.. just think.. McDonalds has a company girl for life!
The world needs ditch diggers too! Who else is going to do it..YOU??
I think not! And if..if all the professional ditch diggers/McDonalds order takers were gone from the world..well that would cause the food chain to lower the next level down to those professions and then where would I be??? Asking if you want ketchup with them fries??
That's why roaches flourish in this world! Well..it is!
Response #3
By: sooz
Date: 1/11/98 12:37:08 PM
Maybe at that McDonald's, Ror*, they have the same rule we have in our house:
THE FIVE SECOND RULE.
That's right, if it was on the floor less than 5 seconds, it didn't have time to get dirty, and is still clean enough to use/eat/wax the cat with.
Response #4
By: rorschach
Date: 1/11/98 5:01:19 PM
actually McD's has a prototype automated resturant, with only one or two people per shift to keep the machine fed, take the money, and to mop up the puke. automated ditch digging is not too unbelevable either, what with differential GPS allowing machines to locate themselves within 1/2 a centimeter anywhere on the planet...
Response #5
By: Cleotis
Date: 1/11/98 8:02:37 PM
Yeah, but can they program a computer to give out incorrect change?
Ever try paying $5.03 for something that costs $3.03 at McDonalds?
I inevitably end up with a handfull of coins every time.
Response #6
By: Zane T. Dark
Date: 1/11/98 10:54:48 PM
Stupid people used to kill themselves by driving into immovable objects. Now they walk away unscathed, ready to continue spreading their DNA.
We have subverted natural selection.
I think the tags on hair dryers that say 'Do not use while sleeping' and passing laws to make people wear seatbelts and helmets are also contributing factors.
Response #7
By: Gowan McGland
Date: 1/12/98 2:41:46 AM
Tess sez:
But it all works out in the long run.. just think.. McDonalds has a company girl for life!
The world needs ditch diggers too! Who else is going to do it..YOU??
I Say:
Well, not me, but hey, history and literature majors need jobs, too.
Response #8
By: Da Sissop
Date: 1/12/98 8:55:24 PM
The Hamburgler is symbolic of man's inhumanity to man.
Response #9
By: Ralf
Date: 1/12/98 11:13:08 PM
Then what is Grimace?
Response #10
By: Zane T. Dark
Date: 1/13/98 4:01:12 AM
Hey yeah! What *is* Grimace? My guess is a sentient Nutria...or is that neutria?
Response #11
By: Roxanne
Date: 1/13/98 11:31:53 AM
Hey, didja ever notice the Grimace is big and purple as *Barney* is big and purple, too?
Is there a connection? Separated at birth?
Response #12
By: rorschach
Date: 1/13/98 6:31:42 PM
or perhaps CLONED?
Response #13
By: Homer The Brave
Date: 1/13/98 8:47:40 PM
I was having this very discussion with someone just the other day. What *is* grimace?
And then, after a few exchanges of what grimace might be, we came to the conclusion that the Mind Control Big Macs had done their job. We were debating McDonalds' cartoon characters.
Response #14
By: Ralf
Date: 1/13/98 9:21:17 PM
They all represent various McD food units.
Mayor McCheese = Big Mac.
Hamburglar = Hamburger.
Birdie = Chicken Sandwich.
So... what food does Grimace represent?
Response #15
By: Da Sissop
Date: 1/13/98 9:24:19 PM
Grimmace represents indigestion.
Response #16
By: Roxanne
Date: 1/13/98 11:23:20 PM
Grimace is the clog in your artery.
You kids will see him in about 30 years! Now, go play in the Habi-trail(tm) tubes and leave Mommy alone.
Response #17
By: Zane T. Dark
Date: 1/14/98 5:50:29 AM
Grimace is what those McNuggets look like *before* cooking. Chicken my ass! He just *tastes* like it...and not very well either.
Response #18
By: Homer The Brave
Date: 1/14/98 7:38:52 PM
Actually, Mayor McCheese only has one patty and two buns. So to speak. Which is unlike a Big Mac, which has three buns and two patties.
Clearly, as a child you didn't play enough of that hamburger video game I can't recall the name of. Or you'd have noticed long before now...
Grimace is the vague, the unformed, the mystery. Purple has always represented that which is outside our normal realm of thinking; Grimace is the embodiment of the eternal Void, from which we are born, and into which we shall dissolve. Shapeless and barely able to speak, this purple mystery gives us a chance to expand our boundaries, perhaps ourselves grimacing as the challenge unfolds.
Response #19
By: Gowan McGland
Date: 1/15/98 12:56:43 AM
Homer sez: Clearly, as a child you didn't play enough of that hamburger video game I can't recall the name of. Or you'd have noticed long before now...
Burgertime.
Just so you know.
Response #20
By: rorschach
Date: 1/15/98 6:23:58 PM
The VOID? you mean he's a large purple pile of shit?
Response #21
By: Ralf
Date: 1/15/98 6:31:39 PM
After wracking my brains (wrack, wrack, wrack) I seem to recall Grimace has something to do with shakes.
If so, then, Like, does he DISPENSE them, or what?
Response #22
By: Da Sissop
Date: 1/16/98 5:36:31 AM
Grimaces are indigenous to the tropical rain forests of Brazil, and they are threatened with extinction by the ongoing deforestation.
They are highly valued for several reasons: They produce a tremendous amount of milk when squeezed, their pelts are used to make Barney suits, and their testicles (or "Nuggets," as they are called in Brazil) are considered a delicacy when breaded and fried.
Response #23
By: Zane T. Dark
Date: 1/16/98 7:22:17 AM
Shouldn't that be 'Grimaci'?
Response #24
By: Jay
Date: 1/16/98 1:11:11 PM
Grimaci?...Isn't that some Italian tenor?
Response #25
By: Ralf
Date: 1/16/98 4:33:16 PM
I believe "Grimacen" is the correct plural of Grimace.
Response #26
By: Zane T. Dark
Date: 1/17/98 2:03:02 PM
I dunno, isn't that the name of that hair color 'for men'?
Grimacan Formula
Response #27
By: Crush the State
Date: 5/28/98 6:42:43 AM
>I think not! And if..if all the professional ditch diggers/McDonalds >order takers were gone from the world..well that would >cause the food chain to lower the next level down to those >professions and then where would I be??? Asking if you want >ketchup with them fries??
Heh. The Ghandi solution: make your own fries.
Response #28
By: Fierce Pancake
Date: 5/29/98 10:24:48 AM
The mystery of how Grimace fit into the fast grand scheme of things also troubled me once enough to call up one of the McDonald's central offices and pose a few questions. While I tried to pump them for information, is he an eggplant, a gum drop, or what, they would only concede that he's a [quote] "big loveable huggable guy". This left me the impression that Grimace has some mystical brainwashing powers, perhaps the masonic puppetmaster pulling the rest of their strings, for nobody officially affiliated with McDonalds seems to know anything - or is too afraid to tell!
Response #29
By: Ralf
Date: 5/29/98 6:37:55 PM
Hmmm. Think he can do one o'them masonic seekrit handshakes with them dangly vestigal hands?
Response #30
By: Da Sissop
Date: 5/29/98 6:42:55 PM
A freemason inside every Happy Meal!
Response #31
By: Capt. Spastic
Date: 5/30/98 12:57:28 AM
Was that free mason jars?
Response #32
By: Capt. Spastic
Date: 5/30/98 11:46:35 PM
Did you ever feel like you were the only one posting anything?
Response #33
By: Mycroft
Date: 5/31/98 6:14:26 AM
Considering the near one-at-a-time nature of Webnuns at it stands now: when I post, I usually AM the only one posting.
Response #34
By: Ralf
Date: 5/31/98 10:41:58 AM
But it COULD be a rampaging hoard of posters, just remember that. We have the technology.
Response #35
By: Gowan McGland
Date: 5/31/98 2:52:20 PM
I'm not wearing pants.
Response #36
By: Da Sissop
Date: 5/31/98 3:45:33 PM
I've been too busy embracing technology to post.
Over the past week I have installed a new Read/Write CD drive, which I impulse bought largely for the ability to record music compilation CDs for the Ale House. But it wasn't a simple matter of plug-n-play, oh no, because I discovered that a problem I had with my *old* CD-ROM drive persisted after the installation of the new drive... basically I couldn't play audio CDs. Not at all. Not even.
So I started with a re-install of Windows 95 over my existing system. And then, after having creamed all my old applications and realizing I was gonna have to reinstall everything *anyway*, I decided to go ahead and upgrade my C drive. And my sound card.
Then, this weekend, I've discovered the magic of mpeg level 3 audio files. And with my high-speed connection, I can download 'em in ridiculously little time. So I can now safely say that within a week I should be ready to burn my first CD consisting entirely of music I've downloaded off the internet.
This is truly a COOL time to be alive.
Response #37
By: sooz
Date: 5/31/98 5:01:03 PM
Let me take that thought o' Fang's and run with it, if I may.
I am, in a really, really peripheral way, involved in the music business. My husband's a musician with a few releases under his belt, and this is ABSOLUTELY the coolest time to be a musician with a CD to shop around.
CD burners are completely affordable. And if ya don't have one of those, that's ok.
It's entirely possible for a dude to come into a studio (say, the one owned by my husband), spend a day recording a few dance tunes (lay the tracks and the vocals), put it on dat, burn a CD or two of it here at the studio, have me whip up a computer-generated cover and CD label, and have people dancing to it in a club that night.
It's a groovy time to be a musician with product to sell. It really, really is.
Response #38
By: Capt. Spastic
Date: 5/31/98 5:08:56 PM
And rewriteable CD's are very cool!
And Fang, generally, reinstalling 95 back in the smae directory doesn't work too well. Usually just a waste of time.
Sooz, when are you guys playing again?
Response #39
By: Fierce Pancake
Date: 6/1/98 9:57:13 AM
Speaking of MP3's, I have a few online at this site, including a rousing version of the seminal classic "Big Dogs On My Face".
Yeah, and my CD burner is bigger than your CD burner.
Response #40
By: Homer The Brave
Date: 6/2/98 2:14:53 AM
Dood... there are typos in your URLs for the mpeg files. For instance:
http://members.tripd.com/~bluepeter/blue_peter__gnome.mp3
Anyway. I'm profoundly glad to see your stumpish self. Whee!
Response #41
By: Gowan McGland
Date: 6/2/98 2:24:05 AM
MP3's are very cool. I believe I mentioned them some time back, but it took your discovering them on your own to put you on the path of true enlightenment.
One of the things I think is cool about the music business and whatnot these days has to do with MP3s. See, I listen to some local Houston bands that people may never hear of. However, I can buy that person's CD and make an MP3 of it and post it on the Internet and suddenly, that person is being marketed WORLDWIDE.
That's cool.
Fang, if you want info on making MP3s, lemme know.
Response #42
By: Zane T. Dark
Date: 6/2/98 5:29:05 AM
Dang! My CD burner's flint just went out.
[tossing Zippo into a box]
Do any of you have PlayStations that are in need of being 'mod'ed to play copies of games that you perhaps rented at Blockbuster and copied during some drug-induced stupor because you'd never really do something that illegal now would you?
I've modified about 5 so far...and all of them still work. Amazing, is it not? One guy wanted his done just so he could play the Japanese version of Tekken 3 because it came out 3 months before the american release...now *that's* taking a hobby seriously. Ya gotta admire that, ya know? From a safe distance, of course.
Response #43
By: sooz
Date: 6/2/98 1:04:44 PM
Captain: We'll be hanging out at the Texas Rockfest (June 26-28 in Marble falls), which oughtta be called the Texas HardCore fest, 'cuz that's what plays there. We're not playing this year, but we'll have a table set up with CDs and tapes and t-shirts and crap, er, I mean, high quality stuff. Then we'll be playing in Ft. Worth on the 4th of July, and in Kansas City on June 12th, but here's the cool thing: We're working on a benefit (another story) at Stubb's on August 8, and we'll be playing at that. Wouldn't that be groovy? Our itenerary's always up to date on our web page, though. Ok, almost always. Usually. Sometimes.
Gowan: You are so right. A nobody (like us) can market themselves worldwide for $20/month Internet costs. It's so cool. Gimme info on making MP3 files, 'cuz if they're that cool, we need some. We use Real Audio for online listening samples at the moment.
Everyone: Where's Ror*.* been? I have no one to harass.
Response #44
By: Fierce Pancake
Date: 6/2/98 9:07:11 PM
For instance? I think that typo was there for a few weeks now and no one mentioned it. Argh. I'm rotating the songs now anyway.
Response #45
By: Homer The Brave
Date: 6/3/98 2:47:05 AM
Ooof. The Nunz made my typing disappear!!!
Anyway, look carefully at the urls for the mpg files... one of them says 'www.trpod.com' in it.
Response #46
By: Da Sissop
Date: 6/3/98 7:50:06 AM
And the nunz have now restored your typing.
Response #47
By: Ralf
Date: 6/4/98 5:49:28 PM
Hail! The glory of the Nunz! They can do anything!
BTW, Hiya Zane! Great to see ya.
Response #48
By: Capt. Spastic
Date: 6/4/98 9:00:52 PM
I personally can't believe you guys are just NOW discovering CD burners. Are you guys getting the straight burners, or are oyu getting the rewriteable's?
Response #49
By: Homer The Brave
Date: 6/5/98 2:09:54 AM
Thanks to a visiting Brit, I now want a minidisc recorder. They're cheaper than a portable DAT machine, they don't hold as much time but that's no biggie for me, and the media isn't that expensive.
And the little discs look reeely cool!
Response #50
By: Gowan McGland
Date: 6/5/98 11:45:30 AM
I understood that MiniDiscs don't have quite the sound quality of CDs and were more along the lines of cassette quality sound.
I've known about CD burners for a while. I'm sure we all have. However, with the prices coming down and the advent of IDE burners, they've become a lot more mainstream.
The problem with CDRW is finding regular CD players that can read them. Most older CDROM drives cannot.
Response #51
By: Ralf
Date: 6/5/98 7:21:13 PM
Yeppers. The place where I work went thru *three* name-brand burners before we found one that would make discs readable on all our customers' PC's.
How strange.
Response #52
By: Da Sissop
Date: 6/5/98 8:33:11 PM
Well, MiniDiscs essentially store .mp3 files, don't they?
Response #53
By: Capt. Spastic
Date: 6/6/98 12:18:07 PM
Mini-discs are basically like any other digital format. it's digital, no analog distortation. And from what I've been lead to understand, it's not really an open mp3 format. It's audio recorded with mp3 compression standard. And the Sony mini-disc player, I though anyway, was quite impressive.
As far as CDRW's, the most backward compatitiable one we've managed to run across, has been Yamaha's. Good speed, not that expensive, and usually hasn't been having much trouble playing back on anything above a 12x drive. And the IDE burners are SOOOOOO SLOOOOWW! SCSI cards are so darn cheap now, it just makes sense to go SCSI if you are gonna get a burner.
Response #54
By: Homer The Brave
Date: 6/6/98 6:30:02 PM
MP3 is a compression scheme not unlike JPEG: It's lossy. MP3 divides the audio spectrum into sections and then decides which sections can be sacrificed as acceptable losses in the war against bandwidth. A bit like the military that way...
So, there *is* distortion, it's just not very noticeable, and in fact, it is beneficial. (you couldn't store as much on the disc if it wasn't there)
Response #55
By: Gowan McGland
Date: 6/7/98 12:37:43 AM
Right.
The parts you lose in an MP3 compression are virtually undetectable by the human ear.
Response #56
By: Zane T. Dark
Date: 6/7/98 5:47:43 AM
Spastic: It's not so much that I'm just finding out about CD burners, it just took this long to pry my wallet open. I have a frightenly quick ability to heal myself when I begin being drawn toward the bleeding edge of technology....well, that and a healthy dose of financial entropy. By the time my money reaches a form I can spend, it's already bled off much of it's spending power. Not a well-thought-out analogy, but it works for me...
Ralf: Great to be seen, actually. So, what brand did you end up settling on?
Response #57
By: Ralf
Date: 6/7/98 9:39:59 AM
Er... the one that works.
I'll have to check the records. I believe it was the mondo-expensive HP.
Response #58
By: Mycroft
Date: 6/7/98 10:27:27 AM
Errr.. I remember when mindisc's came out. I was really hoping they would replace cd-rom as a computer storage medium. I'm not sure why anyone outside of the music industry would be that interested in them.
Response #59
By: Capt. Spastic
Date: 6/7/98 1:13:12 PM
That's the same problem I have Zane. Fortuntely, the employee discount at the DFO helps out considerably! That and a couple computer stores around here give us discounts.
Response #60
By: Jay
Date: 6/7/98 8:22:44 PM
There is a cool little snipet on cd burners in this months Playboy..not that I was reading the articles or anything...
Response #61
By: Capt. Spastic
Date: 6/7/98 9:06:22 PM
Alright Jay, if you start S.N.A.G.ing out and claiming that you are reading the articles, we'll have to cut off your nads.
Response #62
By: Zane T. Dark
Date: 6/8/98 5:14:48 AM
Articles?
Response #63
By: Capt. Spastic
Date: 6/9/98 4:34:01 PM
Of clothing?
Response #64
By: Ralf
Date: 6/14/98 4:24:28 PM
I can't wait for Playboy mags to become CD-ROM-of-the-month thingies, where the nekkid babes READ you the articles.
Response #65
By: Da Sissop
Date: 6/14/98 6:07:21 PM
They'll probably need to keep a few fully-clothed models on staff for the bigger words.
Response #66
By: Zane T. Dark
Date: 6/16/98 6:02:00 PM
I have this theory of biologically induced cranial atrophe...in other words...they may not be stupid, but in this society if you look like that there's no real *social* incentive to actually *use* your brain.
Response #67
By: Fierce Pancake
Date: 6/18/98 3:14:02 PM
What burner are you people using, anyway? I have a SCSI Ricoh 6201s, which is a 2x caddy burner. I rather like it. Mostly use the Verbatim Blue cds ($15 for 10 at SAMS). Can't really see much use in a minidisc though. I don't know anyone who has one. I can make CDs and all my non Luddite friends have CD players. If I wanted to make a disc full of MP3 compressed music I could fit a lot more on a regular CD than would fit on a minidisc.
Response #68
By: rorschach
Date: 6/18/98 8:29:45 PM
but you wouldn't be able to play it on a regular stereo CD....
Response #69
By: Fierce Pancake
Date: 6/19/98 8:56:59 AM
You could play it in a computer. But with a minidisc you pretty much can't play it anywhere because virtually nobody has one.
Response #70
By: Gowan McGland
Date: 6/19/98 1:26:59 PM
Actually, you can play it on a regular stereo if you do it right.
There are several programs that will translate MP3s to RedBook (or is it Orange Book?) audio while it burns the CD and thus you have your very own compilation CD.
That's exactly how places like CDNow and supersonicboom do it.
(Oh, and if you go to CompUSA RIGHT NOW, you can get a 5 pack of CDRs and when you get your rebate back, they'll be FREE)
Response #71
By: Da Sissop
Date: 6/19/98 1:51:05 PM
Well I got a Phillips CDD 3610 via a nifty little online auction house called WebAuction for $300 (including shipping), and so far I haven't hit any compatibility snags yet.
I burned a compilation CD for the Ale Haus, and learned that when you rip tracks from the original CD, sometimes the end of the track, as far as the time stamp is concerned, is not *actually* the end of the track, as far as the human ear is concerned... i.e., "Michael row the boat ashore, hall-le-lu---" [the end].
I'd be interested in one o' them translation programs, Gowan, if you're saying that you don't need to first convert the mp3 file back into a gargantuan 50 MB .wav file.
Response #72
By: Fierce Pancake
Date: 6/19/98 2:22:43 PM
I've never had tracks ripped from an audio CD come across truncated like that. You, my friend, have gremlins.
Response #73
By: Mycroft
Date: 6/19/98 8:51:41 PM
It's times like this when I wish i knew how to cast the summon EE and CompSci grad student spell.
With my legion of undead young men, I could work techromantic arts over a programmable DSP, 2x-4x cdrom, and a car stereo and somehow produce a device that will either read normal Redbook CD, or CD-ROM with mp3 on them.
This is a device I want. 10 hours of music on a disc. I would be very happy.
Response #74
By: Capt. Spastic
Date: 6/20/98 1:53:22 AM
FP, I have heard a deal of what Fang is talking about. It happens alot with some, how can I tactfully say this...cheaper ripping programs.
I'll get you a couple of good ones from some guys at work that spend their off hours doing this, and send them to you.
Response #75
By: Da Sissop
Date: 6/20/98 11:06:49 AM
Cool... I've been using the software that came with the drive. Adaptec Easy CD creator.
Response #76
By: sooz
Date: 6/20/98 9:06:23 PM
Adaptec is what Richie uses in his recording studio, software-wise, for burning CDs for customers.
Someone mentioned CDNow up there - CDNow now carries Richie L. music. Oooo.
Response #77
By: Fierce Pancake
Date: 6/22/98 4:05:42 PM
The Adaptec program is generally alright, I've noticed it crash a few times while burning though. A good audio ripper is CDRwin, I never have problems with that.
Response #78
By: Cleotis
Date: 7/1/98 9:02:25 PM
Two cents from Cleotis:
WHy is there a "$" and not a "c" cent sign on the keyboard, anyway?
Regarding CD Recorders: I have 4. Two Sony 2x 920s drives, and two Yamaha 400c 4x recorders. The Sony's blow the Yamahas out of the water as far as compatibility goes. The Yamaha's crash with LOTS of programs. The Sony's are rock solid. Too bad they don't make them anymore (and the new Sony's don't do DAO - ack!) Stay away from the Yamaha series at all costs. I've had no less then 8 of them through here, finally finding two that work properly. The failure rate is horrible.
Regarding MP3: Remember The Judy's? I have every single one of their songs, and some bootleg stuff in MP3 on my Judy's site: http://maddancer.com/thejudys - in case you're interested.
Regarding Minidisc: Minidiscs rule. They use "psychoacoustic compression", kind of a bastardized version of mpeg and aptx and some of the other flavors. They're cool. I wish they would have taken off better than they have.
Regarding shaven poodles: wait. Wrong thread.
Response #79
By: Capt. Spastic
Date: 7/1/98 10:14:08 PM
Give it time. Mini-discs will gain in popularity. Cassettes orginally started off slow too.
Response #80
By: Gowan McGland
Date: 7/1/98 10:49:43 PM
I was looking for a cent sign the other day and couldn't find one.
As far as the Judy's MP3s go, what'd you use to make them? Spin Doctor? A friend of mine was wondering about how to make MP3s from albums, etc without the hiss and that's the best solution I could come up with.
Response #81
By: Homer The Brave
Date: 7/1/98 11:46:37 PM
¢
Response #82
By: Da Sissop
Date: 7/2/98 9:42:09 AM
I used a shareware/crippleware utility called Cool Edit which took a nasty hissy vinyl-to-tape recording and effectively filtered out the hiss. It was cool. Way cool.
Response #83
By: rorschach
Date: 7/2/98 10:47:28 AM
ya wanna get rid of the hiss? join the 20th century and get a CD! vinyl should be BANNED! anyone still selling (new) vinyl should be shot on sight then hanged by thier gonads.. (a REAL interesting sight if the participant is a woman.....)
Response #84
By: sooz
Date: 7/2/98 4:56:38 PM
DJs use a lot of vinyl, cuz doing a scitchy-scratch on a CD isn't much fun.
Response #85
By: Ralf
Date: 7/2/98 5:17:03 PM
Smacking the CD player with a rubber hammer just ain't the same.
Response #86
By: Gowan McGland
Date: 7/3/98 1:55:31 AM
Some older albums and artists aren't available on CD.
The aforementioned Judys, fer instance..
Response #87
By: Homer The Brave
Date: 7/3/98 10:42:46 PM
DJs can now purchase, should they so desire, CD players designed to be scratched like LPs. There's a DJ shop up near where I used to live (where I went to get a new STYLUS for my TURNTABLE because vinyl is anachronistic enough to be COOL) that sells them. I vaguely remember them being in the $2k range.
Response #88
By: Ralf
Date: 7/4/98 10:30:10 AM
Heheheh...
"Life will *always* find a way!"
--Jurassic Park
Response #89
By: Mycroft
Date: 7/4/98 2:47:23 PM
A fresh, clean vinyl disk can do things with sound that are jsut fucking amamzing. I've listened to albumns on both vinyl and CD and if actually given the choice, would prefer vinyl for some things...
Response #90
By: rorschach
Date: 7/5/98 6:02:02 PM
unless you cannot get the recording in any other format, vinyl is only good for interesting underwear and water pipe. mycroft, sentiment is nice... but there is NOTHING that a vinyl record can do that a CD cannot do better.... if you are talking about how the audio range is clipped on the top and bottom, just remember, the recording medium's job is to reproduce sound as close to the original recording as possible, any added sound or coloratation added IS NOT desirable from a recording medium. if you LIKE that sound it can be recreated electronically but remember, you, not the artist, are adding the sound. hell, I'd get a CASSETTE of a recording before I bought it on vinyl!
Response #91
By: Capt. Spastic
Date: 7/6/98 12:55:19 AM
Ror is right, you simply cannot get the audio range on vinyl that you can contain on a CD. Of course, for older stuff, alot of it anyway, it doesn't matter, since even the master tapes at the time will nor reporduce the dynamic range that a cd can produce, and more up to date mastering equipment can produce. CD's still have an advantage to me, in that you can play them 1000's of time and you don't start losing sound quality like you do with old LP's. The only thing I miss about vinyl LP's, is the bigger covers, and the cover art.
Response #92
By: Homer The Brave
Date: 7/6/98 2:07:52 AM
Actually, vinyl as a medium isn't the weak link, mastering and reproduction are.
Audiophile pressings of LPs, played on top-notch equipment, rival the specs of digital.
Besides, if you're listening to what 90% of people listen to, you might as well just go ahead and buy the cassette, and forget CDs. Rock and roll just has no dynamic needs. Off and on.
I know these things. I am The Man With The Golden Ears.
Response #93
By: Ralf
Date: 7/6/98 7:15:38 AM
He is, you know.
In a fistfight over anything audio, I'd back Homer over Ror... Mr.TheBrave is just plain scary when it comes to music technology.
And I've heard an audiophile pressing of Dark Side of the Moon on vinyl, played on a very expensive turntable, pumped thru some horrifically expensive amplifiers, and it was astonishing. Very very clear and wonderful.
But is the juice worth the squeeze? I mean, we fiddled with all the trappings of "protecting the record" for nearly 10 minutes before any music actually came out. Special anti-static jacket, special anti-static liquid lovingly spooged onto the media, then carefully wiped away with special anti-static cloth, while wearing special anti-static gloves. CAREFUL placement on the turntable. Hold your breath while the needle is CAREFULLY placed on the surface -- manually.
Compared to just popping in a CD, it was like open heart surgery.
And don't EVEN think about automotive use.
Response #94
By: Da Sissop
Date: 7/6/98 6:08:28 PM
Little Feat's "Feats Don't Fail Me Now" sounded ten times better on vinyl than the CD reissue. And don't try to tell me it's psychological, I'm not listening, I'm covering my ears, laaa laaa laaa LAAA LAAA LAAA!!1!
Besides, turntable rumble is kinda soothing, sorta like the sounds of the womb.
Response #95
By: rorschach
Date: 7/8/98 8:35:07 PM
but what did that audiophile recording sound like the 1000'th time? how did it sound after two moves and it sat in a hot moving van all day in august? audiophile vinyl recordings cost a bundle because they have to be stamped from first generation dies which do not last very long. and even then, i am still willing to bet that in any controlled laboratory setting, no difference between a digital recording and an analog LP (even an audiophile one) can be detected by any OBJECTIVE measure you could contrive when all the analog signal processing gear is the same. (EARS DON'T COUNT.... they are operated by human brains and we all know how unreliable THOSE things can be....)
Response #96
By: Capt. Spastic
Date: 7/8/98 10:50:40 PM
Ok (whipping out degree), folks, this IS something I can actually speak with some authority on, since A) I actually went to school for it, and actually GOT my degree for, & B) I actually DID the work for 10 years. In other words folks, I AM a professional, don't try this at home.
First off Homey, I really don't know where you are getting your info from,but mastering and reproduction usually are NOT the weakest link in the chain, duplication is (which technically, reproduction IS part of, so I'll give you that one). And sorry, but Vinyl is the poorest dynamic range of ANY of the other mediums. Not to mention, that when you add in the fact that even the finest needle scratches the surface of the album, dynamic range decreases with every playing. You don't have that with CD's, since friction is not an issue. It's even something that happens with tape since the tape is actually drug across the head. But tape STILL has a better dynamic range than vinyl.
When you are talking "digital" you must realize of course that there are 3 basic formats of digital recording/mestering techniques. There's DDD, which is a STRICTLY all digital process from start to finish, very few recording are made this way. But Rush's Power Windows is a wonderful example of great the medium can be when done right. There's ADD, which is an analog recording, digital master to digital medium. There's AAD, which is analog recording, analog mastering, to digital medium. This process is the most popular.
And finally, the reason that many vinyl orginal recordings sound better than the remastered CD's can be for a couple of reasons. First off, hence the word REMASTERED. A re-mastering is only as good as the engineer doing the remastering. And the source tape provided, if the source for the remastering isn't that great, then the CD's not gonna not gonna be that great. Vinyl is more forgiving of source indescreation than CD's are in the final mix.
Response #97
By: sooz
Date: 7/9/98 3:16:56 PM
Since I'm the only woman that consistently calls here, I feel it's my duty to point out that this "must be a boy thing." Y'all are forever doing the "my toy is better than your toy because..." thing.
Response #98
By: Gowan McGland
Date: 7/9/98 7:12:33 PM
I think we all know why, don't we?
Response #99
By: Cleotis
Date: 7/9/98 7:53:09 PM
Susan's on to something...
How many female producers and mastering engineers are there in the bizz? Not many.
Maybe it IS a penis issue!
Response #100
By: sooz
Date: 7/10/98 12:03:46 AM
...and the funny thing is, do y'all REALLY think you'll ever get someone else to say "You know, I think you're right. Your Response #101 Grumph. I refuse to believe all this boils down to penis sizing.
Guess I'll slink off to the operating system wars in the next sub... Response #102 HERE HERE SPAS! YOU TELL EM!....
what does having a penis, large or small, have to do with audio recording technology? Response #103 how close you need to stand to the stereo to hit the fast forward button if you have a beer and a burger in each hand Response #104 So that's why all the tapes are sticking together. Response #105 fang, your little feat CD sounds like crap because it was probably mastered to CD off the same tape as the vinyl master. Back before mastering engineers had experience with CDs, they'd just send the LP master off to the CD plant, complete with EQ to compensate for vinyl pressing's deficiencies (boosted highs, low frequencies mixed to center, etc).
I'm glad to have CDs. I can put Brian Eno's 'Thursday Afternoon' on the player and know that it will be silent in the silent parts, in addition to hearing all 61 minutes without turning anything over.
Regarding the audio/penis-size issue... Have you ever SEEN a Neuman U-87?? It would make a porn star blush... Response #106 (in my best Jerry-Seinfeld-disgusted voice)
"Neuman!"
Response #107 The Germans pronounce it NOI-man. Neuman the company was started up after Telefunken became associated with the Nazis. Telefunken being the old name of Neuman.
Buzz-bombs, cool uniforms, death camps and large-diaphram multi-pattern condenser microphones with tube pre-amps. Those Germans sure could build-'em!
Response #108 Exerp from Schindlers Play List:
"But I must save these Jews - who else will fix my turn table? I will buy them all - except for that one who made me the 8-track player..." Response #109 TUBES! SHIT! here you go muddying the audio again with garbage technology..... you keep forgetting that the goal of audio reproduction is FAITHFUL reproduction... any sound added my the technology is UNWANTED!
tubes are for infertility experiments.....(TEST tubes that is....) Response #110 Yeah, but integrated circuits don't GLOW. There's something warm and wonderful about a wooden cabinet full of glass tubes that make noise.
Human beings are subjective creatures. If your listening experience is enhanced with retro technology, so be it. If you think a tube amp sounds better, it probably does.
Me, I'm not holding my breath waiting for the Sony TubeMan... Response #111 There's musicians that come into Richie's studio all the time wanting to see his tube gear. He has a digital studio, but there's still tube gear, because, it's a fact... some musicians WANT their stuff to sound like shit. Response #112 I don't know if it's so much that teh business is weird, or some people are just stupid! Response #113 All recording gear distorts, even digital equipment. Believe it or not, repro devices have sounds of their own, or flavors or whatever you want to call it. That's part of the magic involved...
Recording isn't about accurate reproduction, or there would be no recording studios; there would be guys who ran around with 2-track digital tape decks and a pair of dynamic microphones hooked up to solid-state pre-amps to record only live gigs. Recording is about Art. Response #114 The recording process distorts the reality, sometimes by intent sometimes not. The playback process distorts it further. Yet everyone is generally pleased with the results.
Think about this: there have never been two IDENTICAL performances of the same music, ever. There's just too many variables! Move your head slightly and the placement of your ears change ever so slightly. Every reproduction technology we possess today ends with "and then molocules of air are moved, creating sound." Until that's eliminated, you're at the mercy of barometric pressure, ambient noise, and waxy buildup.
Will direct neural injection into the audio nerves fix this? Maybe. But probably not, because there has to be a listener, and that listener is a constantly cascading stream of conciousness with conflicting inputs. How you experience something is the sum total of the ENTIRE experience. If your feet hurt while listening to a concert, you'll remember that as part of the experience. So we have to isolate conciousness in order to produce the perfect listener for our perfect "sound" reproduction system.
See where I'm going with this? Response #115 I dunno, as a musician I've always subscribed to the theory of, "If ya like and it makes ya feel good, then play it." Record it, sell it. Do whatcha want with it. I mean, it's your creation, and how it sounds is up to you, the artist. I personally like the warm fuzzy feel of vinyl. And i think you get a better true bass end of the older recordings from vinyl. But that's my opinion. As A DJ I very rarely even touch an LP. If I do, it's only for the purposes of a getting the right beat to match. But at home, 90% of what I might listen to comes off vinyl. So, to each their own.
-Bill Response #116 sound reproduction is about faitful reporduction, period. I can understand why an artist may want to color his music with a noisy preamp or one that distorts in a particular way, that is his right as an artist to make whatever sounds he finds pleasing. but for a listener, purporting to want to hear the music as the artist intended, i find it ludicrous that someone would FURTHER color the sound intentionally. but you have to understand that in this situation what is good for the goose is NOT NECESARRILY good for the gander! Response #117 But coloring sound is what techno "music" is all about! :) Response #118 In general, the differences between a well-cared-for LP played on decent equipment and a CD on the same equipment aren't that great. Especially if you're in the next room cooking dinner, or on the phone, or going to sleep.
I listen to a lot of stuff on cassette, just because it's convenient. I pop in the 8-track from time to time. I wish I had the space to go and get one of those big console stereos from the 60s (they're cheap at thrift stores), and buy out the whole thrift store record rack, and only listen to that for a while. Response #119 If you REALLY want to know what a band sounds like, go see 'em in person. Response #120 The whole argument about "faithfully reproducing sound" is nuts anyway. That all goes down the tubes in the mix. Ever seen all that outboard gear a studio uses? There's no way records could sound as good as they do without that stuff.
Dry mixes and rough mixes are truly hideous things. The whole point is kinda moot.
Response #121 Period. Response #122 Wow. My last message here was PMS... A Pre-Menstrual Statement.
Response #123 cleo, I really don't follow your logic there. I mean SURE the studio slices, dices, folds (hold the starch please) and puree's the sound but thats on the ARTISTIC end of the equation. that part of the process is still under the artist's control (well, it's SUPPOSED to be... but i digress....) so he or she can do any damed thing they like to the sound, it THIER sound to modify, it is THIER right to do so....not mine with my cheap overly damped and spikey speakers and my old germanium solid state amp with bad filter caps in the power supply, and the speaker wire that is small enough to use as thread..... Response #124 I guess my thoughts spawned from the "faithful reproduction of sound" discussion we were talking about.
Faithful reproduction of sound would be simply going dry to 2-track.
I guess what I'm saying is that the playback platform is all part of the equation, not a hindrance to it. Response #125 ok I kinda see your point, not that I agree with it... but i CAN see what you are getting at. that the artist, by CHOOSING an inherently noisy medium to record his or her sound is controlling the playback as well... well, if that were the only variable involved i might agree with you, but as I kinda mentioned above, there's all kinds of OTHER things that can change the quality of the sound that are completely unrelated to the medium, not the least of which is usage and physical abuse to the medium itself. not everyone can afford to (or would even if they COULD) spend half a million dollars on audio equipment and only play thier LP in a class 10 clean room... it ain't gonna happen. does that mean that those who cannot afford that kind of enviroment will NEVER be able to hear music as it was meant to be heard? i do not
agree. you can achieve anything on a CD that you can on an LP right down to the scratchy clipped sound OF an LP... (check out the beginning of "Wish You Were Here") and it will sound the same the 1000'th time as it did the first, and if there IS damage to the disk, that is what the reed-solomon encoding is for, to rebuild the lost bits seamlessly as long as there were'nt too many annihalated to begin with... try doing THAT with an LP.... now, Mpeg3 encoding is another thing entirely, it IS NOT 100% accurate, it tries to make assumptions about what parts of the audio spectrum are important at any given second and throw away the un-important parts in an effort to save space. generally speaking it does a fairly good job, but there IS program material that it is not compatable with. it is possible to spoof the encoding algorhythm into throwing away the wrong parts of the spectrum, CD's do not do this. Response #126 Please raise your hand if you read that whole thing straight through. Response #127
You read it?
Response #128 (raised hand) Response #129 Well I got word yesterday that I'm Soul Coughings Houston "Street Team" - record promo dude - leader....Warner Brothers is shipping me boxes of Soul Coughing STUFF...yall want anything? Response #130 Where 0 where did my little ZANEYPOOPOOHEAD roam.. 0 where 0 where did he go???
Sorcy...are you out there??
Roxybabe??
Response #131 Jay: YES! Whattayagot? HowdoIgetit? Response #132 sure, I'm game..... Response #133 Yea I'm here, Tessie-babe...I swore I'd never move in the middle of summer but failed to do the math associated with only signing one-year leases. My lack of snap frightens me at times...others it saves me from becoming engraged or disappointed with life, so it's an even trade. [shrug]
Oh yes, and I'm raising my had for ROR's post as well, and because, well...I'm Sure.
ZtD Response #134 Wow...ask and you shall receive. ZANE..does this mean you have a new number? Why didn't you call us..we both have truck and would have loved to play in your things... Response #135 I'm here! I'm here! I'm being held hostage by a mad Amazon and she won't let me go until I post to her!!
Hi Tessybabe! Yo to everyone else! How has everybody out there been since...er...uh...January?!? I hope I can make it back on the board more regularly now. But that's all in the hands of The Fates,
Sorc'(Rev) Response #136 Ok...here's the story. I've been tied to a chair and Tess is singing Barbara Striesand showtunes to me, and will continue these aural assaults until I have satisfied her demands that I post to her. It's not that...OH GOD...she's started on Linda Rondstat now.... I guess you could call this kinda' sorta' like Internet Bondage. "Virtual Bondage with Mistress Tess the Posting Dominatrix." I think there's a webcam business opportunity there. Although now she's started Mozart's Requiem and I really don't know how I should take this. Wait a second...scratch that...she's doing "Funeral For A Friend" now.
Sorc'(Rev)
Response #137 You know, if you set up a webcam you could CHARGE for that. Response #138 Yeah but then you'd be wanting to see the sweat stained chair...
Response #139 Sweat stain? Uh..OH YEAH...it's a SWEAT stain. Yeah, that's it.
Sorc'(stain)
Response #140 Of course..sweat stains are not as easily removed as well..other stains you understand.. Response #141 Wipe on...wipe off. Response #142 Aw man, you didn't make him pee, did ya? Response #143 That leather underware sure comes in handy. Response #144 Hey..give those back! Response #145 Heh... Underware strong enough for a man but made for a woman.... Response #146 But *I* like it too. Response #147 Mr. Roark, spanking Tattoo: "Ah there's nothing like the feel of rich Corinthian leather!"
Tattoo: "The pain! The pain!" Response #148 UGH! That was a mental picture I could have lived without.... Response #149 Then I guess I shouldn't go into how the "split crotch" style gives that extra feeling of freedom. Eh?
Sorc'( )
By: Ralf
Date: 7/10/98 5:45:26 PM
By: rorschach
Date: 7/11/98 2:17:01 PM
By: Jay
Date: 7/11/98 2:54:27 PM
By: Da Sissop
Date: 7/12/98 8:19:24 AM
By: Homer The Brave
Date: 7/15/98 12:30:04 AM
By: Da Sissop
Date: 7/15/98 6:40:49 AM
By: Homer The Brave
Date: 7/17/98 2:25:19 AM
By: Jay
Date: 7/17/98 2:52:59 PM
By: rorschach
Date: 7/17/98 7:50:24 PM
By: Ralf
Date: 7/18/98 10:10:47 AM
By: sooz
Date: 7/18/98 12:23:01 PM
"Dude, we want that rough, raw feel."
"So, you've practiced and practiced so you can pay a lot of money in a studio so that you can sound like you used your 8 track to record a garage band?"
"Right."
"Cool. $25.00 an hour."
This music business is weird stuff.
By: Capt. Spastic
Date: 7/19/98 12:34:33 AM
By: Homer The Brave
Date: 7/19/98 1:55:06 AM
By: Ralf
Date: 7/19/98 6:40:50 AM
By: XeonoeX
Date: 7/19/98 1:26:21 PM
By: rorschach
Date: 7/19/98 1:54:50 PM
By: Shadow Sprite
Date: 7/19/98 3:35:15 PM
By: Homer The Brave
Date: 7/20/98 3:29:18 AM
By: sooz
Date: 7/20/98 5:07:51 PM
By: Cleotis
Date: 7/21/98 9:13:22 PM
By: sooz
Date: 7/22/98 11:25:42 AM
By: Cleotis
Date: 7/23/98 12:11:14 AM
By: rorschach
Date: 7/23/98 10:01:51 PM
By: Cleotis
Date: 7/23/98 11:40:33 PM
By: rorschach
Date: 7/29/98 9:22:52 PM
By: sooz
Date: 7/29/98 10:00:09 PM
By: Gowan McGland
Date: 7/30/98 11:58:01 AM
By: Capt. Spastic
Date: 7/30/98 10:20:29 PM
By: Jay
Date: 8/1/98 8:01:57 AM
By: Tess Trueheart
Date: 8/1/98 11:28:41 AM
By: Ralf
Date: 8/1/98 12:52:27 PM
By: rorschach
Date: 8/1/98 2:40:31 PM
By: Zane T. Dark
Date: 8/1/98 11:07:36 PM
By: Tess Trueheart
Date: 8/2/98 9:29:49 AM
By: The Sorcerer
Date: 8/2/98 6:22:18 PM
By: The Sorcerer
Date: 8/2/98 7:04:37 PM
By: Ralf
Date: 8/3/98 8:33:28 AM
By: Tess Trueheart
Date: 8/7/98 5:19:27 AM
By: The Sorcerer
Date: 8/7/98 10:45:47 PM
By: Tess Trueheart
Date: 8/9/98 11:00:48 AM
By: The Sorcerer
Date: 8/9/98 9:15:32 PM
By: Da Sissop
Date: 8/10/98 8:01:48 PM
By: The Sorcerer
Date: 8/14/98 11:34:24 PM
By: Tess Trueheart
Date: 8/23/98 8:59:38 AM
By: The Sorcerer
Date: 8/23/98 10:00:23 PM
By: Ralf
Date: 8/24/98 4:40:37 PM
By: Da Sissop
Date: 8/24/98 4:56:45 PM
By: rorschach
Date: 8/25/98 10:23:07 AM
By: The Sorcerer
Date: 8/25/98 9:31:18 PM