Great essay Damon 👌🏻 Love to hear (read) your input on different aspects of sound, music and the industry itself. You always manage to have an interesting angle and sprinkle us with a little history at the same time. You must be awesome to sit next to at dinner parties! Keep it up 👍🏻
Thanks for this. I have a trip to NYC coming up in October where I intend to record as many sounds in the wild of NYC as I can and enjoy the aural landscape. But thanks for pointing this out. Now I'll be sure to avoid this contrived, over-hyped rip-off.
I've always been fascinated by surround-sound. As a teenager with the White Album in my headphones, I pictured myself as Ringo behind the drumset and wondered why they didn't make records like that anymore. That said, a nice pair of headphones offering the same experience as this $2 million room just further proves your point. You hit the nail on the head when you described the event as "exploring the technology of the space for its own sake." At least the headphones experience I described connected me to the people who performed the recording.
I attended the show with Igor Levit playing Morton Feldman live, and the immersive sound of the Sphere was fabulous for that. But I'm glad I skipped going to any of the pre-recorded sessions.
Good to hear that! Where did they position the performer(s)? Interesting to note that Stockhausen’s original installation was all live music, as best I understand from what I have read about it
They placed the piano in the center of the listening area, on a temporary solid cover over the mesh in the center circle). Must have been quite the operation to get the piano into position.
Fascinating piece, Damon. I love this bit: "I am not the same listener I was before I first heard that piece; it stretched my understanding of possibilities for composition, for group improvisation, and for use of the voice." Tangentially, I'm curious what you'd think of Henry Threadgill's recent memoir, in which he talks about his perception of sound and how it was changed profoundly by his experience in Vietnam, where careful listening could mean the difference between life and death. Literally.
Fabulous piece Damon. Exactly why I decided not to go listen to the Sphere.
Thank you David! Would have been curious to know your take, had you gone.
Gimme an L! Gimme an R!
Great essay Damon 👌🏻 Love to hear (read) your input on different aspects of sound, music and the industry itself. You always manage to have an interesting angle and sprinkle us with a little history at the same time. You must be awesome to sit next to at dinner parties! Keep it up 👍🏻
Thanks for this. I have a trip to NYC coming up in October where I intend to record as many sounds in the wild of NYC as I can and enjoy the aural landscape. But thanks for pointing this out. Now I'll be sure to avoid this contrived, over-hyped rip-off.
Have you ever been to La Monte Young's dream house installation? https://www.melafoundation.org/dream02.htm It's actually entirely static, but not boring at all.
Yes a fantastic installation so glad it is still there
Carl Craig’s been exclusively coasting of records he made 25-30 years ago for a long time now!
I've always been fascinated by surround-sound. As a teenager with the White Album in my headphones, I pictured myself as Ringo behind the drumset and wondered why they didn't make records like that anymore. That said, a nice pair of headphones offering the same experience as this $2 million room just further proves your point. You hit the nail on the head when you described the event as "exploring the technology of the space for its own sake." At least the headphones experience I described connected me to the people who performed the recording.
I attended the show with Igor Levit playing Morton Feldman live, and the immersive sound of the Sphere was fabulous for that. But I'm glad I skipped going to any of the pre-recorded sessions.
Good to hear that! Where did they position the performer(s)? Interesting to note that Stockhausen’s original installation was all live music, as best I understand from what I have read about it
They placed the piano in the center of the listening area, on a temporary solid cover over the mesh in the center circle). Must have been quite the operation to get the piano into position.
Omg sounds precarious - also I wonder how they got the piano inside the sphere…
Fascinating piece, Damon. I love this bit: "I am not the same listener I was before I first heard that piece; it stretched my understanding of possibilities for composition, for group improvisation, and for use of the voice." Tangentially, I'm curious what you'd think of Henry Threadgill's recent memoir, in which he talks about his perception of sound and how it was changed profoundly by his experience in Vietnam, where careful listening could mean the difference between life and death. Literally.
Ya, too much money, too little inspiration.
It’s very interesting that you connect this to Dolby Atmos.
From what I heard atmos should allow for more space in the mix, separating elements that otherwise would cause frequency cancelation.
I thought it should sound amazing and more full, more immersive, but maybe that’s not the case!
Have you ever tried atmos? Maybe they have an incentive to mix it differently.
And yeah I’m sure apple vision will suck sonically