Title: I can't hear you, I'm listening.
Tags: music loud listen
Blog Entry: I like to listen to music loud. Not necessarily turned up to the proverbial “10” but somewhere around four or five…or six. When music is turned up that loud you can't really carry on a conversation. A good thing when trying to actually listen to what's on the stereo. How can you listen if you're talking? The best listening time for me is at the end of the workday here at the paper. I hop in my trusty Ford Focus hatchback, throw a CD in the stereo and head back to Flagstaff, a 30-minute drive. The stereo in the car sounds pretty good. I'm not some crazy audiophile type. The car doesn't really provide the best environment to listen to music. My leg blocks the left side speaker. But, in the car by myself, I can really concentrate on the music coming out of the speakers. I've been a musician most of my life and spent a fair amount of time in recording studios. It's one reason I really appreciate all the subtle details tucked into a recording I'm listening to. The way the kick drum sounds. Hearing the room a record was recorded in. Discovering a little keyboard part barely peaking out of the mix. All of the small parts that on their own aren't so dramatic, but when combined create a piece of compelling audio magic. Just the other day, I put on a recording by the Antlers, a band from Brooklyn, NY. The record, called “Hospice,” is at once quiet and loud. Songs begin with delicate, ambient soundscapes that eventually swell into anthemic choruses. The record crescendos and decrescendos back and forth, over and over. It's a record that demands to be listened to, not talked over. You'd have to turn down the louder sections to speak. But then you'd miss out on Peter Silberman's falsetto breaking up in just the right way. “Hospice” is almost a concept record or maybe even a song cycle. Silberman's narrator sings about a relationship with a terminally ill child. It's sad and beautiful. I've never had the exact experiences as the narrator but the emotions conveyed somehow feel universal. This wasn't the first time I put the record on. But it was the first time I turned it up loud enough to really feel and connect with the music. Adjust your volume knob. It's amazing what you'll hear
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