Outta My Mind

WARNING: The below article discusses controversial subject matter.
Viewer discretion is therefore advised.

     The year: 1972.  Place: Atlanta, Georgia.

     So here i was, on a beautiful day in my youth spent with my dear 
ol' dad.  My dad was the coolest.  We would spend time together 
at baseball games, flying line controlled aeroplane, building 
gliders...  And then IT happened.  Dare we say it?  Yes, for it was 
on this day in 1972 when we went to see the Atlanta Symphony
Orchestra perform their interpretation of the 1812 Overture.  Little 
did i realize at the time that this one event would change my life
forever.  For from that day on, the pursuit of higher musical 
enjoyment began.

     Amazing isn't it?  How DOES one single event change a 
persons life forever?  Sometimes through a tidal wave of joyous
emotions.  Other times though deep thought and contemplation.
For years we have all seen the debates rage on.  Vinyl vs. CD,
analogue vs. digital, engineers vs. self proclaimed "audiophiles", 
tubes vs. transistors...  For the past few months i have
chosen to look at this subject from an outsiders point of view.  
Why is there so much constant debating when we are all trying 
to accomplish the same goal?  And that goal is to achieve a
more realistic reproduction of the music.  What twist of fate turned 
us, at times, against each other?



     Human Anatomy 101 

     Our teachers told us that we humans use one side of the brain 
for logic and the other side is for emotions.  Amazing how we fall 
madly in love and get married, yet at the same time share a 
deep respect for the others wisdom?  How DO we love the 
music poured forth from a saxophone playing the blues, yet feel 
the need to analyze EVERY nuance.  From the sound of the reed 
to the breathing techniques of the player.  Is the music the 
saxophone player is performing bringing about the feelings 
s/he intended?  Can we see the beauty of the forest through 
all those trees?  So many questions, so many debates.  This, my 
friends, is a "twist of fate".



     Apollo (Bringer of Wisdom)

      What's the units total harmonic distortion?  Are the digital bits 
the same as the master?  Is it phase and time aligned? What's 
the wow and flutter?  Jitter?  Measurements are the land of Apollo.  
He brings us understood logic and a seemingly undisputable 
proof into an argument.  After all, how can measurements lie?  
Isn't an amplifier with .5% THD worse than a unit with .1 THD 
(all other measurements being the same)???  In the recent years 
of gaining better measurements, have we lost sight of 
THE MUSIC?  Why not simply input all data available on music 
into a computer and let it compose and produce music?  Life 
would be so much easier and logical this way.  (A possible scene 
from the future?) "Computer.  Please play something at 108 beats 
per minute with a disco dance style.  Set music volume level 
at 95 db."  Is this scenario logical?



Dionysus (Bringer of Love)

     Love?  How do we describe love?  Webster's dictionary uses 
words like "passionate affection".  Some may say feelings are the 
realm of the foolish.  To laugh, cry, shout in anger, and relax in 
tranquilly.  This is the realm of Dionysus.  For how can we judge
something by feelings?  And why would someone compose 
and/or play music to bring out our feelings?  When i hear Steely 
Dan music, pleasant memories of my years in South Florida fill 
me with joy and contentment?  Why does Billie Holiday singing  
the song "All the Way" make me cry?  And how is it that 
Metallica music makes me air drum and dance so profusely that 
i look like a 1970's rock-n-roll star on speed?  For it's in the realm 
of feelings that we may gain a better understanding of what 
some deceased composer's music means (or in the way Billie 
Holiday's voice tells us the despair and troubles she's been 
through).  How DO we measure love?



Cygnus (Bringer of Balance)

     Only with some balancing of total logic and total feeling do 
we humans exist.  Just as our passions can bring us joy and 
serenity, logic can bring us wisdom and greater understanding.  
Many designers in the field of "high-end" audio operate by 
combining their understanding and logic of circuitry, then use 
"fine tuning" through listening sessions.  Therefore, there seems 
to be no exact science to music reproduction, only facts and 
feelings.  The percentage of either one may vary from one 
individual to another.  In the end we all have, to some extent, a 
mixture of both.  People are both passionate and logical.  
Hence, the debating over this vs. that will probably never end.  
In the end, what hopefully really matters is that you are...

Enjoy(ing) the music,

Steven R. Rochlin