I just heard the first Saga album for the first time.

I just heard the first Saga album for the first time.

Beitragvon sagalady » Do Okt 15, 2009 3:57 am

So, back to the office slash warehouse at 9 pm only to pick up one of the company cars, we find that one man is late. I decide to stay on until he turns up. Got a lot of lights and cables to test, amps and whatnot and about 200 meters of 3-way split electric cables to make. I get going with the lights and once done I start prepping a workspace, get the tools out and get ready to make 10x10 meter cables. Pull the laptop up and plug it in to a set of studio grade nearfield speaker. As half the company are Saga fans, of course I pull up the Saga play list on iTunes.

First up is In Transit. I'm watching boss air drum his way through isle 1 (speakers) and 2 (lights), singing along to a keyboard lick when pushing a case past me, while I put yellow and greenstriped wire to earth, blue to the left of it, brown to the right. We're smiling. It's a good night at the office.

Once the "thank you and good night" fades out I navigate iTunes to Saga - the first album. Remember I said something above about studio grade near field speakers? Sure, I thought they were sounding very good but I had no idea what I was going to experience.

I heard the first album for the first time. Seriously, I've listened to this album a lot the past 25 years or so but tonight I heard it for the first time. I heard choruses I've never heard before, effects, sounds and pans I didn't know was on there. (Crack open a new plug and blue to the left, brown to the right here is earth - stuck in the middle - uhm - good song wrong band.)

Walls of music, guitar notes, riffs, drum fills, vocals, washes over me. I look up every time I hear something new. (Brown to earth, green to the left blue to the right - no that's wrong. Focus!) Boss walks by "What were you laughing about earlier?" Apparently I had laughed out loud at some point. You know, the "I don't f***ing believe what I'm hearing" kind of laugh.

By the end of Ice Nice I'm up on my feet dancing. Whipping the cables around. Grinning from ear to ear. "For heaven's sake woman, get a grip!"I tell myself. Sit down and collect myself. (Brown to the left, green to the right, here is blue - stuck in the middle with ...NO! Do over and do it right!)

Suddenly I blurt out something that sounds like "Paul Gross is GOD!" And that is when I understand how lucky I was to be able to be there in the studio during the mixing of Trust, come in early one morning to find Paul Gross, the Master and Gian Carlo, his apprentice, by the big Neve board tweaking knobs and faders while "That's as far as I'll go" is blasting out the KRK's. Those two set the board for the mix that day and had a bit of a play while doing it. Today I understand what a huge moment that was.

So - if you have a friend with a recording studio and a good or even great set of near field speakers (the ones today were Genelec, but you can also look for KRK, Blue Sky and others) get your CDs and go there. Or rent an hour in a studio or even spend the money on a pair for yourself. It's a whole different ball game listening to it like that. And take in to account that what I was doing was playing mp3s and not the CDs.

I'm currently staying at friends who have a recording studio. I'm seriously thinking of having my Saga CDs shipped to me just to be able to sit in the studio with the KRKs and listen. I love my Mirage speakers but this today was almost a religious experience. I think I need to get a set of near field. Come to think of it - buddy has a set of BlueSky for sale. Tempting. Very tempting.

And I think I better test those cables tomorrow. Not sure they're wired up right. I know I'm not.

G'night all.

(The guy who was late never turned up. Thank god he didn't or the above would never have happened.)
sagalady
 
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Beitragvon kuschelhawk » Do Okt 15, 2009 12:41 pm

Lady, never I will leave you on my electrical system ... :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Thanks fro the nice story :daumen:
Come to me I will give and receive
All I need is for you to believe
Come to me I can help you feel free
Take my hand & understand that I believe
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Beitragvon Tillmann » Do Okt 15, 2009 4:27 pm

Wow, I really believe you!!! I'd love to have an experience like that, too! Anytime, anyplace, for sure! :P :hase:

Thanx ;)
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Beitragvon Timmer » Fr Okt 16, 2009 1:45 am

Good one Sagalady. I don't have the greatest sound system. I spend most of my spare $$$ on the music. I did just get a new CD player and all the music is like new. The improvementts from the 10 year old equipment I was using is amazing. If I went looking for new speakers I wouldn't know where to start!
BTW. Nice to hear from you.
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Beitragvon Jay » Fr Okt 16, 2009 7:44 am

Timmer hat geschrieben:..........If I went looking for new speakers I wouldn't know where to start!
BTW. Nice to hear from you.


Hi Timmer, for very good loudspeaker have a look on this side:

http://www.adam-audio.de/professional/

in the nineties it was "Arcus" loudspeaker - one of the best speakersystems in world
Das Tragische an jeder Erfahrung ist, dass man sie erst macht, nachdem man sie gebraucht hätte :)
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Beitragvon mouseinamaze » Do Okt 22, 2009 2:15 pm

Sagalady, what a great story, thanks for sharing it, I felt like I was right there watching and listening along with you.
I can't help but wonder if the late night hours, celestial alignment and your own mental state may have added to the "magic" of the moment. ;)
I wonder if because MP3's are in a compressed format and are often a bit brighter than their cd counterparts, if that brightness allowed those great speakers to highlight those parts you hadn't heard before.
The cd's from that time period were produced from analog recordings and the technology in the early days of transfer to cd weren't what they are now. That's why we are seeing so many reissues of remastered material from the earlier cd days.
Wouldn't it be great if the Saga catalog could receive that treatment?

I have always thought speakers are only as good as the source(amplifier, stylus, playback source, media, etc). So people have to be cautious not to overspend on speakers if using an average or sub-average stereo system.*
I've always thought Europeans were much more sensitive to using high end audio systems than their N.American brothers/sisters. Here in the states, especially in the 70's, 80's, many people didn't pay much attention to higher quality audio components. If it played an album through little speakers than that's all they needed.

*sagalady, you obviously have much more technical knowledge regarding this stuff than I so I wanted to clarify, my comments are directed to the average audio consumer.

I still think something magical happened that night, something when all the elements fell into place all at the same time and may never be able to be duplicated to that level again,
Cherish the memory and thanks again for such an interesting read. :)
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Beitragvon sagalady » Sa Okt 24, 2009 1:00 pm

mouseinamaze hat geschrieben:I wonder if because MP3's are in a compressed format and are often a bit brighter than their cd counterparts, if that brightness allowed those great speakers to highlight those parts you hadn't heard before.


I was e-maillng with a guy just yesterday and he said that the first three albums had transferred over to CD very well. Probably because they were so well produced to begin with. But ofcourse, you do lose in the compression. But still, I have listened to it as Mp3 for ages and it still was a whole different ballgame.
I have always thought speakers are only as good as the source(amplifier, stylus, playback source, media, etc). So people have to be cautious not to overspend on speakers if using an average or sub-average stereo system.*


Yes, and no. You can spend a fortune on the amps and peanuts on speakers and still have it sound like crap. Or vice versa. Find the golden middle and you're set.

The guys at the PA company told me 15 years ago that for my music taste I should go with Mirage. Then they found a set in the basement and gave it to me. I still have those and I still love them. (Just need a new amp now) The Mirage are home hifi speakers. When I got them home I was schocked to hear how good they sound. And still am. Did I say I love those speakers?

The Genelec are active, they have their own built in amps. I need to run down to the studio to check the KRK but I believe they do too. The Bluesky has the amp built in to the sub. Basically, what I was hearing was being processed through my soundcard on the laptop (a macbook pro) over to the genelec via a small mixing console.

The friend I was e-mailling with yesterday said he's off to install Genelec in a museum. And most TV studios have them now.

Now, I don't really care about brands but, should I find a mirage nearfield set I would probably rob a bank.


I've always thought Europeans were much more sensitive to using high end audio systems than their N.American brothers/sisters. Here in the states, especially in the 70's, 80's, many people didn't pay much attention to higher quality audio components. If it played an album through little speakers than that's all they needed.


Go find a sound store, have a look at Tangent. I believe they are Danish. They have small speakers that fit in to bookshelves (size of a shoe box). I looked at a pair in Sweden and they were about $200 US. The bottom range amp about the same. They sound GREAT even without a sub. I made sure the sub was disconnected so I wasn't fooled by it. So for something small and discrete (or not. they come in different colors), they do the trick.

:-)

*sagalady, you obviously have much more technical knowledge regarding this stuff than I so I wanted to clarify, my comments are directed to the average audio consumer.


That could be debated. Plus, as far as I am concerned, sound quality is in the ear of the beholder (to paraphrase a well known saying).
I still think something magical happened that night, something when all the elements fell into place all at the same time and may never be able to be duplicated to that level again,
Cherish the memory and thanks again for such an interesting read. :)


You could be right. I still think the speakers had something to do with it.
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