Today I linked three videos into the “killer covers” thread in Wikiloops. Just in case you don’t want to see them there, here they are as well:
and – last not least –
Enjoy. And thanks for watching and listening.
Youn Sun Nah – In My Heart [Official Video]
This is awesome:
Thanks for listening.
Just an arc of thoughts…
… from a new and respected pianist, Bach, via Schubert, to being kind…
Yesterday – just by chance – I saw a few minutes of a music program in ARD Mediathek, and it’s also on Youtube. It’s about a young pianist called Víkingur Ólafsson who explains and plays Bach like no other, very impressive. Maybe I’ll put his CD onto my wish list… (and that link has an affiliate reference back to Wikiloops again).
Through the German Wikipedia page about him, linked above (English one is here), I learnt that he also has a Soundcloud account – and there I heard him together with Kristinn Sigmundsson perform “Gute Nacht” from Schubert’s “Winterreise”:
Very cool, and probably one of the most well-known musical pieces about unrequited love, just like in literature this would be Goethe’s “Werther”, or H.C. Andersen’s “Under the willow tree” (German *and* English versions are here).
This might all sound or read nicely from a warm home, but it all ends tragic, and there’s nothing romantic about winter, and/or freezing to death. So my thoughts went further on to those who don’t have a home, no matter the reasons.
And that made me think of “The Doctor” (Doctor Who, best played so far by Peter Capaldi in my opinion), and his imperative of “being kind”. It’s all the same story which fits this Christmas time which just went past with so many people thinking about their own problems and grief – please also think of the others. Share if you can, and/or at least be kind, that costs you nothing.
Oh my. This sounds like me preaching. But sometimes this is how I think, and how my thoughts jump from one thing to another, so please don’t be too harsh with me 🙂
Wishing you all a good time, and don’t forget to stay safe, and to take care. As always, thanks for reading.
P.S.: here’s a song which I just recommended to some of my colleagues. It’s from 2013, but in my opinion it also fits the time. Have to remember to tag it with “matteredToMe2020” in the ‘loops this evening:
Enjoy…
A great video featuring Wikiloops
Our relatively new but very talented member Stamim2000 made this one:
Thanks bro for this great video about our site, really appreciated 🙂
The music is also here:
Love it. Wikiloops at its best. Thanks again Salahuddin 🙂
Bluetooth test day…
I’ve mentioned that I’ve got an iPhone SE 2020 from my employer, and I really like that phone – except that it doesn’t have a 3.5mm jack for headsets like the Google Pixel 4a which Mitchie has, and which is even cheaper than that Apple phone. And while I do have an adapter from the proprietary ‘Lightning’ plug to a 3.5mm socket, the cable is still at the bottom of the phone then – totally the wrong end, so to not damage the cable or adapter, you’d have to put the phone upside down into your jacket. How ridiculous, just to save Apple (and their shareholders) a few cents on an otherwise really nice product…
Apple’s solution to this is of course to also sell you their air buds or whatever they call them. Thanks, but no thanks – it’s not *my* phone anyway, and even if so, I’d never buy these.
But Mitchie has two different bluetooth headsets which I borrowed today to try them out, and these are the Anker SoundBuds Slim+
and the AKG Y50BT
So did Iike them? Well…
The Anker are light and small, and the first ones of that shape and size which didn’t fall out of my ears right away (ok, the Apple wired buds also stay in). They have a very clear sound, but with almost no bass at all – I tried with the Wikiloops Latest Jams Radio, and they’re really not good for music. Even the wired Apple buds are way better in that regard, I’d say the Anker are more comparable to some 10€ ones I have from Sennheiser (also with cables).
The AKG? A revelation against those Anker buds, but of course much bigger and heavier, and these are *on* ears, not *over* ears which I would prefer. Still, these sound really nice and even give you a bass. They also keep the connection if you change rooms for a short time, something I hadn’t even tried with the Anker. Cool. But do I love them? No way…
… even Mitchie is back to her Sennheiser ‘Sports’ headset *with* a cable – she can, because her phone (like the old Nexus 5 she gave me) has a headphone jack. And so this is what I normally use on the company’s notebook, and with an adapter also on the iPhone (and without, on that Nexus):
That’s my wired and closed Sennheiser HD569 headset for ~ 150€. It comes with two cables, a short and straight one (1.2m) which also has a microphone, so it’s perfect for telephony, for video conferences, and with its longer cable also for musicians who record with studio microphones – as a closed headphone it doesn’t “bleed” much into the recording mike.
But what I love even more is my open Sennheiser HD598SE which is just perfect for everything.
So, Bluetooth? Yes – in case you definitely can’t live with cables, don’t need absolute real time, and don’t mind that you just have to charge another device each day. For me, I love just the opposites, don’t mind cables, and I do need real time to make music, and no, I don’t want even more batteries… but who knows, maybe for just consuming music, videos, movies or such, maybe I’ll get used to one of these. If only the AKG was as good and as comfortable like my Sennheiser…
… which I later used again to work on a mix in my DAW, where I even correct these headphones with Sonarworks. And with using that (and you can use the program for the HD569 or other more professional headphones as well), they’re really flat which gives you some peace of mind while working on a mix for someone else:
By the by, as you might have mentioned, no ‘affiliate links’ around here. I write this for you, not for me to earn some pennies…
As always, thanks for reading.
Update, from Friday Dec 4th, 2020:
I’m slowly getting used to the AKG headphones pictured above – for the iPhone (or any other phone or device which has bluetooth but no jack), that’s the best solution I’ve seen and heard so far – so I’ll keep that on my desk for now.
And then the question which phone to get is even harder:
I guess it doesn’t matter too much, just pick any of these, because both are good.
As always, thanks for reading.
Until Silence Falls
This one’s a hit. And it never needed me, it’s complete as it is, with everything in place just where it belongs to. Evocative, and haunting- and like so often I wonder how this girl comes up with thoughts so deep… and even twice, that sweet contralto voice going down a fifth really gets me here…
Oh, and as some commenters on #131549 (the vocal track of this) said:
“007 is on his way… too good”
“for a 007 movie”
True. And I think with a real orchestra like always, her majesty’s secret service (film & music production crew) should consider themselves lucky and honoured to have this singer in one of the Bond movies:
Enjoy. And then please, my dear ones, go and hurry to the ‘loops and give a few thumb-ups to those who sing and play here, as long as they can still see your positive feedback. Until silence falls…
I’ll never forget this one, thank you my dear friends.
Thank you for listening.
Free (Always)
I don’t have words to describe this one. So I just played a little…
As always, thanks to my friends for all the fun (an unforgettable one this time). And thanks to you for listening.
Getdown in the lockdown
Cool & funky template from sami, and he asked for bass & drums. Well I’m no drummer, but I wanted to try another microphone position on my upright recording anyway, so I started with that – and ended up using both the double and the fretless bass. And drums are still missing, so that – like the last one – isn’t ready yet:
Thanks to sami for all the fun, and thanks to you for listening (or even more if you also join us and play or sing or both) 🙂
Edit: oh, and about that microphone position: here it’s pointing to the bridge, and until now I’ve had it pointing to the lower fingerboard instead. The instrument is/was also much closer to the mic here, about 5 inches (normally 10). But while that sounded better on someone’s instrument on Youtube, I think for my bass I’ll go back to the old position – it’s easier to setup and play *and* it sounds better on my instrument…
Don & Wolfgang have the Blues
Sweet track from Don_T which he wrote in January just for me (I feel honoured, really). So finally here’s my bass on it, ready to be filled with drums, vocals, guitar soli etc.:
Thank you Don for all the fun, and thanks to you for listening to it 🙂
Unanswered questions
Wonderful contemplative track from FrankieJ, couldn’t resist to add a little low end to it:
Second of two recording takes in Reaper, mixed and finalised in Ardour.
As always, thanks to FrankieJ for all the fun, to the Wikiloops supporters who make this all possible, and to you for listening.