Re: Fripper Gear Trivia

[kkissinger@kevinkissinger.com]

Quoting Petri Lahtinen <aikuinen@gmail.com>:
>
>> How many of you are willing to take the time to truly understand the
>> acoustical space of the places where you perform? How many of you are
>> willing to spend the time to measure the delay times in a venue and
>> then adjust your gear to maximize the sonic experience of space that
>> you might be able to create. And having done all that, how many of you
>> are going to ask your audience to experience that space the way that
>> you have envisioned playing it? ... now lather, rinse, and repeat for
>> 20+ years.
>>
>> I didn't think so.
>

I don't understand where you are coming from, really.

Given the opportunity, I do all of these things.

However, most venues allow less than thirty minutes to arrive on  
stage, setup, AND to do a perfunctory sound check.

If I insisted on ample time to:

measure the decay times in the space and, 2 re-program all my  
equipment to match it, 3 practice specific adjustments I must make for  
the space -- well -- I would get few opportunities to play.

Incidentally, my preferred medium is 5.1 and I have a PA system to  
deliver this.  However, in most places the sound system is a "given"  
-- it is usually stereo and the best I can do is to provide a foldown  
to stereo from 5.1.

This is true for pipe organ recitals, too.  I have to play the  
instrument and the acoustics that are provided.  Even with lots of  
reheasal time the "sound" of the instrument and the acoustics are  
givens to which I must adapt.

The tone of this response seems combative -- perhaps you didn't mean  
it that way -- but somehow suggests that to do anything less than a  
long, detailed sound-check is somehow lazy, or unethical, or whatever.

Perhaps I'm not in the best mood today.  Perhaps that is the reason  
your statement engenders a kind of "WTF???!!!" kind of reaction.

Nothing personal -- but dammit, I, like most musicians, deal with  
less-than-ideal situations most of the time and, with great  
professionalism, manage to deliver decent performances anyway.  In  
fact, to do a technically-complex, interesting, and communicative  
performance despite all the drawbacks is quite an accomplishment, imo.

Ok, end of rant.