Listening habits

[Black_Angkar]

I always felt this was music suitable for dogs...

[TS]

I'm fortunate enough to be living with 4 other people who either enjoy the same type of music I do, or are tolerant enough not to be bothered by it, so when I listen to music its usually on the stereo in the livingroom. Loudness usually varies with intoxication amount. I do wonder sometimes if they're annoyed by very loud Deathkey for example but I assume someone would have said something by now if that was the case. Most of us make music on a regular basis, which I guess maybe creates a tolerance for sound in general?

[Johann]

Living in Dallas has really diminished my listening, being in the amount and how focused it is. This city and the surrounding area in many ways sucks the energy out of life and leaves you feeling vacant. I never really listen to headphones anymore, but will bring them if traveling by train or airplane, however they don't get a ton of use... I didn't even truthfully bother with them when living in NYC, i felt like they kind of cheated my experience, i don't need to drown out my environment to find a sense of personal space.  

nowadays i listen to music in my car while driving to work in the morning, it's so early that my head is fairly clear and i am able to sometimes get some real listening in...durning the rest of the day it's talk radio in my catering van (just a radio in the van)...my girl has some real good taste and when i'm with her she plays what she wants, often times Indian, Arabic music, some of the stranger pop stuff or some sublime frequencies lps...i get most of my personal listening done on the weekends while she is at work, though i most confess it is not as much or as engaging as it could be for me in my life. The lack of good record stores, good acts and good people really leaves me wanting more, and i think it's time to get the fuck out of here.

[youngnosh]

I work a two week rota of a week on the first shift and then a week on the second shift.
When on the first shift, I get home for about 3 o'clock and spend until 7 o'clock listening to mostly vinyls or tapes on my old (but good) Marrantz hi-fi through the speakers. My housemates have never complained about the volume but I've often had the piss taken for having a "niche" taste in music.
When on the second shift I don't listen to any music at all but tend to watch downloaded TV series...usually whilst eyeing up the vinyls longingly that have been delivered to me!
About 80% of the time I spend Sundays ripping vinyls and cassettes to a media player and iPod and have a few cans.

I've never been able to stand long journeys by myself without a personal music player of some kind, unless I'm walking in which case I favour the sounds around me.

Never had any conflict with my current partner or any others about my taste in music, infact my current girlfriend who's tastes are basically mainstream pop-punk/rock has been to the LAFMs and Broken Flag events in London with me even though she dislikes the sounds...I have had to return the favour and see bands I'm not interested in, such as Paramore a few years ago but I guess that's being fair for you!

[impulse manslaughter]

i listen to vinyl and cds on my stereo or cds in my car, i rarely play tapes. no extreme stuff when my 4 year old son is here...

[Levas]

When I listen to the stuff I've traded to or overall the stuff I don't need to review - I put it on the cd player, tape deck or whatever and spin it several times. If there are details that attract my attention, I usually notice that and put it to listen to more carefully later or something like that.
When I'm listening to the stuff from the list "to be reviewed", i put it on ipod to listen to while going to work, at work, etc and then listen it more carefully while reviewing and writing the overall text. after a longer pause without activity in terror, i started to play a game. i rip a disc and put it into ipod and it is the only album i have in there and i don't put any other music. so when the album becomes overlistened to or something like that, i must write about it and then i can delete it and put something new on the player. somehow it works.

[Black_Angkar]

When I listen to the stuff I've traded to or overall the stuff I don't need to review - I put it on the cd player, tape deck or whatever and spin it several times. If there are details that attract my attention, I usually notice that and put it to listen to more carefully later or something like that.
When I'm listening to the stuff from the list "to be reviewed", i put it on ipod to listen to while going to work, at work, etc and then listen it more carefully while reviewing and writing the overall text. after a longer pause without activity in terror, i started to play a game. i rip a disc and put it into ipod and it is the only album i have in there and i don't put any other music. so when the album becomes overlistened to or something like that, i must write about it and then i can delete it and put something new on the player. somehow it works.

I like this. Seems very systematic.

I prefer listening to music on as many different players as possible - on my mp3-players, different tape decks, different speakers. Especially when evaluating my own recordings I'm almost obsessed with comparing the sounds of various machines.

I've noted some disdain against headphones in this thread and I must say that I cannot understand it. I use OK headphones with quite good bass, and I think it's much easier to get the finer details of the music that way - cutting out many environmental sounds and focusing on the music itself. Admittingly my audio gear back home isn't exactly hi-fi though.

[jesusfaggotchrist]

After my experiences of living or partly living with girlfriends who do not share my taste in music I have come to the conclusion that I will NEVER live or even enter a relationship with a woman who doesn't like at least partly the same things as me. It just ain't worth it.

That might be easy to find on the coasts or big cities but if you're looking in a place as desolate as the small town Midwest, be prepared to be the loner outsider. I'm fairly certain I have average socialization skills, but its either mild "indie" rock, classic rock (I like it, but it's not my first choice), or bad radio rap, and pop country). It's been a deal breaker in some cases.

[heretogo]

I've noted some disdain against headphones in this thread and I must say that I cannot understand it.

The headphone experience is quite different from listening to speakers. First of all, headphones don't pressurize the air around you, you don't get the same physical effects as with speakers. Second, headphones eliminate the room acoustics completely. Some consider this optimal "high fidelity" but I find that many music genres benefit immensely from the room interaction (reflections from room boundaries etc.), drone is a very good example in my opinion. Third, personally I don't like the narrow soundstage that headphones create, the music stays essentially between the ears. I prefer a wider, more open experience.

Of course there are advanatages to headphones as well. Like you said, details are easier to pick out. And a good set of headphones + a suitable player / headphone amp is much much cheaper than a decent pair of speakers + a good amp. But the extra expense is very much worth it, at least to me. Headphones are very nice when travelling, though.

[Black_Angkar]

I've noted some disdain against headphones in this thread and I must say that I cannot understand it.

The headphone experience is quite different from listening to speakers. First of all, headphones don't pressurize the air around you, you don't get the same physical effects as with speakers. Second, headphones eliminate the room acoustics completely. Some consider this optimal "high fidelity" but I find that many music genres benefit immensely from the room interaction (reflections from room boundaries etc.), drone is a very good example in my opinion. Third, personally I don't like the narrow soundstage that headphones create, the music stays essentially between the ears. I prefer a wider, more open experience.

Of course there are advanatages to headphones as well. Like you said, details are easier to pick out. And a good set of headphones + a suitable player / headphone amp is much much cheaper than a decent pair of speakers + a good amp. But the extra expense is very much worth it, at least to me. Headphones are very nice when travelling, though.

Well yes. I agree. At home I never listen to headphones accept for recording (record best during night or late evenings, neighbours wouldn't like it. On the other hand our neighbour drills late evenings, once I thought he was a part of my recording and I thought "I can't remeber putting in that badass sound...). I like to listen at loud volumes at home, often with the speakers in another room. But headphones are perfect for both details in your own and others recordings, a great way to make waiting time fly faster as well as cutting the surrounding rabble off.

[Black_Angkar]

After my experiences of living or partly living with girlfriends who do not share my taste in music I have come to the conclusion that I will NEVER live or even enter a relationship with a woman who doesn't like at least partly the same things as me. It just ain't worth it.

That might be easy to find on the coasts or big cities but if you're looking in a place as desolate as the small town Midwest, be prepared to be the loner outsider. I'm fairly certain I have average socialization skills, but its either mild "indie" rock, classic rock (I like it, but it's not my first choice), or bad radio rap, and pop country). It's been a deal breaker in some cases.

Yeah, well Sweden has a something around 10 million inhabitants. So they aren't exactly lying around in droves. Doesn't matter though.

[Zeno Marx]

Because the computer continues to be a key component in my stereo system, and because higher sampling rates and 24-bit are more and more common, I've been looking into adding a DAC to my setup; the Bifrost Schiit.  It's entry level, but because it is also modular, it us upgradeable.  There are constant advancements in DAC technology, so I find this to be of great significance to the design.  I was going to buy a really nice Oppo CD/DVD/etc player, but the units with the better DACs are well over $1000.  I think I'd still like to add one, but because I'll probably go the separates route, the player can be one of the lower models (BDP-103).  It's more likely that after the DAC addition, I'll upgrade my soundcard.

http://schiit.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=0&products_id=7

http://www.oppodigital.com/blu-ray-bdp-103/

I've been watching conversations on speaker building projects.  I'm really intrigued.  I might venture into this in the next couple of years.  I've wanted to replace my speakers for a while now, and this looks like the route I'm going to take.

http://gr-research.com/nserieskits.aspx

http://www.linkwitzlab.com/TAC-review.htm

[burdizzo]

Interesting thread. I'd go along w/ a lot of other peoples' experiences a la not using headphones, not having as much 'quality' listening time as years ago (too busy, really), listening doing the dishes, in the car, etc. I do, however, still make the old comp. tapes to listen to on the tractor whilst feeding the cattle!
Someone was on about 'no extreme stuff in front of the four year old', though. Is that bad? I have a six year old, and a four year old, and I frequently play 'extreme stuff' in front of them, and in fact, they quite 'like' it. A few days ago - I jest ye not! - they had a row over whether we play Genocide Organ or Operation Cleansweep! Maybe that's not what you mean by 'extreme'? Am I damaging my youngsters?! Obviously, I keep them away from stuff w/ swearing in it, or some of the 'paedo.' stuff, like on BDN, but otherwise I don't see a problem. They'll rebel anyway, I suppose...
Someone else described how they listened to stuff they were going to review. I used to review stuff for a couple of mags. over the course of a few years, years ago. At first I loved doing it, but after a while, it became a drag, and actually ruined my enjoyment of what I was listening to. All I was doing was trying to find new ways to describe/ write about the sounds, rather than just getting into them for their own sake. So, I gave it up - sensibly!
My turntable has broken down recently, too, which is rather a bugger. Used to really enjoy a glass of whiskey and a slab of vinyl every week or so...

[Balor/SS1535]

Perhaps this is a question that is only interesting to me, but I thought that I would ask anyway.  I have been thinking about noise (in this case, I use this term broadly) a lot lately, specifically about how I tend to listen to it in comparison with other, more traditional styles of music.  Personally, I have noticed that when I listen to noise, I find myself examining the cover art and thinking about the themes/ideas that are being expressed more frequently than when I listen to anything else.  I think this might be the result of noise (usually) not having a beat, melody, or rhythm that I can catch hold of in my head.  I feel as though I need something to root myself with, and usually the art or theme can do this quite well.  This isn't to say that I cannot just let the noise be, but rather that I just tend to revert back to this while listening.  Something else that I have noticed is that I have a really hard time with listening to noise while exercising.  It just isn't energizing or motivating in the way that some power metal or RAC might be.

Does this seem like a pointless question?  What do you all do when listening to noise?  Do you listen to noise differently from other types of music?  Is there anything that you cannot do when listening to noise?  Can you just listen to the noise and think of nothing else?

[ConcreteMascara]

http://www.special-interests.net/forum/index.php?topic=2545.msg21099#msg21099