AUDIOPHILE | Ten years of Hi-Fi – not bad at all

THIS ARTICLE APPEARED IN THE MANILA TIMES ON DECEMBER 1, 2013

(some typos from the original online post were corrected)

THE NOVEMBER HI-FI SHOW -- AN ANNUAL GATHERING OF AUDIOPHILES FROM LO-FI TO HI-FI -- CELEBRATED ITS TENTH YEAR IN SHOWCASING THE BEST IN THE AUDIO INDUSTRY. 

What started as a simple swap meet of gears and music media among audio enthusiasts a decade ago, the November Hi-Fi Show is now one of the most anticipated audio and video events of the year. 

Although I can’t remember the particular time when they started occupying the entire two floors at the Dusit Thani, I’ve been going to this event in the plush Makati hotel for several years now to check out all the wonderful audio equipment on display -- both old and new; not to mention bargain hunting for other gears, including CDs and vinyls. Yes, those long-playing records are back! (although, vinyls never really went away, it just hid behind the CD until people started getting tired of digital music; and if you hang out in places like the basement of Makati [Cinema] Square, you’ll get the idea.) 

Turntables and vinyl albums are regaining their popularity in the audiophile arena, particularly among the newbies, which led the lead organizer Tony Boy de Leon to fly in an expert in the name of Michael Fremer, to discuss everything about high-fidelity music. Fremer is a renowned analog music guru who has his own audiophile blog called AnalogPlanet, a popular website for anything Hi-Fi. 

What makes the November Hi-Fi Show different from other audio and video exhibitions is the presentation. Paid exhibitors have their own hotel room where they can show off audio equipment in a controlled environment, without the unwanted noise and other distractions often encountered in an open space, like for example, a mall or an appliance center. Literally speaking, each exhibitor has its own listening room. 

Perfect for any audiophile. Plus, the presence of Fremer, who did a turntable workshop, made it exceptionally worthwhile for many fans of this year’s event. 

So, what is an audiophile? Simply put, an audiophile is a person enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction -- a general description as old as your grandfather but still very much true today. 

But what used to be reserved for the moneyed elite, high-fidelity music for the past several years has trickled down to a larger part of the population. Like high-tech gadgets, high-fidelity has been “consumerized.” 

Nonetheless, Hi-Fi, despite now being affordable, is still a niche market. Yes, hi-fi gears and hardware are very expensive, especially for brands that target the high-end crowd. There was a pair of speakers on display at the event that went for $94,000 (yes, US dollars) or even a headphone for P90,000! Still, some audiophiles share that you could own a Hi-Fi system for less than P50,000. Almost the price of an expensive high-end smartphone. In all practicality, that sounded good enough. a 

Nowadays, there’s a notion that you don’t really have to spend too much (unless you can afford it, of course) for a great audio (or even video) system. Like music itself, sound is also an acquired taste. 

Some people like the music loud on the bass, others like their highs more, or some would have the middle frequencies up front, while most audiophiles would rather keep it flat, the EQ that is. 

Then, there are people who like their music delivered by big speakers, others are content with the smaller bookshelf ones, while some would rather go for headphones for that immersive feel. So basically, to each his own. 

But for most audiophiles, nothing beats a well-configured audio system setup. It may cost them millions or just a few thousands, but the perfect combination of the audio hardware -- may it be a vintage vacuum tube or modern solid-state amplifier, a well-maintained media and music player, a good-sounding balanced speakers, and even the use of proper cables and clean electric power -- always makes sense. 

At the Dusit Thani event you could see all the familiar names in today’s audio hardware; including A/V systems, since home theater is very much in demand, most of the well-known major toys-for-big-boys brands were there. Hardcore audiophiles were also present to exchange ideas, sell, swap, and of course, exhibit their wares—Do-It-Yourself (DIY) vacuum tube amps, turntables, and speakers included. 

Rega, Audio Research, Definitive Technology, Bowers-Wilkins, McIntosh, Focal are just some of the Hi-Fi names one will encounter in this extraordinary weekend event. 

If you think Bose is already high fidelity for you, then obviously you haven’t been to a November Hi-Fi Show. I suggest you catch the 11th in 2104.

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End of an era: VCR headed for outdated tech heaven

Japan | technology | video | VCR | offbeat  associated with x

Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Friday 7/22/2016 - 03:43 GMT | 505 words

ADDS BACKGROUND

by Kyoko HASEGAWA

The clunky videocassette recorder is going the way of floppy disks, eight-track tapes and camera film as the world's last manufacturer ends production of the once booming home-video technology.

Japan's Funai Electric cited a sharp decline in sales and trouble sourcing parts for its decision to stop making VCRs at a plant in China by the end of this month.

Most of the consumer electronics firm's VCRs were sold in North America in recent years, including under the Sanyo brand.

Sales have plummeted from 15 million units a year at their height to 750,000 in 2015 -- although some may be surprised VCRs were still being made at all.

Demand appears largely driven by consumers who have large videotape collections that must still be played on VCRs. A Gallup poll several years ago found that 58 percent of Americans still had one in their home.

The boxy machines -- originally about the size of a briefcase with a top-loading slot for videotapes -- entered into mainstream popularity in the seventies and eighties, and spawned a new industry: tape rental stores.

But the outdated technology has long been eclipsed by DVDs and other more advanced options, while once ubiquitous rental shops have all but disappeared.

Panasonic pulled out of the business several years ago, making Funai the last VCR maker in the world, a company spokesman said Friday.

"A company that was making parts for us said it was too tough to keep making them with sales at this level so they stopped, which led to our decision -- we can't make them without that part," he told AFP.

Funai has been overwhelmed with calls from desperate Japanese VCR tape owners who had not transferred treasured recordings of weddings and other special occasions on to other formats, he added.

- 'Hi-tech' Japan -

Japan may have a reputation for hi-tech devices and futuristic robots, but many people still cling to seemingly outdated options including fax machines and flip phones.

Cassette tapes are also still popular while major DVD rental chains can be found in Japanese cities.

Last year, electronics giant Sony announced it would stop selling Betamax video tapes, ending the storied history of a product that had been ousted years earlier by the more popular VHS tape format.

The inventor of the Walkman first launched its Betamax products in 1975 as a household, magnetic video format for consumers to record analogue television shows. The popularity of Betamax tapes peaked in 1984 when some 50 million cassettes were shipped.

However, the format, initially supported by Toshiba and other electronics makers, is most remembered as the loser of a corporate battle over setting the de facto household video standard.

VHS, developed by another Japanese electronics maker that later became part of JVC, won the battle.

But it lost the war as video cassette recorders were replaced later by digital formats, such as DVDs, which have themselves largely been replaced by online streaming technology.

Sony stopped making Betamax recorders in 2002, but it kept making tapes for die-hard fans.

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RACKET MUSIC GROUP >> alternative manila

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SOUND ART | A decade of noise

The Children of Cathode Ray and autoceremony are featured in this seminal sound art album.

"July 22 2016, marks the 10th year anniversary of the landmark music anthology release that documented and showcased the plethora of experimental/sound art/unpopular music in the Philippines: S.A.B.A.W. An Anthology of Noise, Electronic, and Experimental Music" -- Tengal Nolasnem

S.A.B.A.W. Anthology of Noise, Electronic, and Experimental Music

This is the digital release of a two-CDR anthology launched at Future Prospects, Cubao X on 22 July 2006. It was broadcasted for the first time in its entirety by WSK.FM at Green Papaya Art Projects, Kamuning, QC on 11 November 2013.

1. Pow Martinez - 1-01 - Colored Noise 02:44
2. Conscript - 1-02 - I've seen god 04:24
3. Blums Borres - 1-03 - Cloth 05:13
4. The Children of Cathode Ray - 1-04 - Stations (part II) 12:11
5. Ascaris - 1-05 - Isolation 03:15
6. Teresa Barrozo - 1-06 - bigKAS 10:56
7. Nasal Police - 1-07 - Fan 08:03
8. Tengal - 1-08 - Piece of work in two parts 13:15

9. autoceremony - 2-01 - Sound Environment v0103 05:48
10. Insomnia - 2-02 - Barbarella 07:27
11. Foodshelter&Clothing - 2-03 - Xenocideremix 05:52
12. EAT TAE - 2-04 - Godhead 06:24
13. Elemento - 2-05 - Excerpt from Liquid Angel 09:34
14. Blend:er - 2-06 - Worm 02:20
15. Inconnu ictu - 2-07 - Aldus Janbrean 04:12
16. Arvie Bartolome - 2-08 - After Concussion 08:31

Original liner notes:

The S.A.B.A.W. Anthology was the result of existing material I had collected from experimental musicians and sound artists who had been working in the Philippine underground (read: under-appreciated and under-funded) scene for the last 20 years. The project, conceived with the intention of not just publishing but also promoting innovations and experiments in music, was born nine months ago when I was still hosting experimental music concerts at mag:net Cafe Katipunan, QC.

Just seven months ago, I began posting invitations in almost every mailing list I knew. The overwhelming response turned what should have been a one-disc album into a two-disc anthology. The artists here represent but a cross-section of a much larger body of musicians and artists. I wished that many more had contributed, but for some reason or another not all were able to participate.

This album is a first step, an attempt to fill a gap made real by the lack of critical appreciation and inaccessibility of sound art and experimental music for the past few decades.

This anthology is not a mere "labor of love," but an act of necessity.

Tengal
Manila, July 2006

Released July 22, 2006

Tracks by:

1-01 Pow Martinez - Colored Noise
Pow Martinez: White, Pink, Brown/Red, Grey, Black, Blue, Purple noise

1-02 Conscript - I've seen god
Tom McWalter: Novation nova synthesizer, Alesis Bitrman effects box, Alesis 6fx mixer

1-03 Blums Borres - Cloth
Blums: Guitar, Effects

1-04 The Children of Cathode Ray - Stations (part II)
Tad Ermitaño: Laptop
Jing Garcia: Laptop

1-05 Ascaris - Isolation

1-06 Teresa Barrozo - bigKAS
Teresa Barrozo: Tascam tape machine, Soundforge 7, Pre-recorded instruments

1-07 Nasal Police - Fan
Pow Martinez: Laptop
Ria Muñoz: Electric Fan, Contact mics

1-08 Tengal - Piece of work in two parts
Tengal: Computer, Kulintang, Reverse Kulintang with electronics

2-01 autoceremony - Sound Environment v0103
Jing Garcia: Computer

2-02 Insomnia - Barbarella

2-03 Foodshelter&Clothing - Xenocideremix
James: Analog bass, Drum programming
Bong: Vocals, Synthesizers, Sound Bites
Ian: Turntables

2-04 EAT TAE - Godhead
Tengal: Composer, Collage, Drums
Anto Bautista: Electric Guitar
Pow Martinez: Guitar Effects
Ivan Garcia: Bass

2-05 Elemento - Excerpt from Liquid Angel
Lirio Salvador: ZPE, Sandata 1G, Sandata 3D, Sampler, Voice
Gilbert Sanchez: Drums, Bicycle Wheel, Found Objects
Kristopher Deuda: Baby Sandata 4
Raymond Patawaran: Paint and Brush

2-06 Blend:er - Worm
Cris Garcimo: Roland sh101, Reason 2.5

2-07 Inconnu ictu - Aldus Janbrean
Inconnu ictu: Tape hiss, Water drops, Basketball, Brass Chimes, Cowbell, Chica, Acoustic guitar, Yamaha DDS, Casio R2-1, Toy Keyboard, Multi-effects, Cassette tape loop

2-08 Arvie Bartolome - After Concussion
Arvie Bartolome: Macmini

RETROTECH | Gone digital in '83

Sinclair ZX-81

I found a very interesting link a couple a weeks ago, shared by my good friend Tad Ermitano. Tad, who is an established multimedia artist and a pioneering member of sound art group Children of Cathode Ray, knew that I would be fascinated by it. And he wasn't wrong.

In a 2014 post by Robert Sorokanich at Gizmodo, he revealed in an article entitled "The 1983 Punk Rock Record With a Digital Music Video For a B-Side" a long lost recording that I myself didn't know even exist. #ThankYouInternet.

Apparently, a 1983 single by an English music artist named Chris Sievey's was released containing the digital noise created by a computer, a ZX-81.

One of the earliest home computers, the ZX-81 was manufactured by Sinclair Research based in Scotland (Yeah, we had one when I was a kid but my sister didn't like the thing because of the small keys and eventually swapped it with a Commodore VIC-20).

And it's not just ordinary digital noise that was produced but rather an entire computer program created from the ZX-81.

Digital sound, in this case a computer program, when recorded and played back in analog will make unbearable screeches -- similar to the sound of the computer modem when handshaking for an Internet connection, if you remember those times; distinguishable only by a computer, decoding the noise as bits of data.

Sorokanich said "(T)he B-side of Chris Sievey's 1983 single 'Camouflage' sounds like an unlistenable malestrom of noise. It's not an avant-garde song; it's a program for the ZX-81 computer, and if you could load it correctly, it gave you a (very rudimentary) computer-animated music video, coded in the grooves of a vinyl record."

Here's a video of that computer program from the single:



Sorokanich continued saying  in his post: "(T)his neat little tidbit is well known to fans of early 80s punk music, butUsVsTh3m brought it back to our attention recently and it's worth re-remembering. Chris Sievey, on top of being a founding member of The Freshies and the mind behind the charmingly offbeat character Frank Sidebottom, was a computer tinkerer drawn to the ZX-81. The hobby computer, weighing only 12 ounces, with zero moving parts and no display (you plugged it into your TV), bolstered its 1kB internal memory by storing data to cassette tapes at a blistering 250 baud."

Truly ahead of his time, Sievey definitely created something that would mark him a pioneer. The only thing though, the song itself is not 'punk' (music) as described by Sorokanich or the editor's at Gizmodo. The only punk there was the way it was packaged in 1983. Indie maybe. But definitely not punk music by 1983 standards. Power pop is more like it.

Nonetheless, Sievey's contribution in pop (tech) culture is marked by this adorable revelation.

TECH NEWS | Rockin’ with Netflix

This blog is also posted at InterAksyon.com.

Popular video streaming platform Netflix originally rolled out its global service in January this year but it was only last May that they officially announced their presence in the Philippines. Of course, for the more enterprising video streaming platform users out there, Netflix has been available in the country for quite some time now.

Nonetheless, the availability of Netflix locally is definitely a welcome treat, this despite the other video streaming options such iFlix and Hooq peddled directly by the telcos. Netflix, being a strong brand in the U.S., will definitely enjoy a great following among the locals, especially for its number of exclusive content with titles like DareDevil, Jessica Jones, and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt among others.

However, people who haven’t experienced Netflix locally often ask: What about Internet speed? And people who have experienced Netflix would often answer: What about it?

Yes, notwithstanding the country’s perennial problem with Internet speed, the Philippines is still very much ready for Netflix. Here, let me try to convince you.

This writer has been using Netflix for over a month now; subscribed to the 3Mbps offered by a local telco; bandwidth chopped among other WiFi users at home. In my crude calculation, the 46-inch HD Sony Bravia smart TV used for Netflix streaming gets less than 1Mbps. And the experience? Simply incredible.

At first load, there will be some pixelations on the video. But that would last for just a few seconds. After that it’s smooth sailing all the way. Not once did this writer experienced any lag nor see that tedious buffering icon. Like stated earlier, this country is definitely ready for Netflix. No doubt.

“It’s what we call Adaptive Streaming,” said Jonathan Friedland, chief communications officer at Netflix, in an interview with local media at their Manila launch in May. “This means that the quality or the bitrate that comes into your device — mobile or otherwise — is measured in the milliseconds; you don’t see any buffering, so the pictures are constantly adjusting according to conditions around you.”

In other words: Netflix has its own technology to adapt to any Internet speed or bandwidth that you might have on any devices a Netflix subscriber may be using — fixed or mobile. And that said technology works. Yes, even with the often dismal Internet speed that we have. Netflix, you rock!

“We have this complexity based encoding,” said Friedland. “We can make data log lighter depending on the content, and with our own content delivery network called Open Connect designed for video, this reduces latency.”

However, those lucky enough to have high-speed Internet allow users to sign up for plans that include high-definition (HD) and Ultra-HD viewing. These are ideal for streaming on large screens.

Although, not all content is available on HD or Ultra-HD, but those that do will play in 720p or better with a fast enough Internet connection — at least 5 Mbps for HD and 25 Mbps for Ultra-HD.
So, that’s how they do it at Netflix.

Now, when in doubt about your Internet speed, just go to fast.com powered by Netflix to check if you got the speed to stream those videos.

At Los Gatos

Enjoying Netflix is not enough for this writer. And fortunately for me, together with other tech journalists from the Philippines, we got a chance to drop by Netflix’ Los Gatos headquarters in California, this after visiting other Silicon Valley tenants such a Facebook, Google and Apple.

At Netflix, we found out, that their engineers constantly test several gadgets at their laboratories to ensure quality of service on all range of devices capable of video streaming. These include televisions — from the smallest screen smart TV to the latest model available in the market — and not to mention smartphones, tablets, and even game consoles like the Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox.

The tests, said Marlee Tart, corporate and technology communications manager at Netflix, are needed to ensure that the app will work on all the tested devices and the video content from Netflix will play without a hitch.

Hey, some of those TVs have an exclusive easy access Netflix button right on the remote. Neat!
Furthermore, to better enjoy Netflix on mobile devices, the video streaming company introduced Cellular Data Controls, a new tool that can help users greater control how much data is used when streaming on cellular networks. So, make sure to put this tool into good use, especially those with data cap.

Where to look for this data control on your mobile device?

On iOS and Android devices, cellular data usage can be adjusted in the App Settings from the menu. One can select a lower or higher data usage setting that would work best for the data plan.

So far, Netflix has delivered over 3 billion hours of videos in 190 countries to over 81 million subscribers. That’s really not bad.

It is suffice to say that the best time to stream video from Netflix is now.

This blog is also posted at InterAksyon.com.

My Domain

Finally, my two domains: autoceremony.com and jinggarcia.com. Both URLs will redirect to this blogsite. A blog I've been manipulating since 2006.

Hopefully, on my 10th year of blogging, I'll be able to resurrect myself to post more of the same materials on sound, soundart and music. This time, however,  a bit of tech and other manifestations and enthusiasms I find amusing will be thrown in.

Sound Art. My love for experimental sound and music is still here. This, since I help establish one of the earliest sound art groups in the Philippines way back '89. Read our history; listen to our incantations in my early musings on this page. It wasn't called soundart when we started. Simply experimental music.

autoceremony. An alter ego in the sound art scene. A solo project.

DXing. Never really knew the term until the Internet. It's the art of listening to distant radio broadcasts. My affinity for shortwave and medium wave radio began in '77 with my first AM transistor radio. Later, I discovered SW and lurked on alien stations; giving me a glimpse of the world outside the Martial Law walls. Many radio streams ended up in my autoceremony recordings. Part of my soundart.

...steps on radio: dzme, dwdd, radyosingko. #TechSabado

Music. What are you listening to right now?

Toys. There are some things you just couldn't outgrow. I hoard 1:64 diecast cars and Japanese robots, calling it a collection. Was I deprived as a kid? No.

Books. Most of them I read on my Kindle; some reads I read over and over.

Electronics. The basics. I can tell a positive wire from black. I can identify a resistor, read their values. To melt lead, I handle a soldering iron.  I tinker. Fix things. I try.

Technology. The Internet, computers and gadgets? We are slaves of modern times.