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#77836 08/14/02 11:04 PM
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Ok, Faldage, you found the right text, I take it. So, even though you're not really a sweetie (though I know you really are!), please translate the passage for those of us who don't speak Latin.

And a great big Harrumph!!!... to get you goin!

For Pogo's sake,
WW


#77837 08/15/02 09:58 AM
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I found the CD. I did web research yestiddy.

A) The good news is they have a translation in the booklet with the CD. The bad news is it's in French. I'll be better off translating the Latin. Or either I could transcribe the French in here and get one of y'all to do the dirty work for me.

2) The whole ut re mi thang came from the fevered brain of an Italian monk in the 11th century. Apparently he wrote the words and/or music for the purpose of coming up with the scale note names. But. He only took it as far as la. This is where I start getting confused. Some German dude in the 16th century decided that ut was too hard to sing so he changed it to do. And. In one version of the story he changed si to ti and in another version he added the si/ti.

So there you have it.


#77838 08/15/02 12:57 PM
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ah, good ol' Guido of Arezzo!

rough translation(from Grout):

That thy servants may sing freely forth the wonders of thy deeds, remove all stains of guilt from their unclean lips, O Saint John

a happy little text...

search for "Guidonian hand", and you should find more than you want.



formerly known as etaoin...
#77839 08/15/02 01:14 PM
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Thank you, etaoin.


#77840 08/15/02 01:31 PM
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Let me get this straight: is Guido the fevered Italian monk? And what's 'Grout'?

This is a fascinating thread, one of the best discussions we've had in a looooong time!



#77841 08/15/02 01:37 PM
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Guido would be the monk, and Grout is a venerable music textbook: A History of Western Music, written by Donald Jay Grout.





formerly known as etaoin...
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So, there are ears and there are other ears.
I don't mind at all since I don't have perfect pitch.


Me neither, WW - but I reckon we all respond to the most subtle differences nonetheless. I think it was eta (earlier in this thread) who talked about how our entire bodies resonate to music. We aren't limited to what our ears and brains can detect.

I think artful imperfection (knowing when not to follow rules) is the essence of music. "Perfect"/law abiding intervals and harmonies fail to move us in the same way as more natural/imperfect sounds. You have to be inventive to make digital sounds work on their own.

On that front, can anyone tell me why CD reproductions of analog recordings invariably sound flat and lifeless until they're remastered by someone who knows their stuff? And what does that remastering involve?




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The difference between digital and analogue reproduction lies in the peaks and troughs of the sound waves. If you just take an analogue tape and transcribe it "as-is" to a digital medium, the highs and lows are "clipped" which takes a good deal of the life out of the recording - it makes each sound rather disjointed, almost as if there is a pause in the middle of each sound.

Competent remastering involves packing all of the sounds fromt the analogue source within the usable range of the digital medium, a kind of compression of the sound. It restores the continuity, although it still leaves the digital recording sounding somewhat flatter than the analogue. Go and compare your favourite LP with a remastered CD of the same music. It will still sound like rubbish in comparison.

I read a brief description of how it's done ages ago, and this explanation comes from that. The technical hoopla involved is beyond my ken!



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It will still sound like rubbish in comparison.

Which is the very reason you can still find high end turntables in electronics stores catering to the true audiophile.


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Hell, that's just like you, Faldo. NAD, NAD, NAD, NAD, all day long!



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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