Audio Musings: Part I

Not many have had the privilege of growing up listening to a high quality stereo system. My dad built his own speakers, his own amplifiers and I'm sure if he tried, he could build his own CD and record players too. His most prized possession is the tube amplifier he built. It sounds wonderful. And so, growing up listening to the tube amplifier on a pair of B&W speakers was very gratifying. Add to this a vintage Philips record player and you are on your way to audio nirvana. Every Sunday morning we used have to a long listening session with chaha ani Pohe or shira or sabudanyachi khicadi :). It was hard not to tune into the wonderful sounds emanating from the living room.

Now, having come to a point where I have some time, and having done enough of other 'fun' stuff, I've taken up building my own audio gear. Commercial hifi audio gear is expensive. Very expensive. Its always better (cheaper) to build your own. And that's the fun part of this hobby. Building your own and listening to is extremely gratifying.

Having spent not a few hours helping dad solder, desolder and generally work through stuff, you pick up some things. Everyone wants, at some point in their lives, to do what their dad did. And so here I am, following my dad's footsteps, building my own Hi-fi audio equipment.

In the next series of posts, I aim to document by brief (so far) journey into the world of diy audio. The destination is audio nirvana, but as is the case with most things in life, the journey is far more rewarding than the destination.

Stay tuned. We shall see (or hear)!

Engineering

Assignments; submitting assignments late; not submitting assignments at all; learning to listen to rock; playing NFS Underground (Drag mode) instead of working on BE project; football with kids; football against TE mech; football with anyone; bird watching in the college lobby; hanging out in the canteen coz there simply isnt nething better to do; fighting for the assignment with the best handwriting so that copying would be easier; hanging out at datye's or parchure's; getting bored at Id Singh's; running to catch the 8:22; running faster to catch the 8:32; walking blissfully for the 8:52; xeroxing notes at super xeorx; mango juice for 5 Rs; Suruchi beach; White Mischief at GC; coffee at tapri; coffee at the canteen; group study with lalit; celebrating professors' english; going late for lectures; going for coffee between a lecture; proxies; 40- the magic number; KTs; K.T Marg; watching Dil Chahta Hai over and over again; nimbu pani at the station; chay and samosa pav at the canteen; chicken manchurian soup at the canteen; college fest-zeal; late evenings in preparation for zeal; cricket at suruchi; training girls for girls cricket; travelling to churchgate for football tournaments; hunting for bars after loosing in churchgate; finally: exams; study leave and cramming. I could go on and on.....

for 4 years, i lived life. four unforgettable years. I dont how they went... all i know is that they r gone now. and all that is left behind, r sweet memories...

Led Zeppelin

The greatest rock band ever? You bet!

A long time ago, I was listening to Lagaan when one of my friends walked in and said to me, "Abey yeh kya bakwaas sun raha hai, Led Zeppelin sun, Led Zeppelin!" At that time, I didn't care who Led Zepp were. I used to like Creed at that time. I still do, I think they're great. But now I feel at that time I would've not been able to appreciate the greatness of Led Zeppelin. After having been exposed to rock for a few more years, after having heard Deep Purple, Sabbath, Linkin Park and the like, I now have enough rock music mileage under me to say that Led Zeppelin kicks everybody's ass. What's more, they produced the best rock music ever when there was no reference to look up to. Maybe that helped. Either way, their work is revered even now. Art being timeless is a quality afforded to only the best of the best.

There are very few bands that’ve had more than one hit album. Not many could do it. Although, the ones who did it, did it consistently. Take The Beatles, for example. They have a CD with 36 #1 singles. Pink Flyod is another example. The brilliant Bob Dylan hardly ever dropped his lofty standards. All these people were pioneers in their time. They made music like no one had ever made before. And Led Zeppelin fall exactly in that category. Delivering hit after hit after hit, they set about changing the face of rock music, if not giving it the face it has today. They were one of the first heavy metal bands and all their eight albums are platinum hits. ALL!

What I like most about Zeppelin is that each of the songs in their album is of a high caliber. Usually, you find that in an album maybe one or two songs are good, the rest are ordinary. With Led Zeppelin, you find it difficult to skip songs. Ofcourse you are going to have favorites, but the others are equally good. They've also got great variety in their work. From pure heavy metal to jazz to classical, from blues to pop to folk. They have fast, heart stopping numbers to slow soulful solos. All their songs are different without losing the Zeppelin hallmark, like A.R Rahman (who did Lagaan, I might add!). My favorite song is the unstoppable Achilles Last Stand from the album Presence. Fast, really fast beats, accompanied by brilliant guitar work and a haunting vocal performance, Last Stand is a sheer adrenalin rush! Towards the end, as Plant let's out his rallying cry, you almost feel like if Achilles had been on his last stand, and had he heard this song, he would've taken out that arrow from his heel and fucked the shit out of whoever shot it! In what Led Zeppelin themselves claim as the song they enjoyed recording the most, Achilles Last Stand is a tribute to band's loyalty to hard rock!

No blog post on Led Zeppelin can be complete without a discussion on Led Zeppelin IV and Stairway to Heaven. They say that Stairway to Heaven is always on air at some radio station across the US. The symbol of Led Zeppelin, Stairway, is regarded as their greatest work. It is a song that amazes me each time I hear it. It’s got the best guitar solo of all time, lyrics that are yet to be understood and an amazing tempo which you can almost never pin down. It starts with a vocal solo, drums kick in way after the guitar. Suddenly, it shifts gears and becomes this unstoppable, irresistible force. You have to hear it to believe it. And if you've heard it, you know what I'm talking about! With each song an epic, Led Zeppelin IV was a 23x platinum hit.

I think what makes their music so good is that they never waste a single beat. Every beat, every guitar riff is carefully placed. It just makes the music littered with detail. If you've not heard Zeppelin yet, you're missing out on something great.

I've never enjoyed any single brand of music so much. Long live the rock and roll kings!

Some of my Zeppelin favorites:

Achilles Last Stand
Stairway to Heaven
Nobody's Fault But Mine
When the Levee Breaks
Immigrant Song
Rock and Roll
Since I've Been Loving You
Tangerine

Tere Bin Nahi Lagda Dil Mera

Tere bin nahi lagta dil mera dolnaaaaa... tere bin nahi lagta dil mera dolnaaaa.

Roommates.....

You have to be lucky to get good roommates. Back in India, when you are looking around trying to find somebody acceptable, someone you can share a room with, there's a thin chance of landing someone you like. Naturally, the inclination is to look for people from your region, fellows who speak your language, those who drink (or don't), vegetarians (or non-vegetarians), smoking (or non-smoking) public. Yahoo groups is the favorite place for roommate-forming. Ads with titles that go, "Non-smoking, vegetarian, clean roommate required" are common. What's more, these are the ones that get maximum responses. I guess nobody likes to associate themselves, by choice, with drunkards, smokers and "un-clean" roommates. Fair enough!

I don't know what criteria I applied to choose roomates. They are drunkards, smokers and certainly aren't clean. Yet, I consider myself lucky! I have seen so many people shifting with new people, so many leases not renewed, sacred bonds broken and promises dashed. After a year, I still cannot imagine anybody else I want to live with (opposite sex not included. Ofcourse!). Nilesh, Bhat and Pratheek. It was pure luck, me finding them. Pratheek was from mechanical and we got together first. There were only three mech guys coming to my university and I'm glad one of 'em is living with me. I don't even remember how I contacted nilesh or how he contacted me. The last thing I remember is us talking on Yahoo messenger. Once we got there, Pratheek already had an apartment reserved for us. All we needed was a fourth roommate. Bhat needed roommates. And the rest is history.

Pratheek a.k.a Pat a.k.a Patrick has many hidden talents. One of them is how he hides all his talents. He is a secret rock star, if ever there can be such a thing. He plays bass guitar for a band we don't know. We also don't know where they play or when he practices. All we know is that he just bought an expensive bass guitar and an animal of a drive unit. He also has comical tendencies albeit only when he is drunk. His 'performances' can be found on youtube. Bhat is the official chicken maker of our house. He is also the official chicken eater (of NC State). He can eat chicken to the point when small feathers begin to appear under his arms. An insomniac and a trackmania maniac, Bhat is also known for his dislike for the outdoors. He once came to the beach in a sweatshirt and jeans and stayed in that sweatshirt and jeans till we left. He certainly gave those bikini-clad chicks something to think about! Finally, Nilesh. We don't know much about him since he is more asleep than awake. He needs his 18 hours everyday (No, seriously!). Indeed, he made a name for himself at NC State by snoring full throttle in a crowded computer lab. Nilesh is an acclaimed cricketer, an accomplished cook, and a willing companion for any outdoor activity whenever he is awake.

Well, there you are. The four of us have made Gorman our home. It ain't the cleanest, but it certainly is the coolest! I wonder what happened to all those non-smoking, clean people. From what I've seen recently, they'd swap for Gorman anyday!

Its 11 pm and the library's full!

I'm sitting at a spaceshipish station, on a snazzy-lookin ergonomic chair that lets you lean back 180 degrees, with a PC on the desk that has an incredibly low form-factor and a wafer-thin keyboard. A Nintendo Wii to my left and the 360 at the other wall. Chicks in short-pants lying on the floor as they surf their macbooks. A huge 70s type blue tubelit wallclock displays time analogically. Its 11 pm and the library's full.
Welcome to the newly built, East Wing of the NC State library. Its the chic place to study, and why wouldn't it be?
(pictures coming soon...)

'07 Season Finale!!

What a fine season it's been so far. And I don't just mean for a United. Obviously, still fighting on three fronts at this stage of the season means that United have done well. Pole position in the premiership and six points clear, an FA cup quarter-final with Middlesborough and a quarter final tie with Roma in the Champions league. It looks like the league tittle is headed towards Manchester and possibly the FA cup too. The last two league wins were like the United of old. Stealing the show right at the end. Ronaldo did it at Craven Cottage, while O-Shea popped up at Anfield. Oh, it was so satisfying. As much as all this success makes me happy, I am so excited about the remaining part of the season.

Fergie abounds with joy at Anfield!!

All the clubs in england have improved so much. Games like the ones against Reading were fascinating to observe. Its been a treat. And the usual suspects are performing not too badly either. Chelsea, with shevchenko and ballack, are coming into their own now. Arsenal have a bunch of super youngsters who are laying it out there in the premiership. Liverpool have a solid, machine-like team. Then there are others like Blackburn and Bolton who are so hard to beat. But the action doesn't end there. A very eventful carling cup final was succeeded by a frenetic period of Champs lge, fa cup and lge matches. I just loved it.

Ballack scored the winner against Porto

And the best part is how the rest of europe is doing. In Spain, the title race is as closely contested as it has been for so many years. Barca look to be in a slump, Real Madrid continue to be idiots, and the other teams are taking advantage. Only one spanish club made the last eight of the champs lge, while three english clubs are in there. Some measure of the shift of power from a few years ago, when spanish sides dominated the champs lge.

Ronaldinho leaves Anfield empty-handed


The last eight of the champs lge:
chelsea v valencia
liv v psv
milan v bayern
united v roma.

There isn't a favorite now. Any of these eight teams could go through. Its so delicately poised.
This is the best season i've seen in many years. Partly so, because of United's return to free flowing football. And also due to the finely balanced position in europe. I can't wait for the season finale!!