Thread: An advanced listener and I shared time listening to some music last night

....the advanced listener being my Dad.

My folks came to visit for a short day trip and overnight stay this weekend.

My Dad is just amazing with his critical listening. 40+ years working in radio broadcast engineering until his retirement two years ago, he's listened to much audio stuff over that period, both good and bad and has a great understanding of what comprises "good". We often listen to music on my various setups during our visits, but rarely get time to do "critical" listening together. Yesterday we had an opportunity while my Wife and Mom were visiting and he and I slipped downstairs for a short period to listen. Subsequently, he and I HAVE to do it again soon as the insight he brought was just astounding to me.

We only had time to listen to two different LP sides this visit but any time listening together is much appreciated.

When the person you are listening with says things like: "this orchestral piece was recorded in 1995, where?...I suppose they could have been using Neumann XXX microphones along with Sennheiser XXX Microphones for XXX highlights and the XXX console" (the XXX is my own inability to recall the names/models that he rattled off) --and-- "this is a great overall recording, but I sense a little smearing of the cymbals in the left channel....I bet they were using some level of compression to keep from over driving the master tape and hence the ill-definition of the cymbal crashes" it makes a person (me) realize I am but a neophyte in this audio thing.

One thing is for sure. I need to spend more time with my Dad listening to music in order to learn more.

Great story Mike. Spend as much time with him as you can. That's amazing that he can pick out all that was going on in the recording.

Awesome Mike, I wish I could of done that with my Dad.

That's a special time that you're sharing with your Dad !!

Love that story Mike. Great experience with your dad. Keep doing it as much as you can.

yea thats sweet Mike!!! you needed to send the ladys out for the day so you can get some hours in the sweet spot with him. he could have probably rearranged your gear and speakers to make it sound better too. tell you where to diffuse and where to deaden. great story!!!!

Great story Mike! Definitely spend as much time with your Dad as you can and tell him how you feel.


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Thanks Joe, Mark and Everest for your kind words.

Here's to more listening with those we love! Cheers.

Originally Posted by Petro85

yea thats sweet Mike!!! you needed to send the ladys out for the day so you can get some hours in the sweet spot with him. he could have probably rearranged your gear and speakers to make it sound better too. tell you where to diffuse and where to deaden. great story!!!!

Great idea Steve! Send the gals out to shop (with a limited credit card! LOL) to get more listening time for us. Sheesh, why didn't I think of that????!!!!

And you're right, he did comment on my absorbers and diffusers, not being critical but complemented me on the unique wood-slat diffusers that are mounted to the wall behind my gear. I think in general he was proud that his teachings have led me this far.

Originally Posted by Mike

Great story Mike! Definitely spend as much time with your Dad as you can and tell him how you feel.


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Thanks Mike. I will and I will!

I already spoke to my Mom and thanked her for a nice weekend. I'll do the same follow up with my Dad tomorrow and let him know how much I appreciate his insight....and also see if we can't schedule another visit sooner than later.

It must be great to have that sort of expertise in the family. Great story!

A year has passed by since my last real listening session with my Dad in my home and with my system. He's up visiting tonight thru this weekend (Thanksgiving) so we were able to do some more listening after dinner this evening. Tonight I shared the Miyajima Zero mono cart with him as we played thru some of my favorites:









Tomorrow I'll be changing out to the Cadenza Bronze cartridge for some stereo-goodness spinning.

I really enjoy listening with my Dad. He is a great listening partner with great insight on what he is hearing.

Great selection, there, Mike! Enjoy the next listening session with your Dad!

Good stuff! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for all the kind sentiments guys. We really enjoyed our listening this time around. After the night of mono listening, we ended up listening to a couple Reference Recording pressings (among others) that really impressed him on Thanksgiving day. We were listening upstairs on my other system that's good in its own right, but not as transparent / detailed as my downstairs setup. We chose to listen upstairs while I was helping my wife and sister in the kitchen with my Dad and brother in law sitting on the couch in the living room. We had the volume up so all could hear....especially with this one:



Each time I wandered into the living room to check in on him, he was just smiling with his eyes closed....listening. On more than one occasion he popped into the kitchen to tell me how fantastic this LP was recorded and how great it sounded in my living room system:



He was really impressed that he could sense the sound and character of the hall where it was recorded.

Unfortunately, my listening time on Thanksgiving day could not be spent sitting next to him on the couch soaking it in but rather I was multitasking between helping in the kitchen (to keep the peace) and popping in as time permitted to casually listen.

No matter, it still was fantastic to listen together and share thoughts on the music and recordings and also to realize that my upstairs setup is no slouch....particularly when fed good source material.