1857 Recordings for dancing tango that have good sound quality
Date: Thu, 2 Oct 2003 10:27:50 -0500
From: Stephen Brown <Stephen.P.Brown@DAL.FRB.ORG>
Subject: Recordings for dancing tango that have good sound quality
Most of the classics from the golden era of tango are a triumph of musical
content over sound quality. Frequently, the use of more well recorded
music represents a compromise in dance characteristics because later tango
music was not necessarily recorded with social dancing in mind. These
later recordings frequently have tempo shifts, rubato playing, long
pauses, submerged beats, and/or fast tempos.
Recognizing that dancing an entire evening to a program with decidedly low
fidelity recordings can be fatiguing, I continually look for recordings
that maintain a social dance sensibility and are of higher fidelity. Below
is some of the material that has made it onto my playlist. Not all of it
is of the absolute highest sound quality, and not all of it will strike
everyone as perfect for dancing.
Of course, I love dancing to the classics from the golden age and my
complete playlist includes a substantial number of recordings from the
golden era. See https://www.tejastango.com/tandas.html
With best regards,
Steve
Stephen Brown
Tango Argentino de Tejas
https://www.tejastango.com/
D'Arienzo (1950s) --
La Morocha, Germaine, Inspiracion, Criolla Linda, A Media Luz
Orquesta Juan D'Arienzo --
Pampa, Derecho Viejo, Don Juan
Biagi (valses) --
Amor y Vals, Paloma, Lagrimas y Sonrisas
Di Sarli (later instrumentals) --
Don Juan, Tinta Verde, El Once, Comme Il Faut, A La Gran Mun~eca, El
Cabure, Mi Refugio, Milonguero Viejo, Una Fija, El Amanecer, Cara Sucia,
El Ingeniero, El Abrojo, Champagne Tango, Organito de la Tarde, Bahia
Blanca
De Angelis (later instrumentals) --
El Tango Club, Guardia Vieja, El Pial, Mi Dolor, Pavadita
Pugliese --
La Yumba, Gallo Ciego, Nochero Soy, A Mis Compan~eros, El Embrollo, La
Mariposa, Tinta Roja, Arrabal, A Los Amigos, El Andariego, Emancipacion,
Pata Ancha, La Bordona, A Evaristo Carriego, Desde el Alma (vals)
Florindo Sassone --
La Viruta, Rawson, Bar Exposicion, Rodriguez Pen~a
Color Tango --
Emancipacion, Recuerdo, Festejando, A Evaristo Carriego, Union Civica,
Yunta de Oro, Zum, Ilusion de Mi Vida (vals)
El Arranque --
El Arranque, El Abrojito, Zorro Gris
The New York Tango Trio --
El Entrerriano, Yuyito, 9 de Julio
Litto Nebia Quinteto --
Maladandra, Tango Canyengue, Cabaret, Nostalgias
Miguel Villasboas (valses)
Luna de Arrabal, Augustus del Corazon, Desde el Alma
Gotan Project --
Queremos Paz, Una Musica Brutal, Epoca
Hector Varela -- Palomita Blanca (vals)
Lalo Schifrin Orquesta -- Corazon de Oro (vals)
Anibal Troilo -- Don Juan (later version)
Franicini/Pontier -- A Media Luz
Tango Bar (Raul Juarena) -- Nostalgico
Carlos Garcia and Tango All Stars -- Adios Nonino
Raul Garello -- Verano Porten~o
Trio Pantango -- Silbando
Trio Pantango -- Madame Ivonne
Hugo Diaz (harmonica) -- Milonga Triste
Daniel Barenboim -- Mi Buenos Aires Querido
Gidon Kremer -- Oblivion
Enrique Cadicamo -- Bar Nocturno
Adriana Varela -- Como Dos Extran~os
Sexteto Sur -- Tanguera
Quartango -- Oblivion
Carlos Garcia -- La Cumparsita
Dan Diaz -- La Cumparsita
New York Buenos Aires Connection -- La Cumparsita
Quinteto Francisco Canaro -- La Cumparsita
-fin-
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 08:56:50 -0700
From: robin thomas <niborsamoht@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: sound quality
i'm amazed by how great the golden age stuff can sound
if someone knows how to clean it up a little and
equalize it perfectly for the equipment you're using.
dj's dan boccia and ramu pyreddy both use pc's and
have great sound quality. i'm using i-tunes on an
i-book. does anyone have any advice about maximizing
sound quality using this platform?
on the advice of korey ireland i bought volume logic.
i'd also like to start equalizing individual songs,
any advice?
robn thomas
new york
_______________________________
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 10:21:54 -0600
From: Bernhard Michaelis <bernhard@NATIVECHILD.COM>
Subject: Re: sound quality
Robin, I use Audio Hijack pro, and it's for the Mac!
https://www.rogueamoeba.com
here's a list of what it does: (that should be a start)
Bernhard
4fx Plugins
10-Band Equalizer - The Equalizer amplifies or de-amplifies different
frequencies to allow for precise audio tuning. Each bar can be adjusted
to edit one band of the EQ, or presets may be chosen from the menu. If a
custom preset is created, it may be also saved.
Auxiliary Device Output - This plugin allows you to send audio to an
additional output device. To use it to redirect audio, use Audio Hijack
Pro's mute button.
Balance - Balance alters the balance of the left and right audio
signals, shifting them from one side to the other.
Bass And Treble - Bass And Treble affects the bass and treble for all
output.
Double Gain - Double Gain doubles the gain set in the Gain plugin. Use
this plugin to overdrive your sound.
Gain - This produces no effect and can be used to simply control the
gain, by adjusting the volume knobs.
Karaoke - Karaoke uses a simple (read: not always successful) algorithm
to remove the vocals on songs.
Low Pass Filter - The Low Pass Filter increases the sound quality of
lower quality recordings, including low bitrate radio streams.
Menu Bar Meters - Evilly Cool Menu Bar VU meters or Level meters. Kick
Ass!
Mono Enhancer - The Mono Enhancer enhances the sound of audio encoded in
mono to give it a stereo sound.
Monomizer - The Monomizer downmixes the sound of audio encoded in stereo
channels into one mono channel. In this way, no audio is lost. This is
very useful for broadcasting a mono stream.
PassThru - This produces no effect and can be used to control the
routing of audio.
Pipe Dream - Pipes audio to command-line applications. Use with encoders
or broadcasting servers such as icecast.
Reverb - Reverb alters the output, depending on user-defined settings,
to create a live reverberated sound in the audio.
Side Chain Limiter (SCL) - Use this plugin to keep the input and output
level between plugins equal. Frame your other effects with two copies of
SCL (Example: SCL -> Excitifier -> SonicMaximizer -> SCL), setting the
first to Send and the second to Receive. Now the volume won't be
modified by the plugins between the two SCL instances. This is useful
for doing listening tests.
Swap Channels - Swap Channels swaps the output of the left and right
audio channels.
Voiceover - Voiceover allows you to mix audio from your sound input
source (usually a microphone) into your current audio. This is most
useful for DJing a stream, allowing you to create a professional quality
sound.
VU Meters - An optionally floating VU Meters window, responding to
audio.
AudioUnit Plugins
The Audio Units you see available in Audio Hijack Pro are actually built
in to the operating system by Apple. More detail on them may be obtained
from audio-units.com .
VST Plugins
The included VST plugins come courtesy of mda and Green Oak, and Rogue
Amoeba is much obliged to these companies. For more information, please
see mda-vst.com and greenoak.com
LADSPA Plugins
Audio Hijack Pro is one of the first application on OS X to support the
Linux Audio Developer's Simple Plugin API (LADSPA) plugin format. The
included LADSPA plugins are detailed below. More information is
available from https://plugin.org.uk/ . The text below is taken from
Steve Harris' LADSPA Plugin Docs .
Declipper
Removes nasty clicks from input signals, not very kind to them though.
DJ EQ
The design for this plugin is taken from the Allen & Heath Xone 32 DJ
mixer.
Lo gain (dB) - Controls the gain of the low (100Hz) peak/dip band
Mid gain (dB) - Controls the gain of the mid (1000Hz) peak/dip band
Hi gain (dB) - Controls the gain of the high (10000Hz) shelf band
DJ Flanger
This is a flanger which is more or less typical of DJ mixing desks.
LFO sync - When turned from off to on it resets the phase of the LFO
back to the start of the cycle. Used to sync the LFO to the track.
LFO period (s) - The cycle period of the LFO in seconds.
LFO depth (ms) - The maximum delay the LFO will use to flange, in
milliseconds.
L/C/R Delay
This is a left/centre/right delay with feedback, based on the one in the
Korg Trinity. Requested by Marek Peteraj.
L delay (ms) - The delay of the left output in milliseconds.
L level - The level of the left output.
C delay (ms) - The delay of the centre output in milliseconds.
C level - The level of the centre output.
R delay (ms) - The delay of the right output in milliseconds.
R level - The level of the right output.
Feedback - The amount of the C delay output that is mixed back into the
delay.
High damp (%) - The damping of the high frequencies in the feedback
path.
Low damp (%) - The damping of the low frequencies in the feedback path.
Spread - The width of the stereo image.
Dry/Wet level - The amounts of the input and effect mixed to produce the
output.
VyNil (Vinyl Effect)
Year - The date of the recording/playback equipment to be simulated.
RPM - The rotational speed of the platter.
Surface warping - The degree of variation in height of the record
surface.
Crackle - The number of scratches on the record surface.
Wear - The amount of wear on the grooves.
> i'm amazed by how great the golden age stuff can sound
> if someone knows how to clean it up a little and
> equalize it perfectly for the equipment you're using.
>
> dj's dan boccia and ramu pyreddy both use pc's and
> have great sound quality. i'm using i-tunes on an
> i-book. does anyone have any advice about maximizing
> sound quality using this platform?
>
> on the advice of korey ireland i bought volume logic.
> i'd also like to start equalizing individual songs,
> any advice?
>
> robn thomas
>
> new york
>
>
>
> _______________________________
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 17:58:17 -0600
From: Tom Stermitz <stermitz@TANGO.ORG>
Subject: Re: sound quality
Too bad the audio engineers who re-mastered the old vinyl didn't give
us higher quality source-material.
Volume Adjustment
There are a some utilities like mp3 Rage that will go through your
entire audio library and set the volume of each song to approximately
match all the others. It sounds scary to mess with your huge song
library, but you can easily eliminate the adjustment by selecting all
the songs and setting volume back to zero.
Audio Hijack Pro
I initially got Audio Hijack Pro to schedule/download/record audio off
the internet, like news programs. The pro version costs about $32.
Basically, you can choose start & end time, input source, output
source, record to disk for replay later.
You can also use it to hijack a local source, like iTunes or Real
Player, or the audio-in plug for your computer.
Then I noticed that there was a huge set of potential plug-ins for all
kinds of cool things a professional sound engineer might want to use,
including VU meters, Reverb, ParametricEQ (get rid of 60/50Hz),
Exciter, Gate (Compressor/Expander), etc. There are (at least) the
following kinds of effects plugins, I guess from different programmers
or sources:
- 4FX
- AudioUnit Effect
- VST Effect
One plug-in to try is Excitifier. It puts back into the mix higher
frequency harmonics that were cut out during the audio. makes a huge
difference to D'Arienzo
You could google on VST Effects or AudioUnit Plugins to see what other
options are out there.
From the following website:
- https://www.mhc.se/software/plugins
"The AudioUnit framework was developed by Apple for Mac OSX It's
relatively comprehensive and supports all kinds of musical devices and
synthesis. AudioUnits are becoming the preferred plugin format on Mac
OSX
A google search on "audiounit plugin noise" resulted in the following
press-release describing SoundSoap Pro for multi-band noise reduction:
-
https://aes.harmony-central.com/115AES/Content/BIAS/PR/SoundSoap-
Pro.html
I haven't played with soundsoap or any of the other noise reduction
processes, as I can see it eating up weeks or months of time!
BBE Sound enhancer
- https://www.bbesound.com/technologies/BBE%5FHDS/
On the recommendation of Dan Boccia, I have used a hardware noise
reducer/Sonic Maximizer from a company called BBE. They claim to deal
with muddiness, transient/attack issues and phase distortions caused by
loudspeaker systems (violin attack coinciding with bass attack). To my
ears, notes are more "articulate" or "distinct".
Other Sound Issues:
FIRST, use a good, professional-quality sound system. You don't want to
max out your volume control; you want to have plenty of headroom. When
I put on a big event, I use Mackie SRM450 powered speakers which cost
about $700. The SRM350 is about $550, and probably pretty good for
normal-sized halls. Because these speakers are powered, you don't need
a power amplifier, just hook up a DJ mixer directly to the speaker. It
is very easy to add additional speakers - just run a wire from one
speaker to the next. It turns out that I did not need to buy the
sub-woofer/bass unit, since I'm not playing salsa, rock or R&B. In all
my situations, I have never run them higher than about 1/2 volume.
SECOND, the room should have good audio characteristics. Many
ballrooms, gymnasiums, studios are full of hard surfaces. Tango
Colorado meets in a room that had a three second fade time, so voices
got completely lost in all the echoes of footsteps, talking, bass
notes. Treble is pretty easy to soften up, but bass will kill you. The
ballroom had a sound engineer install bass absorbing material covering
about 1/4 - 1/2 of the ceiling area, which made a huge difference.
I do the Denver Tango Festivals at a hotel with lots of very soft
surfaces: curtains, ceiling, carpetting, 400 people, etc (In terms of
sound absorption, one person is the equivalent of a one meter square,
open window.). This is much easier to fill with sound than a lively
ballroom; I use four speakers to cover the floor, and crank up the
volume as needed. Even with a live orchestra, the soft surfaces gives
the sound engineer a super-easy task. In a hard-surface room he would
have all kinds of feedback and echo issues.
On Oct 20, 2004, at 10:21 AM, Bernhard Michaelis wrote:
> Robin, I use Audio Hijack pro, and it's for the Mac!
> https://www.rogueamoeba.com
>
> here's a list of what it does: (that should be a start)
>
> Bernhard
>
> 4fx Plugins
>
> 10-Band Equalizer - The Equalizer amplifies or de-amplifies different
> frequencies to allow for precise audio tuning. Each bar can be adjusted
> to edit one band of the EQ, or presets may be chosen from the menu. If
> a
> custom preset is created, it may be also saved.
>
Tom Stermitz
https://www.tango.org
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 06:52:31 -0700
From: Larry Gmucs <gmucs@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: sound quality
A nice suite of freeware audio stuff is at
https://www.dbpoweramp.com/
Has equalizers, capture, conversion apps.
I also like
https://audacity.sourceforge.net/
as a sound editor.
--- Tom Stermitz <stermitz@TANGO.ORG> wrote:
> Too bad the audio engineers who re-mastered the old
> vinyl didn't give
> us higher quality source-material.
>
_______________________________
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 22:07:08 -0700
From: Michael Knowles <binkster@BINKSTER.NET>
Subject: Re: sound quality
> Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 17:58:17 -0600
> From: Tom Stermitz <stermitz@TANGO.ORG>
> Subject: Re: sound quality
>
> Volume Adjustment
>
> There are a some utilities like mp3 Rage that will go through your
> entire audio library and set the volume of each song to approximately
> match all the others.
Tom, good advice! I would ask that the tango librarians and DJs among us
act to bring the overall library volume _down_ to match the quietest of
their files instead of _up_ to match the loudest. Many modern tango
tunes have been excessively processed by compression and brickwall
limiting to achieve maximum apparent volume on the CD. There was no way
the early 78rpm disc cutting and disc playing equipment could do this
without having the needle skip out of the groove, although I bet those
early engineers would have done it if it were possible! I commonly see
20dB+ differences in average level between the old and the new
recordings -- that's approximately four times as loud for the modern
stuff even though the instantaneous peak levels are identical. If you
use a simple audio utility to bring the level of all your Golden Age
tangos up to match the modern ones then your older classic tangos will
be slammed against the data limits and will sound distorted,
overmodulated and edgy. My practice when I assemble an mp3 library is to
bring the modern (compressed) sounds down in level. Ideally, I would
have been able to expand them downward (anti-compress, if you will) to
return a sense of 'air' and openness but this needs to be done at full
data bandwidth (WAV file or similar wideband format) prior to becoming
an mp3. The audio utilities don't offer downward expansion since this is
more of an artform in which the timing, threshold, ratio and frequency
balance would be tailored to fit each song's needs. That's okay; the
utilities you mention can easily bring the overall level down.
> On the recommendation of Dan Boccia, I have used a hardware noise
> reducer/Sonic Maximizer from a company called BBE. They claim to deal
> with muddiness, transient/attack issues and phase distortions caused
> by loudspeaker systems (violin attack coinciding with bass attack).
To > my ears, notes are more "articulate" or "distinct".
After hearing them all too often in lower-rung DJ/Club sound systems
I've become something of an enemy of the BBE Sonic Maximizer. I don't
think it is appropriate to insert this device in the main mix of a sound
system and I also don't think it should be used to process an entire
sound file or an entire library. When asked as an expert freelance sound
engineer to help with folks' sound system issues I immediately bypass
the BBE unit if I find it present and there is always a corresponding
improvement in clarity and I think an increase in longterm enjoyment. I
feel that listening to BBE-processed sounds is tiring to the ear.
Many of the best old passive speaker crossovers and nearly all modern
bi-amplified speakers such as the Mackie SRM450 that you mention do not
have transient/attack issues between bass and treble arrival times or
phase skew/slew troubles. I think if someone on Tango List were worrying
about these issues (!!) they should be dealing with it at the
loudspeaker or purchasing correctly designed gear, not tweaking their
sound files to adjust to some real or imagined speaker fault. Say, what
happens when you take your BBE-Sonically-Maximized tango sound files to
a venue with incredibly good speakers? You will have messed with the
phase balance so much that now it is skewed the OTHER way. Not good.
Sorry, Dan, I call 'em as I see 'em. :^)
If I were ever to use the BBE Sonic Maximizer it would be sparingly as a
spice added to one or two instruments or brief solos during mixdown or
live mix, not as a constant full stereo mix process. In my view, its
effect is more like a cheaper Aphex Aural Exciter than as a bandaid fix
for poorly designed speaker systems.
> Other Sound Issues:
>
> FIRST, use a good, professional-quality sound system. You don't want to
> max out your volume control; you want to have plenty of headroom. When
> I put on a big event, I use Mackie SRM450 powered speakers which cost
> about $700.
The Mackie SRM450 is an excellent choice. Other suitable lightweight
plastic powered speaker choices exist (JBL, Yorkville, Peavey, etc) but
the Mackie is a fine starting place and a good example of lows and highs
working well together to make a nice balanced sound. I like them for
their clear vocals... For further improvements in audio quality the
sound system owner/operator might shop for a stiffer, heavier speaker
made out of dense plywood such as 13-ply-to-the-inch Finnish or Baltic.
What you lose with thick plywood is lightweight portability and ease of
setup but what you gain is more of the desired sound coming out of the
front and less of the sound of the speaker box resonances. You'll also
spend more money! To get a better speaker than the Mackie SRM450 you
will be paying $1.2k - 3k per speaker box.
> .... In all
> my situations, I have never run them higher than about 1/2 volume.
Tom, you might already know that the Mackie SRM450 speaker's 'volume'
knob (and the corresponding knob on a professional amplifier) does not
control how loud the speaker can get. The speaker or amplifier is fully
capable of achieving its maximum peak volume with the knob set halfway
up. One would simply send a stronger signal to the speaker from the
preceding piece of audio gear such as from the mixer or the EQ. I'm a
big proponent of setting amplifier and powered speaker 'volume' knobs in
much the same way as you practice: For proper gain staging I bring the
mixer volume up to a strong level as showing in the meters and then
adjust the SRM450 (or amp or whatever) knob up from zero so that the
venue is filled with a suitable level of sound power -- then a _skosh_
more of a clockwise twist on the knob to add some headroom. For most of
my work with the SRM450 I find I end up with the knob at 9 o'clock or a
little higher. That's because I like to have a healthy level showing in
the meters on the mixer. This gives me less component hiss and more pure
tango sound.
The proper name of that knob back there? In the professional audio
community there's no agreement, really. It could be called a
level-matching knob or a gain-staging knob but "volume knob" serves the
layman just fine.
I just wanted to add a little bit of my pro audio viewpoint to the
current techie discussion. Thanks go out to you, Tom, for your
continuing good advice for the tango DJ!
Take care --
--
Michael 'Bink' Knowles
binkster@binkster.net
www.binkster.net
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 23:41:26 -0600
From: Tom Stermitz <stermitz@TANGO.ORG>
Subject: Re: sound quality
Thank you so much for your information and advice.
You know, I had noticed that the Mackie speakers didn't make me feel
like I needed the BBE. The BBE has been sitting for some time, but I
haven't missed it.
In the end, it is the art of DJing that matters. Getting great
equipment is a good thing, and bad sound makes everything muddy, but
selecting the right emotions and contrast of the music itself gets the
crowd up and dancing. You know it is good when they won't let you quit!
On Oct 21, 2004, at 11:07 PM, Michael Knowles wrote:
> > Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 17:58:17 -0600
> > From: Tom Stermitz <stermitz@TANGO.ORG>
> > Subject: Re: sound quality
> >
> > Volume Adjustment
> >
> > There are a some utilities like mp3 Rage that will go through your
> > entire audio library and set the volume of each song to approximately
> > match all the others.
>
> > On the recommendation of Dan Boccia, I have used a hardware noise
> > reducer/Sonic Maximizer from a company called BBE. They claim to deal
> > with muddiness, transient/attack issues and phase distortions caused
> > by loudspeaker systems (violin attack coinciding with bass attack).
> To > my ears, notes are more "articulate" or "distinct".
>
> After hearing them all too often in lower-rung DJ/Club sound systems
> I've become something of an enemy of the BBE Sonic Maximizer. I don't
> think it is appropriate to insert this device in the main mix of a
> sound
> system and I also don't think it should be used to process an entire
> sound file or an entire library. When asked as an expert freelance
> sound
> engineer to help with folks' sound system issues I immediately bypass
> the BBE unit if I find it present and there is always a corresponding
> improvement in clarity and I think an increase in longterm enjoyment. I
> feel that listening to BBE-processed sounds is tiring to the ear.
>
> Many of the best old passive speaker crossovers and nearly all modern
> bi-amplified speakers such as the Mackie SRM450 that you mention do not
> have transient/attack issues between bass and treble arrival times or
> phase skew/slew troubles. I think if someone on Tango List were
> worrying
> about these issues (!!) they should be dealing with it at the
> loudspeaker or purchasing correctly designed gear, not tweaking their
> sound files to adjust to some real or imagined speaker fault. Say, what
> happens when you take your BBE-Sonically-Maximized tango sound files to
> a venue with incredibly good speakers? You will have messed with the
> phase balance so much that now it is skewed the OTHER way. Not good.
>
> Sorry, Dan, I call 'em as I see 'em. :^)
>
> Take care --
> --
> Michael 'Bink' Knowles
> binkster@binkster.net
> www.binkster.net
>
>
Tom Stermitz
https://www.tango.org
