3  Sound enhancement

From: redfox [redfox@ALASKA.NET]
Sent: Samstag, 10. Februar 2001 00:56
To: TANGO-L
Cc: redfox
Subject: Sound enhancement

Friends -

Frank asked about sound enhancement. I use a BBE 362NR sonic maximizer with
a noise reduction feature. It costs about $200-300. The Maximizer process
adds brightness and clarity to highs and lows through a proprietary
amplitude and phrase temporal re-alignment process that is better read about
on their website https://www.bbesound.com/tech.htm The bottom line is that
highs (such as violins, some piano notes and much of the bandoneon notes)
are enhanced and brightened. Lows, such as the contrabase and some piano
notes are enhanced and brightened. The result is that the beat of music
(the bass) is more easily heard, and the violins sound very present, like
they are right there. The BBE unit I own also has a noise reduction feature
that very effectively eliminates stylus hiss from re-mastering off of old
vinyl. This is a very handy feature, taking a lot of the hiss out of older
recordings without affecting the high end too much. This is a one
rack-space unit that is easy to use, and is installed into your system just
prior to the amplifier. There are higher quality models available, but
without noise reduction. Other noise reduction devices are available, but I
find this simple combination to meet my needs and budget.

Some active speakers, such as the Mackie SRM450's have amplitude and phase
re-alignment features built in, but I find that the Maximizer still improves
the sound quality through these speakers, albeit not as much as through
passive speaker systems.

An internet search for sonic enhancement software and hardware will reveal a
huge range of products, many aimed at recording studios and beyond the scope
of a typical tango DJ setup. However, after researching this subject
extensively, I've found that many professional DJs will not even consider
playing a gig without a Maximizer.

Before I owned the Maximizer, I had good luck eliminating stylus hiss and
enhancing lows and highs through judicious cutting and boosting of
frequencies, but it took a lot of effort, was not as effective as the
Maximizer, and distracted me from my real job of playing good music. The
Maximizer takes little time to use and has dramatic paybacks.

Also, I think it is critical for the DJ to know at least the basics of sound
reinforcement. Are your horns and midrange placed well above the crowd so
the sound at the back of the room is not muddied by all the dancers it has
to go through to get there (and not blaring into people's ears when they are
near the speakers)? Have you placed the speakers to avoid unnecessary
echoing, boominess, etc.? Is your milonga in a square box with bare walls?
Do you have good quality SOUND REINFORCEMENT equipment? All this needs to
be correct before the Maximizer will do anyone any good.

In the meantime, I continue to search for modern recordings of good dance
music, such as that by El Arranque and Los Reyes del Tango. But it is still
tough to match the swing and sound of the Golden Age composers. They had
the magic.

Dan

Date: Mon, 9 Sep 2002 13:03:18 +0000
From: Russell Ranno <russellranno@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Men

Hello,

I would like to share my experiences in response to Astrid s question about
why men start tango and what sort of teaching retains men. I started tango
because a female friend of mine, with whom I share a deep artistic
connection, told me it was something I should check out. My passion is
playing jazz and she recognized that the chance to interpret music and
improvise in a different way would appeal to me. She was right, I am hooked
on this dance. But here is an interesting side note: As a result of
dancing, my jazz playing has become much more intuitive. However, except
for being able to easily hear the beat, jazz hasn t seemed to help me dance.
In fact, in some ways, having a harmonically enriched ear has made it a
little tougher. Now, I love Biagi or Calo or Canaro at a crowded milonga,
but for my ear to be as happy as my heart and feet it sometimes takes more:
like the emotion and note choices of Hugo Diaz, the richness of Pugliese, or
the complexity of Piazzolla. I always laugh when I hear people say, Oh,
the really good dancers don t need that DRAMATIC music to dance, only the
beginners do... . Huh?

I live in a community where there is no tango, except for what I have been
able to create. As a result, I have had to act as the ersatz teacher. The
first class we did was figure based (8 count basic, etc.) and while the
women seemed to enjoy it, half the men quit. So we tried again a year
later, this time teaching walking, rhythm, and the smallest fundamental
units of tango. Most of the women quit, ALL of the men stayed.

Conclusion: If keeping men is the goal, seek out those who might have the
psyche for it, and teach them fundamental skills, no patterns or figures!
If they are lucky enough to run into a few talented and compassionate
followers (with steel toed shoes) who graciously give them a taste of what
this dance can be, then they will harbor the tango virus for years to come.

Russell

Date: Mon, 9 Sep 2002 09:51:21 -0700
From: Tom English <tom@TANGONOW.COM>
Subject: Re: Men

Thank you, Russell. I am relatively new to teaching and
I've thought that I teach differently in that I don't care
much about the patterns (although I have seen how it is a
good vehicle for stressing technique). I really care about
the intricit details that allow a leader and follower to
dance comfortably together. Heck, my course description at
tangonow even stresses that.

I think that Russell has just told us of his experience
that men stick around if you work toward fixing the problem
rather than adding new steps. I am glad to hear that
because that is most of what I am drawn to in the
classroom, or my private lessons for that matter.

So, it seems that two solutions to the problem were given:

1. To keep the men around, solve the problems in the
classroom rather than taking the easy route of showing a
pattern and watching the clock tick away.

2. Market to those who are musically inclined (although,
I'm not sure that he actually stated that one.)

Tom



On Mon, 9 Sep 2002 13:03:18 +0000
Russell Ranno <russellranno@HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I would like to share my experiences in response to
> Astrid s question about
> why men start tango and what sort of teaching retains
> men. I started tango
> because a female friend of mine, with whom I share a deep
> artistic
> connection, told me it was something I should check out.
> My passion is
> playing jazz and she recognized that the chance to
> interpret music and
> improvise in a different way would appeal to me. She was
> right, I am hooked
> on this dance. But here is an interesting side note:
> As a result of
> dancing, my jazz playing has become much more intuitive.
> However, except
> for being able to easily hear the beat, jazz hasn t
> seemed to help me dance.
> In fact, in some ways, having a harmonically enriched
> ear has made it a
> little tougher. Now, I love Biagi or Calo or Canaro at a
> crowded milonga,
> but for my ear to be as happy as my heart and feet it
> sometimes takes more:
> like the emotion and note choices of Hugo Diaz, the
> richness of Pugliese, or
> the complexity of Piazzolla. I always laugh when I hear
> people say, Oh,
> the really good dancers don t need that DRAMATIC music to
> dance, only the
> beginners do... . Huh?
>
> I live in a community where there is no tango, except for
> what I have been
> able to create. As a result, I have had to act as the
> ersatz teacher. The
> first class we did was figure based (8 count basic, etc.)
> and while the
> women seemed to enjoy it, half the men quit. So we tried
> again a year
> later, this time teaching walking, rhythm, and the
> smallest fundamental
> units of tango. Most of the women quit, ALL of the men
> stayed.
>
> Conclusion: If keeping men is the goal, seek out those
> who might have the
> psyche for it, and teach them fundamental skills, no
> patterns or figures!
> If they are lucky enough to run into a few talented and
> compassionate
> followers (with steel toed shoes) who graciously give
> them a taste of what
> this dance can be, then they will harbor the tango virus
> for years to come.
>
> Russell
>
>
>
>
>
> Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger:

--
Tom English, Founder
TangoNow!
Boston's very own Argentine Tango
www.tangonow.com
tom@tangonow.com
617-783-5478