20260905 The Obvious Child & Reebok

 The Percussions which got me started

 When I was in the UK in the early 90's there was one Ad which got me hooked due to the drum beats. It was a Reebok Ad where every step or hit synchronised with the beats. Not only did the imaginative visuals centred on the white line, it had a lot of meaning to it (which I was quite oblivious). And so, began my search for that song, naively thinking it could be a CD single or some movie soundtrack...

 

Cue Paul Simon

 So, the next closest thing I could get my hands on was Paul Simon's The Obvious Child, the song which was also used in a 2014 Movie of the same name. I played the single over and over again in my BengMobile I most of the time (until it got replaced with some other songs) because it had a Sony sub-woofer. 

 I was very hooked on the background percussions and not so much on his voice. So, as usual, I will spend some time looking into the Instrumental version (not Karaoke) and maybe, even the Samba-raggae  Grupo Cultural Olodum.

 

 

 

20260831 Mike Oldfield's The Bell MC'ed by Viv Stanshall

For the past few weeks, I was quite a happy camper having converted both my Mike Oldfied's Tubular Bells II CD and the YouTube's 1992 Concert in Edinburgh into FLAC format. Both versions were such melodious delight. The latter, being a Live session, had more noticeable instruments than on the CD.

 

Is that all, Sir? 

 I know that in this World, nothing is perfect and the pursuit of such can be maddeningly challenging. In the CD Album, the MC for The Bell was the late Alan Rickman (aka A Strolling Player). I found out there were others, and surprised that Billy Connolly had the privilege too. Then came Vivian Stanshall.

 Compared to Mr. Rickman, Mr. Stanshall's voice was warmer, almost playful, like that smiling and warm Uncle who greeted you at the Door. And yeah, for a short moment, I was obsessed with it. The first YouTube video was from presumably, a VHS source as this was done very long ago and sadly, Mr. Stanshall had passed away in 5th March, 1995.

 

 This was the first version which got me into searching for a much clearer recording.

 

Which eventually led me to this version. It was the same as on the CD but with his voice as the MC. 

20260728 Mike Oldfield

 Before I have even heard of the guy, I was already liking one of his pop songs, namely the famous, 'Moonlight Shadow'. And of course, the Killing Fields. Alas, I only know of the Etude single.

 It was not until in the early 90's that I was in the Scotland that I listened to his Tubular Bells II CD loaned form the local Library. Never mind this is the guy who composed the Soundtrack for, 'The Exorcist' or even for Blue Peter

Tubular Bells II

 Born on 15th May 1953, Michael Gordon Oldfield is on of the most talented musical artist I have ever come across.  Apart from Enya, his album Tubular Bells II stayed with me for a very long time and there is no one single track that I did not like.

 

Live in Ediburgh Castle 1992

 To be honest, I did not even know about his Live Performances until decades later (Life, I suppose). After watching the Video, I left quite happy. The Concert follows most of the Tunes (except in some parts) in the Tubular Bells II CD. And if you have the copy, you would know that each track slide to the next track almost continuously. So the Live Concert was no different. And the best part, when my favourite track Sunset Door, transitioned to Tatoo at about 45:10 and then revealing the The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards minutes later. 

 

 

There are quite a lot of this Concert on YouTube but the I found on Rumble was so much better.

 

 

20260727 How to be a Pirate in under 60 minutes

 FLAC is the new MP3

 Just so that you know, I have been a fan of MP3 since the mid 90's. It was so much better than the .wav format. Playing it is like carrying a complete file package. But there was another format which sort of predates the MP3 and that is the .wav file. For me, the former is for portable songs while the latter is for a PC environment. Long ago, in the early 90's, when my Classmates were harping about their Tower which has a Soundlaster16 or something installed. The PC Fanboys were defending the quality of the sound against an Amiga user (moi) because what I heard was raspy highs and well, signs of low sampling. 

 However, by the turn of the Century, everyone was into the .wav format, from Websites to Windows. It was fun at one time but I quickly realised that the sound of a woman screaming at 3AM in the morning due to a Windows error is not a good idea. I cannot remember when I started to use MP3 for my Music but it was there. At that time, I was contend with the 192kbps sampling rate as most USB storage devices has not even heard of gigabytes. There were bunch of other formats too, like OGG, AIFF, WMA, FLAC and so on. But as time goes by the most prominent ones were MP3, WAV, and FLAC. Although beaten, the survivors left quietly but they will eventually return.

 The MP3 being my de facto music format at that time was quite significant as there were portable players and other hardware starting to enter the market. And so, I invested into a CD burner and eventually a DVD burner to cater for my Car's Audio Players which has yet to have a USB port. But after a few decades, I have started to notice some cracks. Small little ones which I initially brushed off as just the occasional errors. Thinking it was the sampling rate issue, I bumped up to 320kbps which also more than double the file size. And then the cracks got bigger...

 

But MP3 is dead. 

 April 23, 2017 was the date where the last patent expired. In other words, The Fraunhofer Institute in unable to grant new MP3 Licenses to whoever wants it. Not only that, the according to them, the format has aged. The other alternatives would be AAC, Ogg and FLAC. Still being oblivious, I migrated from ripping CDs to downloading YouTube Music. Yeah, the CD scene more or less quietly disappeared and somehow, it was obscene to pay for a CD when you can get it from the Internet.

 Oh, how wrong I was. Somehow, even with the 320kbps, the downloaded-then-converted music sounded muffled or well, something was missing. Furthermore, I do notice there is a main difference when I played the same song on two different formats; USB Thumbdrive and via Bluetooth. The former sounded crisp and clear which led me to believe my 14-year old Audio unit was the culprit. However the same cannot be said when I plugged in my Bluetooth earphones. Then I realised, it was the source. The MP3 file converted from a CD has a much better audio quality. This revelation started to make me doubt the YouTube titles such as MP3, HQ quality and so on.

 

The FLAC Format

 The tipping point came when I was playing Dire Strait's The Tunnel of Love. There is a part, at end of the verse, "Your own risk", where the word, 'isk" was very pronounced. Comparing that section between a CD rip and a YouTube source, the difference is night and day. I cannot blame the lossy format for this but more on myself on where I get the sources.

 And so, I decided to try the FLAC format since the capacity of the storage media these days are in the gigabyte to terabyte range. Listening back to the same Dire Straits song, I realised that it is much clearer and even bearable on Bluetooth. All of a sudden, even my PC speakers sounded great.

 

CD Drives are not Dead

 What is dead were their prices. I just got one around May/June 2026 for about USD10.00 or so. And so, I got to thinking, what if I ripped some of my CDs again, this time in FLAC format? And so, after a few confusing tries with EAC (Exact Audio Copy), I got what I needed, only this time, it takes about an hour. 

 

 

Although I have read the Album covers, I did not realise Noel Quinlan (Middle Kingdom) produced the two albums. His "The Shepherdess Song" in Middle Kingdom II sounded like a wounded and crying erhu while Katusha's The Shepherd Girl highlighted her beautiful voice.

 

20260718 YouTube Sound Quality

 

Opening the Rabbit Hole again  

 

 After so many years, there was a suggested video from YouTube. It was Fairground Attraction's Find My  Love.

 I've been listening to this CD non-stop during my Enya phase from the end 90's to well, twenty tens. With a Sony Sub-woofer in my Bengmobile, the sound was amazing. All the percussion beats and clear guitar strings really hit it off. What's more, with Eddi Reader's voice, the album, "The First of a Million Kisses" was hauntingly perfect. 

 When I clicked to watch the Video, all the vocal magic and percussive highlights were... not there. Even my pair of headphones confirmed it. The sounds coming from the video was just that. Sounds. No great treble nor punchful bass. Even the music instruments sounded so muted.

 

The MP3 Format

 Truth to be told, most of my MP3 songs came from YouTube since there are  no places for one to buy AI Song covers or CDs. Even at 320kbps, I realised, these bloated files are acoustically crap. Just listen to their CD or even a SACD copy, suddenly you'd reaslise that, all the MP3 songs are potentially worthless.

 Of course the MP3 format is dead. It has been dying since the twenty tens but every now and then, it acted like that flogged dead horse. Although we were warned about its lossy compression we happily chose that format. Nowadays, with USB Storage formats that starts with a minimum of 32GB, FLAC suddenly became a much better compromise. However, I have yet to find a good site that offers great compression or a FLAC library within reasonable cost.

 

FLAC-ing the not dead Horse 

 I do have a CD reader now, and there is a very high chance that I can spot a winner between a converted MP3 and a YouTube version. Right now, listening to the FLAC version of the same song is really a day & night difference even for a audio philistine like me.

 Now, when I listen to my MP3 songs, my mind would wonder, "Is there a much better quality than this 12Mb 320kbps MP3?"

Is there a better Dire Strait's Romeo and Juliet?

Is there a better Yanni Live at the Acropolis?

How about Kitaro's Matsuri? 

 

The truly Malaysian ICE Speaker

While I was at a friend's place, I spotted this speaker design which I believe is for local cars. Apart from the suble "Made in Malaysia" wordings, I believe it was the design which gave it away. A good example would be my car, which after more than a decade, is really rusting. And the speakers are always the first few component that needs replacing. This is because although they are located within the car door, it is still (technically) exposed to the environment. Rain water will seep into the car door and splashes onto the speakers. This was how my speaker connectors deteriorated as the voltage/current reacted with the water and caused very bad rust to the point the speaker connectors were gone. Right now, its still working thanks to a pair of crocodile clips. I can't even solder them.

So, you ask yourself, why is so great about this?
Its not the speaker I am interested in but the
design. The plastic piece (top left) is to shield
the speaker from the rain that comes through
the door and splashes on to the speaker.

And the connectors are shielded too since water
combines with current gives you a very bad
problem.

I don't mind getting them but its only 15watts.
But it has given me ideas. I wanted to make
them long ago but never got around to it. So,
once I get new speakers, I will do them.

Stay in my Memory - Bim

While I was searching for some videos, I came across this music video by Bim. The amazing animation is done by Katy Davis. See for yourself. He is still alive! Quick! Follow him!

AhliFikir @ Cash Converters

There is something about Cash Converters which I like, and its much better then those Garage Sales as I do not have to bargain much. So, this means all the old stuff is there for you to browse without any old auntie looking at you as if you're some kind of a serial killer for cats. And what I like most, are the prices. Some are cheap, and some are a bit ridiculous. But then, there is the opportunity that something you wanted all the time, could be found.

But still, while looking, I am very sure the "good" stuff are being kept or bough by the staff. But then, so what? Anyway, I have not been to Cash Converters since 2004 and its like going back to the wonderful toy shop all over again.

This is one of the songs I was looking for:
Ahli Fikir's - "Angguk-Angguk Geleng-Geleng"
And I found it!!!



Unfortunately, its a promotional CD, not for sale.


Still, this is a small price for that song