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Thing #1
I
recently came across a pirated recording of two singers I love starring in an
opera they’ve never recorded commercially. So of course, I needed to have it.
Now, sometimes these “bootlegs” are recorded off the air, off the net, or with
some in-house sound system, and the sound is pretty decent. This one, however
was clearly recorded with a smart phone or teeny-tiny digital recorder. It was
clearly in someone’s breast pocket, and the sound is worse than dismal. (Imagine listening
to an opera performance with a coat over your head, perhaps with cotton stuffed in your ears, too.) But sometimes that’s ok
when you really want to hear a performance no matter what.
So, to adequately hear this music, I had to turn up the volume pretty high (almost to 11!) So far so good, but I was listening in the car, and suddenly the dude with the digital recorder in his pocket coughed. And I just about drove off the road. Startled? Yeah, only a lot! So here’s a tip to these breast-pocket bootleggers: please don’t applaud, and above all, don’t cough!
So, to adequately hear this music, I had to turn up the volume pretty high (almost to 11!) So far so good, but I was listening in the car, and suddenly the dude with the digital recorder in his pocket coughed. And I just about drove off the road. Startled? Yeah, only a lot! So here’s a tip to these breast-pocket bootleggers: please don’t applaud, and above all, don’t cough!
Beware of the applause at the end!
Thing #2
In
a great once-a-decade "spring" cleaning last weekend I came across a
video cassette of the French film Diva.
That’s the one with the American soprano who never makes studio recordings, and
her French groupie who sneaks a tape recorder into her concert. Then his tape
gets swapped with another tape that has legal implications and then there is a
chase in the Paris Metro (isn’t there always?), etc.
| The Diva and her Stalker get pensive. |
Connection
Anyway, I got to thinking that if this French kid had an iPhone,
he could have gotten a super recording of his Diva and never had to lug around his Nagra reel-to-reel tape recorder; or get his cassette get mixed up with a prostitute's confession
tape; or get chased in the Paris Metro. But then of course the whole point of
the movie would be lost and there’d be no story. Plus there was no such thing as an iPhone in 1982.
I’m
just sayin’…
Based on an incident in the life of Jessye Norman, no less.
ReplyDeleteOne of my siblings and I booted a Nozze di Figaro once -- it was 1990, and the technical challenges were interesting, and there was a certain thrill to the risk of being banned for life. But in general I think the orchestra seats should be administered like a Dead concert. It would save so much being chased through the Paris Metro by Taiwanese mobsters.
I thought that was true about Jessye Norman. Glad you didn't get caught at the opera!
DeleteI think iPhones have probably taken some of the thrill out of bootlegging from within the audience, as far as technical challenges go. I'm not complaining, though, since I own a lot of bootlegs (though none to my knowledge that were recorded with an iPhone!)
DeleteBy the way, Nagra makes some really high-end digital recorders now. If anyone ever does a remake of Diva, they'll have to do it as a period piece. No one even uses cassettes any more, let alone reel-to-reels!
Delete@ earworm -- yes, no more fake plaster casts or, in our case, braiding microphones into sister's hair :-)
Delete@ Rob -- The only dead medium around here is 8 track :-) Actually my grandfather's 50 year old reel-to-reel still works, and the tapes mostly play fine. I guess the first mistake all those record companies made was to store the stuff in vaults rather than grandma's attic.
I love the image of braiding the microphone into your sister's hair. Oh, and 8-tracks! I think I finally got rid of mine about 10 years ago -- well beyond the useful lifetime of an 8-track tape. Dad had a big old Teac reel-to-reel. It was not only a great piece of equipment, it was mounted in a beautiful walnut case - decorative AND functional.
Delete