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Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer

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Re: Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer

#201

Post by nikodotio »

schwartzworld wrote: post #199
solomonb wrote: post #21

I strongly believe that if you set aside genre preferences the solid body electric guitar coupled to a tube amplifier is objectively the greatest electronic instrument ever created. All other electronic instruments, with the one exception being the Theramin, have a fundamental problem with human expression. There is an unsolvable disconnect between what the performer's actions and their audience. See: https://www.scr…

> have a fundamental problem with human expression. How up to date is this opinion of yours? Expression on guitar is pretty intuitive, but modern electronic instrument manufacturers have been working on this problem and created modes of expression that definitely solve this problem. For example, EWIs allow you to use breath control for expression with many of the same techniques available on actual wind instruments.…

> created modes of expression that definitely solve this problem.

I certainly don’t agree with this as a musician who has tried most of these attempts by electronic music manufacturers.

Re: Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer

#202

Post by nicodjimenez »

Part of what makes Hendrix's live performances so great is how completely unreproducible they are. Even Jimi himself could never recreate that one note sustain when he begins the solo on Machine Gun. To re-create it, you'd have to set the room up exactly the same, tune the guitar exactly the same, position the guitar relative to amps exactly the same, etc. So Hendrix being very sensitive and connected to the room was able to harness that energy into something unique that stands the test of time. Machine Gun is well known, but his Red House performance at Randall's Island also stands out to me as exceptional, those are the 2 key Hendrix performances. I read somewhere that Miles Davis was really impressed by Machine Gun and you can see why.

One thing I learned after buying some gear at home to try to record electric guitar at low volume is how important the physics of the speakers are. You can plug a tube amp into a cabinet simulator and you'll lose a lot more than using solid state electronics on a good but not great Fender amp, especially if you use fuzz / distortion pedals.

I'm not sure Hendrix was a systems engineer, but he was a transcendent blues artist, that's for sure.

Re: Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer

#203

Post by hiddencost »

ssl-3 wrote: post #102
9dev wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Star Spangled Banner was incredible. The way you can hear the machine guns, choppers, sirens, screaming in agony… that was a masterpiece.

> The way you can hear the machine guns, choppers, sirens, screaming in agony… You know, I've heard that performance so many times over so many decades that I don't have to hit a play button or even close my eyes in order to hear it. It's there inside my head when I want it to be. And somehow I never interpreted it in that way (sirens, screaming, etc) until just a moment ago. I thought it was just a quirky little ear…

Is yan anti war, anti imperialist song.

Re: Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer

#204

Post by bityard »

Fnoord wrote: post #108
bityard wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might also enjoy Beardyman, if you haven't run across him yet. Does techno and other genres with nothing but his own voice and a shedload of ipads: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYVUlx7BhhI

Nathan Flutebox Lee and Beardyman @ Google, London [1] is one of my favs. At the time it was available on 'Google Video' before they acquired YouTube. So I don't have a link to the orig. post. SPOILER: especially that theme with the Godfather when he says Google is just epic and balls. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfXaL9omQPs

Hadn't seen that one before, very fun! Did not know anyone can beatbox and flute at the same time. TIL

Re: Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer

#205

Post by WalterBright »

ssl-3 wrote: post #102
9dev wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Star Spangled Banner was incredible. The way you can hear the machine guns, choppers, sirens, screaming in agony… that was a masterpiece.

> The way you can hear the machine guns, choppers, sirens, screaming in agony… You know, I've heard that performance so many times over so many decades that I don't have to hit a play button or even close my eyes in order to hear it. It's there inside my head when I want it to be. And somehow I never interpreted it in that way (sirens, screaming, etc) until just a moment ago. I thought it was just a quirky little ear…

Recently, the movie "Cleopatra" was on TV. I was watching it with the sound off while I did other things.

There was one scene where Rich Burton and Elizabeth Taylor were arguing with each other. I watched their lips move, and somehow I heard Burton speaking his lines in his voice, and Taylor her lines in her voice. I had to do a double take to see that the sound was actually muted, but my mind re-created it anyway.

Re: Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer

#206

Post by WalterBright »

jacquesm wrote: post #182
ssl-3 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The way you can hear the machine guns, choppers, sirens, screaming in agony… You know, I've heard that performance so many times over so many decades that I don't have to hit a play button or even close my eyes in order to hear it. It's there inside my head when I want it to be. And somehow I never interpreted it in that way (sirens, screaming, etc) until just a moment ago. I thought it was just a quirky little ear…

I read your comment and immediately wondered how much of my braincells are permanently occupied with remembering music. Probably quite a lot in an absolute sense but I wonder about the percentage of storage and whether or not that could have been used in other ways. And of course then I wonder if they are stored compressed, and whether that is lossy compression or not ;) BrainOS 1.1> Optimize Memory (Y/N) __

Thousands of songs reside quite comfortably in my brain. It's rather amazing.

I can tell when a musician is lip syncing their hit song, because nobody sings a song the same way twice, and the performance exactly matched the CD version of the song.

Re: Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer

#207

Post by WalterBright »

musictubes wrote: post #133
9dev wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Star Spangled Banner was incredible. The way you can hear the machine guns, choppers, sirens, screaming in agony… that was a masterpiece.

If you listen to the Woodstock soundtrack it is clear that Hendrix was on a completely different musical level than anyone else in that scene. Ravi Shankar was probably the only person there above him from a chops perspective and possibly in the expressivity department as well. But when it came to sheer inventiveness no one was close to Hendrix. I cannot imagine what it must have been like to see and hear him. It mus…

The drum solo by the Santana drummer was epic as well.

Re: Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer

#208

Post by WalterBright »

kazinator wrote: post #106

> Electric guitars attack hard, decay fast, and don’t sustain like bowed strings or organs. Since the 1980s, we have had the "Sustainiac": an active circuit installed in the electric guitar along with a "reverse pickup" which is energized in order to excite vibration in the strings. With this device, at the flip of a switch, you get indefinite sustain on any note on the neck, at any volume, distortion or not --- even…

[Nigel Tufnel is showing Marty DiBergi one of his favorite guitars]

Nigel Tufnel: The sustain, listen to it. Marty DiBergi: I don't hear anything. Nigel Tufnel: Well you would though, if it were playing.

Re: Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer

#209

Post by WalterBright »

solomonb wrote: post #21

I strongly believe that if you set aside genre preferences the solid body electric guitar coupled to a tube amplifier is objectively the greatest electronic instrument ever created. All other electronic instruments, with the one exception being the Theramin, have a fundamental problem with human expression. There is an unsolvable disconnect between what the performer's actions and their audience. See: https://www.scr…

No two trumpet players sound the same. I know who is playing just by the tone. Listen to Herb Alpert / Al Hirt / Maurice Andre, all playing the same instrument, but wildly different.

Re: Jimi Hendrix was a systems engineer

#210

Post by WalterBright »

Slow_Hand wrote: post #34

Nice article for engineers to understand something that most guitar players will intuitively know. One of the great things about a hi-gain setup like Hendrix's is how the feedback loop will inject an element of controlled chaos into the sound. It allows for emergent fluctuations in timbre that Hendrix can wrangle, but never fully control. It's the squealing, chaotic element in something like his 'Star Spangled Banner…

This leaves me wondering what would happen if you attached a coupling to a trumpet and ran the sound through an effects/feedback box. Why should electric guitars have all the fun?
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