SoundStage! Music Online Contributors

SoundStage! Music Online Contributors

Bruce Bassett | Jay Piriz
Steven R. Rochlin | Greg Smith

Bruce Bassett (bruce@soundstage.com)

[BRUCE BASSETT] When I was 5 years old "Jack Was Every Inch 'a Sailor" was the best song in the whole world. Listening to that song made me the happiest tyke in the land. By Grade 3, "Jack" just didn't do it for me anymore. The Village People and Kiss became the grooviest bands on the planet. Nothing made me feel better than shouting it out loud or singing about the YMCA. By grade 6 the sing-along simplicity of the Village People and Kiss had become passe. Billy Joel and Dire Straits were now responsible for bringing shivers down my spine. Then came the Heavy Metal Era. These were dark times but as a teenage rebel, Iron Maiden et al provided the crash, bang, wallop that filled my heart full of fire and sent my head buzzing. After that, came the lean years. My musical tastes expanded into jazz, blues, classical, Celtic... but the reality of work, a home and a magnificent wife left little time for real listening enjoyment.

The above preamble illustrates one of the main reasons I write music reviews for SoundStage!. I love music! When given the opportunity of having to force myself to "listen" to music on a regular basis, I just couldn't say no. For me, music doesn't have to be technically perfect, overly complex or virtuosic to be good. When I listen to music, I want to hear sincerity, uniqueness, synergy, musicianship, and to be truly
great it must have the power to bring out strong emotions in me... just like "Jack" did when I was 5.

Jay Piriz (jay@soundstage.com)

Like many of us who have succumbed to the perils of the audio hobby, I have spent much time (and uh, money), in the pursuit of my lifelong passion; realistic, emotional, natural and evocative musical reproduction. My better half of nearly 25 years, my two daughters, and my Yellow Lab have grown to accept my need for regular, spontaneous, extended sessions of solitude seated firmly and almost trancelike in the sweetest of spots. Upon emerging from this dedicated, magical space, the entire family (and the dog) agrees that I emerge renewed, with a disposition that is for a time, much more agreeable and tolerant of others. They remark that I am indeed easier to live with, and appear to become temporarily enlightened!

By day, I am a Senior Healthcare Executive; a profession that is often prone to illogical situations which cause dangerously high levels of stress. That magical, musical space to which I retreat late at night and on the weekends clears the mind and renews the spirit. As the mad genius Frederick Nietzche philosophized, "Life without music would be a mistake."

These days, I try to get to as many live (ideally acoustic) events as often as possible, which is never often enough. In addition to enjoying many wonderful classical and jazz performances during recent years, I have also enjoyed live performances by Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Van Morrison, Sting, Counting Crows, Fiona Apple, Peter Gabriel, Santana, Steely Dan, Rare Earth, Grand Funk Railroad, Hall and Oates, Cat Stevens, The Rolling Stones, Melissa Etheridge, David Byrne, The Doobie Brothers, The Doors, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Bela Fleck, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Traffic, Iron Butterfly, Linda Ronstadt, King Crimson and many other great rock legends. Great memories....I think.

I believe in the musical truth re-created by single-ended, true class-A, directly heated triode amplifier designs. I love my Western Electric 300B's, they create a very special musical experience. But for me it is not about the hardware anymore, it's about the music. Rock, jazz, classical, folk, reggae, country, you name it, I will listen to all music with an equal measure of consideration. All music is special; some artists and engineers are able to stir the soul and lift the spirit more than others. Finding these gems, is what it's all about.

When the chance to share my love of the music with the readers of SoundStage! came along, it was an opportunity that I could not let go by.

Steven R. Rochlin (steve@soundstage.com)

So who is the dude named Steven Rochlin? Well, he loves life, his grandfather was a drummer, his brother is a drummer, and Steve's a drummer/percussionist. Influences? Max Roach, Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich, Neil Peart, Stewart Copeland, Bill Bruford... Learnt to solder at age 5, worked for Heathkit as my first job at the ripe ol' age of 18! Grew up enjoying lottsa live acoustic music all around the world because my dad 'n mom love music (mom's fave is Rhapsody in Blue). As for music reproduction, dad bought the then new 1969 Tannoy dual concentric twelve inch Gold Monitors in the UK and brought them to the US. Oh, the amps were tubes.

In high school our marching band won superior rating every year. Proof that by folks working together great things can happen. There is no i in team. Same goes for the school's jazz band which i was the drummer. In high school and early college there was studio time, engineering recordings, got scared when they invented the Linn drum machine, saw the beginning of MIDI, made digital samples in those early days when you had to burn a memory chip manually, toured a bit because college wasn't my gig, and basically did the 'musician creative substances in the 80's '. Now i don't do any 'creative substances'. Well, maybe a little vinyl every now and then :-{)+ . Now at the age of 32 my love for life and music is ever growing. Skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, skydiving, thrashing... Maybe it's that adrenaline rush? Ya know, music has those types of rushes too! To go clubbin' and hit the mosh pit is great. Crowd surfing is awesome too (warning: it can be extremely dangerous too).

Life's just too short to take it too seriously. Ok, my ears have been tuned to live music for years, i've recorded and engineered. Big whoopee deal! But isn't the whole point to have fun? The picture you see of me is from my '81 year book drumming with the School's jazz band. Hey man, dig that afro and bow tie! Yeah, I've enjoyed Audio Note Ongakus, VTLs, Goldmunds, Adcoms, VPIs, VOYDs, LP12s, Lexicons, Infinitys, KEFs, Wilsons... In the end it's all about how much the music sounds real and how it makes you feel. If you're not enjoying the music then something's amiss. Oh, speaking of which, you might enjoy my www site at www.enjoythemusic.com. No matter what i or anyone else sez, it's if you like the music, the equipment, the musical artist, etc. So after reading a review, please try it if you feel it's something you may like. Yes, expensive equipment is great, but the cheapskate in me also like to be satisfied too! No matter what a reviewer sez, including me, you must take some action (and not taking any is an action too of sorts). You are the only one who knows what you'll really like when all is said and done. After all, what really matters to me is that you...Enjoy the Music

Greg Smith (gsmith@westnet.com)

[GREG SMITH] Never one to settle for anything without knowing the alternatives, Greg has wandered through half a dozen different jobs in the last few years. Having given up on the manufacturing database and consulting venues as bad scenes, he currently lives on the edge at a hip Internet startup in New York City where he slaves away on new technology for creating interactive home pages. While initially quite satisfied with his first attempt at putting together a system that actually sounded good, a run-in with the high-end press and subsequent dealer visits left him rather displeased with his nascent audio configuration. After going through his Adcom period and building a bunch of speakers to learn how you could screw things up, Greg first found the elusive sound he was looking with a reasonable price tag in the form of Rotel, and has been smiling ever since.

After electronically running into DAS one day, he's been writing about his own approach to the high-end for SoundStage! for the last year and a half while watching his total system price escalate. He maintains that anyone who dumps more money into a system they're listening to than they have tied up in their music collection is nuts, which helps keep a reference point for what reasonable spending on audio is. Greg's goal is to drag as many people as possible out of low-fi misery, a task he goes about with an evangelical fervor. He writes on other topics as well, with published articles in obscure technical weeklies like LAN Times complementing the occasional audio related bit for magazines like Speaker Builder (check out his home page to see the material that doesn't fit in here).

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