Monthly Archives: May 2014

MY MUSTANG’S SOUND SYSTEM

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I’ve not said a lot about the Shaker sound system. I did not get the option that adds a subwoofer and another amp, not worth $1300 to me.

The system has good enough bass for me, and the treble is clear. It’s as loud as I’d ever want it even at highway speeds, and it remains clear and unstrained.

What’s my peeve?

As with many cars, the 2005 Buick LeSabre I drive in the winter has Bass, Mid and Treble controls. The Mustang has only Bass and Treble! What’s up with that?!

Adding frequency bands is just adding some more algorithms, not a big deal! What could it possibly cost? Not much at all.

If they thought having more control would be “too confusing” for “average users”, they could’ve left it that way and then added a submenu or option to have a 5 or 9 band EQ. Not hard. Look at what Windows Media Player has for EQ options, TEN BANDS!

For a car, just optimize the frequency choices to allow for road noise. Bundle a bunch of frequencies close together for that spectrum, and you’d have plenty left over to refine upper mids, bass and treble.

At highway speeds, I want to adjust EQ to boost the frequencies that get masked by road and wind noise, that’s all. Not too much to ask.

If they think users are going to overboost, like some idiots do with turning up bass and treble all the way, to save the amp and speakers just add peak limiters as part of those algorithms. Nowadays, very easy and cheap.

They go to all the trouble of installing 8 speakers and 8 amps, which is the expensive part, but don’t do more than bass and treble for EQ. That’s screwy. I suspect even if I had ordered the extra sub and amp for $1300, I bet it still is just bass and treble. I’m sure if it was more than two bands, they’d mention that in the options literature.

When you have a lot of road noise, what you hear is mostly bass and treble. Cutting those back to allow the mids through doesn’t work well, as you get a lot of upper mid frequencies that aren’t part of the road noise spectrum.

Other than this peeve, I still really love the car. Hard to beat 430 hp and I get compliments from people quite often about the overall look, including the Deep Impact Blue color, and the optional wheels I got when I ordered the car.

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H.R. GIGER DIES

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http://www.rogerebert.com/mzs/grim-and-endless-night-sweet-prince-of-darkness-hr-giger

I think worth a read. I don’t know if you ever saw Alien or the sequels or the prequel. I saw it and at least the next one, though would really like to see the prequel then see the third and however many others there are. Sigourney Weaver was great. But Giger’s design was TOTALLY unlike anything I’ve ever seen.

I think the Alien in that movie was the scariest ever, really. I’m trying to think of anything else I ever saw in a movie that really compares for total effect and originality: nada.

Its biology and scale of superiority to humans was appalling, plus the look of it was pure nightmare. The way Ridley Scott first visually introduces it in the shadows is also totally creepy. This creature was especially terrifying because of the mix of sex and death within it, in terms of the involved way it procreated. Giger’s designs were biomechanical in appearance, but with plenty of sexual ideas for incorporating genitalia sometimes, however usually subtle they were (not always).

But you get really creeped out and softened up well before seeing the creature when you get a load of the interior of the ship. For some reason seeing that in the theater looked better than it ever did on TV.

Giger was hugely influential, plus was just original as hell. When that movie was done he was about 39 years old. Died at about 74.

Sometime a long time ago, somewhere, I saw a lot of his artwork. Stunning to say the least. Wouldn’t want it in my dreams, either, but he was a brilliant craftsman who knew how to get at the core of human fears. It’s not just his general design and fine details, but even the mood created by his shading and shadows.

He has his own museum in Switzerland. He died a week ago from complications after suffering a fall.

He was a trained guy including industrial design. He designed and built two bars in Switzerland devoted to his style and they have some of his pieces. He also did some sculptures. Did a lot of work with films and album covers for bands.

In a New York Times obituary, Timothy Leary, a friend of Giger’s, was quoted as having praised the artist by saying, “Giger’s work disturbs us, spooks us, because of its enormous evolutionary time span. It shows us, all too clearly, where we come from and where we are going.”

If you have time:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necronom_IV#Concept_and_creation

Original print that was not the alien, but was the basis for it:

File:H.R. Giger - Necronom IV.jpg

Likely the first preliminary  design for the movie alien, or the first submitted by him to the studio:

File:Hrgigeralien.jpg

This pic is not necessarily supposed to be the Alien in the movie, but a variant of that theme (I have no idea if it was done before or after the movie):

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