When a bunch of melomaniacs get over bored at home amidst this lock down and the situation at home does not permit firing their gears as and when desired, they start feeling restless. The restlessness gives rise to uncanny ideas of killing time and inline with the growing remote working culture of this time what can be more fulfilling than a virtual online meet. For some days the idea has been cooking in the Kolkata HFV Whatsapp group and finally last Sunday 21 April it was put to execution.
Attendees : @pratimbayal , @souravin , @hector2013, @KAUSHIK MAJUMDER, @anirban420 , @subhashis_1980, @haisaikat
We started the meet around 5-30 pm and being Sunday evening with no where else to go and no one to come home either, participation was unhindered for most except the ever bothering adhoc office calls in some cases. The opening discussion was obviously with introductions as some of us has never seen each other except on profile DPs of whatsapp or in the audio meet photos that are shared from time to time. But before any other topic could be discussed the obvious topic of COVID-19 took over the spot light :- general concerns, wellness, staying safe, strategies and so on. But soon @pratimbayal brought us back to context and the audio discussion started, accounted below and precised.
Topics Discussed
Noteworthy to mention that @anirban420 's pet dog was seriously unhappy with something and kept protesting in the background for quite some time. Thankful to @subhashis_1980 for not falling asleep unlike during the trial run last weekend.
Like all good things come to an end soon, although initially planned for just 60 mins, we were surprised to see how soon we reached the 90 mins mark when we decided to close the session. It was fun and informative and held the interest of everyone throughout the duration. We look forward to have another one soon.
Attendees : @pratimbayal , @souravin , @hector2013, @KAUSHIK MAJUMDER, @anirban420 , @subhashis_1980, @haisaikat
We started the meet around 5-30 pm and being Sunday evening with no where else to go and no one to come home either, participation was unhindered for most except the ever bothering adhoc office calls in some cases. The opening discussion was obviously with introductions as some of us has never seen each other except on profile DPs of whatsapp or in the audio meet photos that are shared from time to time. But before any other topic could be discussed the obvious topic of COVID-19 took over the spot light :- general concerns, wellness, staying safe, strategies and so on. But soon @pratimbayal brought us back to context and the audio discussion started, accounted below and precised.
Topics Discussed
- @pratimbayal brought up this topic on how will the COVID-19 impact our future upgrades and purchases. This we felt to be a wider discussion although most of us agreed for delayed spend and "wait and watch" before the next upgrade. Nevertheless a very interesting topic and will start a separate thread for this. He has spent million on his gears but is quite humble in his choice of cell phone and headsets, as a result we could hardly hear him properly most of the time.
- @souravin was actually sitting in his newly setup audio den and on public demand gave a walk through of his entire audio setup. Unlike @pratimbayal his million is actually invested on the media, especially LPs followed by CDs. He also has the privileged of having multiple setups per home (yes you guessed it correct, multiple homes too)
- The next discussion was interesting, why are first pressings of audio releases better in most cases. @souravin explained the concept of Lacquer Mastering in vinyl manufacturing and how Gramaphone Company of India neglected this in subsequent pressings and releases and resulted in poorer subsequent releases. This discussion was also picked up by @anirban420 , @subhashis_1980 and @hector2013 on their experiences of different releases of the same album on CD and a debatable discussion spawned regarding any possible degradation in audio due to continued copies of a audio CD. General notion was there may be degradation but @anirban420 was firm on having no degradation. Will start a separate thread for the same.
- @souravin also explained the transition of various vinyl labels of the Gramaphone Company of India starting with Odeon and EMI and then transitioning to HMV later on. @subhashis_1980, @hector2013 and @anirban420 also continued debate on various CD labels. While the discussion with going on @hector2013 was busy scanning Discogs and validating various releases while sipping off his regular dose of evening caffeine from the Red Nescafe Mug.
- The final discussion, continuing from above, was a showcase of rare media items from individual collection with focus on Gatefold and Trifold covers on LPs and CDs. It was a great learning.
Noteworthy to mention that @anirban420 's pet dog was seriously unhappy with something and kept protesting in the background for quite some time. Thankful to @subhashis_1980 for not falling asleep unlike during the trial run last weekend.
Like all good things come to an end soon, although initially planned for just 60 mins, we were surprised to see how soon we reached the 90 mins mark when we decided to close the session. It was fun and informative and held the interest of everyone throughout the duration. We look forward to have another one soon.
