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Here's a YouTube link to the video for the song Shaky Earth from the debut album of young local band Mañana. This is the first time these guys have recorded and the album is a great bunch of songs.

My involvement in the project was as mastering engineer, which was done in DP, of course

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 2MV4u7U78g

That's nice.

I dunno what it is exactly, but there is something very 'Australian' about that clip.

Good production.

BKK-OZ wrote:That's nice.

I dunno what it is exactly, but there is something very 'Australian' about that clip.

Good production.

Agree. Very nice. There is an Australian sound isn't there, and it's not just the accent.

(The bass player looks like he wanted to be somewhere else.)

bayswater wrote:Agree. Very nice. There is an Australian sound isn't there, and it's not just the accent.

(The bass player looks like he wanted to be somewhere else.)

Ha!

Are you inferring that to be Australian is to want to be somewhere else?

BKK-OZ wrote:

bayswater wrote:Agree. Very nice. There is an Australian sound isn't there, and it's not just the accent.

(The bass player looks like he wanted to be somewhere else.)

Ha!

Are you inferring that to be Australian is to want to be somewhere else?

No, but now you mention it, the number of Australians I meet in places other than Australia is surprising.

The overseas trip is almost a cultural imperative: finish school and travel overseas before starting at university or work. Probably because Australia is so far away from everywhere (except New Zealand). "The Tyranny of Distance" - our geographical remoteness has always exercised a great influence on Australia and Australian attitudes about themselves and their place in the world. I sometimes get a sense that people who have traveled have a higher opinion of themselves because of where they have been - or is that just low self esteem caused by geographical isolation? LOL

Bass player does look a little uncomfortable - not everyone is a natural in front of the camera. As they do more I reckon he'll loosen up and have fun with it.

The Australian sound: apart from distance shaping psychological development and attitudes, our 50Hz power supply makes gear sound different.

davedempsey wrote:...our 50Hz power supply makes gear sound different.

OK, mate, you have got to unpack that a bit.

How so?

(Not doubting, just curious.)

Firstly in regards noise characteristics: a transformer at 50Hz runs hotter and draws a higher magnetising current. Also adds more 3rd harmonic noise which shows up as more buzz at 150Hz.
Proper 50Hz transformers are more expensive to make so in the interests of keeping prices low lots of equipment have compromised power supplies.
Our Oz power supply has supposedly been standardized as 230V +10%/-6%, which should see an acceptable range between a low of 216 volts and a high of 253 volts. The problem is that most sub-stations have not been re-tapped to comply with the new standard and I have seen supply well above 260 volts. Why? Because the copper infrastructure has not been upgraded and some, if not most, of the sub-stations are feeding runs of 2 or more kilometers. To ensure no brown-out at the end of the line the sub-stations are pumping above voltage. The result for audio equipment is more transformer saturation which results in higher third and fifth harmonic i.e distorting the supply waveform and polluting the supply.
Different transformers saturate at different voltages and the very best only at higher voltages - but when they do, they saturate instantly. Most transformers saturate gradually.
In short, the heat factors and the transformer saturation causing power supply waveform distortions result in the gear behaving differently and, therefore, engineers using it differently.

Lordy lordy!

I learned a lot in that, thanx.

I have always known that Oz power is flaky - things going boom, brown/black outs, etc. but I never had that much background. Kind of makes a lie out of all this talk about our gold-plated and therefore very expensive power distribution infrastructure.

Anyway, back on topic, great tune, good production, all the best.

The UK power supply is 240/50 too. British music doesn't sound Australian. Maybe the power supply has an effect on the sound of gear, but that's not what I'm talking about. Vancouver sounds Australian in the summer because its full of Australians.

Awesome!