Roon and Lightroom - as Distractions

Every now and then I get the feeling that I just don't take music seriously enough if I don't have Roon, and I don't take photography seriously if I don't have Lightroom. I'm sure Roon Labs and Adobe will be pleased to hear that their PR is working.

Lightroom first.

There was an analogue equivalent of Lightroom. It was called 'the darkroom', and in it the professionals did things like cross-process, experiment with paper stock, dodge-and-shade, and many other things. Photoshop was developed so professional photographers could futz with digital photographs the same way they had been doing with film. We amateurs accepted that was for professionals: there was no shame in not knowing your way round a darkroom.

Lightroom is software, it doesn't need a dedicated room. There's no excuse for not learning the basics and beyond. It's a real tool used by serious hobbyists and professionals - and real pros use Capture One Pro (as well) to tether their camera to a Mac with a big screen. If you think the basic Lightroom + Photoshop subscription is expensive, wait until you see how much the monthly subscription to Capture One Pro is. (The commercial portrait photography pros will tell you it pays for itself in extra sales in no time.)

Photos is good enough to do the basic changes I need to make: a tweak to the alignment here, maybe a little touch on the colours, brightness and contrast. DxO Perspective if the angles are really off. We snap-shooters don't do filters and pre-sets. Those are for pros, and the pre-sets in Photos are, well, just not for me.

Adobe have got their hooks into me with Lightroom. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I feel I'm not taking my photography seriously if I don't have it. On the other days of the week, I know that the first thing I need to do to take photography seriously is a) travel more, b) do still lives. Using Lightroom for the occasional snaps I take at the moment would be close to "all the gear and no idea".

Now Roon.

I'll admit it, the only reason I want Roon is so I can stop feeling inferior every time John Darko or someone of that ilk mentions it. I said I get the feeling that I'm not taking music seriously enough if I don't have Roon, but that's not correct.

You're reading the gibberish of a man who has read Burkholder's History of Western Music, and the Oxford History of Music, plus a few more. I can read music (just) and play guitar and piano (after a fashion). My collection runs from Coltrane to Corelli. I have attended a performance of Opus Calivcumbalisticum and sat through the Ring Cycle. I saw Elton John before he had his first hit, and Miles Davis when he played the Festival Hall. I have been to Proms and the Wigmore Hall. I'm as serious about music as anyone can be who doesn't do it for a living, and still has a sense of proportion.

What I'm not so serious about is hi-fi aka "the hobby". I like my music to sound good. I've always had decent entry-level gear, and the step up to the next-level set-up I have now was well-worth it. I'm not a gear-head or a collector. I'm the guy who buys gear because it does a good job, not because I want to "own the brand". I have, however, read the Master Handbook of Acoustics, so I guess that counts.

I did try Roon, and wrote about it. It's a resource hog: you will not be rendering video and running Roon at the same time. I was impressed by its speed and ability to find album art when Apple Music couldn't. In the end it didn't make enough of a difference for the price. I can't help feeling that to some extent Roon is a status symbol: I have Roon, I'm a real audiophile with lots of spare cash (or do all audiophiles have spare cash?). I don't have a huge digital library: I rip music to transfer it to my phone for travelling. That's it.

What's really happening is that I feel I'm not taking something I'm doing seriously enough, and the part of the brain that is responsible for distraction and short-cuts throws this chaff about Lightroom, Roon or anything else out.

It's never about gear - except on the very rare occasions when it actually is.

Tourists, Leicester Square 07:58 Saturday Morning

 The camera said it 07:58 on a Saturday morning, and it was going to be a really hot one. London is almost deserted on Saturday morning up to about 10:30. And here our intrepid tourists are, and probably getting a better view of the town without all the crowds. Or maybe they were coming out from an all-nighter (do those still happen?).

Have You Ever Knowingly Used The Melodic or Harmonic Minor Scales?

There is one major scale, also known as the Ionian mode. Tone-Tone-Semitone-Tone-Tone-Tone-Semitone.

There is a natural minor scale, which is where you move three times to the left on the Circle of Fifths and play the resulting major scale, but starting on the original tonic. Also known as the Aolian mode. Tone-Semitone-Tone-Tone-Tone-Semitone-Tone.

Then there is the harmonic minor scale: Tone-Semitone-Tone-Tone-Tone-Three SemiTones-Semitone.

It gets worse. The melodic minor scale: Tone-Semitone-Tone-Tone-Tone-Tone-Semitone (upwards) and play the notes of the natural minor scale on the way down. Hint: don't do trills or clever up-and-down phrases at the upper end of the scale.

Kids have to learn this stuff at Grades Three and Four for piano (but not in all keys).

It's in the book of clarinet scales I once thought would be a good idea to use for the guitar. (The two have a very similar range.)

There's never been a time when Gerald Plumbtones on Radio Three has said "and Mahler wrote this in E harmonic minor".

When something is written in (say) E-minor, it's the natural minor they use.

The only song I know in a harmonic minor is the Great Society version of White Rabbit. Even Derby Slick's solo is in the harmonic minor.



One of the ways of learning something is to extemporise around it. I may have grabbed A harmonic minor, noodled away, and thought on occasion "that sounds a bit Keith Jarrett-y". I suspect KJ used it from time to time.

Lower grade pianists also have to learn the whole-tone scales (both of them) and the chromatic scale (only one of them). No pentatonics, because this is Music Theory and they didn't do pentatonics in the Classical era. Bear in mind there are guitarists who barely do anything else.

So other than for practice, have you ever knowingly used the melodic or harmonic minor scales?

You're An Artist If You Say You Are

There's a scene in a wonderful movie called Dinner Rush...

 

 (Not this scene, but it gives you an idea how good a film this is)

...where a pompous celebrity art critic says to Summer Phoenix's aspiring painter / waitress...

You're an artist if you say you are. You're a successful artist if....

...and then he's interrupted by his entourage.

I've often wondered how to finish that line.

It's subtle, because there's "being an artist" and being a writer, painter, sculptor, interior designer, architect, and all those other activities that fall under "the arts".

You're a writer if you sit down and write pretty much every day. You're a successful writer if you finish some of the stories or projects you start, (because you will waste time on bad ideas)

But then there's "being a writer" as a profession, as participation in a social / cultural scene.

You're an author if you've been published and paid for it. Once. That's what the Society of Authors says. You're a successful author if you keep being published. (Because almost nobody makes a living from writing.)

There are successful authors who are by no means artists. There are artists who write stories, who write little and don't spend much time schmoozing.

So what makes someone a successful artist?

It's not about being a successful practitioner, and it's not about being recognised by the in-crowd of agents, critics, editors, gallerists, academics, journalists, and other bureaucratic nabobs.

What I notice about people I call `artists' is that a) they can work and express themselves in multiple media; b) they are quick to experiment with new technology that may help them produce something; c) they have their own voice / tone / style. You can identify their work more or less immediately.

You're a famous artist if "everyone" knows your name.

You're a rich artist if you have lots of money.

You're a successful artist if you develop your own voice and use that voice to produce work in whatever media you can use.

And most probably you will be poor or working a day job. Those are the stats.

Something You Won't See After The 24th August For A While

 Or maybe it's okay for them to use sprinklers.

Thames Water hosepipe ban from 24th August. 

Wouldn't it be nice if there was a Leaking Pipes Ban as well?

Oh, but then they wouldn't be able to borrow all that money to pay dividends.

Early Saturday Morning Fashion Shoot

 
Hey guys! Let's get a really early tube into the West End and shoot some video at 07:30 on Saturday morning! Before it gets hot, you know?

Fish and Chips, South Bank