The surround sound organ

    The COVID pandemic was the beginning of my ‘Audiophile’ journey. For those uninitiated to this branch of madness, the following sentences will be gibberish. Audiophiles are those that believe in the systematic pursuit of acoustic perfection in sound reproduction. In today’s world of tiny and tinny Bluetooth speakers and overly bloated-sounding earphones and headphones, the art of putting together a proper loudspeaker system that has the least number of changes in the signal path, a reasonably flat frequency response and good stereo or surround imaging is difficult, especially as a student because it gets really expensive really quickly.

    I do not wish this madness on anyone except those that are already irked by all noises because they are always listening to all noises. For those that choose fans and ACs based on the frequency and volume of its operating sound. This journey is for them that don’t like how loud city life is with its unnecessary honking and purchase weather sealant to isolate themselves inside their room. For them, the Audiophile journey inevitably also includes the Pipe Organ. No other analogue instrument has this level of richness or range.

    I set-up multiple sound systems in my room, selling my old speakers, amplifiers and various source players like cassette decks, turntables and so on just to get different used ones. This experimenting on the pre-owned market gave me the welcome curse of a discerning ear. Now I cannot tolerate mediocre sound, but good sound gives unparalleled joy. This is how I started putting together reference tracks and found Mike Oldfield.

    What amused me was that he was 19 at the time of recording and when I sourced the DVD for his debut album to test out the latest iteration of my sound system, I was 19 as well. I am a patient listener (the original album has two tracks, and both are almost half an hour long) and the detail in the audio editing blew me away. Especially the final section of Part 1 which is something like a vote of thanks, with all the instruments announced and then slowly panning around you in the soundscape (a good test for surround sound systems) and settling down around you. The final name announced is the titular instrument of the album, Tubular Bells.

    If you can keep track of them as they appear, you get to hear a grand piano, glockenspiel, Farfisa organ, bass guitar, electric guitar (including "speed guitar", "fuzz guitar", "mandolin-like guitar" and "guitars sounding like bagpipes"), taped motor drive amplifier organ chord, assorted percussion, acoustic guitar, flageolet, honky-tonk piano, Lowrey organ, tubular bells, concert tympani, Hammond organ, Spanish guitar, string basses and flutes. The kinds of organs and the different tones were one of the key factors in my later study on the sounds of different organ pipes and the variations possible and the attention to detail in the album was inspirational in my personal wish to listen closely to organ tones. It pushed me to also listen and enjoy classical music in the same way that I enjoy music like Pink Floyd and to not think of music in terms of 'alien or native'. All music is universal. I know this music is niche. I doubt many have even heard the entire album. Today I will not ask you to listen to this album. For the right person, I don't have to tell you. I couldn't stop you if I tried. For those mad enough, happy listening!