Darkroom Music

[modafoto]

One of my husband's standards tho' is Joni Mitchell...loves her music!

Gotta LOVE her live album "Shadows and Light". Which by the way fits perfectly to the darkroom/photography work.

 

[jovo]

As a break from what I usually listen to, I've really enjoyed Brian Wilson's SMILE! album since my oldest son gave it to me for my birthday. It's great stuff.

 

[modafoto]

So yeah, Frank Zappa and the Ramones- that's all you need.

Not ALL...but a good addition

Gotta love Ramones!

 

[modafoto]

Blues are prohibited from my darkroom since the air guitar makes its appearance a few minutes into the session.

Remember: What you call Air Guitar is just another way of dodge and burn...

 

[Lee Shively]

You guys have inspired me. I've been working on making my darkroom more of a darkroom and less of a closet. Among the new additions is an old Sony portable CD player/radio I had tucked in the back of a closet. Also found boxes of forgotten classical CD's--I mean a LOT of CD's. They fit nicely in a cabinet in the darkroom under the enlarger. Once I get everything finished and have the time for a printing session, I'll be set up to rediscover this music.

 

[Bob F.]

This week, I are be mostly listening to... Kate Rushby...

 

[roteague]

This week, I are be mostly listening to... Kate Rushby...

This week, I am listening to Iron Butterfly ... music from my youth.

 

[James Bleifus]

The only Windham Hill stuff I have is Mike Manring's solo albums... That certainly 'aint soft, new agey or relaxing - at least the stuff after Drastic Measures (which is awesome). Ian

That's really interesting. I'll have to check out Manring's stuff sometime. I only have the quiet soothing stuff like George Winston or William Ackerman. The music helps keep focused on the task at hand.

Cheers,

James

 

[VoidoidRamone]

Mostly metal.

Right now it's Satyricon, Nightwish, Mayhem and Rammstein.

Keeping it evil, black and white!

Morten

Metal is of course good too... how about bands like Motorhead, King Diamond, Slayer, and Absu? And not quite "metal", but bands like the Stooges (Iggy Pop), Danzig, and the Misfits? Music is a great, great thing.
-Grant

 

[modafoto]

Metal is of course good too... how about bands like Motorhead, King Diamond, Slayer, and Absu?

These are all bands that it represented by several CD's in my collection. Gotta love it! Motorhead is good when drinking and discussing hot rodded vehicles

King Diamond is danish!!! So he is the kid from the village
It's a real joy to attend his concerts and hear him praise Denmark although he is not living here anymore.

Slayer...ahhhh...nice, thrashy and occult.

Absu....purely black!

And not quite "metal", but bands like the Stooges (Iggy Pop), Danzig, and the Misfits? Music is a great, great thing.
-Grant

Ahhhh....gotta love this! Danzig is my favorite of the ones you mentioned. Misfits are quite cool, too. Stooges is not my cup of tea in every situation. I am more of a Iggy Solo Pop kinda guy.

 

[donna-marie]

I time with a metronome. I listen to my music waaaay too loud. This often results in 14 'beats' (whatever they are, from the song) under the enlarger instaead of 14 seconds, lol. Messed up a few peices of paper that way. I have learned that for at least the time under the lamp I must turn it down. Other than that it's all blaring, all the time.

for the record, radiohead/nirvanna/white stripes/pixies/sarah slean . . .

 

[Craig]

CBC's Radio 2's "Saturday Afternoon at the Opera" is relaxing music to make prints to, but it depends on my mood.

Craig

 

[raucousimages]

Jazz. With wall mounted Bose speakers.

 

[Flotsam]

Jazz. With wall mounted Bose speakers.

I need a decent set of bookshelf speakers so that I can position them to put the sweet spot right over my developing tray. I went Amazon and there are about a zillion to choose from.

 

[SkipA]

My darkroom music choices depend mostly on my mood, but also to some degree on my activity.

For printing final prints, I prefer relaxed, or at least less frenetic, Jazz like really cool and easy Michael Franks or slightly more energetic Al Jarreau. Herbie Hancock if I want synth with no vocals.

For work prints or for film developing, it could be anything from Bob Dylan to Alice in Chains, but mostly settling on classic rock like Jethro Tull, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Kansas, Blue Oyster Cult, Traffic, Jimi Hendrix, Robin Trower (Procal Harum), and so forth. AC/DC and Aerosmith I tend to play at ear-splitting volumes. Among Texas artists, I dig all the ZZ Top stuff, and Stevie Ray Vaughn, of course. And, I'll admit it, the quintessential Texas group, Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys.

 

[kwmullet]

I've mentioned before, I think, that since I use a metronome as an enlarging timer, I listen to talk rather than music. Frustrated with the slant of most of the talk radio I was finding (where is the truck driver show or that late-nite UFO/Conspiracy show when you need them?!?), I brought my iBook into the darkroom, fashioned a screen cozy out of an Ilford paper envelope ('cause of that glowing apple on the display), and hooked up some speakers to listen to KPFT (Pacifica Radio) in Houston.

One think led to another and I decided to listen to my favorite geek audio: "radio" programs from the 1993 (and thereabouts) Internet Multicasting Service, which was probably the very first mass-consumed audio on the Internet. Right now, I'm listening to a 1993 Geek of the Week interview with Tim Berners-Lee who is trying to explain what his new invention, the World-Wide Web, is and how it works.

Interesting and compelling enough that I gotta shut off the exhaust fan for a while so I don't miss anything.

I return you now to the regularly schedule hemisphere of your brain.

-KwM-

 

[Black Dog]

the only way to feel the noise...

For me, it's everything from Motorhead (Plus development) to Joni Mitchell (especially Blue and The Hissing of Summer Lawns) and Nick Drake (Pink Moon) Of course it all depends on your mood/subject matter/approach-lovers of moody, dark , depressing urban landscapes might go for a bit of Joy Division (they make Radiohead sound happy), the Smiths (and heaven knows I'm miserable now....), Tom Waits (the ocean doesn't want me today) or punk (I don't wanna be a pinhead no more). For fairly mindless, repetitive tasks like clearing away and washing up , 80s compilations are poptastic-a bit of Spandau Ballet, Wham! or Duran Duran just makes the time fly by! A stack of good soul/funk compilations is also essential-you can't go far wrong with any of the Deep Soul Treasures series or anything from Soul Jazz (eg New Orleans Funk, Miami Sound). Marquee Moon by Television is a current favourite.

 

[Flotsam]

I picked up "Hissing of Summer Lawns" and listen to it in the darkroom regularly. I've had "Shadows and Light" for years and it is nice to hear the studio versions of those great songs.

 

[Art Vandalay]

I listen to the radio when I'm in the darkroom. I have about 6 stations programmed and flip through them, depending on the mood I'm in. They cover everything from Jazz to Electronic. On the weekends I also like to have a beer or two, or three or six and the more I have the more the music turns to straight ahead rock and the volume goes up - then the dancing starts and I know at that stage that I might as well pack it in because I'm too far gone to remember to do things like actually exposing the paper before I put it in the developer etc.

 

[John McCallum]

In France they Kiss on the Main Street.

 

[jimgalli]

This thread has a life of it's own. I skipped over answering on page 5 thinking I was too late and no one was paying any attention anymore but it just keeps on going.

I listen to tapes of Fiona Ritchie's "Thistle & Shamrock" program. Just the right mix. Celtic music. Occasionally I'll put on pipe organ music. I prefer the old hymns from long ago. And very occasionally I'll listen to tapes I made decades ago of my then huge collection of 78RPM records. Mostly swing but salted with Bob Wills. I still have my Brunswick Victrola and will get out "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" by Gene if I have an interested 5 year old. Talk about analog.

 

[Flotsam]

I like the way that APUG will pick up a thread that has been inactive for months and continue it rather than start a new one. Keeps the threads continuous.

 

[Lee Shively]

Neal, if you're still in the market for some small speakers, I can recommend the Polk Atrium 45's. They're "multipurpose", meaning they are indoor/outdoor speakers. I bought a set for my back porch last summer and the sound is pretty remarkable for outside listening. They're not pretty--black plastic (or white, if you wish) with a metal mounting bracket--but, being made to withstand the weather, they should handle a darkroom environment without a problem. If they sound good outside, they should sound even better indoors. They were less than $200 from Crutchfield.

 

[Flotsam]

Neal, if you're still in the market for some small speakers, I can recommend the Polk Atrium 45's. They're "multipurpose", meaning they are indoor/outdoor speakers.

Gee, I'm not that sloppy in the darkroom

Thanks for the tip. There are so many choices.

 

[mikepry]

Yesterday I found a CD that I thought I had lost years ago and put it on..."The Private Years" by Taj Mahall. Remember him? That is some good stuff to print to. The image I posted of the Milwaukee Art Museum in the Standard Gallery was done under the influence of that. I really feel music can play such a vital role in photographic creativity.