Were you happy to see his practice pad go. 
Chas
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We moved from a house in Canada to an apartment in Scottsdale, AZ. I’d converted his drums from Acoustic to Electric using piezo elements readily available on Amazon. That and a Alesis Trigger box with an SD card reader for drum/cymbal samples. It worked but he still preferred the real deal. He woul break the trigger on the snare A LOT. Never like electronic drum kits and refused to wear ear protection at home when he played.
This is his kit in the old house
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One of the things I liked about my new place when apartment hunting recently was that the owners told me the former tenant had a drum set set up in the room I’m now using for stereo and HT, and none of the neighbors had complained : )
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Amazing.
I have a tuba playing friend who lives in a high-end condo. He solved the problem by negotiating times throughout the day when he is allowed to practice.
Back on topic, I find music compelling regardless of the quality of playback. I am listening to the Haydn cello concertos as performed by Mstislav Rostropovich on YouTube via a laptop as I type this, while sitting in front of one of my main systems. I feel no need to turn the system on.
Point well taken. Neil’s single-minded pursuit of this has certainly been admirable, if Quixotic, as it can also seem sort of out of touch, like a hifi enthusiast who can’t enjoy the music for its own sake unless Everything is Just So. I’ve taken to calling this “neck up” vs. “neck down” listening.
He certainly has a point if you think of it in terms of being say, a visual artist - a painter - whose work is photographed and then Xeroxed and distributed widely, often for free or for others’ profit. Reminds me of going to museums and finally seeing originals of famous artworks I had only ever seen in textbooks - and even in beautifully-done coffeetable books - and being completely blown away and emotionally effected by the experience. Hifi indeed.
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An excellent simile.
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Correct me if I am wrong, I believe iTunes downloads/ streaming sure sounds better than any cassette or 8 track you would buy at the store back in the day. Plus, much of FM was noisy , etc. the masses listened to am radio. I remember purchasing many records and opened up to find crappy vinyl remember dynaflex),warps and god knows how many pressings were made past the stamper life.
Neil Young has taken advantage of hi Rez with his blu Ray audio releases. There is nothing stopping him or any artist from making hi Rez versions available.
Neil should take his arguments to other musicians and impress upon them good recording and mastering techniques. Crappy recordings sound crappier in Hi Rez
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Good point; listening to iTunes with a decent pair of ear phones does sound quite good in the overall scheme of things.
Hmmm…not me. I bought some iTunes downloads years ago and the levels are so hot, its just horrendous (Stones - Bigger Bang for example). 128AAC or the later 256AAC were terrible sounding. I have pre recorded Dolby S HX Pro tapes from Warner Bros. And BMG that were a bit soft in the Treble, were at least easy on the ears.
Those levels were given to Apple from the label. I’m talking about the file format itself.