(Part 2) Best adult contemporary music according to redditors

I always get a bit depressed when these posts come around again.

This stuff has been available for about 15 years. I used to work for Sensaura. We licensed to audio chip manufacturers. All of the problems mentioned in here (cross-talk cancellation, different shapes of pinnae etc for example) have been solved a long time ago. Our technology was in pretty much every PC soundcard that was not made by Creative. It was also in the original Xbox and nForce motherboards. Our later implementation was completely CPU-based; it was all done in the driver and would work on any AC97 chipset. We also had a software implementation for consoles called GameCODA.

Then we got bought by Creative and those patents have pretty much sat in their cupboard, along with the patents from Aureal. Microsoft is also to blame for the demise of 3D audio as when Vista came out, they changed the audio subsystem so that you couldn't access audio hardware (or a custom driver like ours) through DirectX.

So if you build yourself a time-machine, go back 10 years and buy a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz soundcard, all of your 3D audio dreams will come true. In my mind, it was the best soundcard ever made and included Virtual Ear in the driver, which let you tune the 3D audio to your own ear shape. We also had MacroFX, which simulated sounds very close to the head, ZoomFX, which simulated sounds of any size instead of just a point source, a version that would add full 3D (including vertical positioning) to a surround sound setup, and a whole bunch of other marvellous stuff.

As for everyone going on about cross-talk cancellation as if its a big new thing, here's a PDF of the Sensaura whitepaper on it from 1999. Just search for stuff like Sensaura patents for the rest. There are loads of them, all now owned by Creative.

Edit 1 - fixed links and added whitepaper

Edit 2 - some more Sensaura info:
Sensaura was originally designed for music recordings. The company itself was born out of a research project at EMI's Central Research Laboratories (CRL); the same building where Alan Blumlein invented stereo and the CAT scanner was invented. We had a little museum near reception with the first CAT scanner prototype (built using a common lathe) and such things as King George's gold microphone.

Some of the first uses of Sensaura were on classical CDs and a couple of other albums (Milla Jovovich, Prefab Sprout and Frank Sinatra). These were all intended to be listened to via speakers, so the cross-talk cancellation was built into the recording. Also, classical music aficionados are amongst the most discerning of listeners, so the 3D and cross-talk cancellation was designed to be as transparent as possible. The cross-talk cancellation was especially good as it produced no noticeable phasing effects as you moved left<->right in front of the speakers.

After Aureal started to produce 3D audio for games, it was realised that the 3D music technology (which at that point was built into a rather cool blue multi-channel mixing console with a joystick in the middle of it) could be scaled down for games. A few years later and it really was in pretty much every piece of audio hardware that wasn't made by Creative. If you're interested, read up on Sensaura's Digital Ear. I'll try to find the rest of the Sensaura white papers as they're really interesting.

Edit 3:
Found this Concepts Guide from the web archive of our old GameCODA website which gives a really good overview of all of the Sensaura gaming features. And just think...this was standard on PC games 10 years ago.

Edit 4:
I dug out the white papers I could find and uploaded them (they're really good). The ones that I know are missing are the ones about ZoomFX (volumetric sounds) and Multidrive (3D audio through multiple speakers):

• An introduction to sound and hearing
  
• Digital Ear Technology
  
• MacroFX algorithms
  
• XTC crosstalk cancellation
  
• Transaural acoustic crosstalk cancellation
  
• EnvironmentFX Audio Environment Modelling
  
  I did find a PDF of a presentation on implementing ZoomFX.
  Also, as an example of how common place this all was:
  Interactive 3D Audio Rendering Guidelines Level 2.0 by the 3D Working Group of the Interactive Audio Special Interest Group, September 1999.
  
  Edit 5: One last thing for you. I've uploaded CodaPlayer3D. It came with our GameCODA SDK. It just lets you load in a mono sound and move it around in 3D with various other parameters like reverbs and so on. It's got a bug in it that won't let you switch the output mode (or the HRTF mode), so I'm not sure if it's stuck in speaker mode or headphone mode. Also, the effect is much better with reverb switched on, but is also not as good as if you had a Santa Cruz card and had tuned the output to your own ear. Also, one of the big problems with selling 3D audio to people is that it doesn't impress many people without being able to switch between stereo and 3D. I think this is because 3D is our natural way of to hear things and the brain settles into it really easily (like when you watch a 3D film and forget that it's 3D after 5 minutes).

| | |
|-:|:-|
|name|Spacegoat|
|about artist|Spacegoat, is mexican stoner doom from Monterrey. Making its debut in Rock On Bar, March 11, 2010. The debut EP 'Spacegoat' was released via Bandcamp on December 26, 2012 Formed by: Gina Ríos - Vocals & Guitar Miguel Ríos - Lead Guitar Rigo Vigil - Bass guitar Rey Fraga - Drums (more on last.fm)|
|album|Spacegoat, released Dec 2012|
|track|Cosmica|
|images|album image, artist image|
|links|blog, discogs, facebook, CD on amazon|
|tags|stonerrock, doommetal, rock, psychedelic, femalevocalists|
|similar|Elder, Rainbows Are Free, Dopelord, Bloody Hammers, Sungrazer|
|metrics|lastfm listeners: 625, lastfm plays: 6,527, youtube plays: 19,983, radd.it score: 7.5|


Please downvote this comment if this data is incorrect!
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because i have a massive dislike for kenny loggins.

EDIT: a number of friends of mine had their studying for finals disrupted by the sound check and tests for https://www.amazon.com/Outside-Redwoods-Kenny-Loggins/dp/B0000029BV . had he done it merely a few days later, there would have been no issue --- but between him and whoever at UCSC authorized it, a number of people I know were hurt by it.

I've avoided doing anything which might remotely give him money, ever since.

Wow just looked up that Gold Experience one , crazy!
https://www.amazon.com/Gold-Experience-Prince/dp/B000002N1E/ref=sr_1_1_twi_aud_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1465972017&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Gold+Experience

I remember reading about someone on here that bought some albums on eBAY the day he passed away and then resold them on eBAY for a lot more.

Not sure of the songs, but when the term "hauntingly" comes to mind, I thought of about 3 albums came to mind:

Linda Ronstadt: Cry like a rainstorm, howl like the wind
Link: http://www.amazon.com/Cry-Like-Rainstorm-Howl-Wind/dp/B000002H7E/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=dmusic&ie=UTF8&qid=1321876640&sr=1-1-catcorr

Evanescence: Any of the three (Fallen, The Open Door, Self Titled) out there, but especially the first one. Listen for the few songs where she has a choir with her.

Sarah Brightman: Eden
Link on Amazon for the DVD Concert:
http://www.amazon.com/Sarah-Brightman-One-Night-Eden/dp/6305614350

Also, Flyleaf kinda fits into this category

I summon /u/nikky2069 just because I can.

Does used count? Justin Timberlake

Bruno Mars

Oooh Tony Bennet's duets!!!!

Backstreet Boys 3.99 with shipping!

Flashdance

I can think of a few for the list...

• Two Wheels Good by Prefab Sprout (example)
  
• The Stone Roses by The Stone Roses (example)
  
• English Settlement by XTC (example)
  
• The Myths & Legends of King Arthur & The Knights Of The Round Table by Rick Wakeman (example)
  
• Amarok by Mike Oldfield (example)
  
• The Kindness of Strangers by Spock's Beard (example)
  
• Blast Tyrant by Clutch (example)

Couldn't help myself.

Now you kinda look like the cover from Phil Collins' "No Jacket Required" album. Sorry.

Sorry, because Peter Gabriel is better.

edit: left-justified version looks better.

The best thing about Batman Forever was the soundtrack.

Wilson Phillips

So 11 years ago, we're fresh engaged and we're idly tossing out idea's for wedding songs/first dance. My husband is hell freaking bent on "groovy kind of love" as our first dance.

What the HELL. That is NOT a first dance song. NOT AT ALL. But he loves Phil Collins. I'm 8-9 years younger than my husband. Phil is not my generation. So I'm suggest some Sarah Harmer Open window.

Cue the first fight. He finally says JUST PLAY WHATEVER YOU WANT. Cue end of first fight. Cue preggo. Cue him being sent overseas for a tour of duty for nearly 6 months. In all this he forgets. Not me. While he's over in Doha, Phil Collins comes out with a new album and on it, is a song. A song that is perfect. I love it, it's a first dance kinda song and exactly what I felt and still feel about him. Even though I'm pretty sure it's about a parent's promise to a child. But why can't it be from one spouse to another?

So he comes home from overseas, we do the marriage in the front livingroom so that we can get a jump on immigration. He forgets still. Till a week before the big white dress/military uniform wedding and he's asking what I've chosen. "You'll see" I refuse to tell him, swear our DJ's to secrecy.

Cue the reception, everyone's eaten, things are cleared away and the DJ's are there. Then "Come With Me" by Phil starts playing and as we start to dance I just smile because he's happy as a pig in mud and I tell him this is my present to him. He got a phil collins song.

I just could not condone Groovy Kind of Love at all for a first dance. That said, I think this CD which is cheaper than the MP3 version, for my loving man would be great so he can listen to it in the car and I can rip it to his ipod.

This. I WAS IN 7TH GRADE. And she was still pretty hot.

A band I really wish I'd seen? The Blue Nile. Only put out, like, 4 albums in 25 years. Unbelievably smooth, jazzy, heartfelt, and outstanding.

Very different sound from Okkervil River of course.

But 25 years later I've gotta say that A Walk Across the Rooftops is one of the greatest albums ever released. By anyone.

And Hats is right up there with it.

How's the World Treating You by Alison Krauss & James Taylor
Oh What A Beautiful Morning by Ray Charles
The Very Thought of You by Susie Arioli
I'm Down by New Grass Revival
I Want to Hold Your Hand by T.V. Carpio
Davy Crockett by Kentucky Headhunters
The Star Spangled Banner (live!) by Marvin Gaye
Baby One More Time by Fountains of Wayne
Gin and Juice by The Gourds
The Last Time by Dwight Yoakam
Singer Must Die by Jennifer Warnes