These are questions and threads that came up which don't really fit into any of the other categories.
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 1995 00:50:26 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Jeffrey with 2 f's Jeffrey" [jenor@csd.uwm.edu]
To: D*R*O*N*E*O*N [droneon@UCSD.EDU]
Channeling Elvis, on Mon, 3 Jul 1995 Fiachna@aol.com wrote: ] y'know, ever since I purchased brian eno's "on land" on vinyl, I've ] been immensely curious to try out the speaker setup he illustrates on ] the back. the illustration shows two regular speakers pointed at an ] angle towards the listener, and behind him/her stands yet another ] speaker - this 3rd speaker is connected (along with the other ] speakers' postive channels) to the two positive outlets on the amp. he ] says he doesn't understand how it works, but it seems to pick up those ] sounds that are not common to both sides of the stereo - "increasing ] the usable listening area", as he puts it. so today I
Yeah, I've used that setup for years--or at least, I did till I moved to a new apt. whose arrangement makes it quite difficult to facilitate (instead, I've got 2 satellite speakers about 20 feet away in each direction, wired so the left satellite is the same orientation (l/r) to my ears as the right main speaker. This works better (?) than merely adding another left speaker. Some technical person could probably tell me why this is totally fucking w/the sound, phase shifts and whatnot, but I don't care.) Eno's system tends to accomplish 2 things: it "spreads" the sound out further, since any info unique to one speaker or the other is reinforced (centered images are cancelled out, I guess), as well as give you something like a "stereo" image from anywhere in the room, since wherever you are, there are 2 spkrs putting out differing info from the nearest one to you.
And you're right, it seems to work best (or most interestingly, anyway) with records that isolate a lot of info in one channel or the other. Camper Van Beethoven's _Key Lime Pie_ does some very odd things w/channel separation, and sounds even weirder w/the Eno system.
'Nother fun thing: use the B speaker connection for your 3d speaker, and then you can listen to it all alone--*there* you're going to hear all kinds of stuff that you might not've noticed otherwise.
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 1996 15:29:53 -0500 (EST)
From: Jeff Wright [WRIGHTJ@research.bfg.com]
To: droneon@UCSD.EDU
I can be silent no longer on the Chex Mix thread. Rob's right -- the cookie sheet works best. Ralston used to sell a pre-mixed spice package especially for Chex Mix, but it's no longer being made, so you're left to your own devices with the recipe. Bought one bag of the pre-made mix once, but it was missing that je ne sais quoi of the DIY stuff (and was way too salty).
Best tip for eating -- if the bowl is less than 1/3 full, shake all the chex/pretzels/less dense stuff to one side, thus revealing all the peanuts hiding at the botton of the bowl.
The Oblique Strategies cards were a series of cards developed by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt as a way to break through a creative freeze or otherwise "jog the memory". The cards are long gone, but numerous on-line versions are available via the Oblique Strategies section at EnoWeb. http://www.hyperreal.com/music/artists/brian_eno/obliques.html has the complete details.