Ooooo good topic

It all depends on the cooking.

Are you making an unhurried soup or a contemplative stew, just you and the simmer? Is it morning, sunlight streaming through the window. Keith Jarrett ”The Koln Concert”, Grover Washington ”Winelight”, Sarah Vaughn ”Swingin’ Easy”.

Is it a wet night, raindrops pattering on that window? John Coltrane ”Crescent”, Kenny Burrell ”Asphalt Canyon Blues”,

Are you baking, hands cupping flour and massaging dough, sipping tea and sprinkling sugar? Carole King ”Tapestry” , Van Morrison ”Moondance”, Neil Young ”Harvest Moon”.

Are you sweating, cranking, all burners alit, tossing and chopping, juggling multiple dishes with timers going off and oven door slamming and hot pans thrown into sinks as fresh pans slap onto grates and oil fires flare? Jimi Hendrix "Band of Gypsys", U2 "Rattle And Hum", John Coltrane "Blue Train".

But never the Beatles. I’m the one person in human history who really doesn’t like the Beatles. I’m more of a Rolling Stones person.

They do say you’re eitherr in the Beatles camp or the Rolling Stones camp. I actually like both.

But when I’m cooking I usually listen to podcasts. I like spooky/weird stories ones 😁

I prefer silence or speech. I don't enjoy cooking and I just get it done as fast as possible. It's not something I do for pleasure.

I'm a both, but Beatles as a kid more and Stones later. I cannot create to arhythmic music, and no way I can cook to thrash metal or lieder, or Samba for that matter (too much rhythm?). I have a lot of international and Americana music, Modern Music and traditional, and all kinds of things with no established genre. Alexa isn't up on any of that. ;)

Spotify is our only music app and it's loaded with hundreds of hours of music. For cooking, I prefer something with a powerful beat - lots of EDM, live rock, or old school reggae.

If I put something on, it's the local radio station. They play a mix of 70s-80s-90s music, some pretty deep cuts mixed in there.

I'm more of a no music in the kitchen type but will typically listen to things from our school years. Journey, Axl Rose - I'm even a Kiss fan still. But I concentrate on what's in front of me, trying to up my cooking skills to produce things more interesting these days. DH is always watching his weight, can have an issue with 'portion control' where I'm trying to gain a little and it makes for a sometimes difficult mix.

My typical kitchen sounds are open window over the sink. Flickers calling, blue jays scolding everything in sight, sounds from my garden. Sports often in the background, my office just several steps from the kitchen and DH has all but claimed the TV in there now that he's retired. I'm grateful he prefers outside to in and has much to keep him busy on this acre lot....

Ha ha morz8, my “typical kitchen sounds” would be buses, leaf blowers, and Youtube. Such is my environment :-(

I listen to classical music. But not as background music. I just listen to it, preferably live. I know barely anything about popular music. For running I listen to a sixties pop programme for the jogetty rhythms but otherwise I avoid it.

Mostly our house is silent. At the moment I can hear a clock and the fridge. Otherwise nothing.

I usually prefer nothing. However, my hubby likes news stations I detest, violent movies, and old cowboy channels.

If he is listening to those while I cook, I listen to Pandora. The free version. I have headphones with no cord. You can change to different channels, but I prefer the Beatles.

I listen to podcasts too. I have a bunch of fave subscriptions. I don't use speakers, just Bluetooth headphones.

I don't think it's that no one listens to classical anymore so much as there's so much music being recorded that people don't have enough time for all of it. And yes, the Great Performances programs I was referring to, that make good cooking music, are classical/orchestral, but pretty lightweight. All those Vienna New Year's or Summer programs, or the L.A. Phil. They're already flattened for TV, but if there's a pianissimo patch that's essentially nothing, so be it. The ambient sounds here are unceasing traffic noise, elementary school, birds which chirp loudly to be heard, neighbors, gardeners with machines, airplanes and helicopters, dogs, gates and assorted comings and goings. There is no silence.

Neither is my kitchen silent. A layer of music is an improvement. I own far more recordings of Modern music than Classical, some of which is good for cooking. Kevin Volans yes, Jon Hassel no. Bluegrass is great for making art, but not so much for cooking. I grew up dancing, so, for me, music is generally tied to movement and mood.

depends; but like to listen to celtic music, classical and audio books

Elery has classical music in the car. I have hundreds of CDs and used to have one of those 5 CD players, it was easy to pop 5 CDs in and listen to Linda Ronstadt or CCR or Motown or Ravel's Bolero, I like lots of music. I hate fiddling, though, and so when my old CD player quit I stopped listening to music because it just took too much effort and time. Elery did load a Christmas play list for me on some platform or another but I can't find it, can't get it to play and just generally dislike the entire process. It aggravates me to the point where I don't enjoy the music enough to justify the annoyance and I particularly hate paying for the privilege of being aggravated. We do not have cell phone service available, we need to connect via WiFi, so cell phones are of no use to us 75% of the time, when we are in the pasture or the garden or the barn or just outside. AS a result we do not own expensive phones with lots of apps and fancy features, just extremely basic phones that live in my purse for emergencies like flat tires if I happen to be lucky enough to get service wherever I am.

So, no music, although it makes me a little sad. I cannot stand Alexa with her "similar" choices. I ask for "Love is a Rose" and get Guns N Roses. (sigh)

Annie

Annie, this can be fixed: Amazon (link)

We have a decent stereo in the living room. Dual turntable, NAD pre-amp, NAD power amp 200 wpc, Bose 901 speakers, auxiliary Linaeum ribbon tweeters (I am in a reflected sound/omnidirectional phase) with their own amp, subwoofer with its own amp. Wired to a wireless system, so I can play from my iPhone. It sounds freaking great.

We also have a tabletop Bose Wave CD/AM/FM player, that belonged to SWMBO’s mother, in the living room. It sounds, okay I guess?

The Bose gets played 10X more than the stereo system. It’s just so convenient. Push-one-button instead of turn-on-four-amps-and-adjust-levels-then-fiddle-with-source.

Annie, you could pick up a used Bose Wave.

I have all of my music as MP3 files, and I have arranged my favorite songs onto thumb drives. The music is a lot like what I post on KT FNM threads. I still listen to a lot of 80s music, Neue Deutsche Welle, and a few things that are newer, but nothing very new. I think The Crystal Method and Beck are about as new as any of my music gets. I don't like much music from the 1970s, but I like a lot from the 60s and some from the 50s.

For newer music, I like Parov Stelar, Ela Minus, Caro Emerald, Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP, and a few others.

Making pork stew, roasting a chicken, braising pork chops. Donald Byrd ” The Finest ”

Generally I prefer the classic crooner music when cooking a big meal. Frank Sinatra, Tom Jones, Dean Martin and others. These are the albums my grandma cooked to and I continue the tradition. A quick weekday meal it depends on my mood of the day, could really be anything. I have fairly diverse taste in music. Some days silence is my favorite sound.

Yes, I could buy a CD player, and I should. Elery thinks it's just silly, that I need to get with today's technology, but he has more CDs than I do!

Annie

Here's one for you, pllog. https://www.facebook.com/share/r/BXHfjRsH4a4iMoWe/

Love it! Like Clangers come to the pond. ;)

I hoped it would make you smile LOL

@plllog do you have Spotify? If so, you can run it through Alexa. And, you can also say, ”Alexa, play x on Spotify.” Sometimes I tell her to play ”elevator music.” I get soft jazz instrumentals, but if I tell her to play ”soft jazz” I get something altogether different.

P.S. does anyone else get irritated by the orphaned quotation marks?

No Spotify. My runs to little that's particularly popular, other than the music of my childhood that I was asking Alexa for. I just want to get my audio system back to play my cd's. The other great thing about buying cd's from the artists is that they get the profit. :) The closest I get to soft jazz is something like Strunz and Farrah.

Is your audio system at the repair shop? It is hard to find people to fix hifi stuff.

It's beyond that. I actually have a good guy for that. It's the whole house wiring, router issues, etc. I have a good guy for that who's never available...

Am I correctly surmising that you have some sort of "connected house" setup?

Not really. I have an oldish stereo which is wired to the speakers and a controller, but also accepts an app controller via wifi. There's a digital jukebox which technically can be operated by buttons, but it's way awkward and has its own app for management. It's controlled by the system for playing, however. It was ahead of its time, however, and needs updating beyond my abilities.

Digital jukebox - that sounds like 2000-ish tech. Sort of the Napster era?

I use an Audio Engines B-Fi (WiFi adapter) connected to some powered speakers (also Audio Engines, as it happens - A2 speakers). Play something on Spotify, the B-Fi comes up as a choice, and presto Jim Morrison is lugubriously chanting ” The End” in my kitchen. Not that inspiring for cooking actually. I can select multiple B-Fi’s and have ”The End” playing in multiple rooms. B-Fi is on your WiFi network; they make a Bluetooth version (B1 I think) but that only works one unit at a time. Audio Engines also seems to incorporate Bluetooth in several of their powered speakers now.

The speakers sit on top of the hood, and eventually I will build a cosmetic enclosure there from white speaker grille cloth, maybe add a powered subwoofer to go with the A2 speakers.

No napster. No bluetooth, No wifi. Ethernet. It will play degraded formats but I tried them all, in the car (sport tuned and kind of loud in the cabin), on the freeway, and I could hear the loss. Not a big deal for loud pop music, but not okay for most of what I listen to. Hard wired speakers.

Why did I not guess you were an audiophile.

So the other option is to put some bigger speakers up above the range hood, with a power amp.

My main music is jazz and I’m always trying to get a “live“ sound, which for jazz means immersive, big soundstage, and bring the drums forward as they usually get mixed in the background. In the living room I have Bose 901s with auxiliary supertweeters and subwoofer. Not decided if I want to go to that trouble for the kitchen but I do have some extra 901s just gathering dust . . .

LOL! I have a relative who is an audiophile. :) I just have sensitive ears. He had the isolation stands that prevent ordinary earthly vibrations from interfering with the sound and Who sized speakers back in the day. I have adequate, more modern speakers mounted in the ceilings--and the controller in the door passage (no audio gear in the working area except 9' above). Just a little TV with ghastly sound on a turntable. The speakers have full range reproduction, and are stereophonic if one is in the right spot. But they're meant for the general noise of an active house in a land of moderate population density. I hold no illusions.

I do get what you're saying. Way back when, I used to sit (ticketed) in the sweet spot in a hall designed for music--mostly what's labeled "classical" though much of it modern, One day it was an electrified string quartet with a legendary jazz drummer. Blew my hair back like that old commercial for TVs (Magnavox?). In the kitchen, I'd think you'd really want to be able to hear the sizzle and the boil and the ding and the swish, and your sous-springs cursing under their breaths. Surely there is a happy medium. You have your setup in a calm room for real listening.

Dust isn't a good thing, but do you really want kitchen effluent in your 901's? I mean, I get using what you've got, but is that fair to them? Don't they require precise positioning away from masses and voids? There are some great, inexpensive, adequate speakers out there which are smaller and expendable. Perhaps, for your tastes a kitchen subwoofer is necessary, but again, it could be overkill with current speakers.

Have you asked Ms. MBO what she thinks of it?

SWMBO wants the void covered. She is tired of looking at exposed duct, conduit, ceiling hole, etc. She mentions it. From time to time, and helpfully. I might forget if not reminded daily.

Currently she thinks we’ll have to expensively hire our furniture maker to build and hang an enclosure; I intend to prove her wrong.

Possibilities:

- A traditional cabinet looking thing, hung from the ceiling and meeting the top of the hood. White painted wood with rails and stiles and suchlike.

- More stainless steel sheet, visually extending the hood to the ceiling. I’d have that bent up in sections by my sheet metal shop.

- Same as above, but copper. SWMBO just loves copper. It is assumed that I would keep it polished.

- A frame with white speaker cloth stretched over it. Acoustically best; probably a pain to clean.

Here is what we’re dealing with. That unsightly void needs to be filled.

You could definitely put the current version of bookshelf speakers there, but the 901’s would be wasted, especially, given the angles to ears. A copper extension would look funny, but if you extended the stainless, you could add copper banding, if Ms. MBO likes living metal, because it will oxidize and all that.

I think a false cabinet would look funny since it's not part of a run, but it would work if you did wood to go with the cabinets, or walls. Maybe that's just my own prejudice against faux. Hint: I had a soft duct and stuff to hide over my sink, and made it work with a bridge cabinet, with the register in it, which opens up, as do the cabinets over the fridge and freezer. The hardware costs more, but no swinging doors to bop you while you're on a ladder fixing stuff.

“my own prejudice against faux”

That is a good reminder for me. This kitchen is not supposed to have any faux in it. (The cooking here, is another story.) Everything is supposed to be entirely functional.

I have no ideas, my youngest daughter tells me that I'm the only person in the world that could have a stroke painting one room beige. (shrug) I just had to say that I really like that ceiling light fixture!

Annie

Annie - you like the silver pendant fixture? We might well be removing it . . .

The square one with the four lights? Nooooo, don't remove it, it's nicely industrial and useful!

Annie

I like peace and quiet when cooking or baking. If I am coloring then music is okay at times.

Sue

Seared, stuffed, and tied a pork loin, listening to Warren Zevon. One of the most interesting and underrecognized musicians from the L.A. scene in the 70s and 80s, and I think he must have been a really nice guy, because literally everyone in Southern California rock was his friend. Big names like Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Nicks, etc helped on his albums, even singing backup vocals. He wrote songs about morbid characters - a headless mercenary, werewolves, deranged killers, his own alcoholic self - and performed them to infectious rhythms that define a particular era in Los Angeles for me. He was big, or at least as big as he ever got, when I was in law school in the early 80s, and we worshipped his putdown of our chosen profession, ”Lawyers Guns and Money”. Zevon died in his fifties, of asbestosis probably contracted in his childhood attic. A regular on the Johnny Carson show, he told Carson on his last appearance that not going to a doctor for thirty years had probably been “a tactical mistake”.

❤️Warren Zevon. RIP