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Tomorrow night, the Opera House returns to the Summer of Love, on vinyl, for a free event

September 28, 2016   ·   0 Comments

There are few things that translate in this world as a universal language; something that completely unaltered can be recognized and understood by anyone without needing any form of translation. Music is, quite possibly, the most universal as all.

Music transcends pretty much everything. It is the reason why bands can have a worldwide following without ever needing to translate their lyrics into another language. It’s why the right song, the right type of music, for the right person, can have the power to transform their day from good to bad in just three and a half minutes, acting as a type of therapy for your mood.

Music has the ability to do many things–it can both function as white noise, setting the rhythm in the background of everything else we are doing, or it can be our focus, having the ability to drown everything else around it into that white noise of our lives.

When music becomes the focus, it can transform our perception, taking us from wherever we are at to a place of completely and totally experiencing its sound. According to Peter Wolter, owner of Being there. Audio (formerly Aardvark Boutique Audio) in Orangeville, that experience becomes better when listening to the right kind of playback device.

“There is a renaissance in the musical world, a return to the way of being able to absorb the music,” he explained during an interview. “It’s this return to removing the artificial sound from the music, to getting as close as possible to actually hearing the music as if you were there, listening to it live.”

It’s that concept that became the driving force behind his free event at the Opera House last year. Aardvark Audio had just opened in Orangeville, and while Peter is the only ‘humble’ hi-end audio expert store in town, he was still working on getting his name—and the store—out there.

The idea was to simply experience the music, the way it was meant to be experienced, and allow people to really hear the difference that the right equipment can make. Although the store was still in its infancy, the event drew out 70 people, making it quite the success for a newbie in town. The event did so well, it even earned a spot in the world renowned Stereophile Magazine.

This year, Peter is hoping to fill the Opera House as he brings the free event, A Flashback to the Summer of Love on Vinyl, to the community on Thursday evening.

“The event at the Opera House is to give people the opportunity to rediscover the joy of listening to a record,” he said. “It’s about sharing the experience, because this you can’t communicate this kind of experience. When you pull a record out, put it down on the player, you are making a conscience decision to spend time with the music.”

He added that the Opera House is kind of like a commercial, or an advertisement to this kind of listening.

“An ad is designed to create a change in your perception,” he said. “Only, the way I create it is simply by helping people listen to the music, and then let them decide if they want it. You don’t need it, but they begin to want it.”

Last year, the Opera House event was aimed at getting a group of people together, simply to share in the music without cell phones, tablets, and other daily distractions. Instead of retreating into the things that bring us into the world, it provides the opportunity to escape into music.

“It’s a time out at a level of quality that our artificial entertainment vehicles cannot provide,” Peter explained. “All the things that we tend to do to unwind (such as TV, Facebook, etc.) actually wind us up. When you can connect with the music like you do through hi-end audio, you really get to unwind. It becomes time with the family instead of everyone disappearing to do the same things, where they are plugging in too much.”

In order to do that, you need a certain level of equipment that can take you there. That is the whole premise behind the Opera House event, as well as Being there. Audio’s mandate, and Peter’s passion for helping people truly experience this incredible level of music shines through in any conversation with him.

On Thursday evening, the whole soundstage of the Opera House will be filled with music, reuniting some with the love of the sounds from their youth, and for others, introducing them to the sounds of hi-end audio for the first time.

“The Mp3 sound is very flat,” explained Peter of the difference. “It’s cut off at the highs and lows, and what is left is pumped up. You are dealing with a very compressed/cut version, and it often becomes merely background music. You can’t get immersed in a cd or MP3 the same way you do through vinyl.”

Summer of Love is designed to help people see how the right stereo system really can recreate the experience of a live event, the kind of place where all your cares are put on hold. At a concert, everyone is there to experience the music—nothing else matters.

“It’s like reading a good book, and immersing myself in it,” said Peter. “Am I really going to waste 12 hours on a book that is crap? No.”

One of the biggest misconceptions about hi-end stereo systems is that they have to cost a lot of money.

“They really don’t,” refuted Peter. “We put a lot of care here into the guiding process, so that we can show people where they can go with their audio. Essentially, that’s a part of what the Opera House event is.”

And, unlike much of today’s audio equipment, hi-end systems are really, really about the music. The kind of difference that anyone who has listened to a vinyl record and compared it to the sound of a CD can notice immediately. While modern devices are designed to create volume with a lot of power, causing lots of distortion, hi-end systems are designed to create volume with the least amount of power, creating less distortion, and allowing you to hear more of the music.

“That’s why there is such a renaissance in sound, a return to this way of absorbing the music,” Peter added. “It’s a return to removing artificial sound—which does have it’s place—and getting as close as possible to being there. It’s a return to that moment when you first really, really experienced the sound. There is a relationship with a record that you can’t have with a digital file.”

On Thursday evening, the doors to the Opera House will open for 260 residents to experience this revolution for themselves. For one night only, they will be immersed into the sounds of Jefferson Airplane, The Doors, Jimi Hendricks, Steppanwolf, Dylan, Pink Floyd, Neil Young, Joni Mitchel, The Who and more.

The evening will also include a number of incredible door prizes, such as a $300 turntable, $600 record cleaner, and more.

“Come for the music, and come to see what a real world hi-fi system can do for your sound experience.”

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