Mauritius

My Top 50 Depeche Mode songs

21 February 2023 By Avinash Meetoo 1 Comment

I discovered Depeche Mode in 1985 and, for the past four decades, I have been a massive fan of the group and electronic music in general.

Last night, I gave it a go and I selected the 50 Depeche Mode songs I like the most. There are a lot of songs which I didn’t choose despite loving them but I tried to keep things balanced by choosing three songs from each album, except for some seminal albums such as Violator where I had to choose more than three songs. For good measure, I also chose Shake The Disease which, for some reason, was never part of any album but only released as a single.

At the end, this is what I consider to be my Top 50 Depeche Mode songs ever:

Just Can’t Get Enough (from the 1981 album Speak & Spell)
Photographic (from the 1981 album Speak & Spell)
Tora! Tora! Tora! (from the 1981 album Speak & Spell)
Leave in Silence (from the 1982 album A Broken Frame)
My Secret Garden (from the 1982 album A Broken Frame)
See You (from the 1982 album A Broken Frame)
Everything Counts (from the 1983 album Construction Time Again)
Love, in Itself (from the 1983 album Construction Time Again)
Told You So (from the 1983 album Construction Time Again)
Blasphemous Rumours (from the 1984 album Some Great Reward)
Master and Servant (from the 1984 album Some Great Reward)
People Are People (from the 1984 album Some Great Reward)
Shake the Disease (from the 1985 album Shake the Disease (Single))
A Question of Time (from the 1986 album Black Celebration)
Black Celebration (from the 1986 album Black Celebration)
Stripped (from the 1986 album Black Celebration)
Behind the Wheel (from the 1987 album Music for the Masses)
Never Let Me Down Again (from the 1987 album Music for the Masses)
Strangelove (from the 1987 album Music for the Masses)
Enjoy the Silence (from the 1990 album Violator)
Halo (from the 1990 album Violator)
Personal Jesus (from the 1990 album Violator)
Policy of Truth (from the 1990 album Violator)
Waiting for the Night (from the 1990 album Violator)
World in My Eyes (from the 1990 album Violator)
I Feel You (from the 1993 album Songs of Faith and Devotion)
In Your Room (from the 1993 album Songs of Faith and Devotion)
One Caress (from the 1993 album Songs of Faith and Devotion)
Walking in My Shoes (from the 1993 album Songs of Faith and Devotion)
Barrel of a Gun (from the 1997 album Ultra)
Home (from the 1997 album Ultra)
It’s No Good (from the 1997 album Ultra)
Useless (from the 1997 album Ultra)
Dream On (from the 2001 album Exciter)
Freelove (from the 2001 album Exciter)
Goodnight Lovers (from the 2001 album Exciter)
I Feel Loved (from the 2001 album Exciter)
A Pain That I’m Used To (from the 2005 album Playing the Angel)
John the Revelator (from the 2005 album Playing the Angel)
Precious (from the 2005 album Playing the Angel)
Suffer Well (from the 2005 album Playing the Angel)
In Chains (from the 2009 album Sounds of the Universe)
Peace (from the 2009 album Sounds of the Universe)
Wrong (from the 2009 album Sounds of the Universe)
Heaven (from the 2013 album Delta Machine)
My Little Universe (from the 2013 album Delta Machine)
Should Be Higher (from the 2013 album Delta Machine)
Cover Me (from the 2017 album Spirit)
Going Backwards (from the 2017 album Spirit)
Where’s the Revolution (from the 2017 album Spirit)

This is more than four hours of pure enjoyment.

Take a nice scotch. Relax. Close your eyes. Marvel.

My photography RAW processing workflow

17 December 2022 By Avinash Meetoo Leave a Comment

I bought my first serious digital camera on 10 April 2011 when we visited the US. It was a Canon EOS-60D with a crop sensor and I used a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II lens. From the very beginning, I had decided to use the RAW format but I made a grave mistake:

Because storage space was still expensive and limited in 2011 and computers still slow, I chose to use the mRAW format instead of the regular RAW. This gave me a small file to process. Unfortunately, mRAW (and sRAW) are not RAW files at all (which I would come to understand later…)

At that time, I used the free Canon Digital Photo Professional software which opened the mRAW files without complaining. And I have to say that the JPGs I managed to obtain were good.

It is only on 6 November 2013 after having taken 4784 photos that I switched to the regular, full-size RAW format. The reason was obvious: I wanted to use the full power of the RAW processing software.

My first ever RAW photo is shown above: shot from a bungalow in Tamarin which overlooked the lagoon. I used my trusty Canon EOS-60D with a Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM.

Switching to DxO Optics Pro (aka PhotoLab) in 2014

On 8 December 2014, I purchased DXO OpticsPro 10 Essential and I tried to open my old mRAW files. I couldn’t and I got error messages such as “This is not a RAW file which can be opened with Optics Pro”. In other words, I have 4784 photos which I cannot open.

Fortunately, all the 19,062 remaining ones I have since taken can be opened by DxO as I now only use the full RAW format.

The situation in 2022

Equipment wise, these days I am using a Canon EOS-6D full-frame camera with a selection of nice lenses: a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM, the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM as well as a Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM.

Software wise, I have switched to the DxO triumvirate:

DxO PhotoLab 6, the most advanced, end-to-end, RAW photo editing software according to DxO. It is not cheap but I am very happy doing my photo editing and processing in it. I have been using PhotoLab for 8 years now.
DxO ViewPoint 4, for geometric perfection and complete control over lines, angles, and shapes. I can adjust perspectives, fix distortions, warp specific areas, and correct wide-angle stretching for perfect images.
DxO FilmPack 6, for faithfully reproducing the colours and grains of analog films thanks to an exclusive calibration process developed by DxO and Fuji. In particular, I can use digital Fuji film emulations such as Velvia Vivid, Provia Standard, Astia Soft, ProNeg High, ProNeg Standard and Eterna on my Canon cameras. It is the best of both worlds.

And this is the kind of photos which I am capturing, processing and editing now. And, as you can guess, I am happy.

Here are all my photos on Flickr.

My Kenwood KRF-V7030D is (really) dead

5 October 2022 By Avinash Meetoo Leave a Comment

Once upon a time, I didn’t know anything about the concept of the home cinema. I started reading (paper) magazines, most notably Home Cinema Choice which was, at that time, the reference.

In 2001, Home Cinema Choice reviewed the then new Kenwood KRF-V7030D AV Receiver and praised it for its performance and value.

Of course, at that time, it was not possible to purchase one in Mauritius… Fortunately, some time later, my sister-in-law had to go on a business trip to Hong Kong and I asked her to purchase one for us. For many years, she would complain how heavy the Kenwood KRF-V7030D was and how we will in her debt for life :-)

I built my “home cinema” around the Kenwood and I wrote a blog post in 2005 to explain what equipment I had. The Kenwood KRF-V7030D worked great from 2001 to around 2007 until one day when I could not switch it on anymore.

I brought the amplifier to a number of technicians for a diagnostic and to see if it was possible to repair it. None could…

So we purchased another AV Receiver when we were in vacation in Thailand, a Pioneer, which was OK and completely forgot about the Kenwood KRF-V7030D.

Five years later, I stumbled upon a technician who told me he could revive anything. I left the Kenwood KRF-V7030D with him for about four months (with a very low level of expectations) and, lo and behold, he repaired it.

By that time, I had moved to a Yamaha AV receiver (and left the Pioneer with my parents) and I used the Kenwood KRF-V7030D as a stereo amplifier in my bedroom. It worked really great… until one month ago when it stopped working once more. I could switch it on this time but the audio level from my speakers was very low, nearly inaudible. Either there was a problem with the amplifier circuit or the volume circuit.

I called the technician which had revived the amplifer once and he tried and tried and tried… Today, he called me and told me the truth: my amp was dead. A microprocessor which controls the volume is faulty and this component is not made any more.

My Kenwood KRF-V7030D is finally and truly dead this time, 21 years after I bought it.

Thanks for the trip. We had a great time.