Musicians Ears vs. Audience Ears

E

ER-2

Member
I have often wondered if we as musicians take 'dialing in the perfect tone'
to the n'th degree.
If we come somewhat close to the tone of the artist we are covering … does the average
audience member even know or care that it is not 'spot on' ???

I'm not criticizing anyone whatsoever in their endeavour to 'dial in' to their satisfaction …
I only bring it up because I find myself never satisfied with my presets. At some point
I feel I should walk away and be content with the fruits of my labour.

I think that ... only other musicians who happen to be in the audience, and are familiar to the music being played,
may pick up on the nuances and critique the tone and playing … the audience … I'm not so sure.

Often when I'm watching a bar band I will say "the tone is not that good" to my friends … only to
get a response of … "it sounds good to me".

I find the pursuit of 'perfect tone' very interesting and admire the dedication (both time and $$$) that
both working and hobbiest musicians invest.

Tone is such a 'subjective' thing. I always chuckle when someone posts a soundbite and asks for input …
and I see such a varied responses.

For the record, I am an intermediate player and newb to the Axe II/FRFR(active CLR wedge) community, and only play
a couple of times a year at friends house parties.

Cheers
 
Well a tone i like verymuch inspires me and makes me feel real good and i play alot better - it's like having good sex you know...

as a matter of fact...i play really for my self pleasing.... so a tone i tweak is not for the audience ears, it's for myself and when people like it, the better. By the way, i think people like it when they see you're having fun playing...
 
I'd agree. We do "see" things with a different viewpoint than the average listener. A guitarist typically plays to an audience of one...themselves. (and we're never satisfied) :)

Couple that fact with how your carefully crafted tone gets morphed: band setting, mic, PA, over-tweaking sound person, etc...you could really see it as a big waste of time. Yet we all still do it!! LOL
 
I'll take it a step further...most bar patrons have no clue if you're any good or not. Even the folks who control the booking! Case in point...we had a first (and last) gig with a new singer (about a year ago) and it was just awful. No stage chemistry, poor stage presence (from the singer), drummer got drunk and argued with someone who worked at the bar...it was a disaster. We use a booking agency (we don't play much though) and the guy called our bassist the next day. I thought that was the end of us. Instead...he calls to say that the booking person at the bar loved us! They wanted to book another run of dates with us. Hell, I don't even think we looked like we were having fun and it still didn't matter!

The net is grab a tone you like, step on stage, and have fun!
 
Sometimes you doubt yourself and the world even among musicians. At last rehearsal the pianist played a very simplified left hand pattern on a classic (poppy) jazz standard. To me it sounded dreadful but the rest seemed not noticing it. It shadowed the bassplayer and wasn't something I would like to hear going to a concert. So I tried to raise my voice in a gentle way to say this isn't good enough, maybe try a bit more... but the rest of the band wasn't into listening. The seemed only to hear that the song had a strong beat. Not the shortcomings.

I shut down in silence. Feeling that we feel and listening to things in such a different way. Thinking about if I should quit the band.
 
I have been caught up in the "Holy Grail" quest for my idea of the perfect tone. I came from the super rack days of the 80's, tried all the early modeling attempts, and then went for the full multiple-tube amp rig and rack with all the xtras. I kept my tube amps (now expensive dust collectors). The Axe FX has got me closer than ever before. Unfortunately, I think my rig sounds better when my friends play it (same with my acoustic guitars). I wonder if my hearing processes aren't getting my full brain power while I'm playing the guitar and that makes the grail tone harder to spot?

I live in Texas and we have several world class guitarists here. The Dallas / Fort Worth metroplex supports a thriving club scene where I primarily make my living. I see and work with some fantastic players; many great ones frequent my studio regularly. We discuss tone and chase it, and regularly catch great ones.

In my experience, the common person (non-serious musician) in the crowd has no clue what good tone is. I draw this from the dance music that they enjoy when the band is on a break.

I think we should chase our "Holy Grail Tone" regardless what the crowd thinks. When each of us find out "happy place" the tone deaf crowd will notice if only because we play better and perform better when we are in our happy place. Those that understand good tone will migrate to those that have it, and that's good company in my book.

The cool thing is that the Axefx gives us everything we need to finally create, capture and return to the "happy place".
 
I've had this debate with friends and bandmates several times. I am 100% of being a certified tone-obsesser. (That doesn't mean my tone is great or even good... only that I am highly concerned with it!)

Here is my standpoint...

I NEVER assume my audience is unsophisticated. I always want to play to the musicians, critics, and connoisseurs in the audience.
That way, I stand the best chance of giving my best. I want to give it 100% of what I can give it, every time.

Those who "don't know the difference", well... they won't know the difference!

But they WON'T be left disappointed with my tone. But they also won't have someone who DOES know the difference telling them I sucked. (at least that is my goal). I want the opposite effect.

Also, I highly doubt that ANY of the guitar players I idolize or strive to be more like EVER think their tone is "good enough."

I want to perfect my performance. I want to perfect my stage show. I want to perfect my tone. I don't know... that's just me. I've always been like that at anything I do though. It's an illness of sorts I suppose.
 
Most performing musicians' ears will be better than the audience's, in the same way that an athlete will be more capable than a spectator
 
My personal take is that it's all about the mix.
I could have a terrible tone standing on its own, but if it cuts and sounds full and righteous with the rest of the band, I'm a happy camper.
I can fall down the tone rabbit hole fairly easily... I try to stay happy so long as the above is true.
As a FAS user, with near infinite control over my tone, it's pretty easy to sit right with the mix. A bigger problem for me has been the lack of versatility out of other players' rigs... a song I might really want to nail a certain type of tone for, I might not get the opportunity because the guy playing guitar opposite me is playing a [insert run of the mill tube amp] that won't allow the band to still sound full or for me to cut in whatever way I'm after.
 
we're all tone-chasers. part of our genetic makeup is that we're never satisfied - always striving for perfection (even though in reality we know we'll never achieve it). just don't fall down the rabbit hole. get out and enjoy the tone you have today and keep creating new ones. and when you're on stage, don't stay inside your own head. engage the audience. they're there to have fun (most of them anyway) not to critique your tone, chops or technique.
 
As one would expect, those who don't play instruments know little or nothing about them, and aren't much inclined to - else they'd probably play one! I was one of those people till about age 21, and then only gradually did that change. All you need care about is 'did they like the music?'. You can ask them what they liked about it, but be prepared to get very vague, and anthropomorphic, answers.
 
Last edited:
The audience doesn't give a rat's ass as long as it sounds good, which is to say as long as it doesn't sound bad. They're there to be entertained. So play good and sound good and look like you're enjoying the task because as long as that's happening no one is going to care how brown the sound is or if it wasn't crunchy enough or if the delay was 30ms off from the original or whatever...
...Except for that one hump know-it-all who is gonna say something because he's a primo douchebag but you know what he's not up there so he can blow it out his candy ass anyway.
 
USMC_Trev said:
The audience doesn't give a rat's ass as long as it sounds good, which is to say as long as it doesn't sound bad. They're there to be entertained. So play good and sound good and look like you're enjoying the task because as long as that's happening no one is going to care how brown the sound is or if it wasn't crunchy enough or if the delay was 30ms off from the original or whatever...
Click to expand...

This is it.

If you're having fun, and ENTERTAINING, not just playing the songs, the audience WANTS to go with you (they payed the money, they've got the drinks in their hands.) If you spend half your time trying to adjust your amp, then you don't seem like you're even interested in what the crowd thinks. 90% of the audience could care less about your tone...just how well you're playing and responding. Did you sound exactly like Lukather? Fah.

The only thing I've found the audience notices are big changes in tone...FX mostly. Big Delays, prominent phaser/wah, etc.

Yes, there are people in the audience (like us) who dissect the tone. I try not to play to them, as it makes me feel better to have people come up and say 'Loved the show' rather than the one guy who comes up and said 'nailed the tone'. Personal philosophy: Get close, make it sound good to your ears, forget about it, play well and entertain your audience.

IMO.
 
I reckon if you absolutely nailed the studio tone on "whole lotta love" the audience would say "guitar sound was a bit crappy, that axe box kinda sucks" whereas if you dialled in a medium gain dual rec tone and played it they would say it was badass...
 
I know I can't stand to listen to a crappy guitar sound any more.
But even more, I can't stand to listen to bad vocals, either in pitch or timbre.
 
I think people respond without knowing why. for example, i have been recording and mixing an album for a friend - we recorded about 12 songs and are now mixing.
Before i started mixing, my friend said that many of his songs sucked and he didn't even want to pursue them anymore. But after a day of mixing he came back and had a listen and was blown away by his 'songs'. I had only scratched the surface, and a LOT of tracks were in need of redoing or better slotting and mixing etc. but he was already completely turned around, and he knows nothing about mixing or tone beyond the tone of his acoustic guitars. For several iterations, he said it sounds 'fantastic', but I thought it needed more work, and did more mixing and had him re-record more tracks. Each time i did this the same thing happened - he liked his songs better and better, but had no idea how i was making him feel this.

So my point is, for what it's worth, is that music listeners do not cue in on things like poor tone/poor mix or good tone/good mix, but they do have a more visceral experience from good tone without realizing why - they just thin k they like the music better.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom