[This is a guest post by Scott Troyer]
“Musical gear is too technical and mysterious to understand. Good thing I really don’t need to understand it.”
That is a lie I believed for far too long and my music suffered because of it.
I thought that as an artist I didn’t have to know how the technical stuff worked because that was the job of audio engineers, stage hands, producers, and managers.
And so my flawed thinking lead me to other great lies:
Lies I Believed
- Good sound is a level of heaven only mountaintop audio gurus know how to achieve.
- The perfect guitar tone is a Holy Grail players spend a lifetime to find.
- Audio gear is an enigma shrouded in mystery and legend we common folk will never understand.
- An electrical engineering degree is required to know how to connect and use all this equipment the right way.
- Learning the technical side of music making will stifle my creativity, reducing my music to uninspired math.
Musical Mysticism
Now I can see those same mistaken attitudes I held holding back the progress of other musicians. We approach the creation of audio with an unhealthy dose of mysticism.
We speak of great guitars as if there are genies inside that will only come out if we rub it the right way. Amazing guitar amplifiers seem to have magical voodoo hand-wired into their circuits. Our best engineers are like angels descended among us mere mortals to fight off the hums and buzzes in our sound systems.
Audio mysticism is the product of marketing teams, guitar god worship, and rock and roll coffee table book publishers. None of it is helping us musicians play better.
The Fix
So how do we fix this? Simple.
Stop believing the lies. There is no magic inside guitars, amplifiers, effects pedals, or PA gear. All those mystical beliefs are little excuses we like to believe in order to let ourselves off the hook.
They are simply justifications for why we aren’t progressing.
If we want to be better musicians, then it is time for us to start taking responsibility for all the little things that we used to think didn’t matter.
We must hone our skills. Widen our knowledge base. Understand our signal chains. Pay attention when the engineer is explaining what he/she did to fix the problem.
Homework
Can you answer the following 50 questions?
Yes, it’s a long, daunting list of jargony terms and concepts (and it’s just a start).
To be honest, ten years ago I didn’t know any of it and at first I was reluctant to learn. Over time I have learned that knowing the answers to questions like the ones below can make or break a performance.
You maybe thinking, “None of this applies to me. I’m just a singer/drummer/acoustic guitarist/whatever.”
50 Questions To Help You Become A Better Musician
Trust me, learn this stuff and you’ll sound better, play better, be more confident, be able to help others, and enjoy your gigs and recording sessions a whole lot more.
1. Are hum, buzz, feedback, and noise simply inherent problems in a sound system that must be tolerated or can they be prevented? If so, how?
2. What is a DI box? When and why is one necessary?
3. What is the difference between balanced and unbalanced signals? Why does distance matter?
4. What is a DAW?
5. What are the differences in shape and uses for TS, TRS, and XLR connectors?
6. What is phantom power and when is it needed?
7. Why are RCA connectors considered inferior connectors for audio?
8. How close and at what angle should a microphone be to your mouth?
9. Is a Class A amplifier really “better” than a Class B one? What about Class AB?
10. What is the proper way to tune a guitar?
11. Should a piano be stretch tuned?
12. What are ohms?
13. What is “true bypass?”
14. What is impedance and how does it affect tone?
15. Are more watts always better?
16. What do these effects really do: compression, tremolo, chorus, delay, reverb, flange, phase.
17. What is gain staging and what are the risks of improper gain staging?
18. What is microphone proximity effect? How can it be a problem or used for emphasis?
19. What increase in dB is required to double volume? Do we perceive this volume increase as double?
20. What are “bit depth” and “sample rate?” What values do CDs use?
21. How are distortion, overdrive, crunch, gain, and clipping related?
22. What is the difference between linear and audio taper pots?
23. What do sine, triangle, and square waveforms look and sound like? Are there other shapes?
24. Why is A=440? Has it always been?
25. What do the terms “active” and “passive” mean in regards to electrical circuits?
26. What do omni, figure-8, and cardioid describe? Are there others? When should they be used?
27. What is unity gain? How does it relate to where the faders on the mixing board are set?
28. What’s the difference between mic and line level signals?
29. What are single-coils and humbuckers? How are they different?
30. What is EMI/RFI? And why do iPhones need to be in Airplane Mode when near sound equipment?
31. Is ground loop hum the same frequency in every country?
32. What is the Nyquist frequency?
33. How should microphones and monitors be placed in relationship to each other?
34. What is the bet way to wrap cables?
35. Why do people argue about analog vs. digital? What are the pros and cons of each side of the debate?
36. Describe volume, amplitude, frequency, time.
37. Can drums be tuned? If so, how?
38. What is a fundamental, harmonic, and overtone?
39. What is the frequency spectrum? How do different parts of it sound?
40. What is feedback? What usually causes it?
41. Is it better to boost or cut? Why? Are there other names for these terms?
42. What is the frequency range of human hearing? Does it change with age?
43. What makes MP3s sound bad?
44. Why do radio stations compress audio?
45. What is the true purpose of a PA system?
46. What does ADSR mean?
47. What is signal-to-noise ratio?
48. What does the pickup selector switch on an electric guitar really do? How does it do it?
49. Why do microphone placement and phase relationship matter?
50. What do A/D and D/A convertors do?
A Final Plea
Google anything in this article you don’t understand. Watch “How to” videos on YouTube. Dig deeper. Ask questions. Seek out the maestros. Be a sponge. Then teach others.
I would love to hear about what you have learned.
Question: What is your current level of understanding when it comes to audio and gear? How could diving deeper make you a better worship leader or musician? Any technical questions you have? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
[This post is part of a brand new blog series, “Your Guide to Practicing the Essential Skills of a Worship Leader“. Check out the other posts here.]
Planning to google about 80% of these questions I have zero clue about. At this point I don’t need to know any sound info but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t.
I’m actually with you, Tyler. I don’t know about most of this stuff but I want to get better. I’ve always excused myself as the “musician” not the “techie”.
Let us know what you discover, Tyler.
Scott, I’m so glad you’re doing this. I’m surprised- I remembered a whole lot more than I thought I would from my Sweetwater training. It’s just the whole switching out guitars at a live show thing that I just can’t seem to figure out.
This made me laugh, Autumn. I’ll help you switch guitars any time! 😉
I love this!! “Vocalist” is pretty much the antonym of “gearhead” (guilty party right here). We get all uppity about our vocal cords being the only thing we need, but I’m pretty sure 99% of us are not trained classical singers and are plugged in every week! Despite that, we are guilty of the following:
– waving our mics around mindlessly and then wonder why there’s feedback
– having no idea what an xlr cable is
– being allergic to the power button on our wireless mics
– taking no responsibility for managing our own monitors’ mix
– making funny faces at the sound guy
That being said, we sure do love REVERB! 😀
Valerie, you are very right. Vocalist can be the worst about these things, yet singin is actually one of the most difficult things to do technically well.
Valerie, Scott is right. Great singers have my respect. It’s ridiculously difficult to do it really well. If you could combine a gear head and a great vocalist, that would be an amazing package. Haven’t seen too many of those 🙂
Sheesh. Went to college for audio engineering, and I still had some trouble with a few questions. Might have to post this and quiz myself at intervals.
Great list man.
Thanks, Josh. I hope this helps you as you continue your education.
So Scott, how long should it take us to learn these questions? 10 years? 😉
Hopefully a lot less time than it took me!
Great Post!
I sometimes have trouble convincing some of the members of my team that we need to keep learning and grown and a lot of times I am met with resistance.
this is a great post I can show them in hopes of them understanding where I am coming from.
thanks!
Good idea, Adam, though not everyone on your team will have a passion for this sort of thing. Maybe this post will help inspire them!
Adam, like David said, not everyone will be up for the challenge. When faced with a chance for growth we have a choice. More often than not we don’t rise to the occasion. Then again, sometimes the most stubborn opponents can become the greatest proponents once they finally come around. Hopefully you can lead by example. Keep pushing yourself to learn and grow as you gently urge them forward.
Hey everyone,
I wrote a continuation piece on my blog. It’s a Part 2 about excuses. You can read it at the following link.
http://scotttroyer.com/2012/02/overcoming-musical-gear-ignorance-part-2-excuses/
Scott
I have studied the art of valve guitar amplifiers for the last 4 years spending a huge amount of money on technical books. I have sifted through all the information and looked at circuit diagrams of 100’s of amplifiers. Now there are no myths and I totally see through the marketing bullsh*t.
Being an electronic engineer and a musician I am fortunate to understand everything required in the music chain and am sometimes baffled at the “stupidity” displayed by musicians. This coupled with self serving egos makes it rather difficult to get a point across.
100/100 for a damn good article.
Oh I must add this one!
Sometime ago I was standing in a totally soundproof control room (no reflections) and the sound engineer asked me to move as I was interfering with some important reflections he required to have the right sound.
Does this explain something?
I play drums, guitar and im currently recording many bands including my own. I am 23 and i could answer about 95% of the questions. Way to go!
Alex, you are a true rockstar 🙂
#10 Google “tuning the guitar” and you may never find what you think is the answer. First off, your guitar should have a professional set up. If you do not understand “equal temperament”, you are hit and miss at best. Hint, the only intervals in tune are the octave and unison. Major 3rds are incredibly sharp, and do NOT! use harmonics. On top of that, different makes and scales of guitars have their own inherent tuning problems. On top of that, different woods have different tuning characteristics. (I set up guitars for lots of bands and producers). On my electric guitar, I take the EASY way out. I have a tuner in my pedal board (Polytune by TC Electronics) that is accurate to 1/2 of one percent. That’s better than just about any human ear. It’s just quicker when I am playing with a band. A guitar in perfect tuning is a myth, but the more you know, the closer you get.
#51 Can you identify the frequency range and sweet spots of your own instrument? And then can you do that for other instruments in your group? Makes for better mixing and recording!
Great Questions! I need to research a few of them.
Don
Don, awesome points. How often do you recommend getting your guitar set up?
Set ups are basically adjustments on items that can be adjusted. A good luthier can do things you probably never thought of though. A good set up makes a guitar a lot easier to play. I get to talk to a lot of worship leaders about their guitars. Things can drift and shift gradually. Seasonal temperature and humidity changes can effect acoustic guitars. All my high end clients bring me their new guitars for a check over, and then a 6 month to 1 year check up. Any time it doesn’t feel right,
feels more difficult to play, doesn’t sound right or tune right, it could be a set up problem. Most of my client/buddies drop by a couple times a year with their favorite guitar for a free inspection. If it needs something we go from their.
Tuning your open strings with a tuner, is only 6 notes. If you only play in the first 5 frets, that is 30 more notes. Have you ever heard ?, “I tuned with a tuner but my chords sound terrible”. Bad set up.
I set up my own guitars about 2 to 3 times a year, about every other string change. I am not a thrash player, I am pretty easy on them, but very meticulous about pitch accuracy.
Can you tell I can’t give a short answer to anything?
Don
Why don’t you set up a Q&A about guitar functions? You’ll have gear heads all over writing in.
I like your long answers 🙂 Very helpful. And I need to go get my guitar set up now.
What kind of guitar do you play? I see sail boats in the background of your picture. What city are you located in? Understanding the climate you are in is important to maintaining your guitar.
I live in Pittsburgh, PA, though that picture was taken in Toronto 🙂
I live in Texas. It is dry and dryer. I work very hard to keep my acoustic guitars humidified. In PA. winters are probably the hard times. It gets cold, you run heat, it dries out the air, your guitar expands and contracts, and cracks. I don’t know what you know, but this is general advice for everyone. Get a hygrometer and track the humidity inside your guitar case. It should stay at about 40%. The lower it gets below 30%, the greater is the danger of cracking. It has been as low as 7% here in the winter. That is cracking weather.
Thanks for the tips!