In the world of recording and music production, respect and prestige awaits those who have “golden ears”
I define golden ears as producers
who can:
1. Hear and identify different frequencies within the audio spectrum
2. Dial in the right frequency for the right
instrument, while eliminating those frequencies unnecessary to the music being presented
3. Tastefully determine appropriate
instrument level and balance, and place them suitably within the stereo (or surround) field. I define those adept in these
areas to be audiophiles
Then there is the disease……………
The disease is one I have dubbed audiophilia. Let me describe
an encounter with an audiophiliac.
I’m at the local music store shootin’ the breeze with the salesmen about guitar amps, when
another customer, a fairly well respected guitar tech, starts talking about his amazing tube mod for a mesa boogie dual rectifier. It involves pulling the stock mesa GT preamp tubes, and replacing them with some variations of “true” GT’s and some other respected
tubes. Always wanting to pull a little more tone out of anything I can, I decide to spend a few bucks on his tube combination
and try it. I get the tubes home, install them, and let the amp warm up. No difference. I decide to record the amp
and listen back. No difference. I then set up an array of mics on the cabinet, lay a click track, and then record a repetitive
riff using some chunk, some open power chords, and some picked arpeggios to get different playing techniques. Sounds
OK, but nothing new here. So I get an idea. Leaving the mics in their position, I reinstall the original stock mesa tubes
and let the amp warm up. I then punch in at the repeat point of the riff so I now have two different versions of the same riff
cycle. The difference was there, but it was so negligible as to become virtually ineffective. In fact, by the time I laid
a basic drum track accompaniment, I found that I could have used both takes side by side in a song, and no one would have known the
difference! And I guarantee you, not even the “tube guy” would have heard the difference..................
………..Audiophilia!!
