by Stefan Schroff: www.stefanschroff.com

FROM EAR TO EAR
EAR -> FINGER, GUITAR, PEDALS, AMP, CAB, MIC, HEADPHONES MIX, HEADPHONES -> EAR

Episode 1. Basic Sound Analysis
You have your sound in your ear, you know how you want to "sound"? Good, because that is the be-all and end-all.
First of all, you have to create exactly this sound so that it sounds in the structure of your band the way you imagine it to be
. This sound may sound quite different on its own than when all the other instruments are playing along
and masking and competing with certain parts of your frequency spectrum.

Moreover, our ear hears anything but linearly and, depending on the volume, certain frequency ranges are perceived as
more dominant or reduced. At low volumes, our ear is more sensitive in the middle
frequencies and hears them "louder". The higher the volume, the more inverted the
perception becomes, roughly speaking, the mids become less dominant for our ear and the highs and basses
become more prominent.

Therefore, it is important that you first adjust your sound in the band and at the volume at which your
band rehearses and performs, as only then can you really judge it objectively. Start old-school,
analogue and RnR-style. With the direct sound of your instrument in the band.
I always orient myself to the drummer for the volume. To my ear, the other instruments should be in
a good balance with the drum set. That sounds organic, natural and works wonderfully in the rehearsal room as well as
in small to medium-sized clubs. The PA only complements the sound, the rest is backline.
Be wary of the "More Me" setting, you don't want to be louder than the drummer but
be able to play in tune with his dynamics. But you also don't want to be a quiet "background noise".
That's why it's important to check your volume at different places in the room. Go down from
the stage at the sound check and judge your level in relation to the drums from the
auditorium. Also note that guitar cabs are very directional sound sources, depending on their design.
There are various components (such as Deeflex) that improve this or ideas on how to align your cabinet. The
worst thing to do is to point your 4×12 cabinet directly at the FOH mixer....which will immediately tell you to turn down
:-) often open cabs have a much wider, rounder dispersion angle
than, for example, the good old 4×12 cabinet. Try it out.

Do you have your volume under control and can you integrate your sound well into the band? Very good!
You're either too quiet, never hear yourself or you're always too "loud" ruining the band sound and you're the only one
heard? Check your frequencies! The guitar is a midrange instrument and often has
competition there from the voice, the snare, other guitars and keyboard instruments. So find
your place where your instrument fits in, experiment with different EQ settings on the amp but also
with different guitars and (!) speaker types. These have a big, if not the
biggest, influence on the frequency response of your sound.
Deep basses are tempting and sound great when you play alone. But in a band, you steal the show from the
bass, and in a very bad way, at great disadvantage to yourself. The bass goes (in the
ideal case) through an amp that reproduces low frequencies much better than a guitar amp, so, let it
work. Deep bass takes a lot of energy from your power amp and speakers, which is then
also missing for the rest of the frequencies and makes it slow. So, leave them out. Put a e.g.
Tubescreamer in front of your Modern HighGain Monster and make yourself and your fellow musicians happy. Also beware of too few mids and too many highs on
. You want a punchy sound that presses "on the chest"
, doesn't boom and finds its place in the mids next to the other competitors. It doesn't matter
whether it's clean, crunch or ultragain. Sometimes a Tele with a single coil suddenly sounds fatter and as
a Les Paul Custom in the whole structure! We'll take a look at what happens from there in the next "From
Ear to Ear" blog.