Sound

A couple things about listening to music:

As our site grows you will see that Yrgal and I play and listen to many different styles. Ya know, I like Johnny Cash, Marylin Manson, Snoop Dogg, Beastie Boys, SRV...ect...ect....


The thing I'm hoping to remind you about enjoying music is that you're mood makes a huge difference. If you hear a song and don't like it, give it another chance. When I first heard Crafty, by the Beasties, I literally HATED it. I heard it another time and thought, "this is kinda fun"...now I love it!...when I'm in the mood. On the other hand, when I first heard Johnny Cash's rendition of Trent Resnor's Hurt I thought it was the most incredible piece of art I had ever hear. I listened to it a few times that week and haven't been "in the mood" for months since. Still LOVE the song though. I disliked Zep and ZZ for many of my younger years. Now I consider them nothing short of geniuses. Don't box your tastes in.

I hope I'm not coming off as preachy here (it IS a blog though, I guess...), but this is stuff I used to ignore and I'm glad I'm more aware now.

Another thing to remember is that music (sound in general) has an actual physiological effect on humans. It really affects your body and therefore your chemicals and therefore your emotions. An important aspect of how a composer intends his/her music to impact the listener is volume. There are "official" terms used in music to dictate the volume(s) at which a piece of music is performed. Typically these instructions from the composer are not conveyed to the listener of a recording. It is, however, pretty easy to assume that much of the music of the past 50 years is meant to played "Forte" or "FORTISSIMO" (LOUD!) most of the time. Doesn't mean you need to injure your ears, but remember if you're listening to rock and roll, metal, punk, even country or reggae (like I said "much music") at a low volume, you may not be getting the intended effect. Try it, put on some AC/DC at a volume you could talk over. ehhh it's AC/DC...yea yea legendary band...yea. Now put on AC/DC CRANKED! If you're physical wreck like myself, you'll give yourself whiplash with the headbanging and you'll wonder why it's been so long since you cranked some AC/DC!

PEACE!