Turn me up

This summer I took my wife to see Anthony Hamilton in concert. I'm a fan of great musicianship (shout out to Jimmie) and one of the things that impressed me that warm June night in Baltimore (besides Musiq Soulchild's all female band "Annie-Mae") was how Hamilton's bass player would keep the bass line going while conferring with the sound man on stage right. You see anyone that knows anything about live sound knows that is one of the most important elements is sound monitoring.

When we used to go to "Go-Go's" we'd make fun of Anwan Glover calling for his "monitor's" "I need my monitor's!" Dave Chapelle devotes an entire skit to a rappers constant recording of ad-libs referring to the sound engineer, "turn my mic up! turn me up in the head phones! Head phones' is distorted. Turn me up, turn the music down" Many a church sound/man/person knows the perils of not having the pastor's monitors tweaked at the right level, while at the same time gingerly walking the line, trying not to create a audio feedback loop, where the sound coming from the mic is returning back into the mic from a speaker creating that high pitched scream, all because the person on the microphone asked for more monitor. Many a speaker has worked themselves to near exhaustion trying to amplify their voice more than necessary because they couldn't not hear themselves in the sound system.

So what's the big deal? Why do musicians need speakers pointed at them to perform? Why did Erykah Badu temporarily loose hearing in one ear, with in-ear monitors that were carelessly allowed to blast in her ear drums? Why do singers and rapper need head phones in perfectly calibrated stereophonic music studios? And what does any of this have to do with me?

Simply put, in order to perform on the right note, the right key, in harmony, even with sheet music, even though trained to do the right motions to make music notes come out precisely as they should.....

Professionally trained artist need to hear themselves as they perform to make the right sound.

That's the big secret. Even though Anthony Hamilton had been on tour since the beginning of May and had performed two shows in D.C. that weekend and those musicians undoubtedly know those songs frontwards and backwards...to make the right sounds, you have to hear the sound coming out to you as it is coming out to everyone else.

You may wonder, can't they hear straight instrument to ear? Can't you hear your own voice, lips to ear? Ah, but the paradox is 'sound' sounds one way coming from the instrument, but another way to the hearer. Sound is a vibration, across air waves....that is interpreted for the most part by the ear drum, but don't forget the heart, the soul, and the body in general are capable of feeling sound's vibration.

Where we make our mistake, is often times we think we are heard just as we intend for things to sound. (I've had to re-write this several times as I read it aloud to myself.) We have one sound in mind, but far to often the sound that we think we are making is not the sound that people hear. Those words you spoke, you thought you were heard correctly, and when they didn't have the effect that you thought they would the tendency is to blame the hearer. Sometimes we use intonation to mask a true emotion. Ever try to cover up hurt and have someone ask..."what's wrong?" Ever been so excited that someone could hear you smiling through the other end of the phone? No? Well have you ever heard your voice on a voice mail you left? Or watched a video of yourself? Heard a recording of you singing or talking? Wonder why what sounds so good in your bathroom, in your head, or in the mixing booth doesn't quite draw the reaction that you thought it would? Too much auto-tune/vocoder?

Question: Have you heard yourself lately? Have you considered listening to what you are saying to others as they are hearing it (how it sounds to them?) Are your actions speaking louder than your words? Maybe you need to turn your monitors up?

(Note I'll be writing a Sunday/Monday Blog, a Tuesday/Wednesday Blog and a Thursday/Friday Blog...that might stretch into a Thursday - Sunday blog...basically I won't be writing, well posting everyday)