Better to MIC amp than plug directly to mixer with no preamp?

[miroslav]

I'm often criticized for looking bored when I play live. I can't help it. I usually am bored.

So then why bother playing music if you feel nothing from it, if it has no deeper meaning for you, if it's just "vibrating strings" and nothing more?

......and not even you, the snobbiest of them all, will be able to tell the difference.

Yes I will...while I'm playing and recording.

Hey...earlier tonight I fired up one of my tube amps that oozes mojo, picked out some nice jam tracks with plenty of groove, adjusted the studio lights for a smoky, mellow mood...
..and then jammed my ass off to the nice vibe I created and with the emotion I was feeling.

It made me think of you playing your drums like all bored-n-stuff...

 

[Greg_L]

So then why bother playing music if you feel nothing from it, if it has no deeper meaning for you, if it's just "vibrating strings" and nothing more?

It's vibrating drum heads too, you know. I'm not stuck on guitar like some of you guys. Anyway, why does it have to have deeper meaning? Why do people insist on making everything some out-of-body experience? I enjoy playing/writing/recording music just like I enjoy fishing and watching football. It's part of my life. My boredom comment was in regard to playing live. I'm getting sick of playing live. It's a hassle. I love band practice and playing on my own. I'm just starting to hate gigs.

Yes I will...while I'm playing and recording.


Hey...earlier tonight I fired up one of my tube amps that oozes mojo, picked out some nice jam tracks with plenty of groove, adjusted the studio lights for a smoky, mellow mood...
..and then jammed my ass off to the nice vibe I created and with the emotion I was feeling.

It made me think of you playing your drums like all bored-n-stuff...

The sad thing is that even though you think you're being cute, you actually believe all that nonsense.

 

[clivus]

I don't doubt that. Light is used to treat all sorts of skin conditions and lack of sunlight in arctic areas can cause people to get depressed. I get that. I just think that a decent musician should be able to play his part(s) under the fluorescent lights of a supermarket or in the hippie glow of a stupid lava lamp. It shouldn't matter. People that need "mood lighting" to perform aren't as good as they think they are.

gotcha.

 

[grimtraveller]

Anyway, why does it have to have deeper meaning? Why do people insist on making everything some out-of-body experience? I enjoy playing/writing/recording music just like I enjoy fishing and watching football. It's part of my life. My boredom comment was in regard to playing live. I'm getting sick of playing live. It's a hassle. I love band practice and playing on my own. I'm just starting to hate gigs.

That's very revealing. While I do sometimes chuckle at the mystical claptrap that I think some people apply to everyday activity, I also appreciate that for many people, those things are special. Deeper meaning is deeper meaning. It's a personal thing, which, if enough people share it, takes on a communal element. You enjoy writing and recording. And you've been doing it long enough and well enough to take it in a particular way. And that's cool. It's another side to the hexagon. Other people ascribe something else to the same activity. That's cool too. I find fascination that different people grab such different things from the same activity because I'm no stranger to paradoxes.
When my kids and I are watching telly, we're not just 'fixing our gaze on a screen at flickering images'. There's lots going on and even if no one else feels that way, for us there are absolutely deeper things going on. Not every time, but sometimes. Although it's not something one focuses on at the time {although they've surprized me many times as they have}.
I can understand the getting sick of gigs bit because I find that very few human beings can continue doing the same thing endlessly and not get, if not bored, then at least 'bluuurrgghh'. Lots of people just don't admit it.
It's funny, I'm more in agreement with Miroslavs' camp regarding groove/vibe {I've always hated the word mojo} but more in yours regarding sims.
But that's life.

 

[moresound]

But Tagbo's mojo has a nice ring to it.

 

[Greg_L]

That's very revealing. While I do sometimes chuckle at the mystical claptrap that I think some people apply to everyday activity, I also appreciate that for many people, those things are special. Deeper meaning is deeper meaning. It's a personal thing, which, if enough people share it, takes on a communal element. You enjoy writing and recording. And you've been doing it long enough and well enough to take it in a particular way. And that's cool. It's another side to the hexagon. Other people ascribe something else to the same activity. That's cool too. I find fascination that different people grab such different things from the same activity because I'm no stranger to paradoxes.
When my kids and I are watching telly, we're not just 'fixing our gaze on a screen at flickering images'. There's lots going on and even if no one else feels that way, for us there are absolutely deeper things going on. Not every time, but sometimes. Although it's not something one focuses on at the time {although they've surprized me many times as they have}.
I can understand the getting sick of gigs bit because I find that very few human beings can continue doing the same thing endlessly and not get, if not bored, then at least 'bluuurrgghh'. Lots of people just don't admit it.
It's funny, I'm more in agreement with Miroslavs' camp regarding groove/vibe {I've always hated the word mojo} but more in yours regarding sims.
But that's life.

tl/dr....

But let me say that I fully understand that my thoughts and opinions on this matter aren't popular or the norm and I don't expect a bunch of idealistic musicians and/or musician wannabes to agree with me. I'm perfectly fine being right all by myself. In fact, I prefer it that way. As soon as people start agreeing with me, then I know I'm on the wrong path.

 

[Lt. Bob]

It's vibrating drum heads too, you know. I'm not stuck on guitar like some of you guys. Anyway, why does it have to have deeper meaning? Why do people insist on making everything some out-of-body experience? I enjoy playing/writing/recording music just like I enjoy fishing and watching football. It's part of my life. My boredom comment was in regard to playing live. I'm getting sick of playing live. It's a hassle. I love band practice and playing on my own. I'm just starting to hate gigs.

I understand what you're saying and it's certainly true for some people.

And having heard your music it certainly is a workable way to go. You make good music ..... you have good ears so it's not like you need the mystical claptrap to make music and have fun.
But to ask your question from the other side: Why can't it mean more to some people?
I mean, I get that it doesn't have to ........ but if it IS more than that to some people why is that a bad thing?
Why is your approach the only acceptable correct one?

 

[grimtraveller]

tl/dr....

Naw, it just looks long ! It's joyfully brief !

 

[miroslav]

As soon as people start agreeing with me, then I know I'm on the wrong path.

So then you really DON'T want anyone agreeing with you...ever.
No problem, I wouldn't want to spoil your mojo...'cuz that's what that is, what you said above, it's YOUR personal mojo.

And see...that's really the point (grim was making it too).
Everyone finds their own, you don't have to do what someone else does.
If it makes you feel better to burn incense while you jam, then that's what works for you.
There is no right/wrong about it....no matter how much you like to think you're right.

 

[Greg_L]

But to ask your question from the other side: Why can't it mean more to some people?

It can mean whatever to whomever. Just don't feed me the groove/vibe/feel nonsense because I know it's just lip service and meaningless musician lingo.

Why is your approach the only acceptable correct one?

Because it's the only one that's based in reality.

 

[Greg_L]

So then you really DON'T want anyone agreeing with you...ever.

Well, people in general are very dumb, so no, I usually don't want people agreeing with me. One or two is fine. Masses of people agreeing with me can't be good.

There is no right/wrong about it.....

Then stop trying to tell me I'm wrong.

 

[bouldersoundguy]

Seriously, when I talk about feel I'm not referring to mystical, undefinable B.S., I'm talking about a real physical thing that happens when I play. Maybe I can't define it here and now but what I'm talking about can be described scientifically. Playing through a sim simply doesn't feel the same, and that affects the performance. Different guitars do the same thing. My playing will change if I change amps or even sim patches. That's because playing is not simply a predefined sequence of picking and fingering moves like a robot playing a MIDI file, it's a real time interaction between what I play and how I hear it back.

 

[bouldersoundguy]

Well, people in general are very dumb, so no, I usually don't want people agreeing with me. One or two is fine. Masses of people agreeing with me can't be good.



Then stop trying to tell me I'm wrong.

You're not wrong. I totally agree that most, almost all, people are dumb.

 

[Greg_L]

You're not wrong. I totally agree that most, almost all, people are dumb.

Don't agree with me!

 

[bouldersoundguy]

Don't agree with me!

Okay!....

 

[moresound]

Don't agree with me!

LOL ~ This is got to be in someone signature line!

 

[miroslav]

Then stop trying to tell me I'm wrong.

I don't think there was a single sentence where I was telling you that you were *wrong*...if anything, I said a couple of times that everyone is different in how we perceive/feel music and our relationship with the whole music creativity thing.

Actually...it's you that keeps telling everyone else that they/we are all wrong and you're the only one right...
...but then, that's nothing new coming from you.

 

[miroslav]

Seriously, when I talk about feel I'm not referring to mystical, undefinable B.S...

I don't really buy into some intense mysticism when making music...but we all have rituals. When you get up in the morning, there's a ritual involved even at the most basic levels. Many rituals have become such a deep-rooted aspect of our lives...we just call them "habits".

So it's no different with making music. There are small things we do that might put us in a certain mood and/or change our perspectives. Often these are things/rituals/habits we've refined over many years of playing that we don't even consider them as specific *rituals/habits*...rather we just do them and some of those things are what makes each of us who we are...it can even be rolled into "personality".

That's what vibe/mojo is all about for me....and probably many others.
It's not about some chanting and burning of sacrificial guitar picks as an offering to the music gods or some other silliness.

Yeah...if I turn down the lights it DOES alter the vibe, no one can deny that...and if it alters the vibe, then it alters how we play.
Heck, if a real hottie walks into the studio or bar and she's checking you out, her mojo is going to change how you play.

 

[Armistice]

I don't mind the use of some of the various terms that get thrown around, as long as someone can explain to me what they are - "groove" "being in the pocket" etc. are a playing technique involving timing. I don't go with this "I can't explain it, I just feel it" type mentality - maybe they can't and it's their natural way of playing, but that doesn't mean it can't be explained.

As for turning the lights down, I record in the brightest possible light so I can see WTF I'm doing and minimise my chances of doing the wrong thing. People who can play well enough to record by the light of a lava lamp and the glow of a few cones are either geniuses or playing something really, really simple. I almost never do simple so I need light!

I may play for my own enjoyment in other ways, so I get Miro's point there, but not for actual tracking.

 

[PRHunt]

This thread is _really_ starting to remind me of the Monty Python "Argument" sketch.