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How good is your hearing ? And how do you know ?

Sometimes I have a big laugh when reading this forum. There are clearly people whose hearing is, shall I say, very special. So why buy good stuff ?
inna
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wolf_garcia
6,692 posts
 
I joined the Honolulu Musicians Union 50 years ago (they tossed me and every other member I knew out from time to time for non payment of dues), and have played electric guitar too loud too often and still do. Ears ring, etc. So now I mix live concert sound to the standards required by Fred Hersch, Julian Lage, The Baltimore Consort, etc., and get overpaid to do so. My "active listening" (meaning paying attention) sessions with my hifi rig have increased my listening abilities and contribute mightily to my ever evolving personal taste. I imagine I’m not alone there...Bob Ludwig is 73...Clearmountain is 65...my former neighbor Elliot Scheiner is 71...can they hear dog whistles? I doubt it, but their dogs can’t apply accumulated perceptive skill to sound production so it’s a wash (sort of, but you get it). Also, I’ve been into sports cars for decades, and a great car is obviously great (to an experienced driver anyway) at any speed. ’69 Lotus Elan? Yep...great. 74 Carrera? Great. My Mini Turbo...a 9 year old 3 series...you don’t need to race them to know they’re excellent, and don’t need to hear speakers at 103db to know they’re working. The "going back to simple gear" concept isn’t lost on me, but you have to appreciate that, for example, a modern single ended hand wired tube amp has better everything in its construction, and speakers that were originally designed in 1957 now have upgraded components and sound WAY better than back in the day. Possible exceptions do exist as old tube guitar amps are often pure magic, but hey, so are lots of new ones.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,760 posts
 

Speaking of the Musicians Union, I have a story:

In the early 70’s, Bill Graham used Monday nights to audition local (Bay Area) bands. The ones who passed were given slots on regular nights, opening for national acts. The Fillmore was a Union building, so to be able to perform there bands were required, if they didn’t already belong, to join the union. Most semi-pro bands, playing bars, clubs, weddings, corporate gigs, etc., never have to.

I knew some guys in a San Jose band who did the audition night at The Fillmore, joining the Union just to be able to do so. Induction fee, plus monthlies (whether you work that month or not). They played their set, and went home to hear back from the Graham organization. They instead heard from the Musicians Union, who fined them for playing below scale! Graham paid bands peanuts, auditioning bands actually willing to play for free to get on the Fillmore stage. Graham KNEW he was playing below scale, and that the bands would therefore get fined, and couldn’t care less. Ah, the life of an aspiring musician ;-) .

Speaking of pay.....for those who think being a professional musician in a big name band pays well: Denny Seiwell, the L.A. studio drummer McCartney plucked out of that environment for his early 70’s band Wings, gave an interview in which he disclosed that Paul was paying him $150 a week. He eventually quit, being unable to afford to work for Paul.

wolf_garcia
6,692 posts
 
We had to re-join the union every time we got a gig opening for a big act, and generally it cost about as much as we made for the show. I made more playing 5 or 6 nights a week in Honolulu clubs than friends I knew who toured in major acts. A couple of years ago I was talking to the brilliant drummer Dave Mattacks in a Portsmouth NH club and he said he couldn't get gigs in London so he moved here...he was in Fairport Convention, played with Wings, Jethro Tull, Elton John, etc...crazy.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,760 posts
 

Damn Wolf, Mattacks is a GREAT drummer, one of my favorites. He has also worked with Richard Thompson, who was of course in Fairport Convention. He not only plays real well (musical, tasteful, ensemble-style), he also knows how make his drums sound good for recording. Not everyone does. He plays like a studio drummer, not a Rock Band member. I view him sort of as the British Kenny Buttrey (Nashville studios; Dylan, Neil Young’s Harvest album, thousands of other recordings). He plays the way songwriters like drummers to play---complimentary.

My sister was in the Navy, and in the late-70’s/early 80’s was stationed in Hawaii. For my birthday in 1980 she paid my air fare to fly over for a week and stay with her in her off-base apartment. One night I went to a nightclub to drink and see/hear some live music, and there was a singer backed by a 3-piece band. They played current hits plus Classic Rock, and were okay. On a break the guitarist came over and asked me my name. I told him, and he said "I thought that was you!". I had no idea who he was.

Turns out he was this kid who lived near the house the band I was in in 1971 practiced, a kid who would come over and watch and listen to us work on our all-original material. Small world! He told me playing his band’s material, and with that singer (singers are often not musicians, and are a different kind of guy. They are not singers for no reason ;-) was a grind, but that he was making 3 grand a week. In 1980. I was pissed! He said getting musicians to come to the islands was so difficult that clubs were willing to pay that much to get them to.

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