Read this article the other day and thought it nice to share it:
The psychology of amp-tone
Ever wondered why your rig sounded great in the past but now it lacks something? Nothing has changed- same guitar/amp/room/settings/etc so why is this ongoing quest for “that” sound akin to locating the Holy Grail…
Quick test- cover one eye for a minute and take a look around with your open eye. Nothing special there. Now switch to view with the eye that has been covered for a minute. Notice a slightly different appearance of shades and colours? Quickly, they return to equal perception. The human being is one of the most innovative creations known, goes without saying, and is very adaptable to diverse situations, hot/cold, wet/dry, stress/relax, bright/dark, loud/quiet, etc. This self-calibrating being that is us can survive in the harshest of conditions and has a natural ability to deal with a wide variety of situations owing to our inbuilt ability to adapt our senses. More correctly, our senses adapt automatically for us, often without us realising, just as our heart beats unconsciously.
On the subject of interpretation of aural-sensations, our hearing, let’s take a brief insight to our sense of sound, being mindful of how similarly our other senses connect us to the outside world, sight, sound, touch, smell and taste (sixth sense open to debate!) Forget room-acoustics, that’s another subject itself even though it is a major factor. As you wouldn’t want to consume your favourite food in a certain surrounding, even though the flavour remains the same, you probably wouldn’t enjoy hearing “your rig” in a less than ideal space.
Let us compare our perception of sound with another sense, “taste”, for example. (We’re referring to our mouth and flavour receptors here, not in a fashion-sense, which is subjective to the individual, even though the same can be applied to aural and visual stimulus, whether its clothing, music, art, attractiveness, etc, I digress…).
Think “food”. Yummy! How many times have you enjoyed your favourite meal yet occasionally have not? Maybe you weren’t in the mood for it or had already eaten? Likewise, have multiple favourite meals but would never wish to have them on the same plate at the same time? Do you often fancy something particular to eat for no apparent reason, led by your taste buds or maybe you’ve seen/smelt/heard something that triggers this desire? The same goes for your other senses including your hearing.
Seems obvious that your favourite food item may go well when accompanied by another complimentary food item but it may not go so well with others. This is why Amp-tone “X” sounds awesome with “song A” but not great with “song B”. Maybe another sound is great at home but lacking at the gig. With audio, whether its individual tones or a group of sounds, the brain decides what items compliment each other based on learning and instinct. What one individual perceives as nice another person may not agree though there often seems to be common agreement on what qualifies as appalling. This is true for your chosen “tone”, it may compliment some sounds but not others, depending what makes up the complete mix.
Now consider this- depending what you had to eat before (and sometimes after) your “favourite” food item can taint your perception of subsequent flavours. True again for sound- what you have been listening to, whether it was pleasing or unpleasant, will affect your perception of what follows. This could be as simple as switching from the clean channel to the overdrive channel on your amp. Our brain adapts to compensate for changes and self-fulfil its needs to deliver us a more balanced representation. We're not even talking about loudness and the fletcher-muson curves here! We have limited control over this. How about a room that has a certain smell yet after occupying that space for some time you don’t notice the character smell but for others entering the same room it is very noticeable. Same goes for your ears as they get accustomed and normalise themselves to a sound (your amp tone!) Changing environments or sounds (try a different amp setting?) refreshes your aural-palette and upon returning to the previous sound it can appear fresh again for a while. Although we may not enjoy it as so, we also adapt to “poor” situations. That horrible smell, or off-taste or not-so-great amp-sound doesn’t seem as bad after being subjected to it for a while, within reason.
Subjecting ourselves to a situation for any duration can easily lead us to become get tired of it and seek something different to maintain our interest. We get accustomed to the world- it’s a survival instinct. How many times have you adjusted your tone (or played with ingredient quantities when cooking) aiming to improve upon what you have only to wish you had left it as it was in the first place? Down the rabbit hole we fall...
Next time you are on the quest for the Holy Grail, seeking and tweaking for the “ultimate” tone, pause and consider, you may already have what you are looking for but your recent environmental or historical factors influence your judgement. As humans, some of us are more complacent than others but most of us naturally pursue new experiences to enthuse, improve and excite us so it's not surprise that this applies to “that” amp sound too. Your senses get accustomed to certain stimulus. Your ears do become “tired”.
There is neither escape nor answer but we must be mindful of the human senses and understand how they auto-calibrate, as nature intended. Don't fight mother nature!
