Quote:
Originally Posted by martingitdave
Forgive the inference, but I wonder if you may have some sensitivity to some of the boosted low frequencies, or need more boost for other mid cut frequencies around 900 Hz. Perhaps you are experiencing some hearing fatigue?
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No offense taken. I have done live sound re-enforcement professionally since about 1988 when I graduated from college. My ears were very good up until just a few years ago. Not good enough to be a mastering engineer, but certainly within the range of a decent sound guy at a good recording studio. Most of my work was doing live show sound.
Unfortunately, the last couple of years, my hearing has deteriorated markedly. My ears ring mercilessly and at quite a few frequencies at once. My left ear can't hear anything that comes out of a tweeter, and worse that that, aliases horribly. My right ear is quite a bit better, but still nowhere near the finely tuned instrument it once was.
For years I was primarily a keyboard player. We have a Steinway baby grand in our living room. Unfortunately, the sound of a piano really tweaks my bad ear. I always played guitar, but not anywhere near the level At which I played keyboards. Now with my hearing damage, acoustic guitar is one of the few things that still sounds good to me. I've spent the last four years primarily on guitar as my main instrument and am much better now. I'm still not at the level where I can think music and watch my fingers move like I could on piano, but I'm slowly catching up.
I really don't enjoy the sound of a band anymore. I am carving out a niche where I do the fingerstyle arrangements similar to a solo player, but functioning as a band under a singer. Right now I am working with a girl singer and we trade of singing melodies and harmonies. The female/male voices work really well with my hearing in that we are often a tenth rather than a third apart and this doesn't seem to alias anywhere near as bad in my more damaged ear.
With my reduced hearing, audio quality is even more important than it used to be when I play. It used to be that if the sound was to bright or too boomy, or the monitors weren't right, I could just roll with it. Now I am really picky. I try to play at conversationally low levels: a little louder than just an acoustic in a room, but not by much. If the sound isn't just right, I don't hear what I'm doing well enough to play well.
So when I ask the question: "Is it just me?" I really am quite serious. I know what I think I'm hearing, but I really am not confident in it at all.