Over the holidays, I've recorded a perfectly played acoustic guitar track (well...perfect for me) at least 7 times. After every take I play the track back and no matter what adjustments I make, the result is the same.The track sounds like I probably sound sometimes....hollow and lifeless.
This is especially frustrating to me because over the years, I've built myself a decent home studio. I have a couple of vintage microphones, a respectable vacuum tube pre-amp, and a pretty nice collection of instruments. In recent years I have acoustically treated a room so that I'd have some good space to work in. I've acquired enough gizmos that should make capturing that magical guitar moment of a lifetime a sure thing. (if it ever happens.)
Man...if only it didn't sound so hollow and lifeless.
In an effort to identify the problem I've established some known facts.
The problem is not the song. The song is far from hollow and lifeless. The song is one of my favorite praise and worship tunes. I share a common inspiration with the person who penned this song and I want to record it because it speaks to me.
I know what you are thinking BUT It's not the player either. Oh sure there are technical issues like the fact that I can't really play guitar or sing for that matter, and that I have fat arthritic fingers. But on the inside, I'm all about this song.
Last night, after a week of looking for it, I finally learned the source of the problem. I have a bad tweeter in one of my studio monitors.
Go figure....
So....
The song is good. I'm inspired by the words and their source of inspiration. I played the song close to the level I wanted to. I used a decent guitar played into a very desirable microphone, patched into my retro/ pre-civil war style vacuum tube type pre-amp, PLUGGED INTO!...get this...
A/D converters set to record at 96 bazillion khz at 24 bit audio!!!!!!
I amplified the playback through a studio reference amplifier connected to.....
a speaker with a blown tweeter. Man......
Despite the song, my attitude, my efforts, my abilities, and my totally cool stuff, it all fell apart at the very last link of the chain. In the end it all boiled down to what my ears heard.
I'm sure my blown tweeter is a result of a mistake I made somewhere along the way.
I likely left a microphone open when I pulled the headphones off my big ole head and switched the speakers on, thus sending some insanely nasty frequency through it.
That happens from time to time and you might get away with it. But if you ever mess up bad enough and send something extreme and ugly enough through a speaker, anything else you try to sing, play, or say will never sound the same.
Despite all of the previous warnings, I was thinking......
An audio speaker is kinda like a mouth.
I can read the Bible and learn how I'm supposed to live. I can listen to good songs that inspire me to get to know the only One who can make be a better man today than I was yesterday. I can give money to the church and others who need it. I can do my best to make my body a good environment for the Holy Spirit to live in. I can tell my story and encourage others to get to know Jesus....
But if I'm not really careful.... I can make one mistake and blow my tweeter.
And then I might never sound the same again.
I really need to be more careful!
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James 3:2-10
2 Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.
3 We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. 4 And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. 5 In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches.
But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. 6 And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.
7 People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, 8 but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. 9 Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. 10 And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!
