"Amp in the room" tone doesn't matter. Or does it?

[Deadpool_25]

I watched this video and thought it was interesting. He makes a lot of good points, however I have to disagree with his broad statement that amp in the room tones "don't matter."



While I understand his point, it should be mentioned that while the tone in the room doesn't matter to him, it could very well matter to you. Or to someone else. In fact it could be of much greater importance than recorded tones depending on the person and context.

He says the sound in the room "isn't what we hear and isn't what we've ever heard." Not true. If you've ever plugged into a real amp and cab/speaker, or even been in the room where someone else did so, then you've heard an amp in the room. And if that tone inspired you, then it inspired you. The first time I heard a Dual Rectifier live was in a movie theater on an Air Force base where a band was practicing. It sounded amazing and I immediately wanted one of those amps--the tone was inspiring.

Recorded sounds are certainly important to most if not all people, but aren't the only important sounds. Plenty of people don't record. They might be playing alone in their house, with friends in a garage, in a small bar, etc. And while the tones they're using may not exactly replicate some recorded tones they find inspiring, they may approximate those tones well enough to be inspiring enough for the player and/or other people in the area.

So while the video is interesting, entertaining, and actually pretty cool overall, I think it demonstrates a lack of consideration for other perspectives and use cases. Tone in the room might not matter to him. It might not even matter to you. But to say it doesn't matter as a generalization is just plain old incorrect.

For the record, I like this guy's channel a lot. This just stood out to me as narrow-minded.

 

[GunpointMetal]

It matters to the extent that in a live performance setting people want to see the entertainers looking like they're enjoying themselves. Sonically, guitar cabs are fucking awful speaker systems and don't really sound "good" anywhere except whatever spot the guitarist has decided to dial the tone in for in that space.

 

[Emperoff]

 

[ShredmasterD]

so feedback is not from an amp in the room and does not change the way they (guitar and amp) sound TOGETHER. Also the whole thing about old PAFs is that they are lightly potted and microphonic and pick up the loud sound coming back from the amp that becomes part of the magic. there has to be an amp in the room for that. plus the amp in the room jangles the balls, thumps the ground and moves your pant legs. headphones do not.

 

[Anant Naag]

I watched this video and thought it was interesting. He makes a lot of good points, however I have to disagree with his broad statement that amp in the room tones "don't matter."



While I understand his point, it should be mentioned that while the tone in the room doesn't matter to him, it could very well matter to you. Or to someone else. In fact it could be of much greater importance than recorded tones depending on the person and context.

He says the sound in the room "isn't what we hear and isn't what we've ever heard." Not true. If you've ever plugged into a real amp and cab/speaker, or even been in the room where someone else did so, then you've heard an amp in the room. And if that tone inspired you, then it inspired you. The first time I heard a Dual Rectifier live was in a movie theater on an Air Force base where a band was practicing. It sounded amazing and I immediately wanted one of those amps--the tone was inspiring.

Recorded sounds are certainly important to most if not all people, but aren't the only important sounds. Plenty of people don't record. They might be playing alone in their house, with friends in a garage, in a small bar, etc. And while the tones they're using may not exactly replicate some recorded tones they find inspiring, they may approximate those tones well enough to be inspiring enough for the player and/or other people in the area.

So while the video is interesting, entertaining, and actually pretty cool overall, I think it demonstrates a lack of consideration for other perspectives and use cases. Tone in the room might not matter to him. It might not even matter to you. But to say it doesn't matter as a generalization is just plain old incorrect.

For the record, I like this guy's channel a lot. This just stood out to me as narrow-minded.

It is the only tone that matters to me to be honest.
I did the whole tone chasing, did not enjoy playing my guitar. Got myself an amp that sounded great in shop. Now i am playing a ton.

 

[NickS]

It is the only tone that matters to me to be honest.
I did the whole tone chasing, did not enjoy playing my guitar. Got myself an amp that sounded great in shop. Now i am playing a ton.

Same here, I'm not in a band or recording right now (and don't really have the time or desire to do so). Amp-in-the-room is all I got!

 

[cGoEcYk]

As a bassist it's super relevant. "Bedroom Tone" as we call it gets lost in the mix. Like Newstead on AJFA lost. If you are playing metal and want to stand on stage and have no1 hear you, Bedroom Tone is your secret weapon. The only thing more effective is unplugging your instrument or leaving ur amp at home. To cut through the metal mix (vs loudness on every frequency level) on bass especially if the guitarist is Bedroom Toning it helps to dial in a slightly brighter harsher tone with a little less low end than usual.

 

[Grindspine]

I watched this video and thought it was interesting. He makes a lot of good points, however I have to disagree with his broad statement that amp in the room tones "don't matter."

video and words



For the record, I like this guy's channel a lot. This just stood out to me as narrow-minded.

My favorite way of recording guitar is either one direct or close-miced cab along with one room mic to widen the sound by capturing the room.

 

[ExMachina]

Don't overthink this one. He's just saying don't tone match an album using the in the room sound

 

[Soya]

I only play at home so "amp in the room" tone is literally the only thing that matters to me. Same with drums, I only pick cymbals that sound right in person, I don't record anything so that doesn't matter to me.

 

[budda]

My favorite way of recording guitar is either one direct or close-miced cab along with one room mic to widen the sound by capturing the room.

And then when you hear it again, ever, you no longer hear the room; you hear the room as the mic heard it.

Stirring pots is fun m’kay?

I dont care about amp-in-the-room, I care about sounding great in context of what I’m doing. Learned that real fast when I went from 126dB band practices to headphones very quickly. I have two amps in a room, i have a high end modeller. They all do what I want .

 

[TedEH]

I'm disappointed in the failure of a point being made by this one, 'cause the guy's other videos are usually pretty good. His premise only works if you have the same workflow and goals as this guy. Sometimes the sound in the room doesn't matter. With a lot of caveats. Sure, "what it sounds like in the room" doesn't matter if you're recording it. Or playing through a big PA. Or trying to match a recorded sound. But what if you're playing live with no PA? What if you're not in a band but instead just do solo stuff where the in-the-room sound is the only sound?

I find it ironic that we're trying soooo hard to deny the value of the space a sound emanates from, just to immediately go to the mix and add reverb and IRs to give it "space" because a "dry" signal sounds "wrong" in most contexts. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[budda]

so you’re telling me solo guy dials in his rig to sound great from anywhere in the room vs where he normally stands in front of it and nowhere else? Everyone dials in their in the room sound to only sound good directly in front.

 

[TedEH]

so you’re telling me solo guy dials in his rig to sound great from anywhere in the room vs where he normally stands in front of it and nowhere else? Everyone dials in their in the room sound to only sound good directly in front.

I disagree entirely. I'm not saying he dials for a spot in the room - I'm saying that he dials for the best overall experience for the room as a whole, and that the subtle differences as you move around are part of the experience, because a human head is not a microphone, and a room is not a record.

In other words: Inconsistencies / dynamics as you move in the room are not a bug, they're a feature.

 

[gabito]

I don’t know if it matters.

I know I don’t care.

I prefer recorded tones and guitar sound in a band context. I like albums.

 

[Meeotch]

I watched this video and thought it was interesting. He makes a lot of good points, however I have to disagree with his broad statement that amp in the room tones "don't matter."



While I understand his point, it should be mentioned that while the tone in the room doesn't matter to him, it could very well matter to you. Or to someone else. In fact it could be of much greater importance than recorded tones depending on the person and context.

He says the sound in the room "isn't what we hear and isn't what we've ever heard." Not true. If you've ever plugged into a real amp and cab/speaker, or even been in the room where someone else did so, then you've heard an amp in the room. And if that tone inspired you, then it inspired you. The first time I heard a Dual Rectifier live was in a movie theater on an Air Force base where a band was practicing. It sounded amazing and I immediately wanted one of those amps--the tone was inspiring.

Recorded sounds are certainly important to most if not all people, but aren't the only important sounds. Plenty of people don't record. They might be playing alone in their house, with friends in a garage, in a small bar, etc. And while the tones they're using may not exactly replicate some recorded tones they find inspiring, they may approximate those tones well enough to be inspiring enough for the player and/or other people in the area.

So while the video is interesting, entertaining, and actually pretty cool overall, I think it demonstrates a lack of consideration for other perspectives and use cases. Tone in the room might not matter to him. It might not even matter to you. But to say it doesn't matter as a generalization is just plain old incorrect.

For the record, I like this guy's channel a lot. This just stood out to me as narrow-minded.

Well said man. I agree that I've found a lot of his videos to be very insightful but this one's sweeping generalizations are out of character and straight up shallow. I'd argue that the very best tones are those that come out of a guitar cab straight into the player's ear. It may not be reproducible, but it's possibly the most memorable and inspiring. And that is extremely relevant in the broad context of playing guitar!

 

[Mathemagician]

5150 in my ears matters.

 

[complex-barb.0t]

Don't overthink this one. He's just saying don't tone match an album using the in the room sound

Yup, agreed. You can't really match a recorded tone without...well recording it with a mic. A reasonable stance is that some people like amp in the room, but the amp in the room almost never sounds like a recorded album. Mic placement goes a long way to rolling off harsh frequencies.

Personally I have never owned gear that sounded good with the "amp in the room" and I find myself mostly playing with IR's and a decent monitor. I was considering starting a thread asking who else gave up on guitar cabinets and speakers and just go IR/Monitor/Headphones.

Guess it all depends on if you are chasing a killer live tone (which more than likely had a cab and mic somewhere going to a PA) or a album tone, 99% of the time I want the album tone which is very difficult with a bog standard guitar cabinet.

 

[complex-barb.0t]

so feedback is not from an amp in the room and does not change the way they (guitar and amp) sound TOGETHER. Also the whole thing about old PAFs is that they are lightly potted and microphonic and pick up the loud sound coming back from the amp that becomes part of the magic. there has to be an amp in the room for that. plus the amp in the room jangles the balls, thumps the ground and moves your pant legs. headphones do not.

He tries that in the video. He cranks a Marshall+4x12 and stands directly in front of it with the guitar and noticed no difference. Perhaps his pickups were not very microphonic?

 

[tedtan]

This guy has been watching too many Glen Fricker videos.