Frustrating gear day today. Sometimes nothing seems to work

[metropolis_4]

I’m dialing in tones for a gig today and everything just sounds terrible. I can’t find the texture I’m looking for, and the digital stuff is feeling really compressed and unnatural. I battled IRs all afternoon trying to find something that worked. Some days I feel this disconnect where I just can’t seem to make it sound natural…

But then other days it clicks and everything sounds amazing

 

[PLX]

It's the humidity.

 

[riffy]

I understand. I have those days when my amps nor my digital gear sound good to me!

 

[la szum]

 

[DrewJD82]

Happened to me the other day. I ended up pulling out each amp, then different cabs because it seemed like everything was caked in midrange trash. All better the next day. Didn't change anything.

 

[FuzzyAce]

That happened to me last week, granted it wasn't for a gig though. I've been using modeling a lot lately so cranked up one of my tube amps and was not feeling it at all. I'm sure that'll change at some point but I've been enjoying the digital stuff so I'm gonna ride that train as long as I'm getting results I enjoy.

 

[Desertdweller]

I’m dialing in tones for a gig today and everything just sounds terrible. I can’t find the texture I’m looking for, and the digital stuff is feeling really compressed and unnatural. I battled IRs all afternoon trying to find something that worked. Some days I feel this disconnect where I just can’t seem to make it sound natural…

But then other days it clicks and everything sounds amazing

I so hear you. I generally have these days with modelers and VSTs, but rarely with amps and cabs. Maybe it's because I've played amps for a very long time, but I just know what I'm going to get on a daily basis from them, while I may have made an Axe FX patch over the course of an hour or two with progressive ear fatigue the whole time, when I sit down to an amp I have my tone in 2 minutes or less usually if it's not already preset for me.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Was this after work? I only ask because I can't trust my ears much after I've worked all day. Days when I don't work it's not a problem.

 

[Aleksi]

When this happens, touch nothing. Walk away. Come to the forum to shit on NDSP for a while. It'll all be better the next day. The sound hasn't changed, your perception of it has.

 

[timbuck3]

 

[PLX]

Ride the lightning.

 

[jellodog]

@metropolis_4 This happens to us all at times.

It often means that we need a rest and a little time off. I hope that you can find some time to take a breather

 

[Stone]

I think it's common, but more so for perfectionists, but i agree take break come back the next day

 

[gearJunkie]

I’m dialing in tones for a gig today and everything just sounds terrible. I can’t find the texture I’m looking for, and the digital stuff is feeling really compressed and unnatural. I battled IRs all afternoon trying to find something that worked. Some days I feel this disconnect where I just can’t seem to make it sound natural…

But then other days it clicks and everything sounds amazing

you are not alone.

 

[molul]

I’m dialing in tones for a gig today and everything just sounds terrible. I can’t find the texture I’m looking for, and the digital stuff is feeling really compressed and unnatural. I battled IRs all afternoon trying to find something that worked. Some days I feel this disconnect where I just can’t seem to make it sound natural…

But then other days it clicks and everything sounds amazing

A few things:
-You know the sound you want is there, and it's not like your device sound quality suddenly got worse.

-If you can't nail the sound you want, don't worry. Just go for whatever works somehow (as you need it for a gig today) and work harder on it another day.

-More often over time, I realize that almost nobody really notices the extra work we take to dial a certain sound. That doesn't mean we should stop doing it (we do that for ourselves), but I've certainly learnt not to get frustrated when it's not perfect. We all learn something new from time to time.

-Rest assured you'll eventually find the solution :)

 

[metropolis_4]

Yeah, some days you just have to walk away from it and come back another day with fresh ears.

I’d been working for about 4-5 hours on new music for a show and I think my ears were just fatigued.

I’m beginning to have concerns about my monitoring situation though, I might have to think of some alternative ways to handle this part of the workflow

 

[Jarick]

I really struggled with this especially through monitors. Through a physical cab it's a lot less volatile. Not sure why, but it's likely removing that variable of the IR. I don't gig so it's not that big of a deal for me to worry about translation.

 

[Achilles]

The only thing worse is turning everything on with volume up and ... silence.
Nothing obvious so it was down to cable troubleshooting - I've got 10 total between
the guitar and the speaker.

Odds of it being one of the first you check? not good.....

Was the 5 pin din to 1/4" that runs between the Radial volume control OUT and 4 band PEQ IN.
Fortunately had a spare in the handy ole 'Box-O-Cables'.

 

[metropolis_4]

I really struggled with this especially through monitors. Through a physical cab it's a lot less volatile. Not sure why, but it's likely removing that variable of the IR. I don't gig so it's not that big of a deal for me to worry about translation.

I notice the same thing. I’m tempted to try a real cab at home, but I’m not sure how that will work with switching to an IR for live. I have a feeling I’ll be making a lot of tweaks.

I wonder if I could get a real cab and then have someone shoot IRs of my actual cab to use live?

 

[DrewJD82]

I notice the same thing. I’m tempted to try a real cab at home, but I’m not sure how that will work with switching to an IR for live. I have a feeling I’ll be making a lot of tweaks.

I wonder if I could get a real cab and then have someone shoot IRs of my actual cab to use live?

If you’ve got some time to kill finding the right mic spot then I’d go for it.

Just look at how it’s simplified things for Leon Todd; how many video has that dude put out with different tones all using nearly the same IR he shot a while back? Lots.

Devin Townsend was having the same issue, got sick of going through thousands of IR’s so he shot his own.