Manny,
Great answer! I love it when the pros all answer a question in the same way. It certainly validates the answer!
Greg,
I’ve asked this question myself many times. You may enjoy a topic I started called
Mr. Hickman (A Question About Visualizing the Sound). I specifically want to excerpt this part of that topic (these are my words):
Quote:
When I posed this question to John Hagstrom, he read my story and came back with a one-word answer: Immersion! I think it’s worth posting his comment’s here because this idea is so important and vital to achieving what we are all after, and that is “the ability to create musical artistry”!
Quote:
In reference to your request for insight about how to generate an internal sound concept, I can sum it up in one word: immersion. Immerse yourself in the recordings you have of the sound you most want to achieve. That is how we learn language and the subtle inflections that give emphasis and nuance to our words to others. It is no wonder then that it would also be the method by which we would imprint the subtle nuances of timbre that construct the quality sound concept we strive for.
Bombard yourself with the product you wish to imitate, and, just like when you were a child, you will begin to be able to speak that same language yourself within a few years...of CONSTANT bombardment, and I don't just mean once a day when it is convenient. Do what Byron said and make your car a university on wheels...you don't know if the radio works cause you've never used it; you've only used the CD and tape player playing the material that accomplishes your task.
Well, that's the best I can do for you right now. If you are waiting for a quicker way, get ready to wait a long time, cause there isn't a quicker way if you truly want to own the sound concepts you aspire to.
| |
To hear the sound in my head better, I purchased a pair of those sound isolation earphones and an iPod. It's made my listening experience MUCH BETTER. Get busy! Start listening to the point of complete immersion!