Getting cut off in traffic? Somebody loudly chewing gum? Maybe dirty dishes being left in the sink? Everybody’s got pet peeves. Some have longer lists than others, but everyone at least has a few things that really drive them nuts.
But what about in the world of music? Let me tell you about three things that really grind my musical gears.
Two Songs Being Played at the Same Time
If you want to torture me, start playing two songs at once. It’s even worse if they’re each coming from their own direction, like from speakers sitting on opposite sides of the same room. Being in the middle of something like that quite certainly cancels out my ability to concentrate… or even to think at all.
I can deal with two people speaking, two audio books, or even two TV shows being played at the same time… but not two songs.
Poorly Wound Cables
There are lots of ways to wind cables that will knot them, kink them, or otherwise eventually lead to their destruction, but I only know of one way to keep them in good condition — it’s called the “over/under” method, where each successive loop changes direction (much easier shown than explained verbally). Proponents of this technique will insist it is the only way to do things.
Yeah. I wrap everything this way. Instrument cables. Phone chargers. Rope. Garden hoses. Extension cords. You name it. And if I have to watch someone knot a perfectly good instrument cable, it does hurt my soul quite a bit.
A Bad Mix
Even a single song can be torturous if it’s mixed poorly. In a “basic” scenario, there are probably at least a dozen individual tracks being meshed together (kick, snare, cymbals, bass, guitars, keys, vocals, etc) to create what you hear… and each of those things only plays well in a very specific frequency range. If they don’t play nice together, it sounds bad.
But since “sounding bad” is incredibly subjective, audio engineers have developed an entire vocabulary of words to describe why something sounds bad. Words like muddy, boomy, tinny, harsh, flat, wet, and dry. A bad mix can ruin an otherwise great song!
There. Those are my musical pet peeves. I mean, I certainly have more… but those are my top three.
Good morning and happy Monday, friends!
It’s going to be a busy week! I hope y’all are getting some time off or at least setting aside some extra downtime to rest. The holidays very easily get so packed with things that it can be hard to actually experience them.
Last week I wrote up Laura Perry’s article. It was a great interview! You don’t want to miss it. In a couple of weeks, I’ll be releasing Lon Milo DuQuette’s interview. In the coming months after that, you’ll see Dave Gaddy and Ellen Evert Hopman on the show. Always something to look forward to!
I also made a new Agatha All Along video. You can watch that now or wait for the written version that’ll come out in a couple of days.
At the beginning of last week, I caught some bees going about their business, doing bee things.
And I cracked open my wilted sunflowers and harvested some more seeds! I didn’t really get as many as I thought I would, but this was actually the first time I’ve ever gotten seeds from any plant, so it was a whole new world.
On Saturday, Selene and I went to the Gem and MIneral Show at the South Florida Fair. It was a blast! I touched all the crystals.
On Sunday, we went to the farmer’s market to try a vendor who has smash burgers. They were actually surprisingly tasty.
After that we headed to the grocery store and I caught a glimpse at Selene’s amazing hand-written list of all the ingredients that we need for Thanksgiving dinner.
Oh, and before I go, here’s Freya deciding that she needs to drink my water because her water bowl isn’t good enough.
I think that’s all for now, but I’ll be putting out more content as the week goes on!
Stay tuned for more!
Aerik Arkadian 
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