Missed the previous posts in the series? Catch up with Part One and Part Two.

So you’re planning on buying some new toys, or shifting your set up around, but how will you know if you have actually made things better?

First things first, you need some test material. Several hi-fi manufacturers make CDs of test tracks, but I suggest finding a small selection of material you know really well and covers the range of music that you enjoy. My personal selection includes: The Cinematic Orchestra, Björk, Led Zeppelin and Steve Reich.

Burn these tracks on a CD and take it with you when you go shopping (any decent hi-fi or pro audio shop should have a listening room to try out equipment).

Wherever possible shut your eyes and ask a friend or shop assistant to switch (or rearrange) equipment so you can be sure you are listening with your ears and not your eyes or bank balance.

Guidelines

You don’t need to be an expert to listen for the changes you have made, just trust your ears and listen out for the following:
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Missed part one? Catch up here.

Welcome to part two of my series helping you gain new enjoyment from ear training by showing you how to get the best sound quality. This week we are going to be talking about amps and speakers.

This is a huge subject and you could easily fill books on such esoteric subjects as crossover design and porting. I’m going to skip those topics and try to give you just the information you need to get great sound. In this article I’m assuming you are interested in stereo music content. Surround sound set-ups really deserve their own article and should be avoided unless you have a very large sum to spend, or you are only interested in home cinema.

Alive And Amplified

Amplifiers serve a simple purpose: they make things LOUDER!

An amplifier multiplies the incoming signal, giving it enough power to drive speakers or headphones. An amplifier can be separate, but may be combined in an all in one Boom Box, or Mini System, or in a pair of active speakers.

Modern amplifiers are great value for money and you don’t have to spend much on a separate hi-fi amp to have a wonderful quality of sound. I would avoid Click to read the rest…

Songwriting and ear training are two concepts that are strongly linked together, which is often overlooked. The goal of songwriting is to create music for an audience to hear. The goal of ear training is to develop a sense of hearing better able to listen to musical ideas.

A musician with better ear training is going to be better at listening to songs written by others for ideas. In addition, it helps to be able to objectively listen for those same ideas in your own songs. There are few areas of ear training in particular where songwriters should focus.

Dynamics

The pitch and rhythm of notes are an important aspect to writing a song, but dynamics also play a substantial role in songwriting. Dynamics is the area of music where a songwriter plays with how loud a song is. This is not necessarily the same idea as altering the volume of different instruments in a mix, but it can sometimes be related.

The ‘palm mute’ used by guitarists is an example of a guitarist using dynamics to alter a part. Both examples below are A power chords played with a straight eighth note pattern. The second example uses a power chord to introduce a dynamic change. There is no chord or rhythm change – but the dynamic change from the palm mute changes the line by accentuating the first downbeat and second upbeat of the passage.

Example 1 - Power chords without dynamics

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