Scott Henderson Discussion

[randope]

Hi Scott,

Since I've started gigging regularly I noticed some things happening to my tone based on the situation of the room.
I am experiencing these strange things:

a. My tone sounds better when the room temperature is kept low.
b. My tone changes when more people are in the room (whether I like it or not depends).
c. My tone usually sounds better at night than during the day.

Does this happen to you also? Is the tone really changing or is this all in my head?
Are there plausible tone myths that all of us should be aware of?

Thanks! Hope to see you in Jakarta this March!

Randy

[Scott Henderson]

I've never noticed a change of tone due to temperature, but the amount of people in the room definitely has an affect on the acoustics, and like you said, that can be good or bad. I like dead rooms because the music I play relies on hearing the other musicians really well, so usually the more people in the room the better. I also prefer night gigs, but I've only noticed a difference outdoors. Daytime outdoor gigs always sound strange to me, but I don't know why. Maybe there's more general noise going on during the day and it subliminally floats onto the stage - just guessing here...