Just like words, sounds are important. I’ve always cared about them. Sound quality has been a ‘must’ for me ever since I discovered hi-fi. I’m not an expert audiophile, nor am I a sound technician or sound engineer. But I have developed a certain ear and a certain sensitivity to the quality of the sound source. I haven’t listened to a great many hi-fi components, nor have I tried out various guitar amplifiers or guitars themselves. But even so, if something’s not quite right, I can tell. Now, when it comes to the purity of an electric guitar’s sound, there’s plenty to discuss, given that we’re often using overdrive – that is, distortion – so a few things need clarifying. But the quality of the audio experience is important to me, yet I see that people are losing both the need for it and the ability to notice it. Even in the world of live music.

One of the concerts that meant the most to me was Bruce Springsteen’s gig in June 1988 at the Stadio Flaminio in Rome. Among many other things, I was struck by the sheer power of the sound (even though I was far away, in the stands), which made listening to his live recordings on my home hi-fi system pale in comparison. I saw the Boss again at the Circo Massimo in May 2023, and the sound reached me from PA systems suspended from tall poles. It was awful. Bland. Unlistenable. The dynamics were flat. It was much better listening to him at home. A disgrace for such a major event. What has changed?

I know nothing about Bruce Springsteen’s set-up in 2023. But I recently found myself thinking back to that event whilst watching a group of friends playing live on stage in a small provincial village. They were brilliant, but the sound was appalling. Absurdly (or perhaps not), I’m tempted to compare it to the sound at Springsteen’s concert at the Circo Massimo: flat, lacking in dynamics, unengaging. But this got me thinking: there wasn’t an amplifier on stage. Everything was ‘direct into the mixing desk’. A ‘silent’ stage, as is the fashion these days. It seems like progress, but is it? Today’s digital systems are very advanced and can reproduce guitar effects very well. But it’s one thing to simulate the response of a great amplifier – even excellently – and send it to the mixing desk, and then to the PA; it’s quite another to have the real amplifier pumping air from above the stage (and even its sound, properly captured by an excellent microphone and sent to the mixing desk and the PA), is something else entirely.

Are we talking about nuances? Perhaps, but I’ve learnt – first from hi-fi and then from live music too – that every tiny detail contributes to the final sound: if you remove just one, it’s almost imperceptible, but if you start cutting corners and glossing over various things, thinking they’re imperceptible, in the end the result isn’t the same. Digital technology is convenient for many reasons. But if everything is handled this way – perhaps even with expensive multi-effects units – and the quality of the PA system isn’t up to scratch, the flatness becomes noticeable. Or perhaps – and this is the real problem – it’s just me and a few others, who remember what the sound used to be like, who notice it.

I’ve taken great care in putting together an excellent hi-fi system because I care deeply about the sound quality of what I listen to. But these days, music is recorded with extremely high dynamic compression because that’s how it’s perceived as sounding best. Yet that’s not the case at all. Perhaps it is for casual listening in the car and – lo and behold – on a mobile phone with earphones! How can you compare the musical capabilities of a pair of proper stereo speakers – or even headphones worthy of the name – with even the most expensive Apple earbuds? OK, if I want to listen whilst on the move, what’s the point of comparing the sound to that of speakers? There used to be proper headphones, and, take my word for it, they were much better! Earbuds just don’t stay in my ears; they fall out, they wobble around at the slightest movement – I could never go for a run with them. The way you move them in your ear changes the sound response. There’s no consistent reference point. But most people seem to like them that way.

We’ve been conditioned to accept the poor sound quality coming from these earphones, televisions, mobile phones and computers. It’s a bland sound, lacking in dynamics (after all, the recording is deliberately flattened during production), and it fails to engage. It’s a sound that makes even live performances – which, personally, I find unlistenable, like the ones mentioned above – seem cool. I’m complaining. Everyone around me is clapping, jumping about and seems to be having a good time – perhaps because they’ve never heard the sound of a high-quality live performance. Few people know what each musical instrument is supposed to sound like (even few audiophiles). I’d been given tickets to the 2023 Springsteen concert as a present. But I think about how much the people around me must have paid. If I’d been in their shoes, I’d have been furious; I’d have felt ripped off. But they were all happy just to ‘see’ the Boss (on the giant screen) and to listen to him. Too bad that the sound of the PA system overhead was drowned out by the singing. How disgusting…

The rush towards digital on the one hand, and the flattening of dynamic range on the other, are getting us used to a bland sound, which we perceive as good. For the most part, we don’t care, because we don’t know what we’re missing out on. We’re interested in listening to our favourite artists, even on a mobile phone that sounds worse than a little 1970s radio. We’re even convinced it’s high-tech, but how could the tiny speakers crammed into a slim mobile phone or a large but flat, ultra-high-resolution modern TV screen possibly reproduce a good music signal properly? They simply can’t. So even the music signal – the record or file we’re listening to – is flattened right from the moment it’s created. What does it matter? It doesn’t bother anyone anyway. But it bothers me, and quite a lot!

I tried plugging straight into the mixer myself, at least in the rehearsal room. Sometimes it seemed to be enough, but in the long run I got frustrated and went back to using the amp. Perhaps my amp sim was too cheap, but to be honest I don’t think I’d have been satisfied even with an expensive one. I admit that another hurdle for me is simply not wanting to spend my free time configuring software, given that I do it for a living. If I worked in music, my approach would probably be different and I’d have no choice but to use digital technology as well. The convenience is obvious: you can carry a little box with you – perhaps even on a plane in your hand luggage – containing all your pre-configured sounds, including modelled amps (if you’ve got expensive, top-quality ones, you can emulate them and don’t have to worry about the costs and risks of transporting them). In short, put like that, it’s priceless. You arrive at the studio and everything’s ready in a little box. You have to go and play abroad and you don’t have to lug a mountain of gear around or pay a service to rent equipment that isn’t yours. I understand how incredibly useful it is. But if things aren’t done very well, the live quality isn’t the same – that’s just the way it is…

Unfortunately, very few of us are sensitive to this issue, and the industry follows the crowd. I’d fallen into the trap of convenience a bit. It lasted a week; I sold the ‘magic box’ and am buying back the pedals I’d sold, having thought I’d switch to digital like so many others. Then I saw my friends’ gig, which was completely flat due to the lack of sound, and I said to myself: never in a million years! I’ll keep my amp, turn the volume up – if you like, I’ll even put a microphone in front of it (a decent one, mind you) and send it to the mixer. The PA system might be rubbish, but my sound has to come through properly; I don’t care about anything else and I don’t want a silent stage – that’s not rock. It’s the antithesis of rock. These days, everyone wants to be a polished, tech-savvy professional. But rock – and blues, too – are anything but perfect. They’re about disruption, getting the crowd going, and sweeping you away. Forget all those perfect little effects, all those high-tech in-ear monitors, everything perfect, not a single mistake, not a single flaw – but something’s missing. And I know what it is…

But let’s carry on like this, let’s keep hurting ourselves…