Nothing ever sounds quite the way it does when you're standing right in the middle of it.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Some things don't wind up sounding like you'd expect, which is just as well.
Some people just come in, do it and they know it's right. It turns out better than you imagined it was going to sound. When that happens, you take it as a gift.
I agree totally with Metheny regarding the sound influencing the way you play.
Maybe in music you're making an auditory environment and maybe you change your environment around you to suit your own way.
A mate of mine said recently said a lot of stuff sounds like you're listening to it outside, but also like you're surrounded by it, and I think that's quite similar.
When somewhat at a distance, I cannot hear the high tones of instruments, voices. In speaking, it is not surprising that there are people who have never noticed it, for as a rule I am absent-minded, and they account for it in that way.
Just trying to be different - when I hear something - I don't like to go trampling on other people's sounds.
If I'm playing a violin thing, for instance, I tend to respond to that sound with the way I finger.
When you hear a great two-track of a performance in Carnegie Hall, let's say, it sounds like you're right there at that moment. It's true to reality. And the closer it gets, once it gets too technical, it becomes very tinny to hear notes. It doesn't sound right. It has to be natural.
In fact, I had to make an enormous adjustment to this, not only in listening to it but in playing with it. It's a full sound. In some instances, you must have the volume to get the effect.