Hey everyone- the lurking has finally ceased!
First-post excitement aside, I am curious to know of any other head-fiers who are musicians of any level. I'm a student at Oberlin College and Conservatory right now, where great live music is EVERYWHERE and has been part of my life for a long time.
My main interest is musicinas who are audiophiles too, and how you got your start in audio tech. My father owned a pair of Vandersteen 3A sigs with a Mcormick amp since I was a little tike, and I never really appreciated it even though my musical training started very very young. Of course, I started hogging it from him the last couple months before I left for university. Now I have the headphone bug.
How did you other musicians get a start in audio tech?
Hey! I never really got into/appreciated music until high school although my mom forced me to take piano lessons when I was young (typical of Korean parents) and I hated it! I really regret not taking advantage of that now
My mom decided to take acoustic guitar lessons and so bought a guitar home one day. I picked it up on a random day and decided I was going to play One Last Breath by Creed. I knew nothing about reading music so I taught myself reading tablatures. It took me about two weeks to learn it and about 4 months to master it. I have never touched a guitar before that in my life. I started listening to a bunch of rock genres and then eventually got into metal and a year later I bought myself my first Ibanez. I was always interested electronics so I started looking at amps and pedals. I became obsessed with the electric guitar in my later high school years and just played because it was so fun and the satisfaction after mastering a song was like none other. I spent a lot of time exploring music and got myself my first Panasonic headphones because they looked cool haha. They either broke or got lost so I got myself a pair of cheap Sennheiser headphones and then some Audio Technica earbuds because I didn't want to carry around headphones all the time.
When I got in to college I thought I would never be good enough and didn't even thinking about joining a band because I knew nothing about reading music (still don't know) or band harmony and keeping tempo. I always played by myself at a pace that I was comfortable at. Someone saw me play in my dorm room and suggested that I audition and so I said why not. Gave it a shot and surprisingly got in. That was the start of my band life. For five years I performed in various bands (mostly rock) playing by making/reading tabs and learning by ear. I wanted to major in electronics or computer engineering but for some odd reason got into graphic design and advertising is where I work now. Although I was a student, I think I spent more time playing, practicing, performing rather than studying lol.
Because I was listening to so much music, had a decent electric guitar setup and I thought it was time I invested in a decent pair of in ears. I guess this is when it really started. I got the Sennheiser IE6 and they were amazing. My later college years I started exploring with mid-range products and ba drivers like UE700, TF10, W3, and a couple others.
After I graduated and started working I haven't had time to touch my guitar but kept up with the in-ears and I think I have been purchasing at least one a month haha. Started head-fi and joined a lot of other audio related online forums here in Korea as well as a blog where I put up my reviews in Korean. I don't make a lot of money so I have only gone up to exploring with a few high-ends but eventually I would like to go customs in the near future. I also want to make time to get back in to guitar soon. I was never really good but it's something I enjoyed doing so much. Hopefully, the band that I was the closest to will come together again and do some music. We have talked about it at casual hang outs but since we all have our own jobs and some starting families now it's difficult to find a time we're all ok with. Until then, I guess this IEM thing will go on for a while haha.
Real glad I found this thread
