This is a continuation of using technology; a stereo is part of that technology. And recorded music offers some options, that live music does not, to study music. You want to exploit those. Now live music is incredibly important but there’s a lot to learn from listening to recorded music and to using the stereo to help you do that.

Many of the recordings are mixed in a certain way for sound and aesthetic appeal. But what you’ll find in some recordings is that the band is panned from left to right or right to left, so there are different players in each channel. So, turning the balance on your stereo all the way left or all the way right allows you to isolate certain players.

For instance, there are some recordings where you can put the balance all the way to the left and the soloist sound drops down. You can still hear the soloist bleeding into all the mikes, especially the way they recorded back in the 1950’s or 1960’s. They weren’t isolated. Even a lot of jazz today is still recorded live to two tracks in one room together. So you can go all the way to the left and the soloist drops down in volume, and now you can really isolate the bass or piano player. If you turn it all the way to the right you can really isolate the soloist and it changes from solo to solo. You can use that as an example.

Another thing you can do is experiment with bass and treble. If you are listening to a certain recording, the bass might be more in the background. You can turn the bass up, or if you are listening to the drummer and listening to the cymbal rhythms, you can turn the bass down and turn up the treble and bring out more of the cymbal articulations. Just for the sake of studying.

Anything that you can do to enhance your listening should be welcome and you should exploit that. Experiment with your stereo, the EQ and the balance. It’s just another tool, another approach that you can use to increase your awareness and improve your ears.


Chris Punis is an active jazz musician in the northeast, an accomplished jazz educator and author of "The Monster Jazz Formula." For more information about his teaching methods and to receive your free lessons, "21 Great Ways To Become a Monster Jazz Musician," visit www.learnjazzfaster.com.