Volume and Gain
On any given guitar amp, there are almost always two knobs–volume and gain.
Volume controls the overall noise that the amp puts out. Gain controls the level of distortion in the tone of that noise. All volume with no gain? You’ll get a clean tone that sounds pretty boring. All gain, with little volume? You’ll get a very distorted overdrive tone that sounds pretty ugly. There’s a sweet-spot with volume and gain where the signal just begins to distort, but still retains its recognizable clean qualities. It’s the best of both worlds.
When cooking anything, there are two things to consider–time and heat.
You can crank up the heat all the way to cook something as fast as possible. But then you’ll end up with a burned outside, and an undercooked inside. You can keep the heat as low as possible, leaving it in for hours. But then you’ll end up with a nondescript piece of fully cooked meat, with no moisture, and no memorable qualities. There’s a sweet-spot between time and heat, where the outside gets charred, the inside is moist, and everything is cooked to perfection.
When working, there are two things to manage–consistency and hustle.
You can show up consistently every day to put in your eight hours, and make a fine living. But if you don’t push projects over the finish line, and you don’t work to improve your skillset, and you don’t go the extra mile? Opportunities will pass you by again and again. You can hustle your hair off, making every attempt to become successful as soon as possible. But if you work nights and weekends, listen to self-improvement podcasts on every drive, and sacrifice what you care about? You’ll find yourself burned out and disillusioned, questioning what you were working for in the first place. There’s a sweet-spot between consistency and hustle, where you put in your time every week, chipping away at big goals, leaving enough margin to really step on the gas when an opportunity arises.
May your tones, your meals, and your work ethic all find the sweet spot.
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