The figure of 10,000 hours is the well known length of time that is associated with becoming an expert.
10,000 hours = 5.1 years of a full time job at 37.5 hours per week.
How many of you out there can say they have practiced something for over 10,000 hours and you are now an expert?
Producers, singers and musicians spend their whole lives creating and perfecting their art, over 10,000 hours of practice making them an expert in their chosen field, instrument or perfecting their voice. Producing perfection or close to it every time they sit down to create takes time, patience and investment.
Now what happens at the end of creating that perfect moment… the listener dulls down the perfection by choosing to listen to that perfection though (quite bluntly) shit headphones or speakers. Surely it’s heart breaking for the artist after all the time and love they have put into their baby aka their piece of music to see fans listening to their music on (w/s)hite headphones.
I’m very, very fortunate to have in my possession a fine pair of headphones which I have to be fair neglected in favour of some white (insert brand here) ‘phones and y’know what, I need to be hung for crimes against music.
And before I go too far down the route of headphones, I also want to mention the quality of the music. Hands up who’s downloaded illegal music… c’mon, I know you all have. I have my hand up too. Well, there’s the other culprit for your substandard listening experience. I’m not an mp3 expert but I know the higher the bitrate, the better quality (till you get over 300-ish and then it doesn’t matter).
So these points beg a question… if you love music so much, why sell the experience short by listening on shite headphones and downloading sub-bass killing mp3s?
Next time you think about downloading from YouTube and listening on your white ‘phones, think about the 10,000 hours of perfection you’re missing out on.