Second Set of Ears

What makes an impact on your sound?  I’ve created a list of things that should be considered when analyzing what you hear when it comes to music tech.  There are, of course, various approaches to this broad topic.  Whatever your prerogative, I will try to include it here the best that I can.  Unfortunately, I do have some biases as far as my background knowledge goes (being a guitar player).  I will make up for these biases the best I can.

Source Sound

Guitar

• The guitar itself
• Amp
• Pedals/effects
• Cables
• Tone woods (both in the instrument and the cab)
• Tubes
• Strings
• Speakers
• Speaker Cabinet (cab)
• Pickups
• Power source

Recording

• Microphone
• Cables
• Preamp
• Equalization
• Compressors
• Room/recording environment
• Monitors
• Mastering
• Power source
• DI
• Plugins

Live

• Microphones
• Cables
• Preamp
• Equalization
• Mixer
• Compressor
• Monitors
• Drivers/mains
• Power source
• DI
• Amp
  

As far as being a tech or engineer goes, the focus is shifted toward things an engineer is more responsible for.  The source sound is still a huge factor for techs and engineers, but when you are doing sound for a band or artist (whether recording or live) you often let them worry about their source sound.

By looking at this list it may be clear to you that if something goes wrong in your signal chain you could potentially have a long process of diagnosing the problem.  If you are more familiar with the equipment on hand and what symptoms your sound is experiencing, it will shorten your diagnosis dramatically.  It will also likely help to cure the problem fast.  (Not to sound like a doctor or anything.)