Speaking of what you hear vs. what an audience hears, I assume everyone knows how different it is to play guitar in a smaller space, like a small bedroom, or the classic - in the bathroom.
Is this more like what an audience would hear? Or simply a more voluminous version of what the player hears?
walrus
I think the only way to hear what an audience hears . . . is to be in the audience. But I suppose that's closer. A stereo mic in the room might be even better.
Rooms are funny anyway. Sometimes you do sound check and everything is dialed-in just right. And then 50-100 people come in and nothing sounds the same.
A few years back I played a show with a guy who'd just picked up a sweet, vintage Martin D41. I couldn't believe how great it sounded. I joked that I'd trade him my F44 on the spot. The show was at a friend's recording studio, and he recorded the show and later shared the professional video and audio of a track. After hearing my own guitar, I thought to myself, now there's a guitar I'd trade my F44 for. My F44.
On a similar note, this past summer I made a "live" album at home. Mostly just me an my guitar, mostly unplugged. One of the most interesting discoveries was that it was only at best a 50/50 shot that guitar I thought sounded best on a track (based on previous playing) was the guitar that sounded best on the recorded track. I used four different 6 string acoustics. Like I love my Art & Lutherie parlor on a whole bunch of songs, when playing alone, unplugged, and therefore play them on that guitar live, using a pickup (a point meaningless to this discussion). But on the recordings, I'm not sure I ever used that guitar, as it was mostly swapped out for either my F44 or my Simon & Patrick folk.
