“Turn the volume up?” - A Product Analogy
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In addition to my day career, I’ve also done audio engineering work for the last 11 years or so. This has ranged from volunteer/amateur work up through the occasional professional gig. Much of it was live mixing, but in the days of COVID-19 I do a lot more recorded mixing.
The most common request I get - mostly back in the days where I was still learning, or early at a gig where I’m still dialing in the mix - is “hey, can you turn up the volume on instrument/person XYZ?”
It’s a perfectly reasonable request. I cannot be in all places of the room at the same time, and I’m not creating a mix for myself, so feedback from staff/musicians/the crowd is invaluable to get it right.
Except for one detail. Fulfilling their request directly won’t meet their need. When someone asks “can you turn it up,” the problem they’re implying is “I can’t hear instrument/person XYZ.” There are many variables which can cause that, and in my experience, volume is usually not one of them.
Take a look at the mixing board at the top of the page. There are many places the problem might live: panning, EQ, compression, panning, sub mixes, EQ, stage noise, panning, speaker placement, or even EQ. Oh, did I mention panning and EQ?
The point is this - you can directly meet the person’s request, and they can even watch you do it, but it won’t solve their problem. They don’t know that. They ask for more volume because it’s usually the only control knob they’re used to using for audio. It’s not their job to know that; it’s my job as the audio engineer.
Building a product is the same way. Users (or potential users) ask for specific features because they’re only used to seeing one knob. Designers, engineers, and PMs have hundreds of knobs to choose from.
And to take it one more step, there’s no exact science for which control to tweak in what way. You have to take feedback, interpret it, then watch (or listen) for the right change.
Feel free to connect with me!
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremiah-coleman-product
- https://twitter.com/nerds_s
- jeremiah.coleman@daasnerds.com
- https://github.com/colemanja91