As if I were blind

B

Brackish

New member
Just wanted to pass along a little trick that
helped on a recent mix.

I was having troulbe getting the mix
how I wanted so I took a break from it.
I went to a forum and did a little reading
and I read a post from another mixer who was talking
about having a client who was blind, and he said
that it is even more important than usual in the
case of a blind client that the mix be
to the highest levels of your capability.

When I went back to my mix that was giving
me trouble, I closed my eyes and just listened,
without watching the dancing levels meters,
and without thinking about what the mix needed.
I basically pretended I was blind.
I moved the sliders/faders with my eyes
closed.
Doing this did help me to get the mix I wanted
and I think I will apply this technique in
the future.

Maybe this'll help someone else. Anyone else
ever tried this?
 
I hate to make it sound trivial, but it's just "using your ears" - Which is what you're supposed to be doing all the time.
 
I would love to try that if my mixer were real (physical). Instead my mixer is software based and attempting to use a mouse with closed eyes could be more destructive than anything else.

It is however a good approach to mixing.

Occasionally I turn around and face away from the nearfields with eyes closed to give a good serious listen. Listening on many different stereo systems still works best for me though.

RawDepth
 
I do this sometimes when I feel that there is something wrong and I just can't put my finger on it. For some reason closing my eyes helps me concentrate better. Often times when I finally do figure it out it just turns out to be that I suck at recording. :D
 
I have to get some of those braille screens too.
Seriously though - every now & then I need to remind myself that it's an aural media too - then I trip over a cable after turning the lights out & swear.
 
Listen to your mix on Media Player and look at the visualizations. Those are completely meaningless, and they are pretty :)
 
It's fairly common knowledge that when you take away one or more of your senses that the senses you have left will rise in sensitvity to compensate.

This is the base reason why I have trouble with the idea of "visual mixing" using RTAs and whatnot. Intrinsic problems with such techniques aside (e.g. "What does good sound look like?"), the fundamental problem is that the more one relies upon senses other than their hearing - or at the least, lets other senses distract from their hearing - the worse their hearing will actually be and the worse of an engineering job they'll do.

I think we all close our eyes while mixing or mastering on occasion, and that's a good thing. I've also been known to turn my computer monitors off on occasion where I don't want the distraction, but I still need to work a control surface.

G.
 
RawDepth said:
I would love to try that if my mixer were real (physical). Instead my mixer is software based and attempting to use a mouse with closed eyes could be more destructive than anything else.
Click to expand...

try switching off yer monitor and making notes instead :)
 
RawDepth said:
I would love to try that if my mixer were real (physical). Instead my mixer is software based and attempting to use a mouse with closed eyes could be more destructive than anything else.
Click to expand...
Close your eyes and listen first. Then make the adjustments with your eyes open. I regularly do this when mixing in the box.

I find that looking at the waveform timeline display while listening can easily fool/distract my ears. Obviously if one is looking for an edit point or something like that you *have* to use your eyes and watch the display. But if your listeing for sonic quality, mix levels, etc. keep your eyes off the display, IMHO.

G.
 
So true, so true. We hear so much with our eyes. Improving your concentration of listening is crucial. When at home, depending on what it is, I even try to do my casual listening with closed eyes. Even with records I've heard millions of times.

For instance, I realized a few months back that towards the end of 'When the Levee Breaks', the entire mix slowly switches sides. I've been listening to that LP since I was 14, and never noticed that. It's a silly example, but it just goes to show how much we miss because of our lack of concentration.
 
can't find the damn video. I've been at University in psychology for the past years. In a class called "perception", we saw that video where it's someone face full screened. What you hear while simultaniously looking at the person lips is "TA". Then we had to close our eyes and have another listen. The real sound was "DA". This might be in part why mixing is a little easier without looking at the fader.
 
wannabecomedeat said:
can't find the damn video. I've been at University in psychology for the past years. In a class called "perception", we saw that video where it's someone face full screened. What you hear while simultaniously looking at the person lips is "TA". Then we had to close our eyes and have another listen. The real sound was "DA". This might be in part why mixing is a little easier without looking at the fader.
Click to expand...
There was a whole bit about that exact phenomenon on "Scientific American Frontiers" last season. I beleive they showed that within the context of a car manufacturer (Mercedes?) working on driver voice recognition software for the onboard navigation and other doodads system.

The interesting thing about that effect, however, is that it's just the opposite in that it is with seeing the lips that the listener gets it "correct". In that case, yes, visual cues help the hearing instead of distracting from it. But that's a bit different from what we do here in that the visual cues like waveforms, FFTs, meters, etc. are abstract references which do not in any direct way enhance recognition of the *quality* of the sound; i.e. they draw our attention to other aspects of the sound which more often than not are not the properties we need to be paying aural attention to at the time.

G.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top