Ear fatigue or time for vacation?

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deejaytrixx

New member
I've noticed lately that when I first begin my work day I can hear everything pristine clear and concise. After about an hour (monitoring at a relatively low level) I don't hear slight changes as well anymore..I take a break come back..but its never as good as when I first turned on the monitors.

Has this happened to anyone in the past?
 
Yes. And go one further, 'micro days'. Somebody noticed and 'coined it- One time you're hearing pitch sticking out like a sore thumb, other day, it's 'timing WTF?' I.e. in ways these things didn't bother on another days.
The hearing and perception's play in our 'which or these minute hardware/mix' variable's..? Easily a wild card gotcha'.

Just to add though, I love a first quiet listen- You're next best chance to hear it again 'for the first time', ears in a unique (for the day) state.
 
I have this problem all the time and it drives me crazy. I think I literaly "forget" what "natural" sounds like...i know it sounds retarded but thts my problem. Sometimes I have to take a break for an hour or two and maybe even listen to some of my fav music by the pros.
 
The Organ of Perception

The brain is the organ of perception and many of us here know that to be true from having messed with our brain chemistry from time to time. Even w/o our intervention the body will undergo subtle changes in our chemical soup which will affect how we perceive the world.
An old friend from my hippie days called it "the electro-chemical symphony" , referring to the constantly changing sense of relationships between what is and what seems to be. Thats why we should stay off drugs when we have critical mixing tasks before us.


chazba
 
Oh absolutely, and I find depending on my mood the mix will always turn out differently. Specially when I'm mad hahah theres like no high end to the mixes cause I get so annoyed by it so I have to come back and redo all that :p
 
snellular5 said:
Oh absolutely, and I find depending on my mood the mix will always turn out differently. Specially when I'm mad hahah theres like no high end to the mixes cause I get so annoyed by it so I have to come back and redo all that :p
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haha I agree...when I'm in a bad mood I get anxious and I get in a hurry, which makes me want to rush through a mix. Especially when I'm mastering...if I'm upset about something I usually make it sound worse than it already was :P
 
yeah

i have had this problem too. it can be very confusing. especially when you listen twice in a row, and it sounds totally different than the first time.

for me, i think it's because the first time i'm listening i am paying attention to certain elements and the next time i am focusing more on other things about the mix. take into consideration what your brain is focusing on at a specific time. this can even happen when you are listening to your favorite artist or a friend's mix or something you've heard for the first time. there's always that first listen and it is always different than the next and so on, the more often you listen the more things you notice.


:rolleyes:
 
i did an internship a while ago with a mixing engineer who used to say, take a day and mix the song..Take frequent breaks..Once you're finished, even if you don't like it..print it..then come back the next day, and do another mix (depending on the clients budget).

I guess this was in part caused by what I first mentioned, but his reasoning had a lot to do with what has been said in this post. We react differently each day to the same set of stimuli..so the decisions you make today, you might not make tommorrow..let the client be the final judge (unless you are the client, then don't mix it yourself)

I find even when I'm sick, I just can't function. And you would think that mixing is something that involves just your ears, so even sick you would be able to do your job..
 
deejaytrixx said:
i ... guess this was in part caused by what I first mentioned, but his reasoning had a lot to do with what has been said in this post. We react differently each day to the same set of stimuli..so the decisions you make today, you might not make tommorrow..
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One of the beauties of a string of 'save as' ITB- besides back-up return points, -exploring without loosing your way back if need be.
 
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