How to get a "good ear"?

  • Thread starter Thread starter ilovemusic
  • Start date Start date
I

ilovemusic

New member
Hello, everyone, I am new here.

I need some advice on how to train my ears to be more capable of telling good music from had ones.

Please help!
 
Listen to the most eclectic mix of music you can on the best monitoring chain you can for months on end - and I mean actively listen - Don't read books, don't watch TV - Listen - Concentrate on listening. Note space, dynamics, spectral balances - listen for things that remind you that it's "just a recording" and things that make you forget that it's just a recording. I'd suggest a few Chesky recordings ("Ultimate Listening Demo" or something like that - I have a few on SACD that are wonderful for picking out certain aspects of recordings).

Do that for a few hours a day for 5 or 6 months and you'll be 3 years ahead.
 
had ones?

It generally comes with experience. And a whole lot of listening. Which is funner and more informative if you're in a group and reading the sheet music. But it's also highly subjective these days. If there's a hot chick doing the lead vocals, we don't much notice if she can't sing very well. Sure if she's painful to listen to we notice, but if she's just average or better at singing, good enough.

As far as good or bad songs, that's very subjective too. Lots of songs that I listened to as a kid and thought, wow, how could that get any better. But if I listened to those same songs in front of someone younger who's opinion I cared about, I'd be ducking my head beneath my hand and muttering, Oh geeze... Even though they're still great songs. There's just something about listening to them that makes you feel as old as your are. Which is not something that I aspire to this week. Maybe next week though. Especially as I find todays music less and less enjoyable on the repeat. Not so much the quality of performance as it is the content / message. Like I care if you did whatever with some ho ho's and down it with an RC cola... Not that those are the actual words, but it might as well be. The ultimate chick magnet lyrics. The chubby chicks because they love food, the skinny ones because they haven't eaten since 3rd grade. Break out some cracker jacks and get sticky with it.
 
Do I have to have to "best" equipment in order to do that?
 
The better, the better. You will only ever be able to hear and listen as accurately and consistently as your monitoring will allow. And your monitoring chain will only ever be as accurate and consistent as the room they're in allows.
 
You were born with all the equipment you need- your ears and brain- THERE'S your "monitoring chain.". Your voice helps, too:

Join a good choir. Chances are, it will be led by a good director, and will sing challenging music. Let go of your ego, and do everything your choir director tells you to do, to the letter. Endeavor to be the best chorister you possibly can be- learn to read music, to sight-read, to blend your voice with others in your section, to listen to how your section and your own voice harmonize with the other sections and other voices, pay attention to dynamics, appreciate the music you are singing, train your voice to the best of your ability based on the resources you have, take voice lessons if you have the time and money, There- THAT'S everything the two above posters suggested, rolled up in a neat package and delivered, special delivery, to you- your active listening, your note space, your dynamics, your spectral balances, your things that make you forget that it's just a recording ('cause it ain't, it real,) your experience, your a whole lot of listening.

Oh, sure, you can get those things other ways- but joining a choir does so much more than other methods- you focus on your contribution to the choir's sound, not your own, and the benefits just flow into you as if by osmosis. You don't notice it happening, but one day you realize you are a better listener, chorister, musician, sound engineer, whatever. You didn't have to buy ANY equipment, so the money you saved can be then be invested in stuff that SOUNDS good, now that you know what "sounding good" really is. You have become part of something bigger than yourself, and done some good for your spirit (and just so you know, I am agnostic/atheist/humanist,) AND something good for a group of people you will come to care deeply for- and they, for you.

Do THAT for a few hours a week, and you will benefit by knowing good music (and I am not talking about any genre' or era,) training your ear, coming to a far better understanding of what goes into music- you will be a better musician AND a better person.

And I have a confession to make: I know all this is true, because I have done it several times before- but I have not been doing all of it during my participation in the choir I am currently in, and what I am not doing is preventing me from reaping all the benefits therein. Thank you for bringing that to my attention. I think I just found another new year's resolution.
 
Massive Master said:
The better, the better. You will only ever be able to hear and listen as accurately and consistently as your monitoring will allow. And your monitoring chain will only ever be as accurate and consistent as the room they're in allows.
Click to expand...

Well, then if I understand it correctly, if the monitoring chain itself has some flaws, it will infleunce my listening practise.
 
stevieb said:
Join a good choir. Chances are, it will be led by a good director, and will sing challenging music. Let go of your ego, and do everything your choir director tells you to do, to the letter. Endeavor to be the best chorister you possibly can be- learn to read music, to sight-read, to blend your voice with others in your section, to listen to how your section and your own voice harmonize with the other sections and other voices, pay attention to dynamics, appreciate the music you are singing, train your voice to the best of your ability based on the resources you have, take voice lessons if you have the time and money, There- THAT'S everything the two above posters suggested, rolled up in a neat package and delivered, special delivery, to you- your active listening, your note space, your dynamics, your spectral balances, your things that make you forget that it's just a recording ('cause it ain't, it real,) your experience, your a whole lot of listening.
Click to expand...

Never thought of joining a choir could have something to do with improving my ablility of appreciating music. Will give it a try though.
 
So I couldn't interest you in this pair of ears I got at the morgue then? I was told that they are "good ears.":p
 
ilovemusic said:
Well, then if I understand it correctly, if the monitoring chain itself has some flaws, it will infleunce my listening practise.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind it's also going to be comparative as long as listen to a good selection on the same system. ALL things in the chain will influence what you hear, compare a Sony home theater amp to a Yamaha, thank God I just round filed the Sony and went back to Yamaha. As long as you compare things on the same system you'll pick out thing you like and don't like. If that's not what you monitor do up a mix and try it on the system you auditioned all those records (discs) on. I mean audio quality CDR's are like 20 cents apiece.
 
Comes with experience and lots of critical listening on equipment capable of resolving detail.

There is the Golden Ears ear training that you can purchase on CD to really help you to train your ears.

I'm told it's excellent.

$ 198 from HERE.

p3654.jpg
 
moresound said:
So I couldn't interest you in this pair of ears I got at the morgue then? I was told that they are "good ears.":p
Click to expand...
Is your name "moresound," or morguesound?" :D
Greg_L said:
Lol. Don't. That's ridiculous.
Click to expand...
THAT is bullshit. One would THINK that as you believe that drum shell material is so ballyhooed because it's the best way to SELL drums, that you would also support an excellent, no-cost way of improving one's appreciation of music. NOTHING will tune your ear better than being an active part of a choir, for all the reasons already put forth.

Of course, you are proving the truth in an old joke:

Q: What do you call someone who hangs out with musicians?

A: A drummer.
 
stevieb said:
Is your name "moresound," or morguesound?" :D

THAT is bullshit. One would THINK that as you believe that drum shell material is so ballyhooed because it's the best way to SELL drums, that you would also support an excellent, no-cost way of improving one's appreciation of music. NOTHING will tune your ear better than being an active part of a choir, for all the reasons already put forth.

Of course, you are proving the truth in an old joke:

Q: What do you call someone who hangs out with musicians?

A: A drummer.
Click to expand...

I play multiple instruments though and write, perform, and record all of my own music, so as awesomely hilarious as that tired old joke is, it doesn't apply to me. Nice try though. A for effort. F for application.

Anyway, I'm sure there's something good about joining a choir. Maybe to hook up with some low self-esteem choir chicks or something. That would be cool. But it's a way goofy idea just to develop an ear for music. I'm sure it could work, but it just seems like overkill for what the OP actually asked.
 
Good music is music you like, bad music is music you dislike....i kid. Can you tell when stuff is out of tune? How about when the guitar or vocals are too loud in a mix? Simple stuff but start here. My latest challenge is to get the toms from over powering the rest of the mix. My drummer is heavy handed and it's not realistic to ask him to hit the toms softer. So i'm messing with the mics and compression. I've become obsessed with this. But, like someone said here, it's really experience. The more you do it the better you get. Also, it's good to give your ears a rest and you will return to your music with maybe a more objective ear. When i get fatigued listening for long periods of time, i force myself to take a break. Sometimes an entire night or day away from my mixes does me wonders.
 
ilovemusic said:
Hello, everyone, I am new here.

I need some advice on how to train my ears to be more capable of telling good music from bad ones.

Please help!
Click to expand...
Your question is one that cannot possibly be answered. If you're asking how to train your musical ears, then fine and just about everything Massive, Shadow, Stevieb, Greg and John have said is valid. Put that lot together and your ears will develop.
But saying you want to train your ears to tell good music from bad is like saying you want to be able to train your eyes so you can tell a good book from a bad one. What is good music ? What is bad music ? It's so subjective, no common standard exists.
 
Greg_L said:
Maybe to hook up with some low self-esteem choir chicks or something. That would be cool.
Click to expand...

:laughings:

Naaaaa....most of them are fat, old and married. They just need something to get them out of the house while hubby watches football on Sundays! ;)

Ear training comes with time and lots of listening to music, analytically...not just as a "fan".
You can also try some of the focused training "methods"...the CDs, etc...it might help.

Not to mentoin...if you get good head...you automatically get good ears...they come attached! :D
 
miroslav said:
:laughings:

Naaaaa....most of them are fat, old and married. They just need something to get them out of the house while hubby watches football on Sundays! ;)

Ear training comes with time and lots of listening to music, analytically...not just as a "fan".
You can also try some of the focused training "methods"...the CDs, etc...it might help.

Not to mentoin...if you get good head...you automatically get good ears...they come attached! :D
Click to expand...

Right. Learning how to listen critically is really all you need. Learn how to pick out certain elements of a song and figure out why they are the way they are. I can listen to a song with my dad and tell him to listen to the bass line. He can't do it. He can't pick it out. I'll even hum along to the bass so he can identify it. All he hears is the whole song. I kind of envy him in that regard.
 
Greg_L said:
I can listen to a song with my dad and tell him to listen to the bass line. He can't do it. He can't pick it out. I'll even hum along to the bass so he can identify it. All he hears is the whole song. I kind of envy him in that regard.
Click to expand...

Bassline humming ?

I find humming more useful as mid range instrument. Maybe try "do-do-do"ing it. :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top