Can your tracking & mixing biases stop you enjoying songs ?

[grimtraveller]

You get interesting comments and observations on songs posted in the MP3 clinic which leads me to wonder, if a song is not recorded or mixed according to the way you like songs recorded or mixed, can/does that prevent you from actually enjoying the song ? And I don't just mean in the clinic, I mean in general ?

 

[miroslav]

Believe it or not...I really don't listen to other music analytically, unless someone ask for opinions...like here on the forums.

My own stuff...that's another story. Even long after I've finished a tune...I'm still analyzing it somewhat when I listen to it…but the compulsion fades away over time, and after awhile I can just listen to it as a song rather than as a “mix”.
I think that's pretty normal for anyone...you just get too close to the thing and it takes some time before you can step back aay from it and just be another audience member.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

You get interesting comments and observations on songs posted in the MP3 clinic which leads me to wonder, if a song is not recorded or mixed according to the way you like songs recorded or mixed, can/does that prevent you from actually enjoying the song ? And I don't just mean in the clinic, I mean in general ?

I can't speak to the clinic part of it as I very rarely do the clinic, but when it comes to listening to music in general only very rarely does the mix job get in the way of my enjoyment of a song. The producer/engineer would really have to really majorly screw things up big time to get in the way of a good song and/or performance for me.

OTOH, no matter how good the production or engineering, if the song or performance doesn't send me, I'm not generally not interested.

G.

 

[mixsit]

I'm quite put off by the massive compression thing. So often it's 'hear a disk, like it, then realize what it could have been.
Mostly it's only a bummer when I think about it.
Going to concerts the analytical side kicks in. For sure years of listening, fixing', it's a factor.

 

[mcmetal]

I'm still learning to develop my ears but unless something is a really bad mix it doesn't effect my enjoyment.When i listen to tunes in the clinic and read all the comments on adjust this at 500 hertz or cut that at such and such,most times i'm thinking it sounded just fine.

Honestly,i listen with my regular pc monitors so maybe i'm not hearing what others are hearing.I feel that since i don't listen to songs normally on my monitors that listening to a mix on them wouldn't give an honest view. If a mix translates well on other mediums than it should hold it's own.

That may sound backwards but it's not like listening on my home stereo and i don't have nearfields hooked up in my car.I do listen to my favorite cds on my monitors for the purpose of reference and learning my monitors when mixing.

I'm too analytical with my own mixes though and it does get in the way of my enjoyment.Like miroslav said,it's getting too close to your own stuff.Even the tunes i've recorded in studios as a paying customer i have a hard time listening to.

Not so much as a mix but as a musician i wanna be perfect and i'm too critical of my own playing.I always feel i could've played that better or i should've tried a couple more takes just to hit that one harmonic a little bit better.

Either way with my own music i just get drunk,step outside myself,and then i can enjoy it.

 

[VomitHatSteve]

I can generally turn down the critical listening part of my brain when just listening to music. I probably can't really turn it entirely off; if a song is particularly bad, it snaps back on, and I'll get annoyed by the song.

I suppose as you train your ear to hear those little things that others miss, you can also be training your ears to ignore those same things.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

I suppose as you train your ear to hear those little things that others miss, you can also be training your ears to ignore those same things.

I can only speak for myself, but this "separation" of the two modes of listening has been fairly automatic for me. I put "separation: in quotes, because they do not necessarily have to happen separately for them to be and remain separate. It's simply a matter of which one of two simultaneous listening modes I chose to consciously pay attention to in the moment.

It's like Thanksgiving dinner with my extended Bohemian family; there's almost always more than one conversation going at a time at the table; and one gets used to participating in one while pretty much following the other conversation threads at the same time without much problem.

Hmmmm...I wonder whether there's a connection; maybe growing up with such a loud and non-Miss-Manners family on the holidays was the perfect conditioning for later critical listening skills in the studio?

G.

 

[Chibi Nappa]

You get interesting comments and observations on songs posted in the MP3 clinic which leads me to wonder, if a song is not recorded or mixed according to the way you like songs recorded or mixed, can/does that prevent you from actually enjoying the song ? And I don't just mean in the clinic, I mean in general ?

100% yes.

Too much sample replacement/beat detective/compression/limiting/autotune/2-buss volume automation = I'm turned off.

 

[NYMorningstar]

You get interesting comments and observations on songs posted in the MP3 clinic which leads me to wonder, if a song is not recorded or mixed according to the way you like songs recorded or mixed, can/does that prevent you from actually enjoying the song ? And I don't just mean in the clinic, I mean in general ?

I generally try to judge a mix in the clinic on how my equipment handles it and judge the song itself on how much it grabs my attention and absorbs me. Learning audio has given me a deeper appreciation of music overall.

 

[jlewis]

I remember buying a metal cd when I was like 15 and even then thinking "this sounds terrible" After that first listen I disliked the album and have only recently listened again. Now I realize why I thought the album was so bad, it was the mixing! There was no snare and the low end was seriously messed up. So I guess a bad mix does keep me from enjoying a song, as was the case before I had ever even thought I'd be mixing music myself. But, the mixing has to be pretty bad to ruin a good song.