Is this normal?

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Myriad_Rocker

Myriad_Rocker

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Since I've been doing more and more recording and mixing (along with more research), I'm starting to hear my CD's differently even when listening to them on my iPod and in the car. Like today, I was listening to a song and the opening just has drums....they sound a lot different than I remember. They sounded small and very dry....no real character or "feel"
 
you're starting to develop an ear...it's a good thing ;)

you start listening to music as SOUND and not just as something to enjoy. sometimes this can be a good thing, other times it can annoy you and ruin things. and of course you'll have friends start looking at you weird when you start commenting on the mix of a song. people hate being around me when i'm listening to music :p
 
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^^^^^^^^^^^^
I second every word that Benny said.

Welcome to the double-edged sword of ear triaining. The good news is that your own (new) mixes will start sounding better and better. The bad news is that even though they start sounding better, you'll get more dissatisfied with the results. It's weird enough when, as Benny described, people start looking at you funnty when you start critiquing other productions; just wait until you play your own and impress others while you say that they still sound like crap. ;)

Beware, though. Soon enough - if not already - you'll start hearing limitations in your gear. Better give your checkbook and credit cards to someone else to hold while it's still safe! :D

G.
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
Beware, though. Soon enough - if not already - you'll start hearing limitations in your gear. Better give your checkbook and credit cards to someone else to hold while it's still safe! :D

G.
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That's what I'm afraid of.

I've already gotten weird looks from friends...I'll say things like, "That vocal is doubled" or comment on a poorly recorded part of a song...they just stare at me.
 
Myriad_Rocker said:
That's what I'm afraid of.

I've already gotten weird looks from friends...I'll say things like, "That vocal is doubled" or comment on a poorly recorded part of a song...they just stare at me.
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Just look at them coolly and say, "It's a technical thing - you wouldn't understand."
 
Myriad_Rocker said:
That's what I'm afraid of.

I've already gotten weird looks from friends...I'll say things like, "That vocal is doubled" or comment on a poorly recorded part of a song...they just stare at me.
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oh, it get worse. especially when you start singling out individual instruments. you start hearing heavily compressed instruments (snare seems to be a common one hear all the time now), reverb starts to annoy the piss out of you, you point out to your friends when "auto tuner" is being used, you notice where instruments are placed in the stereo field more.....shit, so much happens when you start actually LISTENING to music for once. :D
 
bennychico11 said:
oh, it get worse. especially when you start singling out individual instruments. you start hearing heavily compressed instruments (snare seems to be a common one hear all the time now), reverb starts to annoy the piss out of you, you point out to your friends when "auto tuner" is being used, you notice where instruments are placed in the stereo field more.....shit, so much happens when you start actually LISTENING to music for once. :D
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Actually, I'm looking forward to this!!
 
After a while you'll be forced to learn how and when to turn on/turn off the "critical ear". You'll want to have it on, of course, when working on your own stuff and when listening to other stuff to hear and learn how they are doing something.

But, as alluded to earlier, after a while that can take some of the pleasure out of just enjoying the content, versus listening to the production. Sometimes you'll want to turn off the critical ear so you can still enjoy listening to your favorite music. There's a lot of great music worth listening to out there that is made less enjoyable by the technical analysis.

"Sometimes you just have to let the art flow over you." - William Hurt in "The Big Chill" :D

G.
 
the one i hate the most is when i start hearing breaths of a REALLY compressed vocal (usually female pop)

sometimes they actually sound louder than the vox, it's distracting and when i notice it, i usually can't tune it out until that particular song is over.

solution: point it out to your friends so they can be annoyed too :p

i guess my second thing is when the hi-hat is the loudest thing on the record... that drives me nutty (see velvet revolver)

and via my earlier solution, now you too can enjoy the hi-hat on the velvet revolver album FOREVERhahahahahahaha
 
Myriad_Rocker said:
I've already gotten weird looks from friends...I'll say things like, "That vocal is doubled" or comment on a poorly recorded part of a song...they just stare at me.
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You know, you really don't have to say anything at all. Nothing wrong with keeping your superior ear-knowledge to yourself if it annoys others. :eek:
 
SonicAlbert said:
You know, you really don't have to say anything at all. Nothing wrong with keeping your superior ear-knowledge to yourself if it annoys others. :eek:
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That's right. Just a little Chesire Cat grin can go a looooong way. :cool:

:D

G.
 
maybe it's just me...but i also get annoyed after looping like 2 or 3 seconds of audio maybe when you're trying to EQ out a certain frequency. You know, when you've heard the loop like 50 times over and over and over and over again....and then when you try and play it in context with the rest of the song, that part just seems to stick out at you because it was so ingrained into your ear's mind.


bugs the hell out of me.
but then again, that's probably just me ;)
 
Yeah, there's a reason all of us listen to nothing but Steely Dan.
 
The funny thing is that I can ignore the mistakes of others but the more I listen the more my own mistakes annoy the hell out of me.
 
Dani Pace said:
The funny thing is that I can ignore the mistakes of others but the more I listen the more my own mistakes annoy the hell out of me.
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Me too! I guess it's true that one can be their own worst critic. And, forget about listening to a live show recording... oh man, I pinpoint everything I could have done different, every note ... EVERYTHING. And the worst is when you listen to something that you recorded a while back and it's already all done, on cd duplicated... and you then realize, you know what I don't like that sample there, or that guitar line is too loud on this part... and then you're like... oh well... just move on to the next song, because it's really a pain to redo songs, to me at least it is, although I do re-record songs sometimes when I really like the song and think it deserves to be done better.
evt
 
bennychico11 said:
you're starting to develop an ear...it's a good thing ;)

you start listening to music as SOUND and not just as something to enjoy. sometimes this can be a good thing, other times it can annoy you and ruin things. and of course you'll have friends start looking at you weird when you start commenting on the mix of a song. people hate being around me when i'm listening to music :p
Click to expand...


Yeah, it can be tough to learn to just listen to enjoy again. It took me years, but I can do it with some things. Classical, for instance, is so far outside my realm of knowledge that I can listen to it no problem.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
The thing about "critical ear" is that sometimes, you can never be pleased with a mix.
 
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