My EARS ? ?

[acoustaman]

Alright I have been around music my whole life, but never recorded it until now. I absolutely love the variety and limitless abilities with recording and mixing, but I have one problem....my EARS ! !

I don't know if I have the exact trained ear yet for hearing a mix the way you guys do....my bassist and novice producer does most of our mixing now and sent a sample to some guys on this forum and they could tell that we recorded in a garage by the drums instantly. I could kinda tell but not like they can.

So my question is...how do I train my ears to hear what I need to hear? What do I need to be listening for and what can I do to make my actual hearing of the mix better?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[slabrock]

how do I train my ears to hear what I need to hear? What do I need to be listening for and what can I do to make my actual hearing of the mix better?

You learn with time. Start listening your familiar records in the mixing environment, through the same monitors you'd use to mix. Listen quiet, listen loud. Soon you'll be handicapped with 'studio hearing' - inability to cut out irritating parts of sounds you hear even in your normal everyday life. That feels just as bad as mild tinnitus, but it's what happens.

I don't know. Knowing what you hear comes from hours and hours of serious listening, EQ:ing and adjusting. It helps, if you pick a set of reference CD-records, which you listen whenever entering new surroundings. My reference set has all kinds of stuff from DDD baroque chamber recordings to Motorhead, Sonic Youth and Sugar. I've heard them in all kinds of studios and pro audio shops. I also carry my own set of headphones, to check what i think i hear for now and then.

Don't take it too seriously. They were just showing off, when they told about the garage - not that that's hard to distinguish...

Best of luck,

Slabrock

 

[acoustaman]

That is a sweet idea....I really appreciate the encouragement to be patient...I want to get it right, right now but I need to keep in mind that this is a skill that comes with time, patience, and a willing to never stop learning. Good stuff slabrock !

Keep this coming guys....I want your kernel knowledge!

 

[acoustaman]

New Thought?

Just tell me what you like to hear and why?

Also....previewing the mix..Headphones or monitors?

 

[slabrock]

Re: New Thought?

Just tell me what you like to hear and why?

Also....previewing the mix..Headphones or monitors?

I like to hear sound open - as opposite to hear sound roll into a horn or like coming from inside a pipe.

I like to hear the frequency peak at the same place where there's something sonically interesting happening. Means, that if i hear a snare drum crack, i will do my best not to mask or muddle it.

I like to hear a song grow. I want to be surprised how big it feels when the chorus comes. I want something personal, something intimate and something larger than life.

I want song to develop from start to end. I get bored too easily, if nothing happens

I want the song to sound as big as the band that plays. If they aer not a grand orchestra and are not playing stadiums, i shun from large reverbs and cannonshot snares. I want the music to represent the artist.

I rarely pan anything hard anything. L, R or center. Those are for "making it go 11".

I want something to be a little twisted, slightly out of the ordinary. I love guitarists like Tom Verlaine, Robert Quine or Marc Ribot for that.

Nearfields, always. Headphones for occasional checking out, but big monitors are for customers to listen thru when breaking out the champagne and cigars...

Good luck,

Slabrock

 

[Jblount]

Sound is all in the ear of the beholder. Someone else listening to the same cd you are, might hear something totally different than you.