Working the old Ear Holes

[elbandito]

So many of you on this board seem to hear all kinds of tiny little nuanced differences in the sound of various microphones that completely elude my ears. I can hear the obvious differences between say, an Audio-Technica AT2020 and the AT4040, or the differences between a Rode M3 and an SM58 p) but to hear the subtle difference between for example, the Beta 58A and the SM58 is very difficult for me. There's no way I could listen to a recording of the two and accurately tell which part was recorded with which mic.

Is there anything one can do to improve my ability to divine these hard-to-hear differences (ear training or something similar), or is it simply a matter of time spent listening to recordings made with various microphones? How long did it take you all to be able to discern these kinds of minor variances between mic sounds?

 

[moresound]

Both .... you can learn from stuff like Golden ear. Even Behringer at one time put out a CD that had the tones of what each frequency sounded like along a 31 band EQ.
Then comes just knowing what to expect from a certain microphone.

You can hear the difference between your example of the SM58 and the Beta SM58a if you have them set up next to each other for an A/B test on a live rig but to determine the difference on a recording is special if not close to impossible at lest with the two 58s.

 

[Hack1977]

Google "critical listening for audio professionals" by F Alton Everest.

This is a good book by a very respected author on the subject.