My Superhuman Hearing
Вставка
- Опубліковано 15 чер 2023
- In which I pontificate on the difference between 'good ears' and 'a good ear', and the importance of ear training when learning to mix music.
Note that this is a low effort video with just my voice and no proper visuals (apart from one sneaky peek at my UA-cam stats). Just so you're aware.
If you like this type of content and you want to see it more often, consider signing up for Channel Membership: / @danworrall - Навчання та стиль
against my own good judgement, I got bullied into getting my ears "candled" by a "professional" and immediately got hit with the most insane ear infection and head cold I've ever had in my life!!! thanks for sounding the alarm about this kinda thing...
Dave Worrall
so real
Lol
But does it cramp near nyquist?
💀
DAVE WORRALL HEHEEH I like that
Compression/dynamics was quite a difficult thing for me to hear in my first years. It was weird because finally, I suddenly got it. Suddenly I could hear it pretty clearly. The downside is I can't bear to listen to music radio broadcasts now!
I LOVE these little meditations that dan puts out after a video. Feels like we are meditating on a subject for several days, when we follow in real time. Very unique and cool to experience
You, Dan, are one of the solitary isles of sanity in the myth-riddled and pretentious sea of "audio people" (be it audiophiles, engineers or musicians) especially on the internet. I genuinely think that the music industry is one of the worst (if not The worst) areas when it comes to gullibility and confusiuon. I've seen so many people who studyied audio engineering alongside me for 5 years and seasoned pros believe such BS... seriously our line of work has a long way to go with dispelling all of this nonsense.
Anyway, sorry for the rant and thank you for trying to turn even dumb comments into videos that might be useful for others.
You haven't been in the crypto industry then
@@Barncore Thank god, I guess :D
You said it man. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, too.
Dan, my ears are 20 years old, I can kinda feel a difference between those two EQS in the 16k, but as you, I don't think that difference really matter, or it will make a good recording sound incredible (also the placebo knob says a lot by itself already). Your channel made me realize that what makes a song sound good is not really the plugins, the “digital” gain staging, or anything stupid audio influencers try to push on the community's throat, it is the performance, in today's world where everything is “oh just do this and it is done” or “just use this eq with this compressor”, for who is starting out that is a mess.
This channel really helped me get through the bullshit marketing myths in audio and pushed me into searching what I really wanted, today I'm doing a music production major in college. Thanks for keeping up with the good content!
If it sounds good, it is good.
Awesome reply btw. For me it was ditching all of my plugins and concentrating on fully understanding the few that I use the most. Listening to reference tracks down over and over in my monitors to dissect them down their most minor nuances. Keep playing around till you discover how they make that certain sound you are chasing. However,
I have picked up several useful tips from YT'rs. Like how I didn't know that the 250Hz band naturally produces masking harmonics up through the higher frequencies. Dropping that 250Hz by .5 - 1dB can naturally quell those harmonics and make a mix perceive to be louder pre-limiting. I also learned that you should use a clipper before sending audio through the limiter. Another one is the big difference adding EQ'ng before compression will naturally create a warmer tone versus EQ'ng after compression will give a cleaner accurate tone. Mixing audio is truly a wonderful rabbit hole to get lost in.
@@SenatorBanana As simple and mundane that statement is, and also true for that matter, it is also excruciatingly complex and hard to answer. It is relatively easy to say when something is good, but not so much anymore when the question changes to more relevant one; when it is good enough.
This is somewhat similar issue as "blinding" your ears to minor changes when you have a long session, but I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about this purely from psychological standpoint. I have often very hard time defining to myself when I've done good enough job.
@@SenatorBananaThe main problem is, a lot of people can't hear that it *isn't* good. That's a big part of the skill
> This channel really helped me get through the bullshit marketing myths in audio
> spends thousands in a music production college course
Had to lol at that
We love you Dan. Keeping being you.
Your the GOAT !!!!! 🎉
right next to kush
@@djbarxxx1000 who?
His the GOAT what?
@@rickyanthony Greatest Of All Time (GOAT)
I just shagged a 🐐whilst pretending it was Dan!
Dan, your tutorials are beyond Jedi Master level. Your content is always engaging for the nerdy lot of us. Your thoughtful approach to all the themes you cover is is exactly where it needs to be and always remains humble. Thank you, sir.
3:48 so this explains why my late night mixes always sound so harsh when I listen again the next morning.....
Hey Dan, this is a very touching video for me. I suffer from hyperacusis (i hear everything louder than an average ear by 5 decibels), and after being diagnosed, i never truly felt the same. I've had it since birth and always struggled. It's not a superpower, loud just hurts me faster than the average person. I struggle with mixing as well because i constantly have to take it into account and how it affects my health.
Your video helped me grasp that not everything is gonna be perfect and that there is a way for me to trust my ears, I just haven't found it yet. But with practice, maybe I'll find what works for me !
Thank you Dan.
The good news is that those of us with less sensitive hearing have a tendency to mix things while working at too loud a level- as loud=satisfying to us. This often results in us having blind spots in our mixes due to some psychoacoustic properties of loudness.
Working at a quiet level and making a mix sound great will often mean that it sounds stellar when played back loud. So! Make a good mix at a quiet, comfortable level, and I'm sure it will sound fantastic when somebody else plays it back loud.
this 10 min video had all the information of a full year of schooling back in 2008, you are a force for good in the world
You need a podcast, I just love hearing your knowledge and anything. It’s great!
Dan is the Yoda of Audio Engineering. Without exaggeration, I’ve learned something profound from every one of his videos I’ve seen, whether it be a tutorial, an audio concept video, or one of his philosophical videos like this one.
A well-trained ear is infinitely better than the best, youngest, highest dynamic range ears. In fact, most mixers tend to suffer some kind of hearing loss which is the point in the first place. Not everyone hears a song the same way. As someone who is basically bass-deaf in one ear, I learned to not worry so much about hearing loss and continue on training my ears.
Beethoven wrote his very best works when he was Deaf !?@y@?!
(-;
Tchad Blake, probably the best out there, has hearing damage on one side of his head from hunting as a kid. He said in an interview "I used to think my mixes were bad because of my hearing, but it turns out I didn't really know what I was doing back then". If he can do what he does with what he's got left, I'm convinced that with the right training anyone dedicated enough will find a way.
David Torn, another legend, has severely damaged hearing on one ear due to (I *think*) a stroke in the early 90s. Doesn't stop him from continually getting work for producing, soundtracking and guitar playing!
Thx Dan!❤ please never stop doing such great content. I'm engineer with over 25 years of experience and your videos and your thoughts about some things, impressed me like nothing else the last 20 years! Thx that you beeing You!
Yep totally agree with this. I think the audience cares much more about the way a voice is used than the quality of the voice or even of the singing. If you're into it and you don't sound noticeably terrible, normal people will think you're a good singer.
Hey Dan! Keep up the good work. I'm 38 now and still learning. Actually all you said and showed on your channel and even Fabfilter's channel is real and applies everywhere in this world. I can only say that all what we have to do is train and know our stuff (eq, compression, so on + knowing some music and actually play an instrument). I'm doing both for 26 years now. I wish i can see an analog/digital comparison here on this channel. Try and offer us something like that. I bet every youtuber and producer will subscribe instantly. Love you and thank you for teaching us all something new everytime you post a video. Best regards from Romania!
After 30 years of electronic music production, i can't even tell by ear what key of any of my music is. Transcribing music is pretty dope skill.
To be clear, I can't listen to a piece of music and tell you what key it's in. That's perfect pitch. I have relative pitch, meaning if I had a keyboard or guitar in standard tuning I could find the roof note on that, and then tell you what key it's in. Assuming it has a recognizable key centre of course: not all music does, and is not mandatory.
The most mellifluous voice of sound and sanity. Thanks, as ever!
This was the inspirational self-help talk I didn't know I know I needed. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge
Dan, you’re amazing on so many levels it’s actually mind boggling. A rare breed for sure and very much looked up-to. Keep doing you!!
Thank you so much for all these lessons, Dan! 🙏🥇
Hello Dan, discovering your channel was the best thing that happened for my mixing and production works, I switched to REAPER an year ago after watching you use it and the experience has been lovely. Thanks Dan
Golden nuggets and valuable lessons! Thanks Dan ❤️
clicked for beef , stayed for actual good advice
The only channel for which I have notifications on.
"Knowing your ears" is like knowing your monitors- sometimes, familiarity is more important than fidelity!
Agree. Have used the same HS monitors since they came out, swap out other “B” pairs now and again, but those relatively low-cost monitors allow me to do a great job, because i know them super well. Have had a friend tell me there’s no way i’m doing the best mixes i can without a pair of (insert expensive brand here). But when i hear their mix done on that brand i hear things i’d fix. And i’m listening on the HS. 😂
This is great advice, especially the compression part, you need extreme settings so you can hear the effect itself doing its job so you can understand the nuances and what over compression sounds like as well.
You are king Solomon of audio!
You taked time and verbalized in very concize and easy way what is important.
In no school but life one can you learn this.
There is no better way to train your ears than eqing pink noise, or mixing with vacum cleaner turn on
Thank's again Dan. U'r always great inspiration
Wow, a practice routine... Hard to believe you need to mention that.
Appreciate your observations, and they jive with mine. Grateful for your efforts. Thank you!
we need more videos with just talking and contemplating stuff! it's very entertaining and educative to listen to your thoughts
I started out running live sound about 8 years ago. Eventually I got into studio recording and after a little while I noticed that my live mixes started sounding way better even though I was still pretty bad at studio mixing. What I realized is that I started subconsciously applying certain studio principles to my live mix and that was what really made them get good. Similar to the guy you mentioned, I also was very unaware of how to set a release time from doing only live sound, but then after I learned in the studio I could then apply it to live and that's just one of the things that helped me get to where I am today.
Brilliant, simply. Love it.
These videos are gold.
Thank you for the "Golden Advices! ❤️
Wow, really gold advices. Thank you, sir.
Priceless! Thank you
I love that my perception of you is like a non-physical entity for some reason 😂 u the best! 💯❤
Dan is just a ghost inside a mixing console moving faders and turning knobs.
Like HAL
I needed to have the ear cleaning. My ears were so full not only did it almost completely seal off the canal - it also caused a phenomenon known as double hearing - the pitch kind. In one ear. And as someone with pretty strong relative pitch it was driving me absolutely insane. And from that experience, the "super clarity" I experienced was same as you described - higher frequencies in everhthing I heard. But it also made everything much louder, so quieter sounds are quieter and my ears are more prone to damage at higher volumes.
Agreed, the ears (or more accurately the brain ) adjusts to your environment after around 20 mins so there's little point risking your ear health unless you have a genuine medical problem. I had my ears syringed once when I was young (at the advice of a doctor) and yes, I just had an overly bright response for a while. it went back to the same response eventually but I hope I never have to do that again.
Hello Dan! I use the collision feature on Pro Q3 and have found it helpful for identifying potential problems. It has helped me train my ears. In fact, it's trained them well enough for me to recognize that you're right - there are a lot of false-positives from that collision feature.
Some sage advice as always!
Precious. Just precious.
learnt alot from you brother ;; 💯💯
your content is A+
Great video. I also got my chops mixing live (front of house), mostly in Austin, TX during the rise of South by Southwest from 1987-1994. Bluegrass, Jazz and Rock. But I still constantly have to refine my ears. 60 year old ears at that! And I still struggle a bit with the move to digital. It’s too easy to fall down the analysis rabbit hole, instead of mixing with your ears!
great stuff, as always!
I love being able to mix using my ears, it took a long time to get that skill but once you start doing it it gets so much easier and feels more artistic rather than technical.
As a professional jazz violinist I record and mix (amateur style) my band's music for our UA-cam videos. And I do commercial composing where I have to mix my own stuff. I never have to worry about trying to have a grammy nominated mix for this work, as long as I'm adequate. (thank gods)
But we should always strive for greatness even if we don't have to! Though the info Dan shared in the 2nd half about how to train our ears probably isn't brand new news for many, do we do it? Dan shared this in such a clear and inspiring way, I can't wait to go and experiment with frequencies and compression more. EVERY DAY !
Like practicing an instrument, it needs to be consistent, patient, disciplined yet free and experimental.
Thanks Dan!
What I've learned after 40 years doing this, mostly, for a living- my ears aren't better than anyone else's I just have learned what to listen for. I find just about every musician in the studio isn't listening to anything else other than how awesome they are. Once you point out what to listen for, the details their "awesomeness" is covering up, they almost always hear the issue I'm hearing. Often they agree it needs some attention, other times they're awash in their own greatness and that upper "harmonic boost", ice pick tone, their aluminum cone JBL speakers is giving the original Plexi Marshall on 10 is just part of their incredible sweep arpeggio lead that sings at the 24th fret on the high E..............
Thanks for inspiration!
Dan ,
Your Brilliance somehow magically combines the Sacred Sage Wisdom of Eckhart Tolle and the Satirical Practicality of George Carlin . . . ! . . .🙂
(-;
. . . I am very grateful for Both the Sacred and Profane Balance of the Works that You Do . . . ! . . . 🙂
(-;
. . . Many Thanks . . . ! . . . 🙂
(-;
Mr. Worrall, you are amazing.❤
One of the things that keeps coming up in community groups of people learning how to produce music is how to mix. I've had several people tell me my tracks were well mixed and it took me a while to twig that I had spent some time learning to live-mix in amongst the years of playing in church. And the skill is transferable to music production.
Good instruction about learning a compressor, too. I'm going to go do that as I kind of understand how a compressor works but often don't know what I'm doing. And I've acquired a bit of a collection of compressor plugins as effect bundles always seem to include them.
I spent many years with exactly the problem you described: I have better-than-average hearing, especially at the high end, so my mixes sounded muddy to everyone else because I would roll off the highs until the mix sounded good to me. Another important factor in the "magic ears" discussion is the influence of the listening environment: regardless of physiology, people aren't going to hear what you hear because their environments are different, often drastically so.
Amazing advice thank you!!
Btw i also trained myself by training my ear to hear before compression and after compression.
How does it sound when the threshold is too low or too high? (Spoiler if it’s too high it won’t compress since the threshold will never activate it) then adjusting the ratio , and testing how the threshold responds with those settings.
Then do the same with attack and release and ratio. Only then was I able to “hear compression”, and my ear immediately knew if it was too much or too little compression or just right.
But after all the theory is said and done, generic knowledge won’t give you what you need in order to start making / mixing songs, it will only give you the fundamentals.
Learn from mixers that work on the genres you love, genres use specific effect techniques and chains. Like parallel eq and compression, using the sidechain to lower volume on a track based on another source, dynamic eqs with sidechain to control low end, etc..
All the best friends!!
I strongly feel this Dan-Worrall-advised ear training methodology will positively change and accelerate my approach and advancement to earning a good ear and mix mastery. For ALL of your advice across all of your videos, Dan, I sincerely thank you, as I'm sure we all do.
Your videos are a treasure Dan.
All good points, Dan. I won't say how old I am or how bad my hearing is (it might scare off clients), but I think as time goes on I have adjusted to my high frequency loss. When I listen to "good" reference material I don't feel I need to boost the highs, and the mastering engineer that I use says he usually needs minimal (or no) EQ on most of my work. So, I think having teenage ears would be a wonderful thing, but my age doesn't seem to be negatively effecting my work.
The algo is going to love the pace of your postings as well as the amount of reactions, I assume that you're not even able to read each of the comments, but that also is a good sign since it eventually is going to imrpove the quality of audio engineering content on youtube. Fingers crossed!
I needed this video, even though it's perhaps a little different to my situation: I've always had a right ear that is slightly weaker and not as clear as my left - it's kinda difficult to describe and not obvious day-to-day - but it's always bothered me, given that when I'm mixing or using headphones, everything seems very slightly panned to the left.
It still bothers me occasionally, though this video further helps me realise, again, that my wish for "perfect" ears, though nice, is probably misguided. I just need to be grateful for the hearing I have, which I think it still decent, all things considered ☺
“Frequency of the day” and “compressor of the day” - fantastic concept!
Good advice. Not to mention how an accurate system affects these abilities, and how a technically flat response can often sound wrong.
kickass tips, thank you very much sir
thanks for the sound sound advice, dad!
I thought Golden Ears was a Bowie song? Thanks for the vids Dan, always entertaining and educational.
You are definitely right about the tools we have today. I remember learning on a 4 track tape machine. I remember wondering why my recordings didn't sound exactly as good as the albums I was listening to. I remember thinking. This is not fair. Lol.
Best ever, stay clever, love ya Dan!
I had a revelation after testing my daughters hearing. She’s young so she hears much higher frequencies than me. But when I had her do some of the typical blind A/B tests like comparing lossless to MP3 she can’t hear the difference. But I can because I’ve trained my ear. And if you really think about it, extremely high frequencies aren’t very useful to music. Once you get up past 10k or so it actually starts getting painful.
i like the idea of picking ONE daily exercise hadnt thought of that. ive been mixing for 45 year abd at age 70 i have pretty loud tinnitus, a scoop between 3k and 6k and have lost a lot if 10k and higher on one side. But when I put up a good record it still sounds normal to me and when I mix the results still sound like a record. i have to tread carefully with upper midrange but i figure i overused it anyway in the past, being a punk guitarist and all. Haha sound is magical and much more than flat frequency response. I love music and that is the most important skill. Love your videos.
God I love this video. From decades of live performance, and one period where my monitoring was dangerously asymmetrical, I have asymmetrical high frequency loss. My right ear tops out just under 16kHz, my left ear goes to over 17.5 kHz. In musical terms, there’s not much perceptible difference between the two ears. Those frequencies aren’t particularly musical. “Good ears” requires normal healthy hearing obviously but it’s way more than that. It just means well trained. A normal listener doesn’t know how to “tune in” to what’s happening between 2k-5k, identifying masking or unpleasant spikes in some region. Or understanding volume and perceived frequency curve behavior. We train our brains to better understand our ears doing this work. That’s where good ears reside.
This was superb 😎👍🍻 Cheers Dan
In this case: Thanks for listening. And thank you for sound advice.
keep doing it Dan!!!
When I started a berklee, I remember my mastering teacher making 1dbs cuts or boosts and I couldnt hear any difference, and for me was like "no way someone can actually hear this...", after 3 years, I can hear it, but was a lot of trainning, practice and I still think some of it have to do with feel, what help me the most, was to get a midi controler and mix with no "visuals" or with my eyes closed, is amazing how much more you can actually hear once you dont have the visual aid of a plugin.
Thanks 🙂
I got into recording and mixing because I was a songwriter with a limited budget who needed a cheap way to record demos. I was prepared for a steep learning curve with all the software, hardware and techniques involved. What I was not at all prepared for was the minefield of arrogant gatekeepers who resisted any logical attempts to demystify audio. Many thanks to DW and the others who helped me cut through the crap.
Can you give a couple examples of the gatekeeping? I've been in this for a long time, and I am 100% genuine in not wanting to be lumped into the Gatekeeper's Society. A fresh perspective is always welcomed.
Mine has astonishing directionality. Very useful!
Great video!
It's interesting, I always thought I might have exhausted my ears over time as a music producer but to this day I hear things none of my friends hear. Like beeping of the fridge from the other room, but also a really subtle resonance that's extremely quiet no one else hears that's a power adapter for a phone charger that I get close to and hear and unplug.
I almost never use headphones anymore and simply my studio monitors at a more quiet volume, learned listening quietly allows you to hear things in a mix you wouldn't otherwise be able to hear when you're blasting shit.
wow this video open my eyes. just need more ear training!
glad to be one of the 13-17 to be watching your videos
Tusen takk!
Bonus point for the Rat Arsed reference, haven't heard that in a while... hehe
I like your videos and you always make good points. In the topic of trained hearing, this is where the all ITB mixing saddens me a bit. To me it is akin to modeled guitar amplifiers. Sounds great, but as a guitarist I can hear the difference between ‘analog’ and modeled. That tiny little ‘extra’ flavor is there when analog is introduced. No? 😀
Speaking as another guitarist, I use amp sims exclusively now. Although I often do most of my distortion with a valve preamp and / or pedals so perhaps that doesn't count? I think they sound really good these days tbh. It's more the feel I miss from a real valve amp. But I suspect that's really all down to the fact that it was LOUD with a real amp, and that's a big part of the reason I don't use them anymore: I can track a guitar part without killing my ears for the rest of the day :)
I'm glad I was honest with myself and admitted I can't tell the difference between one high quality DAC and another high quality DAC. I can't hear the difference between a good amplifier and another good amplifier as long as both of them are bringing enough power to the speakers. Thankfully I did this young enough that I didn't do too much damage to my wallet. And the older I get the less I care if other people can or cannot hear those differences themselves. However, I can tell the difference between mixes as I train my ear to mix and master my own music. As your video states your type of ear training is an entirely different skillset (assuming being a "golden eared audiophile" is a skill), and one worth pursuing.
The Man’s voice is so easy to listen to!
Dan. I would love to see how you create your music. I would enjoy that very much.
Regarding compression, I think I can tell light compression apart from hard compression. And it became very apparent when I upgraded my very old headphones to a new pair, a lot more expensive than my old. Suddenly compression stood out and I've never dialed in a compressor that aggressively since then. So, it might not just be your ears and ear training -- it will be your listening environment too and you will need to learn how your speakers and headphones sound so you won't overdo certain settings (like I did for years and years without knowing that you do.
What a coincidence, I took a frequency test two hours ago.😉 Dan, you're became a virtual friend for so many people! Thanx for your advices on ear training, and for all other stuff you share with us regularly. ❤
Your sarcastic tone and slighly arrogant retorts are appreciated.
You'd hear music like a Bat!!
Sounds like a few people got butt hurt about the knock off Pro Q3 EQ. Ignore them and keep up the great work Dan.
Dan, you are the king of the sanity check and a very deep thinker.
thanks
Recently went to an otorhinolaryngologist, had both my ears blocked with cerumen after years of cleaning them with q tips; never realized how much of the high frequencies I was just not hearing. Your health is the most important asset, don’t neglect it.
When mixing for pleasure I think lower frequencies are more important. But also there are people mixing with headphones without using proper monitoring or room treatment. What will be obvious as collision with headphones could disappear with monitors and vice versa.
Please make a video about physical modeling. Would love to hear your thoughts on the whole concept.
have you ever thought of making a mini-training program? or maybe a collection of short examples, like a loopable 8-bars worth of under-compressed, over-compressed, and "ideal" compressed to A-B compare, both melody+instrumental and a pink/white noise edition á la 7:14. my mind's ear has been majorly bollocksed by using Breakaway for so many years, nevermind how my right ear registers 10dB lower than my left, so having a guide made by a master would do wonders, especially having both binaural and stereo examples. I do try but I usually end up just saying "feck it" and throwing down an infinite compressor + saturator + 20% phase-shift + fast reverb instead for vocals because the dynamics just annoy me (the rare times I use them that is)
My ears get blocked on a surprisingly regular schedule - for a while it was almost exactly every 13 months - I thought it was because I wear earplugs a lot, but it still happened during covid when I wasn't going to gigs so I guess that's just how my ears are now. I have to get them hoovered out privately, at significant expense, because it's almost impossible to get them cleaned on the NHS...
These days I can tell when they're close to getting blocked and get them cleaned out preemptively. There's definitely a striking difference right afterwards but I'm pretty sure my brain completely compensates for it within a couple of days at most.
It's fantastic to put headphones on immediately afterwards though.