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Excellent Advice Regarding Critical Listening
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| Beatflux |
-When you plan on listening to your track, turn off every distraction: internet, phone, cat, etc.
-Use something like pen and paper to take notes about emotions you experience or things you would like to change. Whenever a thought comes up, write it down and then get back to listening.
-Do not look at your DAW when its playing. Listeners won't have the ability to see when changes are coming, and neither should you.
-The last and most important point: put all of the emphasis on the FIRST listen. This the most accurate listen you will have. The notes you take a critical in helping you remember what your thoughts were so that if your opinion starts to waver, you can easily see what they were. Most of the time, your first reaction is the most accurate one.
-It's extremely easy to get used to mistakes and convince yourself that the mistakes you made are perfectly acceptable after several listens. |
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| meriter |
god i wish my cat had a mute button
EDIT: a couple more things
- Play your track for someone else while in the same room with them. For some reason when someone else is listening everything changes and you get a better sense of how effective it is or what could be better
- Check high |
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| Andy28 |
Some good tips...
| quote: | Originally posted by Beatflux
-It's extremely easy to get used to mistakes and convince yourself that the mistakes you made are perfectly acceptable after several listens. |
This is very true, leave your track alone and don't listen to it for as long as possible and everything should jump out straight away at you, but as mentioned take a note on the first listen otherwise you'll get used to it again and you will end up thinking it sounds ok. |
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| skyhunter |
I also always suggest after the thoughtful listening to go get a friend, crank the volume, and try to dance. If you can, it's good!
Well, not really but it's a good test.... |
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| Beatflux |
| quote: | Originally posted by CalvP
-The ear has its own built in limiter, so if you find yourself turning the volume up TAKE A BREAK. Any work beyond this point will be a stab in the dark.
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My general rule is to never turn it up unless you have a good reason to do so. Turning the volume up will make anything sound better, and you might just fool yourself into changing your initial opinion. |
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| skyhunter |
Another thing, turn the volume down. Way, way, way down. If it sounds clear there then it's good...
in the doobstep and darkstep I make, you want to listen to your basses at low volumes. This makes them sound awesome at normal volumes. |
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| Nick Cenik |
| quote: | Originally posted by Beatflux
-It's extremely easy to get used to mistakes and convince yourself that the mistakes you made are perfectly acceptable after several listens. |
Huge +1. |
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| Osmodiar |
Right, must remember to turn off my cat. haha
It rings true with me that your perception changes when someone else is listening aswell.. sometimes it just brings you down to reality.
I am guilty of over listening and raising the volume aswell.. they definitely skew the critical listening process.
Also of watching the sequencer as it plays..
Good points raised here! |
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