AE: The Curse

[nialldoran]

Hey, im new enough here, and new enough to audio enginering in general, been doing some mixing and track for about a year or so now and im nowhere near the level of some of the users on this forum but, im constantly reading experimenting and learning.

I was wondering if, as audio engineers in general, whether it be tracking, mixing mastering do you now have problems listening to certain bands or albums, if there is something you dont like about the production or recording, it happens to me sometimes, but then i listen to something like Nasums early eps and demos and still love them to bits, do you find it hard to turn off your critical ears and just enjoy music?

so are there any albums that even though the musical material is good, you cant listen to because of certain nuances in the mix?, and on the flipside, is there any albums or bands you love to listen to in spite of their production values,

 

[SkybluestudiosBEN]

Hey, im new enough here, and new enough to audio enginering in general, been doing some mixing and track for about a year or so now and im nowhere near the level of some of the users on this forum but, im constantly reading experimenting and learning.

I was wondering if, as audio engineers in general, whether it be tracking, mixing mastering do you now have problems listening to certain bands or albums, if there is something you dont like about the production or recording, it happens to me sometimes, but then i listen to something like Nasums early eps and demos and still love them to bits, do you find it hard to turn off your critical ears and just enjoy music?

so are there any albums that even though the musical material is good, you cant listen to because of certain nuances in the mix?, and on the flipside, is there any albums or bands you love to listen to in spite of their production values,

Yup

 

[SimonTaddio_Qc]

so are there any albums that even though the musical material is good, you cant listen to because of certain nuances in the mix?, and on the flipside, is there any albums or bands you love to listen to in spite of their production values,

Damn, yes!

But I think when you've like...absorbed all the informations and experience that it takes to be a respected and efficient AE, you can start to enjoy music for what it is again instead of being super-critic all the time.
Personally, I haven't reached this point yet, and the more I get into producing and technical sonic stuff, the more I find it difficult to simply enjoy the simple things in music because I'm obsessed with little details.

Hopefully I'll get past this point in a couple years, maybe, and start enjoying playing and listening to music again.

I say don't worry about it too much now, and DON'T turn off your critical ears, ever [tho you can sometimes keep your critics for yourself, loll]

 

[ahjteam]

so are there any albums that even though the musical material is good, you cant listen to because of certain nuances in the mix?

The Beatles

 

[Morgan C]

Happened a lot when I first started, not so much anymore. I'll still analyse a mix when I first hear it, and if something annoys me it'll stick out like a sore thumb every time I listen to it, but for the most part I am able to switch off the AE side of me when listening to music. Then again, I rarely just listen to music, it's almost always listening to music AND *.

 

[Pedro Teixeira]

That is indeed true and it's a pain... I cant enjoy lots of albums I love just because the mix sounds like shit, IF the mix is dirty and raw because of the vibe, thats different, when its just plain shit... I just cant .. its stupid but I just cant do it. Sometimes I do miss in my teen years when I just listened to music for the music and didnt notice any difference.

 

[Paulie!]

Yeah, there are certain things that irk me to listen to, but I was trying to amass a metal demo collection a while back and I can pretty much deal with anything production wise now.. haha..

Man, there are some HORRIBLE recordings of bands out there though... like shit I'd never let fly with Sevarius or my previous groups...

The Beatles

I've never had a problem with listening to the Beatles.. even when the drums and an organ are the only things my right speaker, while everthing else is mono in the left...

-P

 

[GarethSE]

i used to love raw production, then i got into recording and then anything that wasnt perfect made me want to shoot myself, and now im back to loving the raw dirty shit again.

 

[nialldoran]

That is indeed true and it's a pain... I cant enjoy lots of albums I love just because the mix sounds like shit, IF the mix is dirty and raw because of the vibe, thats different, when its just plain shit... I just cant .. its stupid but I just cant do it. Sometimes I do miss in my teen years when I just listened to music for the music and didnt notice any difference.

definatly agree there, thats what i was thinkin but couldnt word it right, if the raw sound is how its supposed to sound and it suits then its listenable, but if someone made an attempt a good mix from decent trackings or something and failed then its very hard to sit through it,
im just glad it doesnt happen to me very often, but as my ears get better then itll prob start to happen alot more and ill just have to deal with it and keep my mouth shut

 

[colynomial]

I think the opposite is true too- I find myself buying/listening to lots of records these days simply because of the production. Stuff I would have never dreamed of listening to 5 years ago. I listen to Hilary Duff's "Dignity" a lot in the car haha, also Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" primarily for the production. I don't just mean the technical engineering/mix side of the things but also the arrangements.

 

[Melodeath]

I find myself thinking a lot about production whenever I listen to music. Wondering what equipment they used, or imaging what processing was used, listening for compression, etc. Lately, it's been hard to listen to music for me without thinking about these production nuances and noticing things in the mix I would do differently, but I don't let it affect the music at all. I still listen to what I used to, ranging from professionally produced studio albums, to demos on cassettes.

 

[B36arin]

I can't listen to really horrendous stuff, but I can still listen to most music without getting annoyed by lacking production. Some elements can really piss me off, but it's not that common. The big difference is that I can really enjoy music which I'd have labeled horrible a few years ago because I listen to the production, and not the music.

 

[Fragle]

it starts to get nasty when you're fucking your girl while having some background music on, and start to notice some vocal effects, snare reverb automation and whatever....you're not really an AE before that point

 

[jangoux]

I cannot listen ANYTHING without paying attention to production stuff. Be it a great mix or a shitty mix, I ALWAYS end up 'Hey, he used a delay in there', 'Hey, that's too much autotune..'. THat sucks.

 

[di0de]

I really like Parkway Drive's first EP, however the production of the EP is rather raw and so I don't listen to it anywhere near as much as I do their albums.

I'd really love to re-record the EP with some sneapsters if anyone is interested, see what comes out of it.

 

[ze kink]

Not a problem really, and I'd like it to stay that way. I can stop paying attention to the small things and just listen to the whole thing, which sort of turns the AE mode off. Of course I might notice something even then if it's really pronounced.

Actually, I find I'm enjoying listening to stuff like Merzbow more and more, whereas I might get really annoyed by the overdone "modern" production on the radio, which in a way is supposed to be "as good as it can get". I've also been digging a far more raw style of production much more since starting to take the AE stuff seriously. Something about the organic quality and unorthodox techniques is just so appealing, even if it's supposed to sound shitty. For example, I've heard some stuff with audible digital clipping, or some really really awkward panning on the drums, like the snare hard panned left and hihat hard panned right, and where the old me would've been disgusted, I'm just digging it for some weird reason. Maybe I'd unconsciously want to be brave enough to do stuff like that too?