Ear Training?

[BrentOnTheSynth]

Sometimes when I'm watching tutorial videos there will be a part where the speaker will say "listen to this..." and they will play a clip of music and make an adjustment to it. But a lot of times I cant hear the difference.. To clear up what I mean, I was watching a video on what a compressor does. and I was sort of understanding it but when he got to a parts where he wanted to show an example (such as when he was showing the difference between what hard knee and soft knee was)he played a drum track with the 2 examples and I could not hear the difference. And this happened all throughout this video and plenty of various types of other videos I've seen

I was just wondering if this is normal, or at least for someone who is new to audio engineering? I mean I've heard of ear training but I assumed that in these tutorials it would be easy to hear. I'm also using simple mp3 type headphones too.

So as far as you guys know am I ok? Is there any tips I can be given or anything I can do. Thanks in advanced

 

[Sloan]

Totally normal. You will get better the more you mess around with stuff and understand what the hell is going on. Better monitoring will definitely help bring out subtle details as well.

 

[BrentOnTheSynth]

Ok Thank You! That makes me feel loads better!!

 

[mstone564]

One thing, especially with compressors, is looking up general tips and settings for certain instruments (using that as a starting point) and go from there. Then when you start to lower the threshold set it so there's an EXTREME amount of gain reduction so you're really hearing and understanding what it's really doing.

Then of course back it off (or not ) and mess with atk/rels/ratio settings again until it jives!

 

[Nimvi]

Yea, on stuff like compression you really need to learn what to listen for before it starts making sense. No worries, it will come in time! The good news is: once you hear it, you cannot unhear it. Or is that bad news? Sometimes I'm not sure...

And I agree that a good way to develop an ear for it is by using very heavy settings with a lot of gainreduction. You will really hear the shaping capabilities and character of the compressor when doing that. Drums are especially interesting to practice on I think.

When I'm listening to a compressor in on/off, I usually listen for 3 things:
-The way the comp "grabs" and releases the transient. That initial thwack of a snare really shows the attack, and the tail that comes after it can be controlled with the release. The ratio and threshold influence how agressively this shaping can be heard. I always think of the ratio knob as an intensity-button.

-How consistent the level of the instrument is. Imagine the element floating in front of your face while listening to it. If the level is very dynamic, it is like the element is moving back and forth from your face. If it is squashed, it will not move at all and seems to be pegged at that exact distance. I think this is easiest to hear on rather constant sounds, like vocals, or bassguitar. The trick is to find a movement that fits to the instrument, while still keeping it consistent enough to not sound "wobbly".

-Colouring and distortion that is added to the signal. For example, 1176-style comps do this pretty noticeably on heavy gainreduction. It can add a very nice edge to things and bring them out more because of it. Other comps can add warmth, or a smooth blanket-like sound, etc.

I hope that helps making a start

 

[BrentOnTheSynth]

As alway you guys were all very helpful! Thank you for not only helping me realize I will learn to hear stuff but also thanks for the tips on compression as well!

 

[bryan_kilco]

Normal. I still have troubles and I've been mixing (from home, as a hobby) for about 5 years.

Recently got real monitors, and it made a world of a difference, even without any room treatment.

I still can't hear what Knee Size does on a comp, though. Apparently it's supposed to start compressing at a certain dB AFTER the signal crosses the threshold, which I don't quite grasp why this would be needed.