|
Post by Hexspa on Feb 27, 2016 8:49:18 GMT
As someone who's be commended for good musical hearing I'd like to publicly admit I failed the Audio Magic Exam as handed out by Professor Winer.
Of course I'm talking about the challenges and tests he's offered on his site and which are linked to in the Audio Magic and Testing thread in this subforum.
Now I never claimed to be able to hear what a specific interface sounds like nor that recording hotter in digital makes a difference nor have any experience with loop back testing (other than doing hardware delay compensation in Live) nor that I can hear dither.
What I will say, and this is yet to be proven, is that I do hear a difference in results stemming from the use of different interfaces, hear a difference in the two files presented by Ethan in the "Record Levels" test, a difference in the files in the loop back test and also in the dither test.
But that's subjective. I read somewhere that our aural memory is 1/4 second. If that's true then I didn't properly evaluate the files. Plus I'm not a hard core audio pro so maybe I'm tripping.
So yeah. I failed. Back to songwriting. I encourage any of you to take the test as well.
|
|
|
Post by Ethan Winer on Feb 27, 2016 17:45:01 GMT
Don't feel bad, most people can't distinguish subtle differences, and nobody can distinguish some of the audio tests on my web site. It's not that you guessed "wrong" either, as much as you probably didn't go back and forth enough times to realize that the files sound the same. (For many of the tests, not all of them.)
--Ethan
|
|
|
Post by Hexspa on Feb 27, 2016 19:47:41 GMT
Don't feel bad, most people can't distinguish subtle differences, and nobody can distinguish some of the audio tests on my web site. It's not that you guessed "wrong" either, as much as you probably didn't go back and forth enough times to realize that the files sound the same. (For many of the tests, not all of them.) --Ethan You know what? I actually feel great. I think it was Andrew Scheps that said, and I'm paraphrasing, "...maybe 1/10 care about what you did to the kick drum..." I'd guess that 1/1000 or less can pass your tests - that's a relief! It's like that Moneball/Slate article I linked you to on Facebook: do that part that helps you win. I actually find it liberating to know that, as someone who's been actively involved with music for the past 26 years, I can't hear the difference and therefore most my audience (however small) can't/won't either. You know we stress about these things, especially when starting out, like technique, tone, timbre, success etc when really people just want to jam to some tunes. I'm happy to know that the $2500 interface (with onboard DSP) I've been lustfully eyeballing isn't actually going to take me to the next level. I'm happy that if I forget to dither I'm not made or broken. I'm not superhuman in my hearing and yet probably most are worse! It's nothing but pure comfort to know that. Again, thanks for the tests. Michael PS - I'd like to add: recently I asked some people what their favorite song was. Then I listened on YouTube and was appalled by the mixes. Even on Adele's "Hello" I can't believe how loud her voice is in the chorus. I know what people say about dynamic range but for godsakes it's not a movie. I don't want to "manually compress" the audio; I just want to walk around the room. Look, I've yet to mix my first EP and, listening back, I would've done things differently on my previous work but let's be honest and admit that there's probably plenty of wiggle room to how we deliver our work to others. Aren't we our own worst critics? We, the suffering robots.
|
|
|
Post by Ethan Winer on Mar 1, 2016 21:37:42 GMT
LOL, agree on all points. This is one of my favorite quotes:
"No listener gives a damn what microphone preamp you used." --Craig Anderton
|
|