Tricks of the mind.

[holotropik]

Lately I have been in a phase where I am confronted by the idea that the mind has so much to do with the sounds we hear.

I come across articles and comments that talk about how our perceptions and expectations colour the sound we hear. We know that sound over time at any volume makes our hearing adjust so that we can still focus on what is appealing to our individual tastes. Consider the concept of monitor speakers in the studio. We choose to have something that is neutral and does not induce fatigue. But no two speakers or PA systems/venues are the same. Whats to say that your hot track will sound OK to a majority of people in different circumstances.

I say this mainly in reference to sub frequencies and how some artists really work in a region of sound frequency that probably does not really get noticed on a majority of systems.

I am tending to think more along the lines that each artist chooses the equipment that best appeals to the sound they want to make rather than the type of track (stylistically) to conform to a genre. So that every step of the production stage has a personally chosen piece of quip that suits what they want to do with the sound....??

After all we all know of the effect of making a hot track or loop only to listen to it the next day and think it is sheit!! An affect of the mind. This effect can happen to anyone regardless of the equipment used.

Sorry for the dribble :)

[tonyc2002]

i think u got a point there mate especially with the last bit about thinking something sounds mental and then when u come back to it, it sounds s**t.

I think this is because if youve been working on something for ages your ears get tired and you hear what u want to hear (if that makes any sense :lol: ) + your always your own worst critic....

[Komplex]

Yeah Glen, its like when you jam a track and listen to it in the studio and think "pffft" then u play it out over a big system and its out of control,

Or the complete opposite, you layer the crap out of a track and think its sounds awesome in the studio, you play it out and its muddy as ****...

Time, place and feel - thats what its all about. Whenever you write a track, don't worry too much about it because sometimes you'll like it sometimes you'll hate it but it'll be the same track all along.

[holotropik]

hmmm...

Well, I thought past the point of pure fatigue or intimacy affecting perception to the point, subsequent to discipline that one has to have in order to separate oneself from the concept to the actual physical form and wondered...

....does anyone choose equipment for the sake of its character rather than its on paper technical specifications??

Say, choose a crappy compressor because it has a certain sound that you can work with as an instrument to your sound rather than a process.

or

Know that every speaker and room is different and so learn to listen to the right frequencies and elements in the mix that give you the type of sound you want.....rather than a perfectly text-book reference to a range of frequencies that supposedly work perfect in tha studio??

[Evil G]

...

....does anyone choose equipment for the sake of its character rather than its on paper technical specifications??



yes. i bought the worst sounding mic pre i could find and use it as a distortion box to warm up my nord lead.

[danielmarshall]

I've thought allong these lines many times. It's also kinda explains why certain people love one genre of music and dispise the next - or as Sgt Slick puts it : "White people turn up the trebble, black people turn up the bass"