Do you always trust your ears?

[techristian]

I have been working with wave editors for almost 10 years now, and I'm finding that more and more I'll look at the waveforms rather than just trust my ears to pick up distortion. I can't trust my ears anymore. Sometimes after hours of mixing I can't hear the distortion, but I do the next day! It is an easy matter just to LOOK for the clipping in the view window.

 

Anyone else here not totally depending on their ears to produce the final product?

 

Dan

 

http://musicinit.com/pvideos.html

[Kendrix]

There are times when I dont trust my ears (or the equipment Im listening through).

However, I never make any significant editing/mixing decisions based solely on some technical indication.

I take a break - maybe an entire day off- and come back when I can listen properly and trust my ears.

[fantasticsound]

Just remember, Dan, graphical wave editors don't always show you where distortion is. Clipping distortion is one thing. But there are other ways to distort a signal unintentionally that don't push the amplitude to clip. Yes, we have the tendency to work too long with little rest for our ears. The only secret is to know you should always revisit a mix with fresh ears before commiting it to a master. It's too easy to miss things when you listen and relisten to the same section many times over.

[phaeton]

I've heard a lot of folks here say that they will often have to take a break from a mixing job, or periodically put in a CD (of someone else) for reference.

 

Hell, i get to a point sometimes where i don't hear distortion on my guitar anymore, and i'm talking about some hardcore gain.

 

I don't think there's anything wrong with you at all.

[where02190]

I always trust my ears over my eyes. Unless I am editing, I pretty much always have the video monitors off, so my eyes don't deceive my ears into thinking I hear something other than what they are actually hearing.

 

I NEVEr work for mor ethan 2 hrs without a break. I ahve a little kitchen timer I use as a reminder, and it doubles as a session timer as well.

 

I keep an SPL meter in front of me and on at all times, and am concious of keeping mix levels low, typically 75-80db A weighted. I rarely lsiten over 85db, and then only for a minute or two.

 

My ears are my life, I protect them as I would my own children.

[videoeditor1]

I almost never trust my ears when I'm mixing live.

 

I trust OTHER PEOPLES EARS. Especially if I'm working on someone's else's system. Most of the times I've been sitting on a plane or am exhausted.

[techristian]

The kinds of things that I usually see with a wave editor are SINGLE CYCLE clips. I usually get a bit of that when my compression curve is too steep, or if I turn up the makeup gain too high.

 

I was working on mastering today and I worked on it for 5 hours, but I had the volume way down on some JBL computer speakers for most of the Volume and Timbre checking. Then I popped on the headphones only to listen for specific things, and yes I was LOOKING too!

 

Dan

 

http://musicinit.com/pvideos.html