By George Petersen

I’m still recovering from the AES convention in San Francisco, which was awesome to say the least. [For more on the show, check our AES-SF site at http://mixonline.com/aes ]

Here was a huge convention center filled with the latest technology, but the irony is that for all of the time we spend creating audio, we spend very little time listening. Sure, we hear things all day, but listening is an art in itself, and critical listening is the highest form of the craft. The difference between hearing and listening is about as wide as the gap between sipping a chardonnay and chugging a Coors.

As producers and engineers, we have to focus on the big picture and still be acutely aware of the minutiae. Musicians in the studio focus on the performance, and no amount of rattling, creaking, buzzing, rumble or hiss will sway certain players from their way of hearing. How often have you heard a take with great “feel,” but then found that one bandmember is overly bothered by a slightly anticipated 32nd note in the middle of a four-bar fill that no one but that player can hear?

Critical listening requires training and practice in the ability to discern both technical flaws and performance issues such as tempo, intonation and pitch. (Of course, working with pitch-challenged vocalists or unsteady drummers also requires finesse and diplomacy, but that’s another issue.) Unfortunately, expertise in the listening art can be severely hampered by inaccurate monitors or a poor acoustical environment. Too often, the investment in decent monitors or acoustical treatments is deferred in lieu of some cool new “must-have” effects processor or other studio toy.

Some engineers have the amazing ability to compensate for quirky control rooms or lousy monitors, but is that the way YOU want to work? A key indicator of a monitoring system’s health is how your mixes sound when played on other systems. A good mix should sound consistent on a boombox, headphones or a high-end home stereo; a mix that’s boomy, thin, dull or overly bright signifies an underlying problem.

Another question is how we listen. Sitting exactly in the sweet spot of a great control room is fine, but occasionally standing off to the side with one ear plugged may offer a better indication of how the mix may sound to users under less-than-ideal conditions. One favorite trick is checking mixes on a car system, but here again, playback during rush-hour traffic will sound very different from the way it sounds in a studio parking lot at 3 a.m.!

When not working on Mix stuff, George Petersen records and performs with the SF Bay Area-based rock band ARIEL. Check ‘em out at www.jenpet.com.

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So has listening become a lost art?

What monitoring reference(s) works for YOU?

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