Listening notes for noobs

Spawndn72

Everyone stand back.....I have an idea.

Some of us don't have a clue as to what we should be hearing when listening to our systems. I "think" I know what sounds good, but I really don't have a clue as to wether I am right or not.

So..... I think it would be cool if some of the more seasoned guys out there took a recording and made a set of listening notes for that recording.

Things you could include are:

Soundstage: Like the singer in this recording should be slightly left of center, the bass is clearly to the left of center. The guitar is to the right and the drummer is behind and above everyone else.

Highs : You should be able to hear the cymbals begining to fade out at the 3:23 mark, they should be completely gone at the 3:30 mark. The cymbals during the song should have some sibilance to them as it is a flaw in the rocording, etc.....

Mids : The singer should sound slightly chesty but the anunciation should be dead on.....

Bass : The bass in this recording is excelent. It extends down to about 40hz and should be very tight, not boomy at all, etc.....

Or whatever else you want to include in the notes.

Things like, this is a live recording and at the 2:47 mark you should be able to hear the drunk chick in the frist row tell her date that if they leave right now he will get a BJ on the way home. Then at the 2:48 mark you should hear a chair squeak on the floor as the couple rushes out the door.

So what do you guys think? Is this do-able?

edited for mispellings.

VR3

Listening Notes -

Stop wondering and enjoy.

Thats the BEST advice yall get. Just DONT worry about it..

Spawndn72

While I understand that ignorance is bliss, I don't want to be ignorant. If my system is doing something wrong I want to know about it.

KentVaughn

I know this is picky, but I think you mean cymbals, not symbols. There's a tad bit of difference

For the rest of it - if something is obviously wrong, I think you'd hear it. For instance, I've been trying different locations in my room for listening, and I've realized that where I have my speakers now is not the best place.

Some things, like "tight, not boomy" are subject to the listeners opinion, which might make it difficult to have one standard description of a recording.

audiobliss

I agree with Sid that I want to just sit back, relax, and enjoy. And that's what I do. However, when I actually start putting together a decent system and have more of a listening area, I think it'd be nice to read what an audiophile says about a recording and then listen to it myself and see if I can hear the same things.

Spawndn72

I know this is picky, but I think you mean cymbals, not symbols

You are correct. It has been a long day

I realize that alot of what I am talking about is objective, but I still think it would be useful. Just as an example, on The Police's "Synchronicity" I hear alot of silibance. If someone post that in their notes and alot of people agree, then I know to ignore it.

It would also be cool to read what other people listen to while listening.

audiobliss

I guess it has been a long day, as I believe you mean 'subjective' there instead of 'objective'.

Spawndn72

Working during the day and packing for my move at night is wearing on me I guess. Maybe I should just quit while I am behind.

VR3

Here you go...

There is a song called Tatu - Malchik **** (I think thats the name)...

About 2:30 minutes in the song, sound rushes to the back of the room above your head....then SLAMS back down again to the front stage...

freakin awesome!



Get to listening.

MacLeod

I too agree with Sid. I understand what youre saying bro but the best way to figure out what sounds best, well, is to figure out what sounds best. Experiment with different tweaks and settings and speaker positions. Then when you find the setup that sounds best to you, youre there.

What sounds best to you may not sound best to somebody else.

In other words, quit measuring and start listening!

VR3

I retract...

The song name is...

Nas ne Dagoniat, which is track 10 - the song I listed above does something similar though

Also, Malchik **** does it too - however Nas ne Dagoniat does it 3 times throughout the song. Malchik **** does it one time around 2:40 - it takes two "tones" (not sure how to describe it) slings them to the rear corners of the room - then brings them back to the front. Very cool...

PolknPepsi

Thanks Spawn,

I just learned something new......unfortunately my big TV, table and stereo gear is in between my speakers which in turn destroys lots of imaging and the things you just described

Spawndn72

Sorry about that PolkNPepsi, Like I said, ignorance is bliss.

danger boy

Spawndn72 wrote:

Sorry about that PolkNPepsi, Like I said, ignorance is bliss.

while not a bad idea. it may not be doable. everyone here has a different set up.. different listening area, different speakers, gear, cables, etc. so any recording will sound different to everyone. unless we all had the same exact set up, this would be flawed.

Just in my three different set ups.. two 2 channel rigs and i HT rig.. the same recording sounds different on each one. just my .02 rubles

audiobliss

Good point. BUT isn't any system's goal to replicate what the conductor heard? Or what the recorder recorded (for lack of a better way to put it)? This means that the ideal sound for every system, on a given song, is the same. So, while they would sound different, they're supposed to sound the same.

No? Just thinking out loud a little.

amulford

The best I could tell you is to find out what YOU like. Go from there...

TroyD

Ok, Here is my take on it.

What I do if I'm trying to evaluate a new piece of gear. BEFORE I swap the piece in, I listen to three, maybe four (less the better) familiar, well recorded passages. This refreshes my memory of what it sounds like in my current set up. Swap in one piece at a time. RELISTEN to the same tracks and listen for variations. Your sonic memory for details is pretty short so KISS.

99 times out of 100, the differences in most cases are not going to be night/day differences. The higher you go in the food chain, the more subtle the changes. IMO, the cymbals at 2:30 in the track, well, if you don't hear them at all, something is broken. I listen for the subtle nuances of the cymbals.

Just my .02

BDT

sda2mike

Things like, this is a live recording and at the 2:47 mark you should be able to hear the drunk chick in the frist row tell her date that if they leave right now he will get a BJ on the way home. Then at the 2:48 mark you should hear a chair squeak on the floor as the couple rushes out the door.


DEPENDS WHO'S ON STAGE!!!

BrentMcGhee

It is very interesting that you started this thread now becasue last night when i was listning to my 2ch rig i got to thinking. I realized why people that are not in this hobby cant really appreciate what we have. For instance i know i have said it in many other threads before but, what good quality sound really is is something that most all people today have no idea about. Everyone is so pleased with listning to music out of there $200 aiwa boom boxes or there cars with there factory bose sound systems and 4 12" woofers in the trunk or even there $400 htibs in the family room that they have all the wrong ideas about what good quality sound really is. For example one of my friends just recently put a theater in his basement, unfortnatly he was more focused on getting it done as soon as possible that he did not take heed of any recomendations that i gave him. He ended up running a 7.1 system (with 5 of the speakers in the front i might add) with a $300 sony reciever and a $90 jvc dvd player hooked up to his projector that is nicely placed on a stack of books in the back of the room. Well now hold on i actually have a point that is relevant to this thread, just wait. He invited me over to his house on day to test it out so i put on a few of my favorite demo cd's, well little did he know that for the first month of him using it he had the front left and the rear left speaker swapped on the back of the receiver, and when he listned to music he had it set on mono so all of the musci was coming out of the center channel and a insanely set too loud subwoofer that sounded like crap( it was a sony subwoofer, what do you expect). I had no idea how he had listned to this thing for a month before hand and been as happy and excited about how good it sounded.

Also on another note i can not tell you how many times i have tried to take these like minded people and sit them down infront of my 2ch and play stuff they are famillar with and they normally just nod and say that sounds good with out even really beleiving it themselves. The most common response i get is where is the bass man.

Ok, Ok , Ok my rant is over now to the point of this whole thing. Well like i was saying as i was listinig to my 2ch last night i realized that the problem with poeple not involved with this kind of thing is that they do not know what to listen for. They dont really understand the concept of imaging, they dont get that in differnt songs different people and intruments are suposed to have clear cut locations. They dont understand that in particular a good thing to listne to the clarity of is going to be things like percussion instruments (drums and cymbals), etc, etc.

So what i decided i was going to do was pick a few of my favorite songs as well as some songs that i know many of the people that i am trying to enlighten really enjoy and pick the songs apart. I am going to create a log of each of the songs with such information like, this instrument is hitting every 8th beat mid left, this singer is dead center while this one is slightly to the right, this bass line fades out at aprox 2seconds after hitting, etc, etc. So while all these things are things that i naturally listen for and are aware of i am going to document them so i have a good record that i can take to others houses and show them on there systems, (well show them what they are not getting). The lack of imaging the lack of clarity and so fourth and so on. Then i can show them on mine and then hopefully they will be alittle more educated and maybe just maybe learn to appreciate music on a whole nother level and become audio addicts as well.

I have not started to do this yet i just came up with the idea yesterday, but i would be more than happy to take some song requests from people and then i can post my results of what i heard from the song. Then some other people could take the same songs and post there results, i really like the idea of comparing my results with what other people found using there equipment and more importantly their ears.

If this interests anyone i will start another thread that will be just for this project. Every once in a while we can do a few more songs and everyone could post there results on the same thread. Any interest in doing this???

TroyD

The fact is, a LOT of people wouldn't know good sound if it fell out of the sky and hit them in the melons.

Quite a few reasons for this, one is they just don't care about sound reproduction. My wife falls into this category. She loves music as much as I do but to her, she enjoys her favorite song just as much on a clock/radio as a full-on hifi rig. So, not all music lovers are going to be audiophiles. Even if you give them access to it, a lot just don't care.

Then there are those that are more interested (the opposite end of the spectrum) with bells and whistles and could care LESS about the sound. These folks won't appreciate a decent system either. I waste NO time on these folks. NONE.

Then there are those that do care but just don't know. These are the only folks to waste time explaining anything to. That's not to say the first category of folks won't appreciate it, as TLW and I spend a lot of time discussing music and even audio, she just won't ever get into the gear end of it so the gear thing is a waste of time.

BDT

BrentMcGhee

TroyD wrote:

The fact is, a LOT of people wouldn't know good sound if it fell out of the sky and hit them in the melons.BDT

AMEN