9 thoughts on “5 Ways To Listen Better

  1. Brilliant piece of information, people I consider this a MUST SEE. Not only if you're passionate about (synthetic) sounds and such but in general.

    I don't fully agree with him, his rough hinted conclusion that violence and such are a direct result of failing to listen is a bit too much over the top for me, but for the rest he's dead on IMO.

    What I especially liked here is his example about silence and the sounds around you.

    Silence.. Experienced one special moment /years/ ago when I was with my parents on vacation (caravan) in Germany somewhere. As we always do; we look for campings and such /without/ any means of entertainment. We don't need that. A place to stay, electricity and a place where you can go to the toilet and wash up; its enough. As usual on that vacation my father and myself go out for an evening walk (I was what… 12 – 14 I think). We were camping on a place outside (but near) a town and several kilometers away from the speedway. And there it hit us: silence. /Total/ silence, the likes of which I've never experienced since then.

    To put this into context: my father and I started walking extra slowly and eventually headed back on the gravel road we were on because of all the noise we felt we were making.

    Sounds around you… I can relate to that as well. After a year or so of learning & using my DAW I started to take more interest in samples. Nowadays I also own a small pocket recorder (Yamaha C24) which I've grown very fond of as well as an USB condenser microphone (Samson GTrack). So you have the day off, wake up and suddenly realize that your Senseo coffee machine makes an interesting sound (boiling water / running water). So you record it. You open you balcony door due to the good weather and hear the traffic of a nearby street. You record it.

    During the evening you drink a beer while messing with your computer. The sound of opening the bottle… It is somewhat different; you record it. You put the laundry in the washing machine and when it starts to centrifuge you notice that the sound is kinda peculiar. You record it.

    Now, I already knew that there are many more people out there who are WAY deeper into sampling than I am. But getting a confirmation like this after already hearing some very strong points in that session is a little intoxicating. More confirmation at last…

    However, I missed one remark in his presentation: "Practice makes perfect". Esp. when it comes to trying to dissect (separate) several sounds in, say, a music score.

    Still, brilliant piece here. One of the many jewels which make me so glad to have discovered Synthtopia!

  2. Absolutely. What SynthFan said goes for me too. I'd like to expand on it but I can't. I shall be using this short video in my University teaching.

    Synthtopia – worth every penny of the subscription price!

  3. And then I was like you better get yourself a new….Hey, can you hold on a minute…. I'm sorry, what were you all saying?

  4. His whole idea of the "hidden choir" is something I do often.
    Sometimes I even find myself humming harmonies against the drone of things like vaccum cleaners etc.
    Weird I know.

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