ASK US ANYTHING [NO SUBJECT IS STUPID / ALL QUESTIONS WELCOMED]

[gedda]

Got a question on ear fatigue.

Do you guys work in intervals? I know 5 minute breaks are common time to time
Are there frequencies which your ears go blind to after working for a few hours or is this a case-by-case scenario?

[Amøbe]

Got a question on ear fatigue.

Do you guys work in intervals? I know 5 minute breaks are common time to time
Are there frequencies which your ears go blind to after working for a few hours or is this a case-by-case scenario?

good question - I thought about whether or not there is a healthy cadence. I definitely get to a point, where everything sounds non-exciting (don't know how to describe it better - but both treble and bass is basically incapable of sounding good), and at this point I know I need to take a longer break.

[mervv]

Got a question on ear fatigue.

Do you guys work in intervals? I know 5 minute breaks are common time to time
Are there frequencies which your ears go blind to after working for a few hours or is this a case-by-case scenario?

I'm not an audiologist or anything, but personal experience tells me that I tend to get desensitized to frequencies 5k and up after a while, and often end up adding too much because adding more crispness feels and sounds refreshing. If I take a break for a bit or look at a spectrum analyzer, I realize I've significantly overdone it and dial it back.

I don't really have a habit of taking breaks at specific intervals, but I do often switch back and forth between open-backed headphones and my tower speakers because my speakers aren't monitors (wharfedale valdus 400, don't roast me alive, I just like them and I don't really have room or the acoustic treatment to benefit from a pair of monitors). I tend to write on the speakers and mix on the headphones.

[Lost to the Void]

Got a question on ear fatigue.

Do you guys work in intervals? I know 5 minute breaks are common time to time
Are there frequencies which your ears go blind to after working for a few hours or is this a case-by-case scenario?

I don't really work in intervals as such. When I'm in the zone I'm in the zone.
But I have calibrated my monitors and listen at a consistent spl at a specific RMS to peak, so that makes decisions very easy.
I also periodically zero the volume, wait for for a minute and then slowly bring the level back up, checking for consistency as I bring the level up. Occasionally I will work at low volume for a little while as well, just to give the ears contrast.
I work in headphones a lot, so turning things down periodically helps with ear fatigue.
Generally I don't get an issue with frequency but with dynamics. Once ear fatigue sets in I find it hard to judge transients. Especially in the mid range.

[Amøbe]

Got a question on ear fatigue.

Do you guys work in intervals? I know 5 minute breaks are common time to time
Are there frequencies which your ears go blind to after working for a few hours or is this a case-by-case scenario?

I don't really work in intervals as such. When I'm in the zone I'm in the zone.
But I have calibrated my monitors and listen at a consistent spl at a specific RMS to peak, so that makes decisions very easy.
I also periodically zero the volume, wait for for a minute and then slowly bring the level back up, checking for consistency as I bring the level up. Occasionally I will work at low volume for a little while as well, just to give the ears contrast.
I work in headphones a lot, so turning things down periodically helps with ear fatigue.
Generally I don't get an issue with frequency but with dynamics. Once ear fatigue sets in I find it hard to judge transients. Especially in the mid range.

The dynamics thing is definitely something I experience too.

[Lost to the Void]

Got a question on ear fatigue.

Do you guys work in intervals? I know 5 minute breaks are common time to time
Are there frequencies which your ears go blind to after working for a few hours or is this a case-by-case scenario?

I don't really work in intervals as such. When I'm in the zone I'm in the zone.
But I have calibrated my monitors and listen at a consistent spl at a specific RMS to peak, so that makes decisions very easy.
I also periodically zero the volume, wait for for a minute and then slowly bring the level back up, checking for consistency as I bring the level up. Occasionally I will work at low volume for a little while as well, just to give the ears contrast.
I work in headphones a lot, so turning things down periodically helps with ear fatigue.
Generally I don't get an issue with frequency but with dynamics. Once ear fatigue sets in I find it hard to judge transients. Especially in the mid range.

The dynamics thing is definitely something I experience too.

Snares man. Nightmare.
I'm doing drum and bass a lot and after an all night session when I check the mix on the monitors the snares end up so fucking loud as ear fatigue has obviously blurred my judgement.

[Amøbe]

Erm... so this is probably as much a question for people who have tried playing their tracks on sound systems. For some reason I'm getting extracted towards a more sombre type of techno again, and one of the things I like, is when the kick is not too clicky (I like presence, though). So my question is more or less - how much can you roll of the top end of a kick, before it starts to lose its "kick-ness" and becomes more of a pulse.

[Amøbe]

Erm... so this is probably as much a question for people who have tried playing their tracks on sound systems. For some reason I'm getting extracted towards a more sombre type of techno again, and one of the things I like, is when the kick is not too clicky (I like presence, though). So my question is more or less - how much can you roll of the top end of a kick, before it starts to lose its "kick-ness" and becomes more of a pulse.

Dear Rasmus, what I did to figure this out, was to take a whole bunch of kicks and then put them in a drum rack. Afterwards you shift between all the kick drums with a spectrum device on top of it.

What I came up with was that the sort of slightly filtered kicks, that still had a knock, would have some activity between 2-4 kHz, and then they wouldn't really have anything beyond 8-10 kHz. Some of the more drastically filtered kicks (that they really like in dub techno) would often be completely out of activity beyond 5 kHz, whereas a very layered kick with maybe a shaker, noise or hat sample on top, would have nothing rolled off.

Hope this helps, and you're welcome to ask if you have further questions!

[Amøbe]

Erm... so this is probably as much a question for people who have tried playing their tracks on sound systems. For some reason I'm getting extracted towards a more sombre type of techno again, and one of the things I like, is when the kick is not too clicky (I like presence, though). So my question is more or less - how much can you roll of the top end of a kick, before it starts to lose its "kick-ness" and becomes more of a pulse.

Dear Rasmus, what I did to figure this out, was to take a whole bunch of kicks and then put them in a drum rack. Afterwards you shift between all the kick drums with a spectrum device on top of it.

What I came up with was that the sort of slightly filtered kicks, that still had a knock, would have some activity between 2-4 kHz, and then they wouldn't really have anything beyond 8-10 kHz. Some of the more drastically filtered kicks (that they really like in dub techno) would often be completely out of activity beyond 5 kHz, whereas a very layered kick with maybe a shaker, noise or hat sample on top, would have nothing rolled off.

Hope this helps, and you're welcome to ask if you have further questions!

Thanks man! Much appreciated <3

[subvers^v]

Huh?

[Amøbe]

Huh?

Yes.

[terryfalafel]

Some kind of a rip in the space-time continuum???

[Lost to the Void]

Erm... so this is probably as much a question for people who have tried playing their tracks on sound systems. For some reason I'm getting extracted towards a more sombre type of techno again, and one of the things I like, is when the kick is not too clicky (I like presence, though). So my question is more or less - how much can you roll of the top end of a kick, before it starts to lose its "kick-ness" and becomes more of a pulse.

As far as you want. I push this idea right to the extreme with one of my pseudonym projects. The kicks are all low end and distant, with smeared out low transients and with really rolled down top end.

If it works for the tune, do it.

[subvers^v]

Some kind of a rip in the space-time continuum???

Maybe... I'm glad I could answer my question for me, thank me very much. No, thank me. My pleasure. See me later.

[2latuile]

Huh?

Yes.

Lol

[Amøbe]

Hehe, I think it was the same evening that we got our kitchen tabletop installed and I could open a bottle of wine for the first time in a long long time

And thanks Steve! That's good to hear - it's one of those things I find hard to figure out, since I'm not producing on an actual sound system

[subvers^v]

Hehe, I think it was the same evening that we got our kitchen tabletop installed and I could open many many bottles of wine for the first time in a long long time

And thanks Steve! That's good to hear - it's one of those things I find hard to figure out, since I'm not producing on an actual sound system

^ Fixed that

[Amøbe]

Hehe, I think it was the same evening that we got our kitchen tabletop installed and I could open many many bottles of wine for the first time in a long long time

And thanks Steve! That's good to hear - it's one of those things I find hard to figure out, since I'm not producing on an actual sound system

^ Fixed that

[Merah]

Do I need to use a spectrum analyser?

[Merah]

Almost all new plug ins are 64 bit and for compatability reasons (finishing a tonne of old projects) I stick to 32 bit. Is this affecting my sound? Is it only noticable on certain high end emulation plug ins?