Improve Your Mixes with Ear Training

Today we found a great quick video resource on teaching you how to “hear” the frequencies when you EQ an audio system.

Here is a link to the video as well as a summary below

Training your ears to identify specific frequencies in mixing can greatly improve your skills, and using a talk box can help manipulate the balance of frequencies in a mix.

Key insights

• 🔊 The video shares cues for training your ears to identify specific frequencies in mixing, which can have a massive impact on your skills.

• 📚 The free ear training guide mentioned in the video covers the assignment of vowel sounds to specific frequencies between 250 hertz and 4 kilohertz.

• 🔊 The use of a talk box can help manipulate the balance of frequencies in a mix, resulting in a more even distribution of energy.

• 🎧 "For the frequencies above four kilohertz, we're going to listen for sibilance."

• 🎶 Frequencies below 250 Hertz are more related to haptic sensations rather than vowel sounds, impacting the overall body experience of sound.

• 🎧 The low frequencies in a mix can be felt throughout the body, and it takes practice to hear and identify them, especially on small speakers.

• 🎧 Just hearing about this method for the first time can make an immediate impact on their listening skills.

• 📚 Practicing ear training with step-by-step instructions can be a practical way to improve your mixing skills.

Training your ears to identify specific frequencies in mixing can greatly improve your skills and using a talk box can help manipulate the balance of frequencies in a mix.

• 00:00 Learn how to train your ears for mixing by recognizing cues in different frequency bands, avoiding the guessing game of finding the right frequencies and the potential pitfalls of using excessive EQ boosts.

• 01:16 Kilohertz corresponds to vowel sounds, with specific frequencies assigned to each octave between 250 Hz and 4 kHz.

• 02:14 The speaker demonstrates how a talk box works by redirecting sound through a tube, showing the buildup of energy around one kilohertz when making an "ah" sound.

• 03:16 Practice aligning frequencies and listening for sibilance using a talkbox or other tools.

• 03:34 Sibilance is the hissing quality of a sound, with 8 kHz representing a pure "s" sound and 16 kHz a sharper mix of "s" and "t", while frequencies below 250 Hz relate to haptic sensations felt throughout the body.

• 04:31 Low frequencies can be felt throughout the body, but they are harder to hear on small speakers.

• 05:25 Practice listening to music you think sounds good to improve your mixing skills and develop reference points.

• 05:41 Familiarize yourself with great sounding music on your system to develop a reference for balanced sound, and use the free ear training guide at audiouniversityonline.com to practice identifying frequencies, helping you instantly recognize when there is too much or too little of a certain frequency in your mixes.