I do not understand how to hear compression. Played the same game 10 times and my score didn't even improve. Does anyone have a link to a video explanation or just some sort of descriptor of what I am supposed to be listening for?
A compressor reduces the peaks and gives you room to bring up the overall level. That makes the signal feel fuller and sit closer to the other elements. With drums, for example, controlling the peaks helps them blend more naturally with the rest of the mix. Of course, the effect depends on the type of compressor and the instrument you’re working on. Just load a simple drum track(like in soundgym) into your DAW, add a bit of compression, then bounce it and look at the waveform to see exactly what the compressor is doing. That can help.
There’s no video that will ever let you hear compression. Videos can explain how it works, sure, but they’ll never give you the ability to actually hear it.
It takes hours and hours of listening, hundreds of SoundGym exercises, and tons of experimenting in your DAW. After many hours of work, days of focus and persistence, you’ll start to feel compression, the difference between an 8:1, 4:1, or 2:1 ratio… an attack of 25 ms vs 50 ms… or a release of 100 ms vs 25 ms.
There’s only one way to get there: listen and practice, practice and listen.
Record a sound yourself or download a stem and play with it a lot with any compressor that came with your DAW. Take your time... Because this things take time!
Anyone else feel like distorted reality is almost impossible with some soundpacks but super easy with others? Does that have to do with the volume differences between the packs? Or are some iterations of the same level just a lot more challenging?
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Hey guys ! I just got here. So glad to join a community with the same goal as mine. These exercises have me realize how much I suck at critical listening. I mean I knew I did, reason why I'm here in the first place but wow.. even stereohead ?? I deadass thought I was good at that 😭 My question to you guys is can I stay steady on these exercises and expect progress any sooner ? Other than these what resources and drills could you suggest for me to get better at every/any aspects of critical listening in our field ?
Stereo Head takes my lunch money every time. Meenfil is right, it's much easier on speakers. I'm a full time FOH guy and I'm worse at Sound Gym than most. That said, there is a difference between knowledge and application. I am a really good live mixer. That's why people pay me to do it. I suck at compression. I suck at hearing pitch correction. I suck at a lot of things. But music is art and the fundamentals of mixing, production, arranging, whatever else are: is it balanced and does it sound good? We should always be learning and chasing that 1% better but if you know how to mic things, set gain, basic EQ, push faders, and keep it from being too loud (that last one is super underrated), you're already well over half way there. That's the stuff you really need to be good that. It doesn't matter what effects, plugins, or techniques you use if you don't have the basics down. And just for encouragement you're humble and asking for advice; that's a great mindset. You'll go far.
Just keep at it. When i started I couldn't tell the difference between 100Hz and 500Hz (or 1K and 3K for that matter). I often still struggle with EQ, but I am definitely better 6-7 weeks in than I was week 1. Perseverance will get you there!
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