SoundGym Cafe

Matt Cleary
Jul 06

Any tips on distorted reality? I have gotten to Level 10, and I notice they play with your head. Turning up the db on the clean track and then lowering the db on the distorted one. I notice the type of distortion varies quite a bit too. Any questions you ask yourselves when diagnosing to help lead your listening? I am getting there, but this is an area I think I can particularly improve. Be interested to hear your thoughts fellow Soundgymers. Cheers!

6 props

Stephanie Doenges
Jul 06

I'm currently on level 8 and it sounds like you might have some advice for me. I'm not stuck, though progress has definitely been slow for me on that one...I take breaks and come back and listen to a different instrument.. I cover my eyes... But I'm definitely at the point where I'm like okay, it's 50/50... and I really can't tell on a lot of them. My sound guru tells me to just keep at it and drill it daily and eventually, it will just open up and I'll hear it. So, I'm just trying to be patient with myself. I know that you're further along than I am but I thought hearing that might be helpful encouragement. Best of luck,k, Matt!

1 props

DJ Astrofreq
Jul 06

That one is SO hard. I'm on Level 11 and I started recognizing that the one I thought was distorted is the wrong answer. So I had to rethink what I was listening for. The one that sounds more compressed is often the more distorted. It's so subtle to my ears. More trained ears can probably spot it immediately, but it is still a struggle for me.

2 props

Romano G
Jul 06

Yeah, this topic comes up a lot. Both choices have some level of distortion (saturation) applied, picking the one with more definitely gets trickery as the levels increase. May find this older discussion helpful, cheers! https://www.soundgym.co/space/talk?id=NASZ2448MAR&t=LIJRJLNKWWM

3 props

Matt Cleary
Jul 06

Perfect! I will check out this thread. Thanks!

1 props

Matt Cleary
Jul 07

Thanks everyone so far for your comments, I appreciate all of you taking the time to share your points of view, suggestions and encouragement. Thank you. 🙏

0 props

Matt Cleary
Jul 10

Since this post I am now at lvl 13 so far on Distorted Reality. Here's a video in the thread Romano recommended I found very helpful:

https://www.soundgym.co/learn/watch?id=ZKkkYV7ome

Thanks to all of you for your help. Hope this helps you all too.

I find the tip to listen for a similar effect to compression helps... I find paying a lot of attention to the effects of saturation on the envelope is helping me a ton.. Almost like a very subtle version of doctor compressor or even reverb wizard. It's how the envelope is affected by the saturation that helps make it easier to identify when the distortion is subtle... At least for me. I notice a slightly more obvious tail and a rounder sound on the distorted track.

0 props

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