Peak Master / Kit Cut Tips:
- Use the arrow keys to quickly change between original and altered sound. If your ears are anything like mine, you will most likely find it easier to detect a boosted frequency versus a cut frequency. This is obvious in Peak Master, but in Kit Cut, I find it more helpful to listen to which frequencies are gained to reach a neutral level as opposed to which frequencies are lost. The remainder of my tips below apply to both games.
- Smart use of the error margin. The bass frequencies usually don’t get boosted below 100Hz and the high frequencies don’t go past 12,800Hz. If you think that the sound is in either of the extremes, align the frequency band to the point where the edge is just touching 100Hz for lows and 12,800 Hz for highs for the highest chances of success, unless of course you are 100% sure about the frequency. Practice applying this technique throughout all frequency ranges; i.e. you think a boosted frequency is around 1000, but no higher than 1600, so you would place the edge of the band right on 1600 or lower, depending on the size of the band.
- Try associating every frequency range with some sort of a characteristic. Take note of how each frequency has its characteristics; In my subjective opinion, 100 – 300Hz sounds “boomy”, 300 - 400Hz sounds obnoxious, 400 – 800Hz sounds like a vintage record player or a horn, around 1000Hz is a very smooth and neutral mid or almost like a trumpet, around 1600 is like a high horn, around 3200Hz sound like whistling, 4800-6400 sounds like a “shhhh” and 6400+ sounds like a “ssss”. These vary with different sources. These mental representations take a lot of time and practice to develop, start really broad in the beginning and narrow them down as you get better. I highly recommend using multiple sound sources to develop these representations.
- Do not lose sight of the purpose of this training, which is to develop the ability to quickly and accurately recognize frequencies. I made this mistake at one point; I started using just the one sound source that I was comfortable with in order to get higher scores. While my SPI ranking was increasing, I wasn’t really getting any better. All of my mental representations were based off of the strings; I couldn’t really apply them to other sources like drums, guitars, brass, etc. Best thing to do is to forget about the high scores, let the browser pick the sound source for you, just push Play. Try not to get frustrated, remember that with every wrong guess, you are subconsciously developing your “gut” instinct. Compounded improvements will come with practice, consistency, time, and a general disconnection from the immediate outcome.
- Occasionally, try guessing quickly and trust your instinct more than your logic. It’s okay if you wipe out quickly, but you may also be surprised by your capabilities. Just look at how many people were able to pass the peak master challenge!
- Have fun, don’t take it too seriously. These games are really tough! For a while, I would get super pissed off when I got really close to passing a game with 1 life left and just fucking bombed it in the last round, or when I just flunk it 3 times in the row, back to back right from the beginning. When that happens to me these days, I find it both impressive and hilarious; I just laugh at myself and realize that everyone is having these problems.
These are the guidelines that I try to follow. By no means am I an expert, I actually haven't hit a top 3 score in these games in weeks! I would love to learn about how you guys approach these games and frequency training in general. Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.