IV. Critical Listening // FEB 1st
AUDIO FILES FOR THE CRITICAL LISTENING ASSIGNMENT
My fellow audio and recording nerds, here are the audio files for the assignment from workbook #4! 
These are 6 recordings from my bed room, edited mixed and finalized, but - dang it ! - something is wrong with each of them! 
Use your ears, use the analyzing tools we've looked at and let me know if you have any questions! Have fun with these recordings!
By the way, I have all those recordings on my YouTube-Channel in reference quality, so if you want to compare the original files with the faulty ones, feel free to do so!
Here's the link to the Google Drive Folder:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zt0GY5_i22EblWvP4CdawRBv4HgfQIPj?usp=sharing
Hey y'all, I hope you had fun so far recording, editing and mixing your very own tracks! We've come a long way, so in this lesson we will talk about how to objectively judge our recordings and compare them to commercial releases! 
Please use this thread if you have any questions concerning the workbook or general questions concerning Critical Listening!
Click here to access Session 4: Critical Listening // Feb 1st (Live!)
Find the other sessions here: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 5
Download the fourth workbook here
I will post the answers to the questionnaire on Feb 7th!
After the live stream, submit your assignments by replying to this thread!
Timestamps by Philip
5:00 - Denoiser.
14:58 - On natural acoustics.
22:48 - Recap from session 3.
42:20 - Martin's headphones frequency response.
45:22 - Frequency response of smart-phone devices
48:04 - Frequency response of Adam Audio speakers.
49:00 - Room modes.
52:00 - Measuring the room to find problematic frequencies.
56:35 - Trikustik.
58:25 - Question on Adam A5X Speakers.
1:01:25 - Playing 80 hertz.
1:02:44 - Olli
1:05:49 - Best use of whatever room we have: Position of guitar? Position of mic?
1:06:05 - Humans have highest sensitive at around 3-4kHz.
1:07:36 - Is there a way to tell if your room needs treatment?
1:11:25 - Giuseppes Waltz.
1:24:55 - Olli’s Harfenetude with Gonimeter.
1:35:25 - Can you produce stereo recording if you use a guitar with built-in plug in pickup?
1:36:42 - Spectrograph.
1:44:31 - Measurement tool. Using a boxy recording from David Robinson. Threnody first version.
1:54:43 - Bob Katz frequency chart (https://audiophilestyle.com/s3/article-images/2017/0615/8.jpg)
1:57:24 - Position of OTRF, Blumlein and Mid-Side. (Neumann Recording Angle Calculator app)
2:04:56 - Uli's song of India.
2:12:51 - Martin can evaluate our recordings after the academy is over.
2:14:10 - Andres Iparraguirre's recording of Lagrima.
2:19:43 - Klangbild recording by Rick Akney.
2:26:46 - On the compressor.
2:31:30 - Mic position w/Anders Skadborg.
2:35:16 - Proximity effect.
2:37:00 - Lensing effect and phantom image (2:46:51).
2:42:42 - Ribbon microphone.
2:58:00 - Jasmine’s dual recording (worth a re-listen!)
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AUDIO FILES FOR THE CRITICAL LISTENING ASSIGNMENT
My fellow audio and recording nerds, here are the audio files for the assignment from workbook #4!
These are 6 recordings from my bed room, edited mixed and finalized, but - dang it ! - something is wrong with each of them! Use your ears, use the analyzing tools we've looked at and let me know if you have any questions! Have fun with these recordings!
By the way, I have all those recordings on my YouTube-Channel in reference quality, so if you want to compare the original files with the faulty ones, feel free to do so!
Here's the link to the Google Drive Folder:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zt0GY5_i22EblWvP4CdawRBv4HgfQIPj?usp=sharing
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martin Thanks so much for the files to analyze; awesome playing!
Follows my analysis of the tracks.
Track 1. ‘ Valseana - Sergio Assad’- 150 to 700 hertz dominant, 100 hertz and below attenuated
Track 2. ‘Cancion Triste - Carlos Farinas’- panned left
Track 3. ‘Hommage a Tchaikovsky - Joaquin Clerch’- too much compression
Track 4. ‘Lento - Dusan Bogdanovic’- vector scope indicates mono mix
Track 5. ‘Un Dia de Noviembre - Leo Brouwer’- phasing issue (vector scope indicates side to side movement)
Track 6. ‘Alma - Simone Ianarelli’- spectral analysis indicates 240 to 400 hertz boosted
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martin Hi Martin here is my analysis and I agree the playing was awesome. I've subscribed to your Youtube channel and watched them on there as well.
1 Sound is too thin – probems with EQ. High Pass filter set to about 200 hz. Frequency curve has lots of troughs.
2 Sound is too quiet and too much reverb. Balance is incorrect – too much emphasis on left channel.
3 Sound too muddy/boxy – problems with EQ. There is something showing below 80 hz – even before the music starts (should there be a high pass filter on this).
4 Goniometer shows a mono mix.
5 One of the channels appears to be phase inverted (goniometer display is horizontal)
6 Nothing much above 10khz. Is there a low pass filter set here? Should there also be a high pass filter at 80hz?
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Derek I cut and pasted from word and then re-aligned the text before I posted this. After I hit the reply button it messed up the text alignment again!
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martin I could not find out how to open goniometer and spectograph
So I evaluated only by ear: 01 Valseana - Sergio Assad
Decrease the gain between 200-1000, around 500
02 Cancion Triste - Carlos Farinas
Use compressor for peaks, R and L are unbalanced, reverb is a bit much
03 Hommage a Tchaikovsky - Joaquin Clerch
You must use high pass filter, decrease around 200, and maybe limiter at first?I like the others, maybe little adjustments with EQ
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SOLUTIONS FOR THE CRITICAL LISTENING ASSIGMENT
01 Valseana - Sergio Assad = Low Cut 200Hz
02 Cancion Triste - Carlos Farinas = right Channel mid Cut (could be interpreted as wrongly panned since the bandlock filter was quite intense!)
03 Hommage a Tchaikovsky - Joaquin Clerch = Faulty Compressor
04 Lento - Dusan Bogdanovic = Mono
05 Un Dia de Noviembre - Leo Brouwer = phase decorrelated
06 Alma - Simone Ianarelli = High Cut 9khz
david robinson Derek Gokce Turkmendag Rick Ankney Barry van de GraafThank you for getting back on that listening assignment, you did a fantastic job!
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martin Dear Martin, thank you so much for your recording-Workshop. I watched the last three live-streams and they were awesome. No, at the point where it comes to the whole editing-stuff, maybe i will try to go an old fashioned way. I love the "old" recordings or should i say, the recordings done in analog times. Julian Bream mentioned his old Chappel where he can do fine recordings
In our little town we have an old and tiny Church/Chappel, first mentioned in 1200 and rebuild in 1600. ( By the way, in the church sounds an original and completely restored "Gebrüder-Ratzmann-Orgel" originally build in 1890 ). The acoustic in the church is very lovely - and i have my own door-Key
. The digital reverb ( that is included in Reaper ) sounds maybe a little bit unreal ? Question: When doing recordings at places with great natural acoustics, what do we need to do afterwards ? Using two ribbons and that`s it ? Do we need additional "Room-Mics" ?
What is the minimum edit that has to be done ? ( except doing some different takes, let magical paste and copy happen, maybe equalize and normalize...)
Thank you very much.
Best Regards
Olli
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Dear Martin
So sorry I forgot to upload the file I prepared after the meeting last week. Here it is. I think I should have added screen shots but am now running out of time before our meeting. I find it all bit unsubtle. I added as we discussed, compression, eq, reverb in its own bus and finally I normalised.
Looking forward to the session tonight. By the way this is the simple Giuliani recording.
For a bit of fun I also used your techniques with a little less subtlety on a virtual jam session I run weekly where I mix contributions. This was Estate ( a bossa tune) and I have downloaded it here and I found your advice from last week invaluable in this recording.
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Peter wow, love that virtual jamming!
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Peter Dear Peter, thank you for that recording! Your performance is wonderful and the reverb adds a very subtle glue to the recording!
I want you to look at the dynamic range you have in your raw recording and decide if compression is really necessary! Right now I can hear your compressor starting to pump and flattening out your transients, that's usually a sign of a threshold that is too low and a very steep ratio! Usually I'd like to go veeeery subtle with araound 1.5-2.00:1 (input to output ratio) to ensure maximum transparency. But your levels are spot on, congratulations!
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Peter Oh, and I too love the virtual jam session, yeah! The techniques we used are perfect to highlight a guitar within a mix, too! In a more popular context I like to go with higher compression ratios and really EQ out the low end of the guitar (both electric or acoustic, since frequencies from 80-200Hz are usually occupied by the bass guitar!).
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Hi, I'm looking for the links to the 5 recordings that we are supposed to evaluate for Session #4.
Thanks for a great series, I am learning a lot even though I have not had time to practice and try out the techniques just yet.
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Brooke I will upload these within the next days! :)
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Brooke
AUDIO FILES FOR THE CRITICAL LISTENING ASSIGNMENT
My fellow audio and recording nerds, here are the audio files for the assignment from workbook #4!
These are 6 recordings from my bed room, edited mixed and finalized, but - dang it ! - something is wrong with each of them! Use your ears, use the analyzing tools we've looked at and let me know if you have any questions! Have fun with these recordings!
By the way, I have all those recordings on my YouTube-Channel in reference quality, so if you want to compare the original files with the faulty ones, feel free to do so!
Here's the link to the Google Drive Folder:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zt0GY5_i22EblWvP4CdawRBv4HgfQIPj?usp=sharing
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Hi Martin,
Thank´s for the kind Words:) Here is some additional Info: Reverb Plugin: https://impulserecord.com/convology-xt/ Responses: https://impulserecord.com/project/convology-famous-halls-and-churches-collection/ . Great collection and far more affordable than Altiverb. You can buy only the Responses you need, and get the Plug for free. EQ an Comp. i use the Reaper plugs. Great Workshop, learned alot so far..
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Uli Thanks Uli
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Uli thanks for sharing
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Uli Hi Uli, thank you for sharing your info about your reverb! I am not sure though if the transcription is copyrighted, this is why I removed the added content (better safe then sorry). If it's a free version, we can clarify that via email, then we can add it again (since it is a wonderful transcription and you played and recorded it beautifully!)
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martin ..yes we can :) my email is [email protected]
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As promised here are the time stamps (approx.)
5:00 - Denoiser.
14:58 - On natural acoustics.
22:48 - Recap from session 3.
42:20 - Martin's headphones frequency response.
45:22 - Frequency response of smart-phone devices
48:04 - Frequency response of Adam Audio speakers.
49:00 - Room modes.
52:00 - Measuring the room to find problematic frequencies.
56:35 - Trikustik.
58:25 - Question on Adam A5X Speakers.
1:01:25 - Playing 80 hertz.
1:02:44 - Olli
1:05:49 - Best use of whatever room we have: Position of guitar? Position of mic?
1:06:05 - Humans have highest sensitive at around 3-4kHz.
1:07:36 - Is there a way to tell if your room needs treatment?
1:11:25 - Giuseppes Waltz.
1:24:55 - Olli’s Harfenetude with Gonimeter.
1:35:25 - Can you produce stereo recording if you use a guitar with built-in plug in pickup?
1:36:42 - Spectrograph.
1:44:31 - Measurement tool. Using a boxy recording from David Robinson. Threnody first version.
1:54:43 - Bob Katz frequency chart (https://audiophilestyle.com/s3/article-images/2017/0615/8.jpg)
1:57:24 - Position of OTRF, Blumlein and Mid-Side. (Neumann Recording Angle Calculator app)
2:04:56 - Uli's song of India.
2:12:51 - Martin can evaluate our recordings after the academy is over.
2:14:10 - Andres Iparraguirre's recording of Lagrima.
2:19:43 - Klangbild recording by Rick Akney.
2:26:46 - On the compressor.
2:31:30 - Mic position w/Anders Skadborg.
2:35:16 - Proximity effect.
2:37:00 - Lensing effect and phantom image (2:46:51).
2:42:42 - Ribbon microphone.
2:58:00 - Jasmine’s dual recording (worth a re-listen!)
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Philip Puuuah, thank you so much!!
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hi martin
thank you for nice comments about my mic position and my sound.
At the time of my recording my middle finger nail was just broken all the way down so I have very very short or no nails on these recordings
I have just seen this episode today do to work in far away from home.
Just to confirm you are right my raw recording is completely raw. The mics are a little closer than normal but maybe 40 to 50 centimeters. We talked about it last week when I asked about the cm4 mics compared to km184 or the AKG414.
and yes the 1007 is as you said just normalized in reaper.
I also agree there are to much reverb on the recording but luckily I have a raw recording
My interface is a Sound Devices mixpre 3ii and it’s really really good and I’m sure it’s also have a big influence on the sound. But as I’m sure you know it’s not a cheap interface for some silly home recordings but sometimes things are worth every penny
once again thank you for a very nice and informative course.
thumbs up for you and tonebase.
cheers-
Anders Skadborg Hansen Awesome, I was really impressed by your recording! And I am glad that I was correct on the closer distance, I could feel a little bit of that proximity effect in the basses Bach recording.
When you really try to optimize the sound of a recording, every part of your recording chain matters, from the shape of your nail to the acoustics of your room. the choice of strings, the guitar, the microphone, the cables (!), the interface. Once we enter the digital world in the computer the different DAWs don't matter so much anymore (although different DAWs are calculating summing of signals in a different way which could influence exporting!).
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Hi Martin, I have a question! Back in session 2 you showed us how to apply the limiter, then said there was a much easier way of doing this, by adding the normaliser. So just to clarify, can we choose whether to use limiter or normaliser? Or should we do both?
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Jasmine Yes, you can choose what feels best to your workflow! I am not very fond of the limiter in Reaper as I don't have much of a control how much a signal gets limited (which isn't tooooo bad, because then we are forced to use our ears! This is why I like to use a third-party plugin by Fab Filter). A limiter is basically a compressor with a very fast attack and release and a ratio of infity:1, so it will apply some dynamic processing depending on our threshold, while normalizing will not change anything in your dynamics, it will only add so much gain that your highest peak will reach 0db!
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
