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[A. Daly]

I've noticed recently that at lots of key moments whilst mixing that I'm closing my eyes to listen, I've done this often whilst doing live sound as a way of quickly sorting out issues as I can't really move faders, mess with things or do anything other than listen (or listen & think simultaniously) and it forces me to act on what I hear rather than what I *think* I hear, but only really in those "things are getting hectic and I need to fix this NOW" moments.

However in the studio, even with a relaxed amount of time I'm finding some of my more intuitive creative descisions are being made whilst my eyes are closed and I'm forcing myself to listen and do nothing else. I knew I did it now and again, but I was speaking to a client recently and he joked about how I often I did this and suggested I try tying a hand behind my back next as a party piece. (Hmmm, *considers the left / right brain tricks this could inspire* )

Is this quite common?

I know I feel that I hear more, and focus more when I do this, but is it just psychosomatic or do we really help our ears / brain by doing this?

Any other amusing or better yet, interesting and useful odd traits out there?

[Barry Hufker]

I think closing one's eyes might be common.  I do it.

Oddly, I am *very* particular about having the "right" amount and kind of light and the right time of day.  Further, I have to wear my reading glasses so I can "see" the sound when recording or mixing (with my eyes closed!).

Barry

[feedback loop]

My theroy is that closing our eyes when we're experiencing sensory overload is the body's way of rebooting the brain when cognitive gridlock sets in.  I recently read an article about an engineer (don't recall his name) who likes to mix while listening to the radio or a CD because it keeps him from getting too focused on the job and improves his concentration.  Whatever works, I guess.

[CHANCE]

This came up in a different topic, and someone replied something to the effect of
"removing the sense of vision, heightens the sense of hearing"

[maxim]

i think it's also a way of monitoring from the audience's pov, as they will not be looking at the faders or the computer screen or whatever

[djui5]

I close my eyes for critical listening of every mix. I also keep the lights on full blast. Mood lighting can make your mixes suck. You think it sounds better than it really does because of the vibey atmosphere. Well...it does to me anyway. Someday I wil overcome this weakness, but not now. Not yet.

[jetbase]

a picture tells a thousands words, which sometimes drowns out what you hear. it helps to close your eyes & just listen. switching off your computer screen on occasion helps too.

[imagineaudio]

i have finally created enough shortcuts (and got use to using them) between the computer keyboard, mackie contorol, and an evolution mk461 midi controller with 12 knobs and 8 faders and a couple pieces of good ol analog that once I've done my edits the main screen goes off.  I leave a smaller 15" monitor on, but placed to the side and usually only will display active plug-ins.  Lighting is crucial to me.  I've got to have it bright as possible when I'm doing edits and working the beginning of the mix, as I get closer to the end of the mix, the lights start going off a little at a time.  By the end, maybe just a candle or 2 with a little light for the rack and controllers.  My mixing has gone from completely amateur to "in the ball park" real quick since I've started this.  


When I'm getting real close to hitting that magical point where the mix is where it wants to be, out go all the lights, I move from my chair to the couch near the back wall close my eyes and listen all the way through.  If I don't hear anything to fix, I'll switch my monitoring from the nearfield/sub combo to a consumer onkyo reciever powering some old ass yamaha NSA180's and do it again. Eyes are always closed, lights are always off.  

[A. Daly]

Can't say I'm that surprised at the responses about closing eyes, however working with full-blast lighting? Ouch, one very quick way of making me irritable, I don't go the full mood-lighting darkened studio but I do need slightly relaxed lighting to work in.

(Although I must shamefully admit that the one piece of must-have, "can't be a real studio without" equipment my studio currently lacks, is a lava lamp, forgive me. )

Alan.

[djui5]

A. Daly wrote on Sun, 25 June 2006 17:54

Can't say I'm that surprised at the responses about closing eyes, however working with full-blast lighting? Ouch, one very quick way of making me irritable, I don't go the full mood-lighting darkened studio but I do need slightly relaxed lighting to work in. (Although I must shamefully admit that the one piece of must-have, "can't be a real studio without" equipment my studio currently lacks, is a lava lamp, forgive me. ) Alan.

Well...not lit up like Wal-Mart, but I like it lit up

[A. Daly]

Hmmm, curious... Are you a morning person too?

Alan.

[idiophone]

I seem to listen better when I am turned to my right and looking at the floor. I'm totally serious.

Weird, but it gets my brain moving.

~id

[djui5]

A. Daly wrote on Sun, 25 June 2006 19:36

Hmmm, curious... Are you a morning person too? Alan.

hell no. I hate mornings. I just find it better to mix with the lights on. Keeps me focused on the music, not my current mood.

[Barry Hufker]

While not eyes open or closed, legendary engineer Bill Porter used to walk out of the room into the hallway.  It pretty much gets rid of highs and lows.  The result is a very clear assessment of the mix.  I stole this and do it all the time.  It is *very* helpful.

Let's call this: "eyes not even in the room"!

Barry

[imagineaudio]

Barry:

Quote:

While not eyes open or closed, legendary engineer Bill Porter used to walk out of the room into the hallway. It pretty much gets rid of highs and lows. The result is a very clear assessment of the mix. I stole this and do it all the time. It is *very* helpful. Let's call this: "eyes not even in the room"!

I do that sometimes, but I find myself doing it less and less the more I learn my room.  I've only been here 9 months, so in another 3 im sure I'll be doing it more.

[Ross Hogarth]

i am a big believer in turning off the screen
we can fool ourselves so easily

i love to close my eyes and listen
it makes such a difference

sound is not sight
let your ears do the talking

[rwj1313]

fbaugher wrote on Sat, 24 June 2006 16:18

I recently read an article about an engineer (don't recall his name) who likes to mix while listening to the radio or a CD because it keeps him from getting too focused on the job and improves his concentration.  Whatever works, I guess.

I still do a lot of Front of House live sound and I always line check mics with a CD playing music fairly loud. I may have to try the CD playing while mixing as an experiment sometime just to see what happens.

Rick

[rdolmat]

imagineaudio wrote on Sun, 25 June 2006 16:42

...out go all the lights, I move from my chair to the couch near the back wall close my eyes and listen all the way through...I'll switch my monitoring from the nearfield/sub combo to a consumer onkyo reciever. Eyes are always closed, lights are always off.

Ow!

A lot of stubbed toes and bumped knees, I guess.

[Duke]

Barry Hufker wrote on Mon, 26 June 2006 00:10

While not eyes open or closed, legendary engineer Bill Porter used to walk out of the room into the hallway.  It pretty much gets rid of highs and lows.  The result is a very clear assessment of the mix.  I stole this and do it all the time.  It is *very* helpful. Let's call this: "eyes not even in the room"! Barry

I call it the "through the wall test" of the mix.
I do it all the time.

[rankus]

Duke wrote on Tue, 27 June 2006 11:06

Barry Hufker wrote on Mon, 26 June 2006 00:10 While not eyes open or closed, legendary engineer Bill Porter used to walk out of the room into the hallway.  It pretty much gets rid of highs and lows.  The result is a very clear assessment of the mix.  I stole this and do it all the time.  It is *very* helpful. Let's call this: "eyes not even in the room"! Barry I call it the "through the wall test" of the mix. I do it all the time.

Yup, me too.  Eyes closed a lot even when tracking. The bands usually think I'm weird, then once I explain, I catch them doing it as well.

Hallway test , yes!  
Through the wall test, yes!

I recall reading an interview with a high level mixer who likes to set up a vacuum cleaner and run that while doing the final listen test.  I have not tried this one yet... But others like to run pink noise as well...

[Annie]

I always close my eyes when...

[imagineaudio]

rdolmat wrote on Mon, 26 June 2006 16:45

Ow! A lot of stubbed toes and bumped knees, I guess.

heh  

[CHANCE]

Occasionally, for a real rush, (and to impress labels etc) I have a friend who is a tech at the Ontario Mills mall I-MAX, and after a project is finished, we take it there after hours, and the tech cranks the sound. Man I close my eyes, and can almost picture a live act, but then my head swells, and the dream is over

[Dynamic Destroyer]

F11 (Mac OSX)

Couldn't live without it.

[Bill Mueller]

The BBC did lots of studies on this subject in the 60's. They found that speakers should always have a grill cloth, because SEEING the speaker caused the image to falsely widen. Detail and depth perception was impaired by seeing woofers moving as well.

On the other side of the coin, sitting behind a visual barrier will cause a sound to appear further away.

I think it is odd that solid empirical data like this gets swept away by stylistic modifications designed to make one studio LOOK hipper than another. In the old days, all the speakers were mounted behind a soffit and grill cloth. Today, you can't hardly find a professional monitor with a grill cloth. Odd.

Best Regards,

Bill

[rankus]

Annie wrote on Tue, 27 June 2006 12:37

I always close my eyes when...

Um, Waiter.... I'll have what she's having.!

[zmix]

Annie wrote on Tue, 27 June 2006 15:37

I always close my eyes when...

...you're thinking of England?

[Reitzas]

When I'm pretty close to a finished mix, I turn the monitors as loud as I can and I block my ears with my fingers, eyes closed with my cheeks on my palms and my elbows on the console.  This is similar to the "out of the room" method, but it feels much better.  As silly as this sounds, it works really well for me.

Dave Reitzas
http://www.reitzas.com

[rankus]

Another one for me is something I borrowed from painters.  It's an artist trick to view the painting through a mirror once and a while to "flop" the image and get a different perspective.

So I will occasionaly swing my chair around to face the back wall, flipping the left and right as well as ... hmmm ...  listening backwards.

[jetbase]

at a studio i used to work at they had the monitoring wired so you could flip L & R around at the press of a button, which required substantially less effort than turning your chair around.

[maxim]

...a toe-curling mix

glenn wrote:

"you could flip L & R around at the press of a button, which required substantially less effort than turning your chair around"

but substantially less fun

[rankus]

jetbase wrote on Thu, 29 June 2006 17:08

at a studio i used to work at they had the monitoring wired so you could flip L & R around at the press of a button, which required substantially less effort than turning your chair around.

Agreed.. But it doesn't flip the room reflections around.  

Also listening from behind is  different psychoacousticly (so I'm told) Something to do with defensive / predatory instincts and all that.  Your brain perceives sounds from the rear differently (I think)

Another possibility is that I am out to lunch .... LOL

[Bill Mueller]

rankus wrote on Thu, 29 June 2006 19:50

Another one for me is something I borrowed from painters.  It's an artist trick to view the painting through a mirror once and a while to "flop" the image and get a different perspective. So I will occasionaly swing my chair around to face the back wall, flipping the left and right as well as ... hmmm ...  listening backwards.

I have always found this trick shocking. I will put a pair of headphones on backwards or turn away from the speakers. The mix is completely different! I know that my ears are not exactly the same, but there not different enough to account from the changes I hear.

Best Regards,

Bill

[jetbase]

Bill Mueller wrote on Fri, 30 June 2006 13:20

I have always found this trick shocking. I will put a pair of headphones on backwards or turn away from the speakers. The mix is completely different! I know that my ears are not exactly the same, but there not different enough to account from the changes I hear. Best Regards, Bill

i wonder if it has something to do with the different sides of the brain??

[cerberus]

one hundred percent every time all the time. so i see only music.

Bill Mueller wrote on Fri, 30 June 2006 13:20

i wonder if it has something to do with the different sides of the brain??

there's a lot of unpleasant arithmetic and other maths involved...so both hemishperes may be very engaged during any engineering task. i find the u.i. is like metering... people who stare at meters too much may be dulling their capacities, imo...i think that's why they invented lava lamps.

jeff dinces

[maxim]

did you know that musicians (and, i presume, audio engineers, especially, the ones who consider themselves musicians) have a thicker corpus collossum than non-musicians

(that's the bridge between the two hemispheres)

i presume it's built up rather than innate

[Kendrix]

Just yesterday I happened to put the cans on backwards by mistake.  Obviously, this eliminates room effects.  I could not believe how different the mix sounded to me.  The relative balance of major sounds was way different than I had become accustomed to.  It was totally disorienting.  

Rather than drive my self crazy tring to get a mix to sound good in both stereo orientations I chose to just flip the cans back and ignore it. Its enough of a challenge to get a tight mix as it is.  Maybe I'm being too quick to dismiss this as an issue.  

[rankus]

maxim wrote on Fri, 30 June 2006 03:10

did you know that musicians (and, i presume, audio engineers, especially, the ones who consider themselves musicians) have a thicker corpus collossum than non-musicians (that's the bridge between the two hemispheres) i presume it's built up rather than innate

Hi Max,

I was studying this a while back.  It seems musicians in fact do have a larger corpus collossum, due to the fact that playing music requires the use of both hemispheres.  They noted that it is far more difficult to grow this when you are an adult, and that musicians who start before the age of 7 can grow them larger which (supposedly) can make for a better musician.

Also of note, is that a larger corpus collossum causes "bi-polar disorder" due to the fact that the right and left brain really should not be talking to each other this much.  

This may explain some of the bizarre behavior in some of our more talented artists.?

But anyway, back on topic.  I saw another study where they had discovered that the right and left ear are in fact connected differently within the brain and suspect that each ear may in fact specialize in different areas of sound....  One may hear speech better and the other may be more tuned into backgrounds. (This study had not yet determined the difference)  Makes some sense from the evolutionary perspective.

[hmm...]

I've always like the founndation of the mix more to the left, such as chords, etc. Don't know why.

pb

[Alan Meyerson]

Music sounds completely different to me with my reading glasses as opposed to my distance glasses. I hear the low end clearer with my reading glasses. I'm not sure if it's psychoacoustic ir if its just a different pressure from the different glasses on my outer ears.
It's a fun topic though

[mcsnare]

I almost never close my eyes. Instead I stare blankly at something in front of me. I don't know why, but never felt right closing my eyes. I also like the lights full on. Low, vibe lighting bugs the shit outta me for some reason. I hate the smell of  Nag Champa as well, so sue me.
Dave