The Importance Of Ear Training

Generally when people think of ear training they think of it in terms of musicality. The understanding of pitch, key, notes, octaves and all of the technical aspects to learning music. But ear training in relation to the frequency spectrum is something that doesn’t come up much in the world of music. Reason being is because you don’t really need to have this specific type of ear training unless you’re an audio engineer, mix engineer or producer. And it doesn’t really apply to music in the traditional sense that most people know. So I know this will be a subject that many of you may not be familiar with yet. For those of you who are familiar with it, there’s a very strong chance that you don’t fully understand how important it is to get a grasp on if you really want to become good at mixing. And in my opinion, this topic isn’t discussed nearly enough in the world of mixing and recording considering how vital it is to achieve the results you want as a mixer. 

In this post we will look at:

1. My own personal ear training story that completely changed my mixes forever.
2. Why I believe it is the most important skill to learn as a mixer.
3. The main benefits of ear training.
4. Tips on how to train your ears quickly & effectively.

It may not be the most important skill for a producer to learn in the beginning but eventually, it becomes one of those things that takes your music and ability to mix to the next level. And when I sit back and think about it, if I would have come across a post like this throughout my first years of recording and mixing, it would have changed my whole approach to what I was spending my time learning. So because I never came across the information, I just never really understood the importance of ear training until one miraculous day that I realized my ears were actually trained to the frequency spectrum. As a matter of fact, I had never even come across the concept of ear training in terms of audio engineering until I realized my ears were actually trained. 

Let me explain…

Bear with me for a minute and let me tell you a short story about my ear training breakthrough and how it changed everything for me…

It was truly one of those amazing “aha” moments in life! I was sitting in my studio working on a mix making some fairly complex EQ adjustments and “BAM”, just like that it hit me out of nowhere! It felt like I had experienced an epiphany but in reality, it was me just getting past a plateau I had been on for years without even realizing it. All of sudden I was able to hear the frequency spectrum with so much clarity and I understood what frequencies needed to be cut and boosted like I had never experienced before. It was in that moment of clarity and absolute understanding that I realized my ears were trained to the frequency spectrum. And right then and there I realized how important it was to becoming a great mixer and engineer. 

Believe it or not, this milestone came about 3 years into my journey as a mix engineer! But knowing what I know now, I truly believe that if I would have been aware of this subject as a serious skill I needed to learn, I could have consciously practiced more and tried to improve on it. But I just didn’t know. I had to figure it out on my own which is fine, but if I had been exposed to the idea earlier, it could have really improved my development as a mixer much sooner. It’s kind of funny looking back on it, but I spent so much time trying to get a grasp on the concept and application of compression and other things, that ear training just never occurred to me to be an important subject. And what’s crazy is that even through all my years of study up until that point, I don’t ever recall coming across it as a serious point of study or skill to develop. And that’s exactly why I feel it’s so necessary to write this post. For how important it is, it’s just not talked about enough in the world of engineering and recording.

So why is it the most important skill to develop?

A well trained ear is one of the most valuable assets you can have as an engineer. Having a thorough understanding of the frequency spectrum literally affects every decision you make from recording, right through to the mastering stage. But it’s definitely most important for mixing & mastering. 

Mixing is all about balance and the correct balancing of frequencies is fundamental to any good mix. But how can you balance the frequencies of your instruments and vocals if your ears aren’t trained enough to do it properly. The key to being able to hear every element in the song clearly has so much to do with frequency balance. Getting our kick, bass and 808’s to work well together. Getting clear and clean vocals. Avoiding distortion from clashing frequencies of instruments. None of these things can be done effectively until your ears are trained sufficiently enough.

Now let's take a look at mastering. Good mastering is almost predominantly due to how well your ears are trained. So much of the mastering process is made up by making very small incremental tonal adjustments that can’t be done effectively if your ears aren’t trained well enough to the frequency spectrum and having a very solid understanding of eq. Mastering is so much more than getting your song to be loud and it’s pretty much impossible to master well if your ears aren’t trained properly.

What are the main benefits of ear training?

Here are 8 reasons why understanding the importance of ear training is so important to the mix process:

• Understanding that cutting frequencies is far more important and significant than boosting frequencies. (Subtractive Equalization)
• Having an understanding of how every effect you add to the signal affects the mix from a frequency standpoint.
• Knowing that subtle level changes and panning can offset the frequency balance in a major way.
• Knowing how and when it’s necessary to adjust frequencies on individual effects.
• Being able to distinguish the different tonal characteristics between all of the different gear (mics, speakers, headphones etc.), compressors, eq’s and effects plugins. 
• Having the ability to eq reverbs to sit in the mix properly.
• Being able to correct mistakes on your mixes when referencing other mixes.
• If you master your own music or are planning to master your own music, nothing is more important than having a trained ear. Mastering is all about very subtle and acute adjustments and to pinpoint those subtleties takes an amazing ear to point out problem frequencies effectively.

And ear training doesn’t just apply to mixing but many other things as well...

• Like understanding the true difference in sound between all of the various monitors, headphones, microphones, pre amps and all other types of analog gear. 
• Understanding which microphones and preamps to use in different recording situations. For example, knowing what microphone will compliment a certain artist or instrument the most because of their particular frequency spectrum.
• A trained ear is vital to understanding room acoustics and knowing what frequencies need to be compensated for in your particular space. Every room is different and has different frequencies to compensate for depending on the speakers you have.

All of these things play a factor in ear training and once the frequency spectrum becomes ingrained in the subconscious mind, it allows creativity to remain at the forefront of your work. And isn’t that what we really want in the end when we’re making music. The last thing any of us want is to always be getting held up by the technical side of things. Because when you’re first learning how to mix, by the time you correct a technical element, the idea is most likely long gone or it just ruins the creative flow completely. But this is all a part of the game so to speak. And like all things to do with mixing and music production, they take time to learn so be patient and the understanding will come. 

But there’s no need to worry and let this discourage you. Let me give you some great tips on how to ear train and not only understand how to use subtractive eq but most importantly understand what frequencies to cut. 

Tips on how to train your ears fast and effectively

1. Get your hands on an EQ music frequency chart and use that as your guide. These guides give you a birds eye view of the frequency range that instruments and vocals lay in. This is a great tool to utilize in the beginning when it’s so difficult to do it by ear. Download the one above!
2. There are some incredible ear training apps such as train your ears that were created for this purpose. They are inexpensive and very effective.
3. Spend time doing eq sweeps and filter cuts to do your own ear training. This is a great exercise to help train your ears in the beginning that works and is easy to do. This is something I've done in the past and it worked really well for me.
4. Use an eq with a frequency spectrum analyzer. This is incredibly important for anyone new to mixing. Even as an experienced engineer I still find value in using these types of eq’s. Being able to visually see the frequencies of your audio is a massive advantage when you’re first learning to use eq.

I highly recommend you try out the Train Your Ears app

Luckily, there are a few great companies that are dedicated to developing ear training. One in particular we find to be the most effective is called Train Your Ears. This is a great app and a great company that has really nailed it in terms of the most effective and simple techniques to train your ears. Now when I first started mixing these companies didn’t exist so we had to get creative. So if you want quick results getting your ears trained to the frequency spectrum, check out www.trainyourears.com. It is very affordable and is a big time game changer.

Conclusion

I can assure you this won’t be the last you hear of me talking about this subject. It’s far too important to be overlooked and unaware of when you’re new to recording and mixing. 

Like always, I really hope this information really drives home for you and gets you on the path of consistent ear training until you’ve got it figured out. I guarantee it will change your mixes forever! 

As always leave comments below and let us know your thoughts. 

Until next time…

Learn with confidence!