davdud101
...I'll listen, but feel the groove in the melody so much that I can't really focus on the mix!

Maybe you need to listen through some Yamaha HS50s monitors.  They sound unmusical and force you to listen to the mix.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of 'levels', motifs, parameters, and listening environments.  Also, time, chance, fad, and daily encumbrances do also interact with the ears' discrimination of what's going on during the pyscho-acoustic battles (if that makes sense).
 
Fortunately (for me at any rate), luck, blessing, inspiration, that 'wonderful' retake, that other collaborator (per Herb), an 'urgent' calling, or a re-write (or 100 re-writes) may please the ear ... for a season or 2.
 
'Just don't expect the 'trained ear' to become complacent; the muse is always fickle (for me).

Keep in mind, however.....there is no going back once you start down this path.  
 
After a while, you will be saying to yourself with every piece of music you hear.  I think I would have lowered that bass a little... used less reverb on that vocal.....the mids are a little heavy.... that guitar track is too compressed.... 
 

 

MakeShift
Keep in mind, however.....there is no going back once you start down this path.  
 
After a while, you will be saying to yourself with every piece of music you hear.  I think I would have lowered that bass a little... used less reverb on that vocal.....the mids are a little heavy.... that guitar track is too compressed.... 
 

 

Funny that you should mention this.  I just received Boston's new CD for Christmas and the on the very first track I thought the mix was a little too light on the bass and mid-range (in other words it sounded thin and maybe even a little harsh).  Indeed it is a slippery slope.

Here is some different kind of stuff to listen to, I suppose if you need to - to relax.
http://www.youtube.com/user/JezebelDecibel?feature=watch

http://www.youtube.com/wa...hwkMXmB4q8_4vG399CO07A

http://www.youtube.com/wa...G399CO07A&index=41

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsrjvN9BXAE


But mainly, you can also just imagine the warm sunshine (bright light) shining on your feet and warming up your feet, then slowly moving up your legs, feel the warmth, up to the torso, and slowly relaxing to the warm bright light, up through the stomach, up through the chest, up the neck into your face, all feeling warm glow with the warm bright light shedding that stress away from your body, and through the face. Feel your face relax and feel that warm glow and tension melting away all the way through your head and away into Space.
 
Imagine laying there on the warm ground below a tree, but not an ordinary tree. this tree does not have leaves, it has sheets of paper with creative ideas on them but not all of the paper like leaves on the tree will have something on them. Perhaps a lot of them are blank, but just relaxing underneath your creative tree, picking one some day, may have a creative idea written on it.
 
Upstairs in your brain is a room. A room made up of the way you want to make it up. It may have windows, may have a book shelf, may be dusty and dirty like mine, well no, but you do not have to tell anyone how your room looks or how it is. Just know that there is a person, a wise seeker, an Orb, and you can sit and ask your Master Seeker any question you want. You may not get an answer many times, but sometimes you may. Ask it anything, change the room if necessary, it is your room your design and you can go up into your room anytime you want to, and be in that room that you want the way that you want it. (some would say to buy it and build it and afford it, but get real). It is your room and your design and what you want in the room and is your own personal space.
 
Well, some of the ways to relax through suggestion or self-hypnosis or whatever it is that those type of people talk about whenever those books and things came out in the real world to help people along.
 
Critical music listening to me is taking a break from the music, not actually listening to it, while listening to it, being awake, but not being awake. Being in a state of mind that different than from your normal state of mind. It is your brain and mind, so well, do whatever you want with it for the most part, and build from there.
 
Just don't go crazy with it I suppose. I suppose in this world, a person has to attach Warning Labels to everything nowadays. So be Warned. But are the Warning Labels - yellow and black alternate strip colors?
 

 
Okay enough of the babbling and perhaps funny stuff, but then - It's Free!
What was I saying?
Have to go, bye!
 

MakeShift
Keep in mind, however.....there is no going back once you start down this path.  
 
After a while, you will be saying to yourself with every piece of music you hear.  I think I would have lowered that bass a little... used less reverb on that vocal.....the mids are a little heavy.... that guitar track is too compressed.... 
 

 

Definitely no turning back,that's for sure !!!
 
And yes totally true,you do gradually begin to hear how the mix could be improved with time and the longer you mix the more confident you get with the tools.
 
I really do think it's about the time you put in,it's as simple as that. I play classical guitar and I try to play for at least one hour a day. If I miss a couple of days here or there,I notice the difference straight away. If I play 6 weeks solid,one hour a day the results are much more satisfying and MAKE me wanna practice more and for longer sessions too. I guess it's about getting in the zone....it's the same for mixing and anything really...
 
Like the above poster said,once you're in,there's no turning back....so you may as well accept that,enjoy what you do,put the time in & then reap the rewards :-)
 
 
 

kev11111111111111

MakeShift
Keep in mind, however.....there is no going back once you start down this path.  
 
After a while, you will be saying to yourself with every piece of music you hear.  I think I would have lowered that bass a little... used less reverb on that vocal.....the mids are a little heavy.... that guitar track is too compressed.... 
 

 

Definitely no turning back,that's for sure !!!
 
And yes totally true,you do gradually begin to hear how the mix could be improved with time and the longer you mix the more confident you get with the tools.
 
I really do think it's about the time you put in,it's as simple as that. I play classical guitar and I try to play for at least one hour a day. If I miss a couple of days here or there,I notice the difference straight away. If I play 6 weeks solid,one hour a day the results are much more satisfying and MAKE me wanna practice more and for longer sessions too. I guess it's about getting in the zone....it's the same for mixing and anything really...
 
Like the above poster said,once you're in,there's no turning back....so you may as well accept that,enjoy what you do,put the time in & then reap the rewards :-)
 
 

 
Yeah... kinda takes the fun out of concerts and live music events too.... to some degree.

Guitarhacker

kev11111111111111

MakeShift
Keep in mind, however.....there is no going back once you start down this path.  
 
After a while, you will be saying to yourself with every piece of music you hear.  I think I would have lowered that bass a little... used less reverb on that vocal.....the mids are a little heavy.... that guitar track is too compressed.... 
 

 

Definitely no turning back,that's for sure !!!
 
And yes totally true,you do gradually begin to hear how the mix could be improved with time and the longer you mix the more confident you get with the tools.
 
I really do think it's about the time you put in,it's as simple as that. I play classical guitar and I try to play for at least one hour a day. If I miss a couple of days here or there,I notice the difference straight away. If I play 6 weeks solid,one hour a day the results are much more satisfying and MAKE me wanna practice more and for longer sessions too. I guess it's about getting in the zone....it's the same for mixing and anything really...
 
Like the above poster said,once you're in,there's no turning back....so you may as well accept that,enjoy what you do,put the time in & then reap the rewards :-)
 
 

 
Yeah... kinda takes the fun out of concerts and live music events too.... to some degree.

What do you mean ? Takes the fun out of playing in concerts or as a listener ? On some levels I agree,but others I don't. Take this for example.The other day I was shopping at the local precinct and they had a speaker in the building playing music. All the time I was hearing it I was trying to work out the cut off frequency for the bass.This kept me occupied for a good ten minutes. For me this was fun,it created a sonic party in my mind and I was the host :-) For my girfriend,I guess it was pretty boring for her to listen to really...not fun at all. 5 years ago I wouldnt of even considered thinking like this - but I like I say,the more you get interested in something the more it pulls you in,on all sorts of different levels ?? For me,the positives outweigh the negatives.
As far as the negatives are concerned,sure sometimes you can 'miss' a song or performance by focusing too much attention on the sound,or the mix coming out of the PA. I think more and more though I see the sound and performance as the same thing,or at least part of the same thing. I went to a folk gig a couple of weeks back and there was this solo artist who played guitar and sang. His 'sound' was 'bigger' than the following group who had 3 guitars going,a main singer and backing vox. Why ?? I think it was because the group played at the same dynamic all the time (loud) and your ear quickly gets tired. The solo artist however played using a mixture of dynamics and it was this,the dynamic range that made him shine over the other groups. I think when you hear an artist use dynamics like this live,it inspires to try and create the same thing in your mixes ? Or at least,it reminds you of some good principles & practice.
Thats my just my opinion...I'm curious as to how it takes the fun out of concerts for you ???!!! It seems all good from where I'm standing.
Anyway wish you a Happy New Year for 2014 !!!
Take it easy
Kev
 

Playing on stage is always fun and with the sort of PA systems the bands I played in had, we really only heard the stage monitors anyway, so NO... in that respect, it doesn't change the fun....
 
 
I was speaking as a listener.... in concerts, churches, clubs, etc.... I find myself analyzing the sound of the room, the stage sound, etc.... and of course how the FOH mix is sounding. It's kind of rare to find a mix where I listen and find no major nits, at which point I can and do set back and get into the music. But if the mix is lacking....and some times severely lacking, it's audio hell for the duration.  I do take into account the room or venue. Basketball arenas are not ideal acoustic environments, so I cut the FOH some slack there.
 
A partial list of nits that ruin a show include:
 
Amateur FOH sound guys.... they only first saw a mixing board after they applied for the job. Have no clue what "that knob" does but are willing to turn it to find out, generally, in the middle of the show or a solo. This individual is exceedingly abundant in church environments and many clubs. Think they qualify because they have a "big stereo" at home. They like looking at the "blinking lights" but have no idea what they are indicating.....
 
Lack of lows and definition in the lower end of the mix.... includes bass and kick.   I saw a Kenny Chesney concert that had this issue during the entire show. Several churches in this town have this problem.
 
Volume so loud everything is distorted... can't understand the lyrics/singer.... Chesney concert again....
 
EQ improperly set: sound is hollow or super mid bumped.  churches, clubs.
 
Mix off:  guitars not in the mix, singer too low or loud, you name it, it's possible and likely.
 
 
It's a pleasure to find a PA being run by someone who knows what they are doing..... unfortunately, that seems to be a rare commodity around this area.