How to maintain a critical ear?

[zerocrossing]

One thing I seem to struggle with is that, when I’m working on my own songs, my brain often autocorrects my mix. Recently I accidentally imported a crappy rough mix to a video project and, even though I listened to it during the entire editing process, I didn’t once notice it. Someone had to point out that the mix was off. Even when I went back to the finished mix, I noticed things that needed some adjustments that I hadn’t noticed before.

Is there anything one can do, other than put a few months of time between the finished mix and the final mix, to help maintain a neutral, critical ear? Any tips?

[Zeisner]

I know how to maintain a critical ear. But too bad I'm now on your block list - for pointing out how suboptimal that mix was. Which you agreed on. So what's the real purpose of this thread? Collecting more users for your block list?

[TechHaus]

The first track in your daw should be for reference tracks. You also have to figure out how to listen to that track while bypassing bus processing (why templates matter if this will involve special routing).

Drag that reference track in super early. Yes it will be too loud so you will have to ride the volume a bit throughout your process (use meters to help you).

This is the way.

Be disciplined about doing this, it will pay off.

[Benedict]

The thing is you need to understand that sound is not as solid as you want to think. Sound for us is a perceptive thing. So you constantly change what happens at your ears in your brain (and feelings).

The first thing is to stop the sort of thinking you see in most YooBoob Tutz as they assume that music is literal and factual. It is not. Lots of people thought the song was about a seal called Alex. The lyric may have been about not talking about something but they liked that idea and the feelings that went with it about the friendly seal called Alex. So for them the song is one thing, for others, another. I bet somewhere someone thinks that song is Metal.

Most BST are sold on the concept of "different". They tell us that the Kerspongulator Pro 47 Rev 85 makes it better, but really it makes it different. We are bored, so we take different as new and exciting, which we emotively decide is better - us being the adrenaline hounds we are coz we are hunters by biology.

You need to develop Trust & Courage - we used to call that your "ear". The problem with the idea of A:Bing between your choon and someone else's is that is decreasing trust and courage.

You need to build a better spreadsheet. Build that NOT on technicalities anywhere near so much on feel. "Brass In Pocket" or "Anarchy For The UK" sound just as powerful on a 2" tranny as they do on Pink Floyd's Turbosound rig at Wellemby Squared. This is what matters.

Working too long tends to make us hear what our ego want so hear rather than what is 'on tape'. Take breaks. BUT understand that you should never be listening to Freqs or anything like that (worse if looking at them) follow the feeling:

What is the Scene & Story of this Song?
Why is this thing working or not working to build that illusion for the listener?

Again, that is about the feel, NEVER about some list of Rulez off YooBoob.

People used to learn this in a Master-Student relationship. That not happening is a lot of why people get so lost and dig deeper holes.

[Gamma-UT]

One thing I seem to struggle with is that, when I’m working on my own songs, my brain often autocorrects my mix. Recently I accidentally imported a crappy rough mix to a video project and, even though I listened to it during the entire editing process, I didn’t once notice it. Someone had to point out that the mix was off. Even when I went back to the finished mix, I noticed things that needed some adjustments that I hadn’t noticed before.

Is there anything one can do, other than put a few months of time between the finished mix and the final mix, to help maintain a neutral, critical ear? Any tips?

Changing the environment is a relatively easy, quick hack: it's one of the reasons for for the old "listening to the mix in the car" trick. That's not just about checking translation but also changing your perception of how the track sounds. Ditto the NS10 check: as most hidden problems are in the congested midrange, speakers that emphasise that help kick the brain where it hurts.

A mental checklist can also be helpful, like "are all the instruments in the stereo field where I think they should be?", as many of the problems that are easy to miss are often just technical boobs rather than poor artistic choices and it means you're checking off each one in turn – so if you can't hear it, that's a problem that might need sorting either in the mix or in the arrangement. It also ensures that you make a conscious decision on placement rather than just picking defaults.