Mixing And Compensating For Hearing Loss

[Art Munson]

“Everything is going to sound better loud, so try mixing for a while at a very soft volume instead.”

+1 but there is the Fletcher-Munson curve to consider (BTW no relation).

http://zesoundsuite.blogspot.com/2010/02/fletcher-munson-curve-why-you-should.html

[Steve Ballard]

I am a part of this club. I was in the Air Force for 21 years as a Aircraft Mechanic. Around jet engines constantly. I have tinnitus because of it. Of course ear protection was required but damage was still done. When I got in to this business after a short while I became concerned about what was going on in the mixes I was producing and what I was missing hearing in them. I finally came to the conclusion like others here that a spectrum analyzer might be the best thing available for me to figure that out, because I couldn’t afford a sound engineers ears and don’t have friends in that field. Recently, I have been researching Pink and Blue noise generators. Pink and Blue noise is sometimes used to mask tinnitus but is used in audio mixes as well.

Anyway, this is the spectrum analyzer that I use. It’s free, good on all platforms and has been around for a while SPAN

[Edouardo]

That is a great article Art! Thanks. I definitely learned something here.
The slight issue is that 80-85 dB is much too loud for me (The sweet spot according to the article).

I mix at 65dB. The product of the intensity (W / m2) and the duration of Mixing session (minutes) must not go above a certain value or 1/ My ears get numb 2/ and the tinnitus can be triggered. So, at 80dB, my session would be pretty short! Although, I have to admit that mixing during a tinnitus crisis gives pretty interesting results, weirdly.

Yet using the curve, I know that at 65dB, I just need to take out a dB or 2 out of the low and highs, when I feel my mix is OK. So that’s a cool thing to know.

Anyway, I still can check if that approach works, as when I am done with a track, I usually have 5 minutes dancing in the studio on it full blast (easy 90dB) before closing the session. (A tradition 🙂 )

[daveydad]

So when using a spectrum analyzer, what should you look for in what you see?

[Art Munson]

So when using a spectrum analyzer, what should you look for in what you see?

I’m basically looking for frequencies that might be too hot on the high end as that’s where my biggest loss is. You can load in a commercial CD and use the analyzer on it to get an idea of what your eyes see as opposed to what your ears hear.

[daveydad]

great idea! i loaded several of my tracks and they looked pretty good to me… slight roll-off on low and hi frequency ends.

[ENW1]

Forgive me Art but I laughed when I saw this. My ears are still pretty good but I have to use a magnifying glass to see the little numbers in my plugins. If it ain’t one thing it’s another 🙂

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