Regular audio ear training is one way to initiate yourself into the subtle art of critical listening, a skill fundamental to your long-term success and survival as an audio engineer or music producer.

'Hello, Cloth Ears!'...

The Gym for your Ears. Get audio ear training online, improve core listening skills like frequency detection or compression, and start sounding like a pro. Anytime, anywhere. Let's start training! Lets Start Training. The Importance of Audio Ear Training for Music Producers & Audio Engineers - Discover How to Train Your Ears for Music Production With Ear Training Drills Using Specialized Ear Training Software Regular audio ear training is one way to initiate yourself into the subtle art of critical listening, a skill fundamental to your long-term success.

My first intro into audio ear training all started back when my Sound Engineering lecturer back in the first year of college, a giant named Ari who is about 100 times my size, would often jokingly greet me with a smack on my skinny shoulder and a loud 'Hello, Cloth Ears!'. This did however, apart from sending me flying over the cheap Behringer desk in the Pro Tools studio, make me realize - he had a point. I couldn't tell 1kHz from 100Hz if my life depended on it back then. That had to change!

Fast forward to three years later and, at the end of my studies, I was of course much better and more confident at recognizing and adjusting frequencies. What was the difference? I had some training behind me. That's all.
Yes, we got the obvious frequency charts with classical instruments broken down but this made little difference to my practical tracking and mixing skills. You see, a chart is a nice way to get an idea of which frequencies are prominent in the sound of various instruments but it does not help you recognize specific frequencies in different contexts. What I needed was on-the-job and deliberate training!

Good critical listening skills are difficult to develop for the simple reason that your nervous system can and will play tricks on your conscious mind. You don't have to be an expert in psycho-acoustics to know this. Ever gone to bed safe in the knowledge that the mix is pretty much nailed, only to experience utter shock and horror when you first play it back the next morning?

Your nervous system can and will adjust the way you perceive sounds. It's your job to train your mind to compensate for this with various frequency ear training techniques. This includes audio ear training on a regular basis because it helps you tune your hearing to a correct frame of reference.

Meet Mr. Golden Ears...

A top-class engineer such as Tony Maserati or Bob Clearmountain sits between the speakers and listens with a deep look of focus, then reaches over and twists one pot on the mix console 5mm to the left, listens again and grins lightly with satisfaction. The uninitiated person standing right next to him sees this but cannot hear any difference in the mix.

What's going on here? The experienced mix engineer has a complex reference structure built up in their psyche that allows them to hear subtle differences most people would be hard-pressed to notice. Mr Golden Ears has the ability to recognize frequency changes, subtle distortion, level changes and noise often inaudible to the ordinary layperson.

Golden Ears Audio Ear Training Program

This ability to discriminate was built up over many experiences which helped the brain to refine the way it notices and pays attention to sound and music. Day in and day out and year after year the engineer trains their ears with countless tiny adjustments to sounds they worked with in different mixes.

You'll notice an improvement in your critical listening skills as you mix more and more records. This is on-the-job training and it's great because it also means you get some actual production work done! There are however more intense training options available that allow you to improve your critical listening skills much faster than you would with on-the-job ear training alone.

Why is ear training important for audio engineers and producers?

The main benefits of frequency ear training for audio engineers and music producers include:

Golden Ears Test

1. You get to know the audio frequency spectrum. This improves your ability to spot issues and helps you make more effective mixing decisions, faster.
2. You become better with using your equalizers and balancing your mix levels.
3. You learn to hone in on frequency imbalances by ear. This speeds up your sound design and mixing workflow by reducing the need to sweep your EQ.

Golden Ears Audio Ear Training Programs

What's the best way to ear train as a producer or audio engineer?

An Ear

The best way to train one's nervous system to recognize frequencies is to work with test tones, noise or music and use various EQ tools to alter the sound. You need to adjust your sources and take note of what you hear. You have to learn how to really listen and then connect what you hear to what you know about frequencies and EQ.
This takes time. It never stops in fact. Ear training of course happens every time you mix or design sounds. You will however get much better at critical listening when you add deliberate audio ear training exercises to your list of habits.
I mean if the mix engineering legend that is Dave Pensado does it, who are we mere mortals to argue?...