2. misc-audio
  3. 169263-139155

Critical listening and altered states

Ok, this is not a question about relaxing, but about listening to evaluate how the system (or a piece of gear is sounding).

What, in your experience, are the pluses and minuses of altering your state of mind for listening? This can include anything you've used to affect your everyday state of mind, from coffee, beer, scotch, tobacco, to much stronger — and psychoactive, dissociative — additives.

What do you gain by altering your consciousness in terms of what you notice, attend to, linger on, etc?
What causes more details to emerge?
What allows you to stick with a thread or, alternately, make new connections?

Or perhaps you like to keep all those things *out* of your listening; if that's you, please say a bit about why.

hilde45

Showing 1 response by drmuso

drmuso's avatar
drmuso
151 posts
 

I hadn't joined AG when this thread was started, or I would have contributed then.

To address the OP's issue, I have not used substances for critical listening, although I enjoy their ASCs for pleasure listening.  One issue for critical listening, e.g., when comparing components, is that an ASC might interfere with the short-term memory needed to recall what one has heard.  Auditory short-term memory is thought to be fragile under normal circumstances, and I think it is worsened by substance-induced ASCs.

More to discover