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What exactly is critical listening? Who does it?

I'm supposed to listen to every single instrument within a mixture of instruments. And somehow evaluate every aspect of what I'm listening to and somehow all this is critical listening.

This is supposed to bring enjoyment?

I'm just listening for the Quality of what I'm listening to with all the instruments playing and how good they sound hopefully. 

And I'm tired of answering that I'm not a robot all the time. That's being critical.

emergingsoul

Showing 1 response by mswale

mswale
257 posts
 

This is hard to define, as everyone has different goals. 

For me, critical listening has a few steps. 

1. How quiet the soft passages are the dark space

2. How different the soft from loud parts are, can a cymbal crash make me jump or surprise me?

3. Does each instrument have it's own space? Is it wide or narrow, are they crashed together or have their own space? Can I tell the difference between a bass drum and bass guitar?  

4. Decay, does a bass drum roll off, does a cymbal crash linger?

5. Vocals, are they up front? present, "on stage" so to speak.

6. Balance, is everything in balance? Does anything take over or is it smooth from bottom to top?

7. Does it make me feel anything?

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