When are people going to wake up and realize listening is a skill?


Thirty years ago I realized my lifelong dream of owning a 911. This is a fast car and so first thing I did was join PCA to get some track experience in order to be able to drive safely at speed. Of course I already knew how to drive. I was a "good driver" much better than most, etc, etc. 

PCA Driver Ed begins with several hours of classroom study. Track rules, safety, and some car control skills- braking, steering, throttle control. Yeah, yeah, whatever let's go!    

Then at the track they put you in your car with an instructor and you head out onto the track driving so freaking slow, actually normal freeway driving speed but it seems slow because, race track. So we play follow the leader with the instructor pointing out cones. Braking cones, turn-in cone, apex cone, track out cone. Each turn is numbered 1 thru 9, and there's turn worker stations, and they have flags, and you need to be watching and know what they mean, because you screw up and that is it your day is done. One full 20 min session, all the excitement of a tour bus.  

Bear with me. There's a connection here. Trust me. 

It goes on like this all day until finally we are signed off to drive solo but then there is an accident, flat bed, that's it for the day. 

Next time out I am so super confident instead of novice I sign up for Intermediate. Same cars, only the Intermediate drivers are supposed to somehow be better. Whatever.   

So out I go and Holy Crap everyone is passing me! I am driving as fast as I possibly can and being passed by everyone! Not only that, if you have ever driven as fast as you possibly can then you know this means braking as late as you possibly can, cornering as fast as you can, all of it. Which without fear of police is pretty damn fast! So fast I am not at all used to it, and so by the end of 20 min am literally sweating and exhausted!  

But I keep at it. Turns out all that classroom talk is about driving skills that are absolutely essential, not only to know but to be able to do. Threshold braking is braking right at the edge of lockup. Right at the very edge. Those cones are there for reference, to help you delay braking as long as possible. The turn-in cones are where you start turning, apex cone where you are right at the inside edge of the turn, track-out where you come out the other side. Do all this while at the very limit of traction and you are going very fast indeed. Without- and this is the essential part- without really trying to go fast.  

Learn the skills, practice the techniques until you are able to execute smoothly, efficiently, and consistently, and you will be fast. Without ever really trying to go fast.   

The connection here is, everyone thinks they hear just fine. Just like they think they drive just fine. In the classroom they talk about threshold braking, the late apex line, and controlling weight transfer with throttle. Just like here we talk about grain, glare, imaging and sound stage.   

I left one part out. All the track rats, they all start out talking about horsepower, springs and spoilers, thinking these are what makes the car fast. They are, sort of. But really it is the driver. By the time I was an instructor myself it was easy to go out with those same Intermediate drivers and it was like the commute to work it was so easy. My car was the same. Only my skills were greater.  

So when are people gonna wake up and realize listening is just like this? Nobody expects to become a really good golfer, tennis player or rock climber just by going out and doing it. Why are so many stuck talking watts? When are they gonna realize that is just like track rats talking hp?


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Showing 13 responses by tomic601

Even Olympic athletes need a coach… 

btw it’s perfect practice makes perfect, the best athletes can practice in the mind. I have shot many perfect tens in free pistol, solely within my mind

but I am humble enough to know I need a coach or Sensei. In the change business the saying is: even the change agent, needs a change agent.The mighty James Taylor has a vocal coach, John Hiatt uses an APP

@barts what a wonderful thing you have going with your son :-)))

the book Getting Better Sound by Jim Smith is an excellent source of ideas. 



did the kid lap ya in the Lotus ?

My solo 2 buddy, national champion gave me my first taste of what a Lotus in capable hands can do….intoxicating….
@whart the big concert piano are brutal to get even close to right from many perspectives
Impact, bloom, image height, scale and size, shimmer, felt, steps,

all with maybe 3 microphones, more just muck it up worse….


@streamerdude nailed it, like you immensely already. Most of the P car club are Ferrari haters, drive by with the 12 howling and you can live “ rent free “….. for ever….

what a hoot

drive on !
My real audio soul mate and sensei spends a lot of time with Joe Harley ( see Tone Poet, Blue Note, Audioquest Records ) . Your point Bill about Holt is well taken. They push each other while enjoying each other, the journey and the music.
best to you Bill, I always enjoy your writing, musings and the Reggae 
All I wanna do is bang on de drum  all day “
Todd R

start there, make them work way thru microphone selection…with serious discussion about WHY

EQ , gain at various places in the chain. Etc

to get to us, most already have tools, a home studio, and a ( self ) producer mindset…

I am the simple stereo pair dude, so I fade to black …. But it comes in handy later
@whart I got schooled by HH at Mid Ohio in the rain….

clearly the emotional connection is maximized with a system that gets ( or is it Getz ? ) out of the way.

During the pandemic the recording studio we help support trained some 12 engineers and producers to become… better listeners..,

Pay it forward, lots of this sort of stuff on Patreon
track day ain’t racing but it did take enough edge off the X-50 Turbo to stay away from felony speeding.. In my youth, there was racing. There, HP and everything else matters including your relationship and mutual respect for crew.