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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 5 responses by whart

whart's avatar
whart
2,972 posts
 
I’m going to disagree, not on cars, but on audio. ( I had track time with Hurley Haywood in a CGT when Porsche couldn’t get rid of them; fun, and have lots of car stories but that’s not the point).

I want somebody who is not a hi-fi listener to find listening to reproduced music to sound as real and lifelike to them as I’m capable of making it, within my knowledge, budget and resources. Some have a music background; others don’t, but nonetheless love music. I want to realize the same thing when I listen-- to forget there is machinery at work and get taken in by the composition, the performance (and hopefully) a good recording.
I think we as audiophiles have a tendency to "geek" and assign great importance to small things-- not that they aren’t important, but being "educated" as a hi-fi listener can actually lead you astray. How many times did you hear the same tired tripe from Harry’s list in demonstrations?
We audiophiles as a group are very siloed into different approaches-- that’s not unhealthy, but it makes for discussions at cross-purposes (like a Tower of Babel) when most of the time, our ultimate goal is probably the same-- more realism within whatever constraints exist.
Getting people out their comfort zone musically is not easy and does require exposure and self-education. At a certain point, the gear is simply the vehicle, and to borrow from your car analogy, much is up to the skill and stamina of the driver and the capability of support team, not the car itself.

whart's avatar
whart
2,972 posts
 
@tomic601 - much of what I learned was through a shared experience. It is good to have a guide, or soul-mate with whom you can share and learn. The real beauty of this hobby/pursuit is to advance one's understanding and share that with others. There is so much we don't know, leave aside the "why" of the technical stuff, the music alone is enough to keep one occupied full time. 
We are, as a group, however disparate in taste or predilections, so fortunate to have the time and opportunity to experience reproduced sound at a high level. Without getting all cosmic about it, we are graced to enjoy this pursuit. Live every day as if it is your last. (Except when driving). :)
whart's avatar
whart
2,972 posts
 
@tomic601 - my bet is, you weren't teaching budding engineers how to listen in a technical, engineering sense so much as to ask the question whether X recording v Y recording sounds more like a real trumpet, no?
As to "vocabulary" JGH did us a service many years ago by defining the terminology, but it is still applied subjectively. One man's "clarity" is another's "analytical, too clinical." I'd rather listen with somebody who knows the sound of real instruments than hi-fi rigamarole. 
whart's avatar
whart
2,972 posts
 
@wokeuptobose said: "The challenge at my develpomental listening stage is to unpack what I am hearing and what is missing compared to each other, and to a sunjective benchmark in my mind of what that piece of music should sound like."
If your experience is anything like mine, comparing equipment, different pressings, or vacuum tubes, unless something is downright awful, the outcome, for me, is often mixed; that is, unit A will have certain strengths and weaknesses, and unit B will have a different set of compromises. The trick in my estimation is to match these strengths and weaknesses in a complementary way. Easier said than done.
As for listening skills related to music (as opposed to the failure to comprehend oral discourse), I am of the view that it does not take golden ears. Exposure is the key--- to real instruments, to the various ways they are presented in a recording, and ultimately, to how effectively that recording presents an illusion of real instruments in your room. 
Granted, every instrument (at least pianos) sound different from each other, but if you know what a concert grand is capable of doing live, you realize how hard it is to replicate the gravitas of the real instrument, and its ambience-- the harmonics and their decay after that initial hammer strike. 
I listen to a fair amount of hard rock, but rarely use that to assess gear or ancillaries. 
I do not think you need musical training to hear and appreciate all of this (I have such training, but it bears little relationship to the role of the listener --as opposed to say a recordist or mixer).
whart's avatar
whart
2,972 posts
 
@streamerdude-- in my experience (I'm not an MD, let alone a psychiatrist), I always thought shrinks were a little "nuts" themselves and perhaps that's what drew them into the field. Let's talk about "classic Ferraris" through private messaging. I don't want to divert from the thread topic. BTW, welcome to Audiogon.
Bill Hart
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