Hi everyone, Dennis Foley from Acoustic Fields. Today we're gonna talk about stop and listen.
I know in our lives today we've got a lot of audio and video dialogue. We have, and this
is internal, we have video screens constantly flashing before us, thoughts and ideas that
we have about work, people that we know, you know, friends, relatives, all kinds of things.
And then we've got the audio that goes with it.
It can be pretty consuming and then add, you know, a large company on top of that and work
for people. And life could get, you know, pretty complicated. And then, you know, the political
climates, wars now again, you know, nothing ever seems to change. I've been around 70 plus
years and we take brief timeouts, but nothing really changes. More wars. I don't understand
it. Good luck to you young people, you're the ones that have to deal with it. So, if we can
get rid of the audio, get rid of the video, it's not easy, I understand, but get your own
room, it sure becomes a lot easier. Cease all your hunger and thirst requirements, I do this
every day in my room. It's almost like a religion. just you and time, you know, and then press
the play button. And you should be able to do a lot of things in that room. You know, you
should be able to do a lot of things. Hearing is just an acknowledgement of a source, of
a sound source, but listening is real understanding. You know, it's that connection that you have
in the first row with the musician who's playing acoustic guitar. It's that connection that
you have with your speakers and your system that put you in a different place. And that's
a great place to be, you know, stop and listen. You want to be there. It's uh, listening is
more emotional. How about guitar breaks? I mean, I'm a big electric guitar fan, and I just love
when a guitarist starts a guitar break, which he's gonna do on his own, and then does the
break, and then does the ending. He walks out, so he kinda walks in, and he walks out. And
for that brief moment in time, I can kinda like be where he is. I kinda understand the mindset.
I can't play the instrument. But I understand what he's going through to produce the sound.
You know, it's understanding. And I think that's really important. And it doesn't come easy.
You have to really work hard for it. Listen for all the instruments first. Make sure you
hear all the instruments. You're watching them if it's a video screen. You're watching. a
performance, you should be able to tell what the instruments are. If you're not and not
seeing a video screen, then start listening deeper. You should be able to pick out all
the instruments first and foremost. Make sure they sound like instruments. Does the kick
drum sound like a kick? Does the snare sound like a snare? Does a rim shot sound like a
rim shot? That's the fundamental. Can you hear all orders of harmonics? First, second, third,
fourth. Four is almost a minimum that I require. And our rooms do that with a combination of
our carbon and foam. Is everything live and die on its own volition? Or does the room get
in the way? Does the room sneak in there at 40 Hertz and blow it up? Or attenuated to the
point I don't hear anything. Or 50 Hertz for a kick drum. Too much? Not enough. The snare
sounds flat. Okay. Too much. So you have to listen for all these things. These are the
important things to listen for. And if you want to improve it, you gotta get the resolution
of the room to equal the resolution of our gear today. We're so far behind in our rooms in
terms of resolution. Gear is like, if we're running a marathon, gear is like on mile 20
and we're on mile three. So there's a big gap there, but we're coming along and we're improving
it dramatically, but. All these things are possible today. So really, stop and listen. It's important.
Hope this helps. Thank you.
usually get a chance every couple days to look at it. There's an interchange between people
on the forum and we'll give you real answers on a regular basis so that'll help you. Thank
you.