Objective Listening... · Mastering.com Members Club

Objective Listening...

... has never been one of my strong points. For a very long time (two decades and over), I've been hooked on the notion of "I don't want my music to sound like everyone else's", largely because everything I heard on the radio seemed to sound the same... to the point where I stopped listening to the radio So when the idea of using reference tracks was put to me about six or seven years ago, I was quite skeptical and chose not to go down that road.

Focussing on the "why" instead of the "what" has now made me realise [with clarity] that it wasn't the case of those songs on the radio sounding the same. They got radio exposure because they all had the same or similar treatment throughout each stage of the production process, making the final product pleasing to the ear.

Focusing on the "why" has also made me realise why I have so many unfinished projects; because I wasn't referencing any of them against anything. I knew what I wanted to hear but I had nothing to 'point' me in that direction.

Today, even though it was part of a lesson (Music Production 101 – Your Greatest Asset), I used a reference track for the first time. It's another liberating experience since I've joined the club... and just that single experience made me also realise it was more arrogance than fear that prevented me from.doing it in the first place.

PS: One of the things I love about objective listening? Sometimes, you don't even need to hear a sound; let your eyes do the listening.

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