Personal Sounds, Ear Changes

[Graham UK]

All the keyboards I have owned can sound good or not good on different days.
There are so many personal factors to take into account.
Some days my keyboard appears to not like what I'm listening to on that particular day.
This can be a problem balancing a style which may sound fine but the following day I may say to myself why did I adjust the balance like that ?
I assume I'm not on my own with this subject .

[adrianed]

One thing I do believe is that we should not set the keyboard to our faulty ears, it should be set up only to Good ears, or ears corrected by hearing aides
The above does not apply if only you yourself listens to your playing
Imagine what other folks will hear if you set the sound to your faulty ears
If I took my hearing aides out and then set the keyboard other folks would hear far too much top note sound and much more volume
Adrian

[YammyFan]

I am fascinated by this subject. I have never owned hearing aids until about 12 months ago. They are wonderful for hearing female voices. [I have apparently lost my higher frequencies]  But, I have discovered to my dismay, that my favorite CD's sound terrible when I am wearing my hearing aids. Yet,  they sound wonderful  when I take them off. Also I discovered that when I play my Yamaha PSR 970 using Styles which sound great to my naked ears, sound terrible with  my hearing aids in.
I have been told that,  given time, my brain will adjust, but I don't think that I want it to adjust. Perhaps, I should save up and purchase  some hearing aids which can be set for listening to instrumental music. I have posted on this Forum[and also on the Tierce de Picarde  Forum }on this subject . Just type the Search Box "Hearing Aids

[Graham UK]

My hearing is very good so don't require hearing aids.
Most of my working life was in Sound & Audio.
(Can't believe I was paid for doing work I loved) My ears have had the advantage of years of high quality sound, this can be a disadvantage as my hearing can be over critical.

My article was not a complaint just a observation about how your hearing can change from day to day.

[ton37]

Interesting topic. Indeed, the acuity of our senses does not change just from day to day, but over time. In any case, they don't get better, rather worse (at moment X).
And don't forget that, as long as we don't communicate physically, there are 'countless variables' (technical and emotional) that influence the sound through digital sound transmission.
Allow me to zoom in on 'having a faulty hearing' then there are 2 dimensions in my opinion to pay attention to.
A. how does it sound in YOUR hearing.. (that's a personal taste)
If it concerns YOUR hearing: you can determine how you hear the sound as well as possible.

• A1. with your hearing aid in (setting the hearing aid)
  A2. without a hearing aid but use the EQ of your sound system or keyboard
  A3. without hearing aid but with headphones (setting).

B. how does the sound sound to SOMEONE ELSE (that should be some sort of average technical standard)

If you have poorer hearing and change settings to make it sound better for yourself, you will experience a problem that others will not like this 'personalized' sound. (usually too sharp or too much bass?).
Then the problem arises to record a song with a sound setting that is good for the average listener.
That then becomes a (technical) challenge to realize that.

[adrianed]

Hi folks,
To add to my comments about setting up a keyboard with faulty ears, the way I do it is to listen to the television which I assume is sounding ok to others
Adjust my hearing aid so that the tv sounds ok to me, then I assume my hearing aids have brought my hearing to normal whilst wearing them
After that I feel I can adjust or play the keyboard
Nothing is perfect we just have do our best
Adrian

[Graham UK]

My initial article never mentioned hearing aids but regardless if additional aids have to be worn the fact is all of us our hearing can change from day to day.
Not a criticism, the average person possibly would not notice these changes if they had not had the experience of years of listening to high quality sounds continually.
When I was involved in developing a new speaker. At weekends I would take a pair home for my wife to give her opinion, with no input from me until we discuss her comments, because most females have better hearing than us males.

[soundphase]

I also have this feeling (not hearing the same thing from day to day).

I read some interesting equalization tips in mastering books.
One of them was: if you think the equalization level is too low for a frequency band, and you have to change it (for example) from a value of "2" to a value of "8", put it at "5" . 

That means for me that when we spend time to listen to a frequency band and focus on issues, it's not the same for us as to listen to the global result in a normal condition. 

[pjd]

Got to agree. I think this is a justification for re-visiting a mix over several days and using reference mixes.

Ear fatigue is whole 'nother matter. There are times when I must stop and walk away. You know you're in trouble when it's tempting to crank the level or EQ more than a few dB.

Best to everyone -- pj

[Duffy]

My initial article never mentioned hearing aids but regardless if additional aids have to be worn the fact is all of us our hearing can change from day to day.
Not a criticism, the average person possibly would not notice these changes if they had not had the experience of years of listening to high quality sounds continually.
When I was involved in developing a new speaker. At weekends I would take a pair home for my wife to give her opinion, with no input from me until we discuss her comments, because most females have better hearing than us males.

This is so true Graham,
I have noticed for many years now, how I have worked to set up for a new song or style and come away from the session feeling extremely pleased with the result.
Going back to that setting at a later date, I have often wondered why I was so satisfied because there is much to improve still.
As I could probably be described as a perfectionist, I used to find this extremely annoying and It took some time to realise that this has always been the case with every keyboard I have owned.
Although I became certain that either my hearing or the way my brain translated it, was not a constant and varied from day to day, I did often wonder whether that affected just myself,
or whether others  noticed this same variation in what they considered an ideal sound.
I would not have put it into writing for others in case they thought I was a bit weird but fortunately, you Graham, have had the courage to voice exactly what I have always thought.
I am partially deaf (it runs in our family) and use hearing aids for special occasions but, in normal life I don't like to wear them because I prefer to live in a quiet world.
I have never worn aids when playing my keyboards but always play using headphones when at home.
Although it has nothing to do with hearing, I used to be a keen runner and was always aware that some days, it was so easy to do a good speed over quite a long distance and,
on other days, covering the same run in the same time, was equivalent to an Olympic challenge, leaving me shattered, when I had been as fresh as a daisy previously.
It would be interesting to hear an audiologist's view on our hearing variations from day to day.
After all these years, I can still feel annoyed when I feel disappointed in my own work and  know it's down to this strange phenomena in my hearing.
Thanks for raising the subject Graham   

[Graham UK]

Duffy. Thank you, your reply is much appreciated.
Nice to know we are on the same page.

[DrakeM]

I too find that going back and listening to a newly setup style requires several days of listening to it are required to get it perfect.

It is just a part of the process that has to be done to get it correct.

I have had my ears checked within the last 2 years and they are surprisingly fine per the tech that tested me.