The Ear as an Acoustical Test Measurement Instrument

The human auditory system is a remarkable sensory system, capable of observations and discrimination that equal or exceed all but the most elaborate  testing equipment we use to measure sound. Therefore, it is actually possible  for us to use our hearing as a quite powerful test instrument all by itself,  once we figure out how to recognize and describe physically what it is we are hearing. The ability to accurately describe the physical nature of what we are hearing is a primary objective of the Golden Ears Drills.

Ear Training and Learning

There is also a higher-level "Zen of learning" aspect to all ear-training. Musical sound is generally perceived in the right hemisphere of the brain as "spatial" or holistic patterns, and as such is not generally available to the  "verbal" left brain for conscious verbalized description. This is part of the  difficulty with ear-training. Although the actual act of perception is fairly easy, it exists in a realm of our consciousness that doesn't have words available to it.

Learning to recognize and describe what you hear is, by itself, great  exercise for your brain, helping it to more effectively integrate your holistic  perceptions with your ability to express things through speech. It may not make  you any "smarter" (whatever that means), but it will sure make you appear to be smarter!

Being Able to Speak Accurately About What You Hear

As you become fluent at Golden Ears drills you will be able to easily note many things about a recording, quickly and apparently effortlessly. This skill is priceless in audio production work. The clumsy, inarticulate conversation that takes place among musicians, engineers and producers, such as "Can you,  like, make, the guitar a little fluffier, y'know what I mean?" seriously confuses everybody in the control room. "It would really help if you could give  me 3 dB boost at 600 Hz. and about 2 dB of cut at 2.5 kHz. on the guitar track"  works a whole lot better!

And that’s what Golden Ears is about. You will be able to "hear through" your  recordings much more completely, and you will be able to talk about them a lot more clearly. You will find that it really helps you make better recordings.