Back in high school and college, I would put an album on my nice Sony PS-X500 turntable and have it decently loud through my Klipsch speakers (Harman-Kardon receiver back in the day) and sit in the middle and read the liner notes and lyrics. Those were the days.
The Album tip is the most important...people forget about albums,and the feeling of hearing albums like movies or stories... whenever i write music i think of an album,not a song
Albums are kinda dead, times have changed, people don't have the time and attention span. Are you aware that you're competing with tiktok and Netflix and all the other media out there? For most people, you got 10 seconds do sound good, or you're out. We may not like it,but it's the truth.
@@Octwavian im pretty aware of it...even its impacting me as an album lover, but sometimes you have to force yourself to sit down,just to be rewarded but what you are missing,im again on albums
A man after my own heart. I couldn't agree with you more especially on proper listening . . .albums rather than quick fix singles and everything else too.
Such a great point about folks listening on their phone speakers, particularly when you’ve spent a lot of time on the mix 😠. And the discussion of skipping around, playing parts of songs akin to watching only certain parts of a movie out of context is a great comparison 👍🏻
Yah, I can't stand when people tell me that a song/mix sounds bad on their smartphone speakers! I'm like, "What did you expect"? It's the same thing with hdtv speakers. 😁
This message is for music lovers and creators in their mid to late 30’s and older. We come from an era where u had to slow down and pay attention to detail. In today‘s technological social media age, being super detailed oriented can cause you more harm than good from a business perspective because people are way to A.D.D now !
I don’t know that I’m concerned with the negative implications of not listening to music the way younger people do. If I’m not enjoying and experiencing something before I try to make it. It’s all for not anyway right?
Since a few years I have started again to buy vinyl-records and though the medium is certainly hyped and I doubt, that it is sounding better then high resolution digital, a vinyl-record is encouraging you to care for a good listening environment (You can not play back a record on your phone). Second it perfectly shows the art of a full album: Artwork, liner notes, lyrics, a consciously chosen song-order with the pause in the middle etc.
One of the most enjoyable things about listening to music when I was younger (pre-digital!!), was sitting down at the stereo with a bunch of LPs, putting an album on and getting completely engrossed in the album cover and (hopefully) liner notes... I'd really look at the artwork carefully (probably why I became a photographer) and then read and re-read the liner notes - where was it recorded? Who engineered it?... What's mastering??? ... who played what? Who wrote this song?... where are the lyrics??? It was a complete audio-visual experience... having something tangible to play and take care of really made you appreciate the medium a lot more... I keep all of my vinyl in zip-lock album sleeves and I have records over 40 years old that are still in mint condition (and I mean MINT condition) .... digital downloads are just cheap and cheerful... it's made music just another disposable commodity.
@@daz4627 I am also from the pre-digital generation (born in 1969) and I made the same great experiences. It seems that the kids today start to rediscover this kind of listening, because the rise of Vinyl is not only driven by older people.
Awesome Great Tip for Listening to the Music and the Art of Listening to Album, Yes very true. Today its gone and people compare a mix on the Mobile phone!
Always love giving the "active listening" treatment to classic albums I know really well but haven't listened to in a while. Some new element always sticks out and gives me a deeper appreciation of how it contributes to the greatness of the song.
Been buying records again for about a year now. And I love to sit and listen to records. But, I sometimes listen to you tube on my recording monitors. Never on computer speakers or phones. This guy has me wondering how many people still own a Home Stereo. Its a shame.
Music is a culture. It represents today's lifestyle. I appreciate your effort, to point towards quality, thought, and real value.. But oops, hold that thought, someone is texting me about the latest single pop song I just stuck on Spotify
Also - sound bars...ugh. They typically have a fuller sound than built-in tv speakers but they aren't "hi-fi" and they aren't surround sound (not matter what voodoo magic they use) and they don't have the good sound stage or the full frequency spectrum represented properly.
Not certain what you mean. I'd say some albums sound very similar throughout =- boring. Others have dramatic differences and continually stir up the interest. I greatly prefer the latter.
To me, music today seems like it's consumed much like fast food, its served and eaten quickly as a passing thought to fulfill a utility then it's quickly forgotten. Like you said, intro's are skipped, and quality speakers are bypassed for the convenience of time mostly. Sadly this seems to be the way of a lot of things in modern society. Music, art, film, literature and food etc, it needs to be experienced/savoured to a degree, to fully understand and enjoy it and appreciate it for what it is.
Times are changing. If you're nostalgic for the good old days when everything was different, then you don't fit in modern society. It is what it is, people don't have the patience, deal with it and work accordingly if you care about your audience. Right?
@@Octwavian I am not necessarily speaking from an artists point of view here, mainly from the view of someone who can be bothered to take the time to appreciate these things on a deeper level. I have never given much care about fitting into society, be it old or modern. Just because things have changed doesn't mean they wont change again and complacency is something that's never sat right with me. If the majority wants to experience these things on a superficial that's their loss, not mine.
@@8bitheroes86 I agree. Call me old fashioned, dinosaur or whatever. I’m from the era when music was released to radio at a seemingly much slower pace. When I bought record albums instead of 45 rpm singles. Then I proceeded to run a needle thru those records until they almost wouldn’t play anymore. But I guess the more things change the more they stay the same, because this was also an era of when a song going to radio had to be under 2 minutes or they wouldn’t play it.
By the way, playing the song through the cellphone speaker helps to rate the song's 'hitness' potential. If the song sounds catchy even through the cellphone speaker, it's really worthful to work on. If not, that doesn't matter how great will be the arrangement and final mixing, the song won't become a banger.
100%. I love listening to music on my phone speaker because for most tracks, and most genres, it strips away everything but the most important elements of a song. Listening this ways helps me focus on the musical idea in particular and I don’t get distracted by mixing details. But when I want to evaluate or appreciate a mix, I would switch to monitors or headphones obviously.
I listen to music, as i work from home, with a wall in front of to my studio, or behind me from the tv. Always actively listening to the catalogs of my favorite artists and new spotify playlists. Im a B side guy. I think when you listen to the songs that arent just mainstream known(also where they identify you only from and say you aren't relevant anymore) there is so much awesome stuff that doesnt get the spins as the "popular" stuff. It makes you appreciate the artist more and stay with them. With my cover/original band we hardly ever play what people know, but j feel if you get the groove and it speaks to you dont fight it.
Donna Summer's _Once Upon A Time_ is a concept album with a single central narrative whose tracks hold a larger meaning collectively than they do individually. It should be listened from beginning to end sequentially.
So true man. Active listening. I’ve got 2 more Songs to complete my 12 song CD. An undertaking is an understatement! Can’t wait but CANNOT rush them just to finish. Try to make them all GREAT
@@Octwavian trust me.... I know. I’m alittle old school so I’m no so sure I’m into a lot of the modern movement. Lol. So yeah.... for those who still have CD players...here it is. Maybe will do Spotify, iTunes, whatever. Will see
@@dreambeliever3652 no, no, keep it on cds. Scarcity increases the value. I'm joking, of course. If you don't really want to give people access to your music, CDs is the best way to go.
Make your CD. Hopefully someone will appreciate the "album view". I think a lot has been lost in the music world by just streaming individual songs. There is something extra artistic about many albums, including artwork and album notes. And there are certainly albums that are merely an almost rendom collection of songs. But I'm referring to coherent albums, the ones where Chris said he would never listen to it on "shuffle" mode
@@Octwavian for sure. Most of us won’t make enough to scratch the surface of the work involved. IT TAKES EXCRUCIATING WORK. I realize the music industry is getting pirated to death so music or the “ HIT” isn’t the real money maker anymore. It’s fans and live performance if anything. But at least I can say I completed it. I love my songs and hope the other do too. Many will and many won’t say anything because they don’t like it. Lol. But, I’ve never made enough to say it was a profitable journey. And through life’s ups and downs, sickness and health, writing songs and creating everything down to the master, is just such and endeavor and will never fully be appreciated by anyone other than someone who shares this passion.
Thanks for presenting this subject. I just recently start buying vinyl albums again. I grew up in the eighties purchased a used Hi Fi system from Goodwill and a new Turntable.I listened to albums I only had.on CD listening to them in the Hi Fi I hear things I haven't heard before.It is more enjoyable way to listen to music.I forget how enjoyable the vinyl experience was.One of my favorite albums is Arctic Monkeys AM.
Thank you for the great video, it came just in time! 🙌🏻 I’m recording an album atm and really struggling with the track order, even what songs NOT to put on, because they don’t align with the flow. I’ll listen more closely now and hope to resolve it 🤩
I dare say a lot of music out there isn't that interesting nor worth a whole lot of paying attention. But there is plenty of good stuff too, great arrangements, excellent mixing etc
A lot of (HIT) music was made when the primary listening device was an AM radio. As a producer/mixer, sure, listen critically on good monitors. But we can't really demand what listeners use.
I have a collection of connectors and cables to connect almost any phone to a sound system and still someone takes their phone and puts it next to their SM58 mic so all can hear the crappy sound. Thankfully, it usually doesn't last thru the whole song because their arm gets tired from holding the phone up to the microphone.
how can we do this when alot of music is not given this type of attention in the production process... we just get baby boom music alot of the time. Artist just pumping music out like it's a factory standard and then not adding the extra's a real artistic person would do. So much digital too... mehh
2:10 I disagree. Listening to someone's demo song on the phone speaker is actually a good ideea. That's how most people will hear that song for the first time, and if it's a good song, it wil still be good coming from a phone. Listening to someone's mix on the other hand, should not be done on phone speakers. A weak song could have great production and mix, and playing it though good speakers may fool you into thinking it's good, but the phone speaker never lies, because it takes away all the cool sub and width and shimmer, so the song gets stripped of all the glitter, showing it for what it actually is - a good or a bad song.
i think, imo you are wrong. i understand what you are saying and it makes sense. but i think phone speaker essentially shows you what your mix sounds like in Mono (much like a portable bluetooth speaker), and many engineers dont mix their songs with mono compatibility in mind. in those cases yeah the phone would reveal the problems, but the problem with phone speakers is, they dont even play the "full" spectrum of sound frequencies. So you cant make any other decisions in regards to you mix, because any boosting or attenuation you do to the lows and highs, will not sound the same as it would on a better quality sound output. most people these days listen on mono BT speaker, or low impedance headphones, and both of these would be better to reference your song on, because the BT speaker would give you a much better idea of you mix frequency wise (though still mono); and the low impedance simple headphones give you stereo image as well as most of the frequency spectrum. my take on the matter, if you listen to music using your phones speaker, it's simply because you have no better alternative and you shouldn't be expecting a realistic output eitherway
@@MitsurgyS all I'm saying is that if your song sucks on phone speakers, it's a bad song. If it only sounds good on big speakers, maybe you're being fooled by the stereo width and deep bass. I'm talking about songwriting and arranging, not about mixing. Mixing is somewhat easy when you got a well written song, and writing a good song is way more important than the quality of the mix. That's why talented bedroom songwriters get millions of streams with poorly mixed songs. So EVALUATING a song should be done on phone speakers, but the mixing should obviously be done on quality speakers.
@@Octwavian i wanna agree with you because its definitely true for many genres of music. But you are not thinking about, for example, the eletronic music genres, some of them, like the one ive been delving into last years, require you to produce mostly on speaker with sub on a acousticly treated room with a flat response. This genre depends on the feeling the sub bass causes to your body, as it needs to be performed on big speaker venues for dance purposes. When arranging and composing music for trance, you do it with this constant concern in mind, and one can also argue that these days arranging and mixing are often used with the same purpose in mind, avoiding clashing
@@MitsurgyS yes, you're absolutely right. There are genres that NEED the full audio range to be able to function, like most modern bass-centric music, that's why people still buy big speakers or go to festivals to feel the ground shaking @60hz. I was referring to more mainstream song-y music, like pop, rock, etc. These should work to some extent even on limited speakers.
I don't think Chris is saying never to listen on the phone speaker. To me he seems to be saying that he may only get one shot at listening to the song and would therefore like to fully enjoy the range of sound quality and musical nuances that you don't hear on a phone speaker. Chris wants to appreciate the song to the level that it takes a good sound system. I can agree with that. Many other people, my wife for example, honestly wouldn't know the difference between a good or bad sound system. And I also agree that you need to make your song sound as good as possible on a phone for all the reasons you stated.
4:10 this is actually bad advice. People no longer listen to music that way. Why are you stuck on albums when the world has moved on? Is this advice for the future or for the '80s?Only the biggest artist in the world are still getting that kind of attention, that people actually listen to their albums. The upcoming artist should release lots of songs separately and see what's working and what's not, not release a CD 😂 like it's 1998.
Your missing the entire point behind active listening. Obviously the genre is a relative component but striving creatively to produce art in a contextual form is as much the object of the game as creating snack food music for a buck. About the only time I've listened exclusively to a single song or part in the context of an album is when it's just so exceptional or I'm trying to learn it. That goes for any album from the 60's through the present. Look into Adele's beef with Spotify and some broadcast sources over cherry picking her latest album from 11/21. Hope you had enough time to read this entire comment. 😉
@@mikekusche1560 hahaha, good point about taking my time to read the whole comment. I totally agree with what you're saying about the art form and the album being an immersive experience. I grew up listening to albums as well. And I'm sure some people still do it (me included). But I'm talking about the vast majority of people. If you don't care about them and their listening habits, that's OK, but be prepared to see your songs stuck at 47 views on youtube. And if you're happy with that, then it's all good.
@@Octwavian Meh, seems to me if you make great songs that work in an album context, then they will probably also be great as singles. The world may keep moving on, but it doesn't always move in a great direction, sometimes even in a dumbed-down direction. But fortunately the world keeps moving and eventually turns away from the dumbed-down direction.
