Introduction
The author has long been in charge of sound design at the Tokyo University of the Arts. The practical critical listening method introduced here was developed during that time for students at the start of the new semester. In their end-of-year reports, students consistently praised this training as an extremely beneficial course.
In the academic realm, there are curricula titled “Aural Training” and “Critical Listening” that are adopted by educational institutions and audio equipment manufacturers. This ear training curriculum was originally developed by European educational institutions to train sound experts known as “Tonmeisters” and ensure sound music production; it is now implemented by educational institutions both domestically and internationally. In Japan, a book (with accompanying CD) titled “Cultivating Sensitivity to Sound” has been published by Ongaku no Tomo-sha, featuring the painstaking work of pioneers such as Mr. Otoichi Kitamura.
It is a theoretical program that is distinctly German in nature.
Here, we introduce practical critical training methods for aspiring mix engineers to enhance their mental auditory perception and analysis skills. Unlike text or video, sound is a medium that cannot be paused or played in slow motion to examine details. Therefore, this training improves your ability to instantly recognize and analyze the real-time flow of sound, understand how specific sounds are used to construct the overall work, and discern the purpose behind complex sound design—such as the interplay of dialogue, music, sound effects, and Foley in film soundtracks. You will be able to take a bird’s-eye view of the overall flow and the role of individual sounds, moving beyond the myopic perceptions often attributed to Japanese people—such as “failing to see the forest for the trees” or “being skilled in combat but lacking an understanding of the overall system.”
1. Critical Listening to Improve Analytical Skills
Our ears are, in a sense, very capricious sensory organs. No one can verify whether everyone perceives the sound information emanating from the outside world as the exact same “sound.” As those involved in audio production and playback likely experience on a daily basis, from the perspective of someone on the production side like myself, the following scenario is a common occurrence in the studio.
Just how varied the comments on the balance of the FINAL MIX are among those involved, depending on their perspective…
*Some focus on the vocals or dialogue,
*Some focus on the continuity of background sounds,
*Some focus on specific instruments in the music,
*Some focus on the contrast during scene transitions,
*Some focus on how well the composition is structured to sell…
The reason for this is that the sound reproduced in each person’s mind differs depending on what they were focusing on while listening.
The area of the brain known as the “auditory-visual field” performs a kind of internal ‘mixing’ based on the parts the person wants to focus on, and then manifests the result as “sound.” This “intellectual mixing” is far more complex than the way we use mixing tools to blend sounds.
It is precisely for this reason that training is necessary to grasp, analyze, produce, and appreciate “objective sound.”
Since anyone can use this method, I recommend giving it a try whenever you have some free time. Below, I will outline a step-by-step critical listening method.
2. Procedure for Critical Listening Training
● Use short commercials (15–30 seconds) as material
Since your brain isn’t yet accustomed to listening to complex soundscapes, start with short pieces. Then, use the chart below to record how the audio elements—dialogue, sound effects, and music—are structured. You may use whatever notation works best for you.
Play this 10 times, record your findings, and analyze where each sound element was placed. Once your ears have become accustomed to distinguishing all the sounds instantly, move on to a slightly longer piece and perform the same exercise.
● Conducted using games, teasers, or trailers lasting about 3 minutes
The method remains the same, but this allows for analysis of slightly longer pieces.
● Conducted using music
Starting with a quartet—a relatively simple ensemble—we gradually progress to larger-scale arrangements, ranging from classical orchestras to large-scale pop music featuring strings, brass, and a rhythm section. In this case, the components consist of instrumental sounds, vocals, and choruses, so you’ll note down where each element is played. If you have the time, further improving your skills involves distinguishing where each instrument is positioned and assessing the sense of distance between them. Since music-based training involves more consistent patterns compared to film sound, your analytical skills will improve relatively easily.
● Using Film Sound
For the final exercise, select a climactic scene from a film—where dialogue, music, and sound effects are intricately interwoven—and analyze that segment by playing it back about 10 times for roughly 5 minutes. When choosing a film, I recommend selecting one of your favorites from the Best Sound category of the annual Academy Awards. The Best Sound category is divided into the Best Sound Mixing award, which recognizes contributions to mixing, and the Best Sound Editing award, which recognizes contributions to sound design. I believe that selecting a film from the Best Sound Editing winners will allow you to analyze complex sound compositions. If you have the right setup, I also recommend playing back 5.1-channel surround sound or recent Dolby Atmos 11.1-channel audio sources. The reason is that as the number of playback channels increases, your cognitive ability improves significantly.
This critical listening training is characterized by its practicality—the ability to instantly distinguish sounds composed within actual works—as opposed to training that uses pure tones. If you practice this training for about a month, your ability to discern sounds will improve significantly.
As a result, your ability to instantly identify the “sound design structure” will improve, whether you’re mixing your own work or listening to your favorite pieces.
With just a few minutes of daily training, the entire information transmission pathway—from the outer ear to the middle ear, eardrum, cochlea, auditory nerve, auditory cortex, and finally to sound perception—is sharpened, enabling information to be transmitted and reproduced instantly and without loss.
● How to Maintain Your Skills in Daily Life
After completing these ear training exercises, you can maintain your skills by regularly taking about a minute to “listen intently” in your daily life.
Listen carefully to sounds at moderate volumes—such as those at train stations, bus stops, parks, during walks, on school grounds, while hiking, or during intermissions at concerts—to enhance your concentration. This helps maintain the “cleaning” effect on your auditory information transmission pathway.
*PS—A Side Note
People living in the deserts of Africa or the vast plains of Mongolia can see movement from over a kilometer away. It can be said that the survival instincts developed from living on such vast expanses of land have significantly enhanced their eyesight. In today’s lifestyle, which relies heavily on computers and smartphones, we spend long periods focusing on objects at a distance of about 30 centimeters, causing our eyesight to deteriorate significantly. Similarly, urban dwellers exposed to high levels of environmental noise are experiencing a gradual increase in their auditory recognition threshold year after year... in other words, they are developing a tendency toward noise-induced hearing loss.
Speaking from my own experience, I was mixing at a resort studio in the highlands. On the day I arrived, the volume of the monitor speakers—which I thought was an appropriate playback level—measured 70 dB/ch on the SPL meter. After sleeping in an environment with nothing but the wind and birdsong, I played it back the next morning and found it sounded very loud, so I reset the playback level to match my initial perception. When I measured this with an SPL meter, I was surprised to find it was a full 10 dB lower at 60 dB/ch (measured using pink noise at -18 dB, C-weighted, slow response).
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