From Gross to Subtle

The phrase from gross to subtle is one I learned from Taiji. But it is actually a generally applicable idea.

When Learning Sound Design and Mixing

• It is easier to hear a 12dB boost than a 1dB boost.
• It is easier to hear a large change in a parameter than a small change.

To learn to hear things, you must start at a point where you can hear things. You have to make things as brutally different as necessary in order to make them perceptible to you. Thus start with the gross. Then once we know what e.g. a 12dB boost in the 3k region sounds like, and how it sounds different than a 12dB boost at 1k. We can start to make smaller changes: e.g. a 6dB boost at 3k vs a 6dB boost at 2k; or a 6dB boost at 3k vs a 3dB boost at 3k. (I'm just using EQ as an example here.) When studying saturation and distortion effects, it is a good idea to first crank things up way higher than they need to be in order to hear the character of the saturation or distortion, and then turn down. In the case of reverb, I've often read the advice that you should turn the wet level up until the reverb is obvious, and then turn it down just enough so that it is no longer obvious.

Whether the parameter is a knob on your EQ or your synth, this general philosophy is the same: first make drastic changes in order to hear what difference they make and, as your ear learns, you can then make more and more subtle changes and get used to hearing the difference they make. But this learning process does not happen overnight. Still, for me, there are tons of things that I simply can't hear that more expert ears seem to be able to.