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Issue - Unbalanced Ears


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Dear poeple,

 

I'm new on this forum so i want to introduce my self. I'm Abishanth and 17 years old and currently living in The Netherlands. I have some troubles with my ears. When i'm listening to music i can't hear the high frequenties 10khz to 16khz properly on my left ear. I tried listening with my headphones turned, but still the problem existed. The issiue started when someone punched me with both hands on my ears. I heard a anoying beep for like 1 day in my ears and it bothered me a lot. So my question is. How can i solve the problem of my unbalanced ears? and does this bring issiue when mixing?

 

I hope someone can help and give me some advice ;)

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although this is not the right forum, I will guess that you have damage either to the eardrum or the bones in your ear, and you should see an otologist about this, not ask a bunch of musicians.

It will definitely alter how you perceive music, but you shouldn't mix with headphones, you should use reference monitors.

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Hey daddy! Today i visited a otologist in my city where they tested my ears. The result was positive my left- ear drum was undamaged and both of my ears were in good condition. Currently i'm just a arranger and want to take it to the next level with 'Fresh Ears'. So I think it will succeed with my ears and future mix. I hope i informed you enough ;)

 

edit: I posted a small graph of my ears which is provided by the otologist (Rechts = Right and Links = Left).

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The graph rolls off at 8Khz which is fine for voice tones. As people age its the high frequencies 8~20K that diminish with time.

I been a musician for over 48 years and have quite a bit of hearing loss for loud drummers crashing cymbals in my ears. It does cause some issues with getting a balanced mix in a studio but I get around it by switching channels and mono compatibility checks to get mixes right.

 

Since you used headphones I'd guess one of the headphone elements is weak. This is typical with cheap headphones. The wire that comes into one side is longer going over to the second element which can remove some presence especially with the thin wire used. Any headphones under $100 probably haven't got closely matching elements in the first place. If your goal is to mix music, you don't use headphones anyway. They are mainly used for tracking and maybe checking stereo balance. For mixing you must use studio grade Monitors.

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Grafiek1.jpg

 

Any reason why the graph stops at 8 KHz? Human hearing - at least in normal ears as young as yours - should be able to hear up to 20 KHz.

WRGKMC is quite right about the effects of age - I'm over 60 and can no longer hear anything higher than 9K in either ear. I have no real problem with music (I still play and record, and haven't noticed any desire to turn up the treble frequencies) - it's conversation that becomes trickier because "S" sounds become less distinct, and start sounding like "th".

But at 17 you shouldn't be experiencing any deterioration at all.

Of course, if the test said your ears are fine, I'm sure they are. Just try to avoid people punching you in your ears in future...

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If your goal is to mix music' date=' you don't use headphones anyway. They are mainly used for tracking and maybe checking stereo balance. For mixing you must use studio grade Monitors.[/quote'] That's what I told him in post #2.... ;)

 

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Allright i understand it. I'm looking to buy good studio-monitors this year and gonna stop using headphones for mixing, but i don't know about the graph stopping at 8000hz, maybe its intended for poeple with a age of 50 or more. By the way the advice and experience of you guys helped me to get me more self-confidence, I am you guys surely grateful for that ;)

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Yes you can buy decent studio monitors now for very inexpensive costs.

I picked up a set of these M-Audio BX5's about a year ago for $200 when they were on sale and the sound quality is quite incredible.

I see they have them on sale again here. http://www.zzounds.com/item--MDOBX5D2

 

 

Trick is, some instruments should/can me mixed to mono center like the kick, Vocals and Bass. you should have an equal amount of

power coming from both speakers that way. The monitors have volume pots on the back and you adjust the level so you hear equal volume from both

with the monitors at ear level when you sit. Anything you listen to through them will sound very realistic and three dimensional.

Then when you pan something center it will appear like the sound is "between and outside" the two speakers, not buried inside of them.

 

The rule of thumb is you get everything to sound good in mono, and then when you do pan things left and right they will still sound even better.

If you take a stereo mix, make it mono, and you have instruments disappear, you have something called frequency masking.

This is two instruments trying to use the same frequencies and one gets covered up by the other. The trick is isolating each instruments frequency range

within the mix so it doesn't mask other instruments. Then you can use time based effects like reverb chorus and echo to give them depth front an rear.

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