The reading I will be responding to is the first chapter of “Audio in Media” by Stanley Alten. As someone who absolutely does not have a science background, this was really interesting just to see how the ear actually fundamentally works. It’s not just a thing we’re able to do, but is instead a physical bodily function and I loved how the chapter broke that down step by step. It was somewhat liberating to see all of this more artistic talk about reverb and tone and pitch be explained in terms of actual scientific diagrams, since it made the process of those more artistic terms and concepts seem more down-to-earth and tangible. I really appreciated reading and understanding it.
It was also really interesting yet obvious to understand that everyone hears the same sounds in completely different ways. For me, that is definitely the case since I have been unable to hear the upper register in my left ear for my entire life. It was something that I thought was normal for everyone until I got it checked out a couple years ago and looked at a scientific diagram similar to the ones in this chapter that showed the definite spike down to -14,000 Hz of hearing capability halfway through my left ear’s capabilities. I have definitely been able to make up for this loss with my right ear so much so that I don’t really notice the difference unless someone is trying to whisper in my left ear or I have headphones in and there are specific instruments playing exclusively on the left side of the mix.
This is all to say that I appreciated the blunt matter-of-factness of the chapter’s assertions that sound can be heard differently by everyone since it certainly applies to me, and I hope to be conscious of that fact as I continue to mix and produce tracks in this class.