WOW!!! It's been an insanely long road to reach this point. I know I typically am not vocal on SoundGym, but I wanted to take the time to speak about my experience to this point on here.
I'm an aspiring Hip/Hop Artist(25 yo) who's been mixing for about 4-5 years now. I've been making music for about the same time. I wanted to learn to take the specific sounds in my head and learn how to do it myself so I can communicate to more seasoned engineers that I work with along the way on my musical journey how to replicate it on a higher scale.
SoundGym was mentioned to me by a friend and I fell in love with everything that SoundGym had to offer. Everything that I was wanting to learn(Ear Training, Advice from masters, music basics, hardware basics) were all here.
My 1st goal on SoundGym was to be in the top 98% of all users on the site. My goal wasn't to be a better mixer/engineer than them, but to accel my ear to the same level as the pros.
For the first month and half it was relatively easy. Once I got to the 40% range is when things got difficult. At some point, I kept losing game after game & I believed that I wasn't trying hard enough. I was relentlessly beating myself up & stayed up for hours constantly playing the same game over & over again until I won.
You guys may wonder why I strained myself so much in such a short time. My overall goal as an artist is to be the best & most impactful hip/hop artist to have ever lived. As most of you know, to be able to have any realistic shot at a goal this large, you must blow up young.
I watched a lot of videos of engineers masters spending decades mastering their craft, but I knew I didn't have that long. I had to get it NOW or it'll be too late. So I put my mind under the impression that I was under a time crunch & I had to be the best I could possibly could be each day.
So everyday I devoted an hour of ear training right before bed. After nonstop head banging, my ears were finally starting to develop & I heard subtle changes to frequencies with ease. The games weren't getting easier however, I was simply getting better. I was so deep into the ear training, that it was to the point my mind was racing less & my ears began to pick up more of the slack. Before I knew it, I was at the top 98% within 4-5 months of being on SoundGym. Although I had prior experience with mixing work & terminology, it was my drive that truly carried me forward.
My next goal was to watch all the learning programs & boy was that tedious. I have to say, out of all the fields to learn, music mixing/mastering is one of the most difficult fields to grasp on so please do not be discouraged if you don't get it right away. This is a field that is meant to be mastered through decades of work like a Kung Fu Master.
To those of you who may be struggling in Ear Training, it's ok to take a step back & try again next time. My road to success here was shortened because I failed faster than the rest. If you wish to stretch your learning out, please do so! That's what this is for. I never believed I would be able to detect frequencies to this degree let alone be making music, let alone to have one of my tracks be #1 on the SoundGym Charts for over a MONTH! Don't let your shortcomings stop you from achieving your goals. Simply get back up & learn from it.
As for me, My time here is over. It's time for me to take everything that I've learned here these past 7 months & apply them to my music career. Thank you so much everyone who has cheered me on & and all the other people who have shared their thoughts on how tough it was for them. You guys are all inspiring & will make great engineers one day.
This will be my final month with SoundGym before ending my subscription. If you guys wish to continue to see how my journey as a Hip/Hop Artist grows, I've put all my socials on my profile. I will never forget all the things I've learned here.
Thank you SoundGym for harboring such a great community for people like myself to have a chance to succeed in the music industry. Good luck to you all & never stop dreaming.
Initially, I had minor issues with ear training exercises because I would default to my visual side more. Even though I was improving on these exercises, I soon realized that I would reference the visual aspect first and begin to anchor to it, therefore relying on that more heavily over what I heard. Recognizing this flaw, I quickly pivoted. Why? Even though we're talking about milliseconds and seconds with screen and audio transitions, this can negatively condition anyone to rely on the visual sense first and not optimally connect their hearing sense as strongly. Ear training is neither visual nor should it be from the starting point. It should always be what we hear first if we can control it. The caveat with all the exercises is that they introduce visuals first or simultaneously with the visual part— not in tandem, as it should be. Instead of reporting or complaining about this minor issue, I close my eyes once I click Start. Take a moment to listen, then look. It will only help if you haven't tapped into this subtlety. And it can significantly impact the development of what you hear, either negatively or positively— it's up to you.
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