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THE ART OF DIGITAL AUDIO RECORDING
accuracy. Very loud listening levels distract in many ways (and dulls hearing as
well), so subtle detail in performance is easily missed during loud playback.
Louder levels for hearing high and low frequencies
Sometimes louder listening levels are necessary. As noted in section 2.5 regarding EQ, equal-loudness contours describe the ways that our ears begin to lose
the ability to hear higher and lower frequencies as overall volume decreases.
We detailed how this explained use of the smile-curve EQ application and the
presence of loudness options on some playback systems. It also explains why we
sometimes need to monitor fairly loudly. If you want to hear detail in very high
or very low-frequency sounds, you need to monitor at a higher level so that
your ear captures the details in the those frequencies. Usually this can be done
for a relatively short period of time, as you fine-tune EQ or do critical level balancing. The ear perceives frequencies at different relative volumes depending
on the overall listening level (this is described by the equal-loudness contours).
To maintain perspective on your recording, you will want to listen at different
levels as part of your working process.
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Loud levels for certain musicians
There are circumstances when the playback level in the control room needs to
satisfy the demands of a performing musician. For example, if you’re recording
electric guitar with the amp isolated but the guitarist in the control room with
you, then the musician is relying on the playback level for his or her performance. This is a different situation from when the playback level serves only
the recording process. In these situations, the musician should be allowed to
control the level (not literally; you’re still operating the knob, but you’re asking
for feedback on the level until you get it where the musician wants it). This does
mean that sometimes the level will be somewhat louder than what you prefer,
and this can cause ear fatigue (or worse), but it may be necessary to the process.
If you know you’re going to be recording something that requires loud playback
(rock guitar is a common example), try to schedule that for later in the day so
you don’t have to do a bunch of sensitive work after having spent a few hours
monitoring loud electric guitar.
While fairly loud monitoring may be appropriate in some circumstances,
it is not appropriate to allow the monitoring volume to get to the uncomfortable level. If the musician keeps asking for it louder, beyond your comfort level,
you can ask the musician to wear headphones so that you don’t have to monitor
that loud. If that doesn’t work, you have the right to say that the musician will
have to find someone else to run the session if he or she wants it that loud—ultimately, you must protect your ears. It rarely comes to that kind of conflict, and
musicians who ask for really loud playback will likely come to their senses if you
suggest that you won’t be able to work at that volume.