You didn’t expect that, did you?

This may not be quite what you would have expected to read about when you subscribed to a music (production) blog, but here it goes! First off, I’ll need to clarify that I have never experienced total silence, since my hearing is functional.

There are constantly sounds within the hearable range that enter my ears. Wind, distant cars passing by, my own breathing, the results of my movements, etc. I can occasionally even hear a very very slight buzzing in my ears at around 15.000 hertz.

So silence in its true sense is something that I’ve never experienced, but I really do appreciate the closest I can get.

Treble attack!

The appreciation of silence seems to be disappearing: People even go for walks in the forest with music in their ears! They walk with ski poles without having skis on their feet, and rush by as if they’re racing someone.

Similarly, it appears as if people have a need to keep their pace up on public transportation systems: Intense music is being blasted through poor quality ear buds, making its way across the carriage as a repulsive cloud of treble.

The sounds of the forest are actually quite nice I’ll have you know, and making yourself available for inquiries or conversations on the bus might actually be a good thing.

Dynamics in music

A frequently discussed topic in music nowadays is dynamics. In the realms of music, dynamics usually refers to the difference between high and low amplitude. A lot of music is squeezed, in order to eliminate peaks, and make the overall sound as loud as possible.

In other words, the «quiet» middle part has almost the same amplitude as the loud main part. This does have its use in some contexts; noisy environments such as cars and parties for example.

From a home listener’s perspective though, it’s a very tiring experience, and is completely wrong from a compositional point of view.

Dynamics in music listening

If you look at dynamics at a larger scale, such as listening to music contra not listening to music, I think many people are exposing themselves to the same phenomenon. Instead of enjoying music and silence equally, they can’t stand the quiet parts. As Claude Debussy said: «Music is the space between the notes».

Cake judge

It might seem like an odd encouragement at first, from someone whose hobby is music creation, but I think you should listen to less music! At least from personal experience, I’ve found this increase in dynamics through more silence to be just great. I pay more attention to the little sounds around me, and I’m absolutely sure that this is a big benefit when it comes to music production.

I’d rather be a child who gets cake a few times a year, than an overfed cake judge.