I realize the title of this month’s piece is not all that witty. In fact, it simply states what I will be discussing. I don’t need to tell you the importance of our ears. Without them we can’t do our jobs as house-of-worship techs, or any sound mixing job for that matter. Nonetheless, the question that comes to mind to me, and hopefully to you, is where can we go to get good ear training? I have no idea. So, this month I will tell you my beliefs and experiences in training ears.
A Little Hertz History
I am hoping you all know what Hertz are (not the rental cars). In case you don’t, I will give you a little history trivia. Heinrich Hertz was a 19th century German physicist that renamed cycles per seconds (cps) hertz. Basically, human ears can hear from 20 cps or more commonly 20 Hz (hertz) to 20,000 cps or 20 kHz. That is a pretty wide range, but certainly not the full range of sound. My dog hears stuff way above 20 kHz (at least I think he is hearing something up there). Anyway, the higher the hertz then the higher the frequency.
The reality is that very few — if any — humans can really hear up to 20 kHz. As for myself, after decades of subjecting my ears to loud rock music (live and recorded) my ears don’t hear much over 14 kHz. Which is not a real problem because most sound systems won’t produce much over 15 kHz (of course, now I will be receiving e-mails from my manufacturer friends telling me otherwise — please note that I said “most”…). For our discussion, we will only be concerned with 80 Hz and up until about 15 kHz.
Tune Your Ears
The reason for this is that nothing really happens with regards to sound in a house of worship below 80 Hz. There may be some hip-hop houses out there that push those lower frequencies, but I don’t know of any. As for the upper end of the frequency spectrum, I already gave you my opinion on where the top is. As a matter of fact, all those upper frequencies are filled with harmonics, partials and overtones from lower frequencies. For example, your pastor may be speaking at a fundamental frequency of 315 to 400 Hz, but there can be overtones and partials reaching to 8 kHz. If you don’t know where 315 to 400 Hz is, read on. Synth keyboards can get up there to those really high frequencies, but I have never heard anything that high from a church keyboard player. Have you?
This fact makes your ear-training process much easier. What I believe you must do to tune up your ears is memorize the various slider positions on a 31-band graphic EQ. Whether you are working with an analog or digital graphic you will have the same 31 or possibly 30 bands. Not only must you memorize the slider positions, but you need to know what they sound like. Identification of the various frequencies is the backbone of a sound tech. If I hear harshness in the sound system, I can identify it as 2 kHz. Then rectifying the problem becomes very simple. All I have to do is decrease the 2 kHz slider and the problem is solved. However, if I can’t identify the frequencies, I am out of luck. The same scenario plays out if I should hear feedback from a stage monitor. The monitor is squealing away; my ears identify 1 kHz as the problem frequency. I need only reduce the 1 kHz slider and the problem disappears. So, you may be asking, “How do I get these super ears?”
Listen Up
Listen, listen and listen some more. Guitar player/techs or keyboard player/techs or just musician/techs will have an easier time at first with any ear training. But if you don’t play an instrument, buddy up with your house-of-worship keyboard player or guitar player. Now let’s take 440 Hz, which is the frequency of an “A” string on a guitar. This frequency falls between the 400 and 500 Hz slider on your graphic EQ. Also the “A” above middle “C” on a keyboard. One octave up is 880 Hz and one octave down would be 220 Hz. These two frequencies are between the 800 and 1 kHz slider and the 200 and 250 Hz slider on your graphic. By the way, it is a good idea to have a graphic EQ or a picture of one in front of you while you are reading this piece. It will certainly make it easier for you to follow along.
Get Toned
I own a tone generator, which I purchased at an army surplus store. It has been invaluable for my personal ear training. I know you can purchase similar generators at music stores or online. The point is, if you can, get one — they are very good for training those ears of yours. Possibly you can talk your church leaders into purchasing one for your house of worship. But as I mentioned earlier, a guitar or keyboard can be very useful.
Whatever you use to improve your hearing, use it a lot. As your hearing identification becomes more and more attune to your house of worship, you can listen more closely to the world in which you live. My truck at 3, 000 rpm in 4th gear purrs at a perfect 400 Hz. I know that may seem really silly, but being able to identify that frequency outside of a house-of-worship sound system environment has made me a better listener and a better tech.
Some of you techs out there have mixing consoles with tone generators built-in. These are typically set at 100 Hz, 1 kHz and possibly 10 kHz. Although some boards will be able to generate a large spectrum of tones, if you have one of these boards you are on your way to perfecting those all important ears of yours.
I hope this information and my general musings have some value for you this month. I really can’t emphasize enough how important our ears are, and certainly how much better our congregations will be served by our improved hearing. Keep listening.
Contact Jamie at jrio@fohonline.com
