Active or Passive Listener?

[alex_l]

I find the more I like music the more passively I can listen to it. I have albums I have listened to hundreds of times but don't even know the lyrics because I get so caught up with the energy of the music. I think if I enjoy the tune I can overlook the technical aspects and just really concentrating on the overall sound. Sort of like standing far back from a painting or seeing amazing architecture from a distance, as opposed to up close

With standard top 40 stuff I tend to listen very critically to the production - i find it a good way to learn. A great example of this would be Avril Lavigne's 'Girlfriend'. The layering of the vocals and guitars is just crazy, and the mixdown is insanely detailed. I could never, ever, layer that many elements without the mix turning to utter shit. So what started as cheesy pop tunes turned into a production lesson for me

[naw]

Since i was a child i listened to music active because i was learning music since 9yearsold.
But when i started to produce i put more of my head over the sounds are designed so i fall in that:

To quote my music tech teacher:"Producing music was my biggest mistake ever, no longer can i sit back and just vibe to a tune and not even be able to explain the magic it possesed"

[kwami]

actively passive

[Danger Co]

Mostly passive unless I love the tune/album then it gets cained and I critique it to the finest

[In The Shadows]

That said, I couldn't imagine any of us would want to quit making music because of it..?!

well, its a little late now the damage is done. The bed is made, theres no going back

I'm so bad that i'll bounce out my track and open it up in I-tunes purely for the purpose of just listening to it back and studying how it sounds. Then it'll get to the end of the song and i realise i need to play it again, as i spent the whole time thinking about radiators or something.

been there many, many times. You dont happen to be fond of the old herb by any chance?

[the get down]

active for sure.

I dont know about you guys but I can NEVER fall asleep with music playing, because I cant help but focus on the music.

Question: Do you pay attention to lyrics in songs? Its funny I hear the lyrics but never really listen for the lyrics- Some of my favorite songs i only know a couple lines of the lyrics, but I could hum every part of every instrument!

But when I talk to the average listener, they seem to favor listening to the words- they'll know every word.

[AxeD]

I'm def an active listener. A lot of friends study with music playing in the background but I can't at all. I'm always thinking about the production process when I hear a track. Sometimes I even think like 'that's an interesting choice' when a weird song structure comes up

Gets rather annoying sometimes

[Neff]

was just listening to some tunes whilst reading this thread

now im active ¬¬

[ludicrousNATION]

active for sure.

Question: Do you pay attention to lyrics in songs? Its funny I hear the lyrics but never really listen for the lyrics- Some of my favorite songs i only know a couple lines of the lyrics, but I could hum every part of every instrument!

But when I talk to the average listener, they seem to favor listening to the words- they'll know every word.

Same here, almost everybody I know favors the words but I can never remember the lyrics from songs, even from my favorite ones!

[rubiconguava]

active for sure.

Question: Do you pay attention to lyrics in songs? Its funny I hear the lyrics but never really listen for the lyrics- Some of my favorite songs i only know a couple lines of the lyrics, but I could hum every part of every instrument!

But when I talk to the average listener, they seem to favor listening to the words- they'll know every word.

Same here, almost everybody I know favors the words but I can never remember the lyrics from songs, even from my favorite ones!

haha and me. The weird thing is that i know the sounds of the words perfectly, so ill find myself singing it, but not even listening to what it is im actually saying. great music could end up making me sing the most horrific words, and i would never know!! Its all about the sound and energy, i say scrap the lyrics from all these phoney poets. Back to the days of bebop!¬

[ninjadog]

I'm more on the active side. I used to be passive. Music used to have some sort of magic or mystery to it. Now that I produce it's like oh acid house is just a 303,808 and 909 with fx. Where as before it was like how the fuck can they make these cool sounds.

These days I can zone into the sounds and deconstruct them or recognize what source is making them. I guess I'm activly passive bacause I can watch TV and not think about it then hear a commercial and recognize a whistle or something from the Reason FSB and leave it at that instead of going on an analysis trip.
But at say a dubstep night or something I guess I'm more on the active side.

But than I'm very active when I'm at work or somewhere without music and I hear a cool noise and wish I could sample it. Like I worked at a carwash and there was a metal track the cars got pushed along, sometimes something would smack the metal and make a neat laser sound. Or a corrugated tube I used to clean pools would make the most awesome sound as I pulled it out of the water.

[philly]

Producing tons makes you an active listener without a doubt.
I do audio post work and can barely watch anything without getting distracted by bad dialogue edits like lip smacks , off axis mic rec. any subtle noise floors, hums, tones or library sounds i have used before etc... it really sucks...

*mmm is that the red tail hawk from sound ideas......yup ........wait what the fuck is going on in this movie?

[honey-d]

I'm a very active listener. I can do other things while listening to music, but 100% of the time my mind is on the music and doing the other thing secondary

[renegadex]

I always am singing along to a song playing in a restaurant or something and my friends will say, "What?".. Because they don't notice the song playing in the background, where as I'm sitting there singing along or tapping my foot. I can always hear music, and it always sticks out to me, in any situation. But I also listen passively most of the time. I just love music, so I like having it around me all of the time.

[amphibian]

I've always been an active listener, moreso in the genres I love. Which to me is rather interesting because I didn't start producing until earlier this year. Not sure why...

[Label C]

I am way to active. Sometimes I kinda miss the days when a song would play and I would just enjoy it instead of picking it apart.