Frameworks for analysis are the starting points to dissect how a recording has been put together objectively and how its result actually sounds. Below is an example of what we might consider the bare essential elements and a structure by which listening can be analyzed. This framework will need to develop and mature depending on its use and function.
A listening framework such as this basic example can provide a checklist against which overall sonic and production qualities can be measured.
Listening with a critical ear is a personal pursuit and will vary widely from per- son to person. In the framework example above, we have introduced the idea of using listening passes (passes refer to the number of times the tape passes the playback head or the number of times we listen to the piece in the DAW-led world we now live in). In this example we listen three times through and break these main areas down yet further to assess them and comment on them. It should be mentioned that more passes are often required.
This branch diagram could be expanded to offer exacting questions from each of the prompts here if required. With more experience one or two passes should suffice for the simple list shown above.
PASS 1
In this example, pass 1 is entitled rhythm. The first thing that can be assessed is the form of the drums, or rhythmical elements. Analyzing this part of the recording can reveal the time signature and offers some insight into the groove of the piece. Taking this one step further, linking the bass of the song within this pass, we can learn much about how the song is constructed, whether there is syncopation, and what the bass is playing. This pass could of course be expanded to the types of rhythms and how they interact with other instrumentation.
PASS 2
Pass 2 turns attention to the more musical aspects of the recording. In this pass we’re concerned with the arrangement, chord structures and backing— essentially the way in which the music is constructed. This includes an analy- sis of the instrumentation. It is here that an identification of the main feeder can be made. The main feeder in a song is the instrument that drives the song. Not a vocal hook necessarily, but an element that makes the song memorable and often the main driver in the backing. It may be the catchy riff, or the solid pounding of piano chords. We look here also at the accompaniment: what makes the whole composition tick behind the scenes sonically? Finally the mel- ody can be assessed.
The arrangement section is broken down into three elements: structure; emo- tional architecture; and dynamics and interplay.
The structure of the piece, if it is your own composition, is already known but as new tracks are introduced and these skills develop, structure will be an infor- mative place to gather plenty of information of the construction of the song. It is at this stage we can identify if there are things that can be changed and manipulated.
We next assess the music’s emotional architecture. Emotional architecture is the way in which the music builds and drops. This is not an assessment of dynamics (covered next), but an assessment of how the music affects the listener through its intensity. This is something that can be drawn graphically as shown below.
In this graph, the emotional intensity, or power of the music, can be shown and tracked. Assessment of many popular tracks can often show themes or perhaps new ideas of how to achieve this variety in emotional intensity.
Next we would quickly assess the dynamics of the instrument and how this interplays with the track as a whole; for example, the dynamics of a given instru- ment and how it might be integrated into the mix using automation, or other mixing techniques covered later in this book.
PASS 3
On the last pass, we assess the sound quality of the music and dissect its con- struction. This is split into two areas and here we introduce the terms macro and
micro. In this case we refer to macro, meaning the balance of the instruments
together, and micro is the focus on individual elements within the mix and their sonic quality.
Here we refer to macro listening as broad listening subsections: width, height and depth.” The first refers to stereo width and the use of panning. We would wish to make an assessment of how the stereo field has been made and con- structed. Height, in this instance, refers to the use of the frequency range, or spectrum. Some artists make full use of all the frequency ranges with deep, but focused, bass and excellent detail at the top end, while other pieces choose to limit the overall bandwidth they occupy. It must be noted here that height can also refer to the vertical presentation of a sound. Last is depth, which is an assess- ment of the presence of any given instrument or the mix as a whole. Is the mix deep, presenting instruments that appear to come from behind others, or are all instruments brought up to the front in the mix?
Emotional architecture graph showing the intensity and power of a track as it delivers its choruses and a large ensemble at the end.
As previously introduced, micro listening is an assessment of the internal ele- ments that make up the sounds in our mix. How instruments have been captured and whether there are issues inherent in their sound can be gauged. Listening in a focused manner using a good reproduction system can also reveal edits in material that were not supposed to be heard: drums that were replaced with samples, and vocals that were automatically tuned. Estimates of the types of pro- cessing that were used in achieving the mix can be made.
Automation now plays a huge part in mixing and presenting the micro elements. Can an assessment of the automation moves be assessed on very close inspec- tion? How does this shape the presentation of the music?