View Full Version : Listening with your eyes closed
magiccarpetride
31-05-2010, 21:58
I'm in the habit of listening to music while looking at it (i.e. looking in the direction of the speakers). That way, I can pinpoint the exact location of each instrument/voice in the space in front of me.
Last night, as I've just started listening to Santana "Abraxas", and was sitting in my room colored by the twilight that was going on outside, my wife turned the lamp on in the back room. That created a glare on the furniture, and messed up my concentration. I was forced to close my eyes (something I never do while listening to music), and voila! all of a sudden the 'vision' of the music in front of me totally changed.
Somehow, all the sounds felt more palpable with closed eyes. The soundstage shrank a bit width-wise, but the instruments retained their life like size, and they felt physically closer to me. Now I felt I could reach out and touch them. Especially the percussion emanating from the left and from the right, the congas and the cymbals etc., all felt extremely realistic. When the drummer kicked the bass drum, it really felt as if someone in the room had actually kicked some deep sounding board.
What's your listening preference: eyes closed, or eyes open?
The Grand Wazoo
31-05-2010, 22:18
No preference either way, it depends on the mood of the music, my current temperament, what else is happening etc etc etc.
Sometimes (often in fact) at a classical concert, I'll shut my eyes for so long that my wife is convinced I've fallen asleep.
It can help sometimes to shut your eyes if you feel you want to listen 'harder'........but I thought everyone did that.
Anyway, as an aside, I looked at the calendar today and realised that the year is almost halfway through............before you know it, it'll be Chirstmas.
I'll shut my eyes for so long that my wife is convinced I've fallen asleep.
My problem is, especially as it is nearly always late when I get to listen, is exactly this - I shut my eyes trying to concentrate on the music and before I know it I get an elbow in the ribs for snoring! :o
Rare Bird
31-05-2010, 22:26
I like to listern around the corner while i'm making a cuppa tea or in the bog around the other corner while i'm having a crap, for some reason i find if your stereo sounds good in another room it is..Eye open or shut depends if a scald myself making the tea (in which i would anyway if my eyes were shut) or it's a dump that a little bit wider girth than normal (in which it usually is ) so eyes shut i'd say :eek:
Spectral Morn
31-05-2010, 22:35
Always has been eyes closed, always will be for serious listening.
Regards D S D L
For me, it depends on the music, my mood and tiredness (I'm perpetually knackered these days for various reasons) and if I'm alone or not. For a good TeeDee session, or Ulrich Schnauss or similar, my eyes are usually tight shut, but to be honest, the music just takes over and the visuals (or not) just fade into insignificance for me....
magiccarpetride
31-05-2010, 23:21
I like to listern around the corner while i'm making a cuppa tea or in the bog around the other corner while i'm having a crap, for some reason i find if your stereo sounds good in another room it is..Eye open or shut depends if a scald myself making the tea (in which i would anyway if my eyes were shut) or it's a dump that a little bit wider girth than normal (in which it usually is ) so eyes shut i'd say :eek:
Not to put too fine a point to it, but how do you define 'normal'?
The Vinyl Adventure
31-05-2010, 23:23
Yeah, it's mood and music dependant... Sometimes it feels unnatural to close my eyes, sometimes they just close without me thinking about it
Rare Bird
31-05-2010, 23:30
Not to put too fine a point to it, but how do you define 'normal'?
:nocomment:
Eye open or shut depends if a scald myself making the tea (in which i would anyway if my eyes were shut) or it's a dump that a little bit wider girth than normal (in which it usually is )...
Don't you hate the big fat buggers you really have to SQUEEZE out, only for them to snap in half as they pop out, leaving a pointy beef olive hanging there which won't shift, no matter how much you SQUEEZE and SQUEEZE, when you then have no option but to scoop up the remaining toffee crisp with a piece of bog roll - and then figure out how to pop the end of it out that's now firmly imbedded up yer arse without having a hernia!!
Sorry, I just felt I had to share that.... As you were :)
Marco.
Rare Bird
31-05-2010, 23:48
Brilliant you would make a great porno mag story writer, i actually felt movement reading that :lolsign:
Most of the time it is with my eyes open. I does however depend on the type music: some classical and most electronic music can sound 'better' if listened to with my eyes closed. But for most music, it doesn't matter to me, one way or another.
I also have the 'strange' habit of listening to live classical music concerts staring up at the ceiling of the auditorium.
Some of the most enjoyable listening has occurred when I have been tired, closed my eyes and listened to music in that transitory period between being wide awake and fully asleep. When the record has finished, I open my eyes and say "Wow that was good!", try to repeat the experience but never do.
Regards
Ever been listening to music with your eyes closed and soon realize it's gotten quiot,you open your eyes to find your no longer home and have been abducted by ailens?
The Vinyl Adventure
01-06-2010, 07:41
Some of the most enjoyable listening has occurred when I have been tired, closed my eyes and listened to music in that transitory period between being wide awake and fully asleep. When the record has finished, I open my eyes and say "Wow that was good!", try to repeat the experience but never do.
Regards
I love that feeling, happend recently listening to leftfield 'leftism' - got my self in a proper trance and I'm fairly certain absolutely nothing went through my brain for the entire time! That's the pinacle of music enjoyment for me when that happens!
It's always eyes closed for me. I find the visual stops me concentrating on the aural. Listening to music through electronics and boxes is an illusion and seeing the means of reproduction detracts from that. With eyes closed all my attention is on the listening. Of course I realise I look a bit of a twat; and I always jump when one of the family, needing my attention, pokes me. Just some of the discomforts we have to endure for our obsession I suppose!
Hi Roy,
I meant to ask yesterday, where are you from? :)
Marco.
Don't you hate the big fat buggers you really have to SQUEEZE out, only for them to snap in half as they pop out, leaving a pointy beef olive hanging there which won't shift, no matter how much you SQUEEZE and SQUEEZE, when you then have no option but to scoop up the remaining toffee crisp with a piece of bog roll - and then figure out how to pop the end of it out that's now firmly imbedded up yer arse without having a hernia!!
Sorry, I just felt I had to share that.... As you were :)
Marco.
Blimey Marco - you certainly have a propensity for scatalogical humour!
Have you ever read 'Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me' by Richard Fariņa?
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/518ikd6VwFL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU02_.jpg
Regards
No, but I'll check it out!
Has it got lots of references to jobbies and botty gas in it? http://img541.imageshack.us/img541/554/others234.gif (http://img541.imageshack.us/i/others234.gif/) http://img541.imageshack.us/img541/554/others234.gif (http://img541.imageshack.us/i/others234.gif/) http://img541.imageshack.us/img541/554/others234.gif (http://img541.imageshack.us/i/others234.gif/)<Chuff> <Parp> <Rasp> <Phut!>
http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/6931/10156.gif (http://img694.imageshack.us/i/10156.gif/)
I can shmell that shomeone has shqueeked out a wee shtench-ette......
:eyebrows: :eyebrows:
Marco ('e lurves his toliet humour).
Hi Marco
I'm not Roy Riches nor does that describe my bank balance. I live near Saffron Walden, Essex. I do have many past links with Wales though. One girlfriend from Bridgend; another with Welsh speaking parents; a photography course at Newport Art School; several holidays; my wife's first degree was at Bangor. Almost Welsh really!!
magiccarpetride
01-06-2010, 15:17
Don't you hate the big fat buggers you really have to SQUEEZE out, only for them to snap in half as they pop out, leaving a pointy beef olive hanging there which won't shift, no matter how much you SQUEEZE and SQUEEZE, when you then have no option but to scoop up the remaining toffee crisp with a piece of bog roll - and then figure out how to pop the end of it out that's now firmly imbedded up yer arse without having a hernia!!
Sorry, I just felt I had to share that.... As you were :)
Marco.
This thread stinks! :bum::ban::bog:
I'd like to see the owner...
Sorry, he's in the bog 'pressing out' a rather stiff Yorkie bar (f*ck me, how did those raisins get in there? :scratch:)
:lol:
Marco.
Well thats put me off chocolate for life :lol:
magiccarpetride
01-06-2010, 15:54
Sorry, he's in the bog 'pressing out' a rather stiff Yorkie bar (f*ck me, how did those raisins get in there? :scratch:)
:lol:
Marco.
Remember to chew your food!
S'ok dahling, I never swallow my meat whole without chewing well on it first...... http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/8642/119156.gif (http://img156.imageshack.us/i/119156.gif/) http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/8642/119156.gif (http://img156.imageshack.us/i/119156.gif/)
:lol: :lol:
Marco.
Rare Bird
01-06-2010, 16:04
You can never do anything about sweet corn tho dude..
Rare Bird
01-06-2010, 16:27
What like recycling type of thing? never thought of that..
Pump it out and chomp it up! :eyebrows:
Marco.
Steve Toy
01-06-2010, 20:27
Yuk.
You wouldn't do poo jokes if you had kids - I did my fair share, but it's when it goes up to their necks I had to scream for help... Thank gawd they grow out of it, unless they're marco of course :ner: :D
Hehehe.... I'll never grow up! :eyebrows:
Marco.
Rare Bird
01-06-2010, 21:58
You wouldn't do poo jokes if you had kids - I did my fair share, but it's when it goes up to their necks I had to scream for help... Thank gawd they grow out of it, unless they're marco of course :ner: :D
Been there done it twice..The best crap loads are the ones reminicent of Piccalilly head to toe..
magiccarpetride
01-06-2010, 22:15
Been there done it twice..The best crap loads are the ones reminicent of Piccalilly head to toe..
WARNING: I feel strong urge to vomit right now!
magiccarpetride
01-06-2010, 22:16
Been there done it twice..The best crap loads are the ones reminicent of Piccalilly head to toe..
I'll tell ya... I'll think twice next time I feel like starting a new thread around here...
Rare Bird
01-06-2010, 22:24
:lol:
I brushed my teeth with untreated water pumped from a ditch where people bathed in Islamabad,I spit it out but still got amebic disentary in a very hot and humid summer with nothing to eat but food spiced with Thai chilli's.
I could go into great detail, but there is nothing like the cyclick rate of explosive,burning ,convulsive butt blasts, that came and went for almost two months.The first week was with out rest or mercy.
Just thought I'd see your poo and raise the steaks some.
Hahahaha.... You're some boy, Jeff! :lol:
However, much as I'm enjoying the jobby talk, I think we should get back on topic ;)
Marco.
I just had to get in on that...
Marco, as to your previous scatological post - I believe the technical phrase you are looking for is 'pinching a loaf' (see definition #5 here (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pinch+a+loaf))
Anyway, back to the OP. I've always enjoyed listening with eyes closed - especially in the dark (yes it makes a difference!) I think that the brain can concentrate far more on the soundstage if visual cues are removed.
Some of my systems (not necessarily the most expensive) have been excellent at replacing the room acoustic with the recorded one, to the extent that I'd really 'zone out' listening to albums - almost like a trance state, where concentration on the music and its all encompassing nature overtook anything else. It was only the repetitive 'bomp' of the lead out groove that would bring me round - and no, I wasn't asleep!! More often than not it was vinyl that did this, and plays into one of my pet theories about vinyl vs. digital.
Jason
Judging by the amount of 'jaw-dropping' moments audiophiles claim to experience, it would seem that most listen to music with their mouths open.
"Jaw dropping" combined with simultaneous middle-leg protuberance, I suspect..... :eyebrows:
Marco, as to your previous scatological post - I believe the technical phrase you are looking for is 'pinching a loaf' (see definition #5 here)
Hahaha, Jason - noted! I'll add that to 'farting out a fruitcake' :lol:
Marco.
"Jaw dropping" combined with simultaneous middle-leg protuberance, I suspect..... :eyebrows:
Leading to the obligatory 'Even my wife, who doesn't normally notice that sort of thing, commented on the improvement' comment.
Anyway, back to the OP. I've always enjoyed listening with eyes closed - especially in the dark (yes it makes a difference!) I think that the brain can concentrate far more on the soundstage if visual cues are removed.
Some of my systems (not necessarily the most expensive) have been excellent at replacing the room acoustic with the recorded one, to the extent that I'd really 'zone out' listening to albums - almost like a trance state, where concentration on the music and its all encompassing nature overtook anything else. It was only the repetitive 'bomp' of the lead out groove that would bring me round - and no, I wasn't asleep!! More often than not it was vinyl that did this, and plays into one of my pet theories about vinyl vs. digital.
Jason
Good post Jason.
I would agree that when listening with eyes closed the soundstage can appear audibly wider than the physical distance between the speakers. Visual reminders of the arrangement of the walls in your listening enviroment can spoil the illusion; even though you can (or should to be able to) hear the recorded acoustic, there can be a visual conflict between the 'concert hall' and one's, somewhat smaller, listening room.
Regards
Ali Tait
04-06-2010, 15:56
Statics do soundstaging and imaging very well indeed.
magiccarpetride
04-06-2010, 16:53
Good post Jason.
I would agree that when listening with eyes closed the soundstage can appear audibly wider than the physical distance between the speakers. Visual reminders of the arrangement of the walls in your listening enviroment can spoil the illusion; even though you can (or should to be able to) hear the recorded acoustic, there can be a visual conflict between the 'concert hall' and one's, somewhat smaller, listening room.
Regards
Interesting, because my experience with listening with my eyes closed (while NOT taking a dump!) brought me to the illusion that the sound stage narrows but the instruments become more carved in space in front of me, and get closer to me, where I feel I could reach out and touch them.
Judging by the amount of 'jaw-dropping' moments audiophiles claim to experience, it would seem that most listen to music with their mouths open.
I thought that was the propper way,soundwaves moveing up through the sinus cavity to the brain.
Have I been doing it all wrong?
Leading to the obligatory 'Even my wife, who doesn't normally notice that sort of thing, commented on the improvement' comment.
:lolsign:
Marco.
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