Critically Listening to Music (Free Harman Course)

Listening is a bit like intelligence—most everyone thinks they’re above average, even though that’s impossible.


Have you ever tried to explain the finer points of your system's sound to a friend? How many of them said something like, "I wouldn't be able to hear the difference"? Didn't that make you want to teach them? Maybe you're just starting out in this hobby and are curious about differences. Or maybe you're a seasoned veteran looking to hone their skills. Critical listening is a learned skill, not a gift. Right? Well, Harman International is giving you the gift of critical listening! Yes, now you can train in the comfort of your own home - for free! I have yet to take the course myself, but if you're interested, you can download it here for MAC or Windows. The software installation and user manual can be found here.

Overview

"How to Listen" is a desktop software application developed by the Harman International R&D group for the purpose of training and selecting listeners used in audio product research, development, and testing. The software consists of a number of training exercises where different kinds of timbral, spatial and dynamic distortions commonly found within the recording and audio chains are simulated and added to music.
The listener’s task is to identify, classify or rate these distortions according to a number of well-defined perceptual attributes and scales. The software automatically adjusts the difficulty of each training task based on the listener’s performance.

Features

• Supports 2-channel stereo and multichannel wav files (up to 24 bit, 96 kHz)
• includes Session and Practice Modes
• Frequency Band Identification
• Peaks, Dips, Peaks & Dips, Low and High pass filters

Attribute Tasks

• Bright-Dull
• Full-Thin
• Coloration
• Reverberation
• Noisy/Noise-free
• Hum/Hum-free
• Left/Right Balance (stereo mode)
• Front/Rear Balance (surround mode)