Difficulty with ear training

[timmo]

If i buy a pair of monitor speakers, and run it through the 212 unit, connected to a PC,will i still be able to listen to youtube, or will i need an amplifier for that? I am trying to pick out notes to play by ear, and finding it difficult through my old hifi. I can`t really adjust bass, just through a poor set eq.

[ambient]

Active monitors yes.

You mean a focus rite 2i2 ?

I used to use the same interface.

[timmo]

Yes a focusrite 2i2 . Ok thank you

[ambient]

It's a nice interface.

It has a headphone out, maybe use that.

You're spoilt for choice with regard active monitors.

Edited April 15, 2015 by ambient

[timmo]

I have just ordered these, so should be here Friday. Probably not the best, but it will do for now.
[b] M-Audio Studiophile AV 40[/b]

[Bilbo]

Timmo - Have you tried Transcribe! software (seventhstring.com)? It lets you slow music down by up to 75% (without changing pitch) so you can isolate notes and figure things out. It's not overly expensive and massively useful for study.

[ambient]

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1429183456' post='2748817']
Timmo - Have you tried Transcribe! software (seventhstring.com)? It lets you slow music down by up to 75% (without changing pitch) so you can isolate notes and figure things out. It's not overly expensive and massively useful for study.
[/quote]

Yeah, transcribe is great, you can change eq settings too to highlight the bass if you need to.

[timmo]

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1429183456' post='2748817']
Timmo - Have you tried Transcribe! software (seventhstring.com)? It lets you slow music down by up to 75% (without changing pitch) so you can isolate notes and figure things out. It's not overly expensive and massively useful for study.
[/quote]Yes i have transcribe, and find it is useful. I went for a lesson telling the teacher i just can`t pick out the notes, which i had tried transcribe. After we went through Call Me When You Get This, by Corinne Bailey Rae, through his monitor speakers, i could clearly hear the bass. I came back home, tried it on my hifi, and couldn`t descern any thing clearly. I do think it is my hifi, as there is no way you can turn up bass, only by selecting EQ settings, which consist of pop, rock, classical.
One thing i did find, if i stand in the kitchen, i can hear the bass a lot more clearly. Bit of a bind when i have to rewind quite a lot though. The worst case scenario, is i get new speakers, which will tidy up my desk because i have no need for the 15 year old hifi on my desk, and get better sound. The best case is i can clearly hear the bass.

[uncle psychosis]

Timmo another great trick for discerning bass notes is to use something like Audacity (suspect Transcribe does it too) and shift the entire track up an octave (but without changing the speed). The singers will sound like chipmonks and the other instruments a bit odd but the bass lines should really jump out at you. I do this all the time for learning things like Reggae tunes where the original recording is so muddy that the pitch just disappears.