Quiztones Frequency Ear Training for Mac & iOS demo and review!
From the Quiztones website: "Quiztones is a frequency ear trainer for amateur and professional audio engineers, producers, and musicians."
What an awesome tool, and a fantastic idea Quiztones is! If you find yourself mixing, mastering, or just using EQ, you will need to train your ears. Training your ears is fundamental, but how does one get the training? Here is the tool that makes learning fun! First, here is how Quiztones Frequency Ear Training for Mac & iOS works!
Quiztones is broken down into two separate tests. The two tests are called "Tones", and EQ".
The tests that fall under "Tones" play sample frequencies and then supplies you with four answers to choose from. Three of the four answers are close, but only is correct. You only need to pay attention to the sample, and make your guess. I was very impressed the first time through! My score, however, was not as impressive, a 575. But that is the whole point. I need to get better at knowing the spectrum, and this is a fun way to get better! In fact, this was a great, and a fun way to learn how to pay attention to what I was hearing. The 4 answers, supplied for us to choose from, are close to each other, as to be a better challenge. What I mean by this, is that you have to think about what you just heard as you make your choices. There are no giveaways here.
The second test option, "EQ", is where I find myself spending most of my time. This section plays samples of instruments, or entire songs, and then applies a chosen frequency boost or cut to that. You can audition the sample over and over, and you can toggle the "applied EQ" on and off. This makes "Hearing" the applied EQ easier, and choosing less like guess work. Here is a list of what is inside the "EQ" part of the app.....
The "EQ" section of Quiztones has many choices from which to choose from. There are Music Library, Acoustic guitar, Bass, Drums, Electric guitar, Orchestra, Piano, Pink noise, Strings,
Strings 2, and Vocals. All of these instrument selections have sub-categories to select from, such as "Easy +10db", "Hard +6db", and "Hard -10 db". The "db" part is how much (in decibels) or how less of the "EQ" is applied to the samples. The samples are well recorded, and make this app so much more than some sort of game. I am learning here, um, and keeping score!
Choosing the "Music library" selection actually imports audio (that you select) into it, and then
Quiztones adds the frequencies of question to that song. This makes perfect sense too. Wouldn't it be great to hear a particular frequency boost in a piece that we already recognize, forward and backwards, and then decide which frequency range it is? After all, don't we often ad an EQ onto a master buss? This makes sense for the mastering folks out there too.
Head over to the Quiztones website and grab the app for yourself today! It will work on Macs, and Iphone/Ipod touch. For 4.99 U.S.D., my ears are going up in worth each time I play through a "set".
