Description
Better Hearing = Better Mixes
Your ears are the most important pieces of gear you own. NO ONE has “perfect hearing,” but with HEARS, you can hear your mixes perfectly!
The HEARS plugin tests your hearing (similar to an audiologist’s test), then adjusts for any hearing deficiencies you have that are affecting the accuracy of your mixing so you can monitor flat.
For Windows and MACOS.
Thomas –
Out of 5 stars, I give this 10. This plug-in is revolutionary. I had been hoping and looking for something like this for years. It’s like needing glasses and suddenly getting them and seeing the world anew in all its glory.
The reality is that few if any people have “perfect” hearing (however that may be defined), and this is especially true among music professionals who have likely exposed their ears to more and louder sounds than others, and those who are older and have some hearing loss due to age (I’m in both categories).
It’s almost comical — or perhaps tragic — that we spend so much money and time calibrating monitors for room acoustics and headphones for deviations from a flat standard, while all that overlooks what is much more fundamental — the status of our ears. Having perfect monitor and headphone calibration won’t be enough to give you the accuracy you seek if you have any hearing loss — and nearly everyone does, potentially different in each ear.
I’ve learned this myself after trying this plugin (the first version and now this new version), already having a calibrated Genelec monitor system and Sonarworks calibrated headphones and diligently pursuing making audiophile-quality recordings with excellent equipment. I’m a composer and pianist, currently focusing on recordings of some of my piano pieces from the past 50 years (I’ll be 62 in November). According to my audiologist, my hearing loss is “mild” and I don’t qualify for prescription hearing aids. I know I have more hearing loss in the left ear because of a headphone accident many years ago, but I thought I could trust my right ear, which is better. (The headphone accident involved an extremely loud recorded sound on the left channel that was not on the right channel, so my hearing loss is asymmetrical.) Once I did the hearing test in this plugin, however, and applied the corrective EQ curves to the master bus output in my DAWs (MOTU Digital Performer [older recordings] and Steinberg Nuendo [current]), I found how wrong I was! While I could accurately hear the fundamental pitches without the plugin, what I was not hearing correctly — in the right ear as well as the left — were the harmonics above the fundamental pitch, the timbre/sound quality of the piano resonance. There were some older recordings I had made that I thought I would have to redo because the timbre of the treble pitches sounded somewhat muffled, as if a light blanket had been over the piano. With this plugin, however, I was extremely glad to find that the harmonics sounded exactly as they should, recreating the rich, beautiful harmonics of the midrange and treble piano tone; the bass was more detailed and resonant; and there was a greater sense of space/air/three-dimensionality. I now insert this in the output bus of my DAWs for all my recordings, old and new, and it has brought back to me the richness and beauty of the piano tone that I had thought I had lost forever; more importantly, it is essential for making artistic decisions about which equipment configurations to use for recordings, because each configuration yields different sound qualities. Again, this is like needing glasses, not realizing it or not realizing quite how much you need them, then putting them on — suddenly opening your eyes to the astonishing clarity of the world. Most importantly, this gives me confidence that the recordings I will be releasing will be what I intend people to hear. What’s actually heard will depend on the hearing status of the listeners and their equipment, of course, but at least I will know that I’ve done the best I can to create reference recordings to share with the world.
One last comment: I have no connection to the companies or people involved in creating and distributing this plugin whatsoever. I’m just truly very excited about it and would feel good to know if this review results in others finding the same regained joy in music and sound that I have.
Warm regards,
Thomas
Douglas Macaskill –
I’ve been a session guitarist for 30 years. My hearing loss became noticeable even in my late 30s. I’m now 73 and a year ago started wearing hearing aids. The problem was I couldn’t stand listening to music or recording with them on even if I put an eq on the output buss. I decided to give HEARS a try and bought the original HEARS plugin. After easily doing the hearing test on all my monitors and headphones I was delighted to be able to remove my hearing aids and record like a person with normal hearing! Was so impressed I even upgraded to HEARS Perfection. No more clients asking me what the noise in the upper mid and highs was that I couldn’t hear. I record with HEARS on then remove it before sending the mix. The results are stunning. I’ve gone back and listened to some old mixes I did before and am shocked how much upper mid and highs were there. I can now record or just play through Logic Pro and hear what my guitars really sound like without over hyping the eq.
I have received no compensation nor do I work for the company in submitting this review. I only wish that others with the same hearing loss will benefit.
Doug Macaskill
zoritoler imol –
Some genuinely interesting info , well written and broadly speaking user friendly.
Mike Booth –
I have used HEARS Perfection from the time it first came out. It is a godsend. I don’t know who hears all frequencies equally, but I sure don’t and I doubt very many people do. HEARS Perfection tests you makes adjustments for YOUR hearing and that means boosting frequencies that you cannot hear as well. For me it starts mildly at 2K but is pretty intense by 5K. With this plugin I can hear it all and I have not been called out for any harsh frequencies in my mixes since I started using it. So simple. So profound!
paul schreiber –
I love HEARS! It has really helped me out. I have old ears, and I am hearing frequencies much better. I highly recommend HEARS Perfection to anyone who has hearing loss.
Dave Reisig –
I love this new iteration. Just like the first one, I’m using around a 27% scale on both ears because for me this is intended as a supplemental correction on top of a custom headphone curve. It’s Perfect!! I can AB these new HEARS correction curves with the ones I had built in Waves Q10 mono EQs inserted on my HangLoose system-wide plugin interface. As I cycle through the AB comparison, there is literally zero difference in the stereo field or the left/right curves in isolation. That’s impressive! Plus, I’m going to be able to design several templates for other headphones much easier than with those Q10 EQs, which have no *listen* feature. I love it! Like the first HEARS, but better. The HEARS correction was never lost in the system like WAVES and Voxengo plugins sometimes were. I will be using these as my primary supplemental correction from now on! Thanks for a great product! And a really nice improvement with this HEARS PERFECTION plugin!
Dave Reisig
Steve Z –
Hears is a total game changer for me. After years of playing in bands, my ears have lost almost everything above 8k. Trying not to overcompensate on my mixes on the high end has been a challenge, up until now. With Hears I can hear detail I haven’t heard for years.
My only critique would be that they need an external app so I can listen to music outside of my DAW using the same technology.
Mats Karlsson –
I want to express my gratitude for this Hears Perfection plugin! I am a guitar player and have also been recording/mixing since the 70’s. Having played with hard beating drummers a lot my hearing has become compromised.
This plugin is what I have been waiting for for years. What a joy to be able to mix without using hearing aids, that yet would amplify frequencies not relevant to music making/mixing! How easy it now has become to once again achieve pleasantly sounding and well balanced mixes, after years of struggling! Thank you so much!
Jay –
Great plugin for recovering hearing loss in certain ranges… UNTIL reaching 10K. I am SO confused as to why anyone believed that helping us recover our hearing in the high end was not worth the effort… I don’t know if they believe that they are creating consumer hearing aids… Or if they realize that this sort of plugin would likely be used for mixing… thus demands support for at least 23K… Preferably 30 (if we are going to repair hearing with a plugin, there’s no sense in half-stepping). But these are merely my observations. I am foregoing the use of the plugin for now (unless they add higher ranges). I’d rather deal with my moderate hearing lass evenly, than have immense improvement and then hit a wall where I need help the most
siteadmin –
Jay – thanks so much for the thoughtful feedback. Regarding your suggestion to extend the hearing test to 30k: we researched hearing loss above 10k extensively and concluded that if loss occurs that high, it’s usually best to analyze those frequencies visually (for example, with something like FabFilter Pro-Q) rather than compensate for ranges that are difficult to perceive even with excellent hearing. Thanks again for your thoughts.
-Toby from Hears