SoundSense

SoundSense trains the listening a mix needs. The mix games play recorded instrument stems — drums, bass, guitar, keys and vocals, and ten complete multitrack songs in Mix Balance. Pitch, Tempo and the psychoacoustics wing use precise test tones, noise and clicks, because that is what those effects need. Each question asks one precise thing: what's boosted, which delay type is that, which master is louder. You answer, and the reveal explains what happened — in EQ, Delay, Filter, Reverb, Pan, Level and Mix Balance it also draws the answer — so a miss becomes a lesson. The aim is faster, more confident identification of what you hear.

Who it is for

• Live-sound engineers who want to name the ringing frequency instead of sweeping for it at soundcheck.
• Mix and mastering engineers sharpening EQ, compression, reverb and width calls.
• Monitor engineers who want Ring-Out practice without a room full of people.
• Students and the self-taught who want a curriculum with a score.

What you get

• Recorded stems for the mix modules, loudness-normalised so level does not give the answer away. Compression, Distortion and Stereo Width compare both sides level-matched.
• 33 modules. Among them four EQ games (bell, shelves, low cut, two moves at once — see EQ games: shelves, low cut, two moves), five match games where you rebuild a compressor, delay, reverb, saturation or gate setting by ear (Match games: compressor, delay, reverb, saturation, gate), three quick drills (Quick drills: Which is louder?, Q width, Name the ring) and EQ Characters, which shows how different EQ circuits curve.
• A ladder that adapts. Thirteen games climb eight levels as you get better and step back after a miss. On the first EQ levels you can hear your own move while you place it. See The level ladder and pre-listen.
• Results per listening device. Name your headphones and speakers; levels and scores are kept per device, and phone-speaker mode makes a phone a fair place to train. See Listening devices and phone-speaker mode.
• Your own sessions. Pick the games, the length and the device, and start it again with one tap. See Custom sessions.
• Partial points where answers sit on a scale. EQ scores by how many octaves out you were; Level, Pan, Mix Balance and Equal Loudness by how close your fader is. See Getting started.
• Hear your guess. After a miss in the eleven original mix modules, the EQ games, Pitch or Tempo, play your answer next to the right one and compare. In the match games, Target and Yours stay one tap apart.
• Review that sticks. Wrong answers, weak answers and "I don't know" come back the next day, then after 3 and 7 days, mixed across modules.
• A psychoacoustics wing. Haas Effect, Equal Loudness (ISO 226), Auditory Masking, Phantom Center, Binaural Beats, Loudness War, Precedence Effect and Combination Tones — as exercises.
• Live-sound practice. Phase, comb filtering, width, Name the ring, the Ring-Out Simulator and a six-minute show-day warm-up.
• Progress you can see. Mastery per module, a level in each ladder game, a Daily Shift, streaks, ten badges and seven ranks from Stage Hand to Legend.
• Any screen, 11 languages. Every module runs on phone, tablet and desktop, Ring-Out included. The app follows your account language: English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese or Chinese. This help is in English and German.

Pages in this guide

• Getting started — your first session, scoring, hear your guess and review.
• The level ladder and pre-listen — the eight-level ladder and pre-listen.
• Listening devices and phone-speaker mode — listening devices and phone-speaker mode.
• Run a Daily Shift and climb the ranks — the Daily Shift, the show-day warm-up, ranks and badges.
• Custom sessions — build your own session.
• EQ games: shelves, low cut, two moves — EQ, shelves, low cut and two moves.
• Match games: compressor, delay, reverb, saturation, gate — compressor, delay, reverb, saturation and gate match.
• Quick drills: Which is louder?, Q width, Name the ring — Which is louder?, Q width and Name the ring.
• EQ Characters — EQ Characters.
• Ring out a wedge in the Ring-Out Simulator — the Ring-Out Simulator.
• Use the hearing check — the hearing check under Your ears.
• FAQ and Troubleshooting.

Free plan

Every verified Squaresmile account can use SoundSense on the free plan — the real app at the same address, no time limit:

• one session of 10 questions a day in each of seven modules: EQ, Delay, Pan, Level, Compression, Haas Effect and Name the ring. A session you leave half-way keeps the rest of its questions for later that day; "I don't know" counts as a question. The day's count is kept in this browser and starts over at midnight;
• the Ring-Out Simulator at Beginner level (it opens after 150 correct answers, as in the full version; a harder difficulty still plays Beginner);
• Review of the misses from those seven modules — they come back the next day;
• streaks and the first rank, Stage Hand. Your answers count toward the higher ranks already; they show once you buy;
• your progress syncs to your account and carries over when you buy.

Everything else stays visible with a small padlock and Full version: the other modules (the match games, EQ Characters and the rest), more sessions a day, the Daily Shift, the show-day warm-up, custom sessions, the hearing check, the Intermediate and Advanced Ring-Out levels and the ranks above Stage Hand. Tapping one opens a short sheet that says what it is, with the price and the link to buy. When a module's session for the day is done, the summary says what comes back tomorrow and what is still open today; the sheet opens by itself once a day at most.