> I have to agree. Too many mix engineers just get "MegaSquash 3000" plugins
> and think they can out-do the mastering engineer.
Not only that, but they're mastering on the very same monitors in the
very same room they did the mix in.
(pound head here)
> Rush's "Vapor Trails",
> for example... classic example of a binary waveform, but according to an
> interview I read with Lifeson, they can't really do much about it since the
> original multitracks have digital distortion on them and even mastered
> properly, would still sound sub-par. Sad, especially given a band of
> Rush's caliber.
That's one of the hardest things for me to work with--when each track
has so much wide-band information on it, it's really hard to create
holes in it for other instruments to punch through. About the only
thing I can do is side-chain a compressor from a gated track. I've
done the old frequency ducking trick for years in live mixing, but
this new layered synth mess has the clarity of a snowstorm. Heaven
forbid that somebody actually uses in-instrument reverb. You can't get
stuff to stand out when it's a mushy mess.
> And sadly, the average listener today is listening through $15 earbuds.
> Kinda negates what the engineer listening on $15,000 monitors can do, huh?
My earbuds were $8. I've been using the same worn-out Yamaha
headphones for 19 years. I just bought a new pair of self-powered
near-fields for $300. (on sale). Home stereo are those Bose cube
thingies. I figure if I can get a mix to sound right in my Jeep and
these things, I'm doing pretty well. The key to survival, for me, is
to have good reference material. When working on a mix-down project,
every few minutes I will play some similar material to recalibrate my
ears so I don't go off chasing rabbits.
But the one thing I'm a lunatic about is proper acoustics and
positioning of the monitors. It bugs me to no end to see (and hear)
nearfields placed incorrectly. (twitch twitch twitch)
> Agreed. Used to be an occasional thing, like Steve Perry's vocals on the
> Journey albums. But now you can definitely hear comps slamming on pretty
> much everything.
I've got the Journey 3-CD set which is recorded substantially from
live performances. Some of those mixes are beyond horrid, but I love
them because of the live performance. "Wheel in the Sky" live
performance is great, whereas the studio recording is lifeless.
"Lights" studio recording is worthless, but the live recording
technologically awful. Honestly, I don't think ANYTHING Journey
recorded was mixed well. Doesn't stop it from being used in heavy
rotation on my headphones though.
--
Ken Norton
ken@xxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.zone-10.com
--
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
|