#1907788 - 03/12/08 12:41 AM
Virtual Music and Sound Quality
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edwindrewes
Senior Member
Registered: 11/26/07
Posts: 49
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Since 95% of the music I "record" doesn't even come from outside the computer (with the exception of vox, which i never record in my project studio), mic pres, incoming compression, a/d conversion are all rendered rather irrelevant to getting a great sound. an earlier post mentioned "what do pop and r&b tracks use" and the answer is very often Reason with loads of NNXT samples....
So the question is: ultimately to get a great sounding "recording" (sans vox), does it all lie in the quality of the sample libraries you use? Or perhaps bit depth and sample rate of said libraries in relation to your DAW? What are todays engineers in pop/r&b/electronica doing to adapt to this very different approach to "recording" in terms of having everything sound great? real life applications, step by step processes, and even jokes regarding my verbose post are allowed.
Edited by edwindrewes (03/12/08 12:44 AM)
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#1907800 - 03/12/08 02:48 AM
Re: Virtual Music and Sound Quality
[Re: edwindrewes]
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Bill@Welcome Home Studios
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Registered: 08/23/03
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You still have to consider your room and monitor rig, since they so impact what you hear. And how you use the samples... I mean, for a while there in the 80s and 90s we could pretty much pick out who did what tune on what synth just by their NOT attempting to do anything other than directly play the existing patches, which become recognisable over time. And then, just because you have $10,000 worth of samples, can you cut a groove? What about effects, and eq, and making differing pieces/parts mesh into one sealess production? Then I guess there ia also that nagging little thing about talent.... the methods may require a different type of mechanic but in the long run it is still going to be about the groove or the song.
Bill
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#1909443 - 03/14/08 09:20 AM
Re: Virtual Music and Sound Quality
[Re: edwindrewes]
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paully
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Registered: 05/25/04
Posts: 1057
Loc: Northern New Jersey
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So the question is: ultimately to get a great sounding "recording" (sans vox), does it all lie in the quality of the sample libraries you use? Or perhaps bit depth and sample rate of said libraries in relation to your DAW?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Some of the sample libraries available today are absolutly incredible sounding. I think you hit the nail on the head with respect to what any computer can process in real time. My old G4 Mac couldn't begin to handle some of them. But then again I not a power user, and do most audio tracking to other media.
On a modern system, with a lot of RAM, I'd imagine that tracks could easily be done one instrument at a time using these dense samples, then frozen if latency sets in. I'm seriously looking at the newer Mac Pro, and stepping up to Logic 8. It has some awesome instruments and tools included, and I think the Pro is capable of 7gB of RAM.
Bill is quite right about the listening environment being neutral. All the high priced equipment/samples in the world won't give a true sonic picture if the room isn't properly treated. BTW Bill, are suggesting that maybe the Roland D50 and the Yamaha DX7 were slightly overused?  .
Best, Paul
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#1930017 - 04/21/08 07:29 AM
Re: Virtual Music and Sound Quality
[Re: paully]
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MusicWorkz
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Registered: 04/20/01
Posts: 1686
Loc: Philadelphia,PA,UNITED STATES
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As great as the quality of the sample libraries, romplers, modelers and other emulations are, I still find that much of the quality we hear comes from great front end usage-converters, mics, pres and outbaord gear, as well as the rooms they are used in.
Most importantly though, is the talent that is using them-not just the artist, but the producers and engineers, too. To me, that quality of everything sounding great has as much to do with "who" is using it and knowing the depths and limitations of your equipment, and not quite as much to do with "what" is being used. A bad instrument in the hands of a master will always sound better than a good instrument in the hands of a novice.
It's sad when I talk to artists, musicians and producers and they can't tell you what their favorite signal chains and studio/performance setups are, so it becoems easy to see where the breakdown in "quality" starts. It isn't difficult to tell a track that has been recorded direct to disk without entering the analog realm. There is a lifelessness and a flatness to the sound...almost sterile, no matter how hard it grooves. Turn on the radio for immediate examples.
In the hands of a skilled producer and/or engineer, however, that same track can be manipulated and massaged in such a way your sound takes a leap beyond, even if it stays "in the box". And if they know how to take it outside of it, even better. When there is a knowledge about carving out areas for your sound to sit in, where to place it and how to make it sound the way it needs to for a certain track, it gets infused in the music where the listener can "feel" it. That is the point, IMO, where we begin to hear where everything "sounds great"...
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