How about that Disco sound ..

[Theo Verelst]

Processing my various music libraries (various sources CD, HDtracks, mainly) I got there where there is a clear congruence with the sounds I recall as fun. Most of the great hits people long before 2000 remember sound good, and that makes me wonder what kind of sound field, stereo depth and Equal Loudness Curve related sound components are intentional and fitting for a certain purpose. Like poppy mix of Sade is fine, but a Hard Rock band sound prepared for a mono cassette recorder probably is unbearable.

 

Now in the process of assessing the various Lexicon based remix options I found out there's also a place for thinking about the Master Slider (in this case of My Yamaha MG16XU mixer) and it's effect on say a Disco sound, so loud, danceable, powerful speakers but way different and usually smaller than a PA system.

 

So how is that slider going to be put: ~ -20dB (clear, little "pressure" or warm distortion coming through) around 0dB (later in the evening, some power going on, people taken along with that "loud sound"), or close to full open for that hit song blasting away and everyone knowing " that's about as loud as it gets".

 

Don't know what I'm talking about: than that's what I'm talking about!!

 

T.V

[Anderton]

So how is that slider going to be put: ~ -20dB (clear, little "pressure" or warm distortion coming through) around 0dB (later in the evening, some power going on, people taken along with that "loud sound"), or close to full open for that hit song blasting away and everyone knowing " that's about as loud as it gets".

 

A lot of people think the sound varies as you get closer to using up headroom. This is understandable with analog, because there might be some peaks distorting that you don't really hear as "distortion." But some believe this is also the case with digital, because the performance of converters changes at the extremes of their range. I don't have any way to measure this, so can't confirm one way or the other. I can't really hear any significant difference as to whether something is recorded at -12 or -3, unless true peak comes into play, and there's distortion in the D/A conversion process.