"mixing for better mastering"

[Guest]

Good Craig Anderton article in December Keyboard on mixing for better mastering.

 

Using almost entirely only "homemade" sounds and synthesis, I had really underestimated the amount of subsonic mud you can generate.

 

Physical modelling of large objects, FM synthesis, resampling downward, layering sounds, each one subjected to much DSP- it really builds up.

 

Interestingly enough, eliminating subsonic frequencies seems to help reduce high-frequency phasing problems, which is kind of strange, but definitely noticeable.

 

One thing to add- obviously in a "regular" studio, engineers are checking and playing with phasing all the time, but it is also important in the virtual studio, when you are layering and monkeying with samples to make a new sound, to try out the samples with different phase inversions and in mono playback if they are stereo.

 

It would be nice for every audio editor to have a keyboard shortcut to "MONO PLAYBACK".

 

http://www.mp3.com/Kosmolith

 

 

 

This message has been edited by dadabobro@yahoo.com on 01-19-2001 at 04:21 AM

[Anderton]

I'd like to see a manufacturer some up with a really high quality low cut filter plug-in designed solely for dealing with subsonic issues. The more you start looking for this problem, the more you find it. And the more you fix it, the better everything sounds. I think it opens up transparency in a very general, obvious sense.

[alphajerk]

not to mention it kills amp power in playback sucking ALL the energy out of the caps. one of the best things to tighten up the bottom end it getting rid of the <20hz... but even though you cant hear it... do you miss it? i do depending on the track.

[ketone]

Every decent mixing desk should have a hi-pass filter on every channel with a cut off control and switchable slopes..ie 6-36db per octave.

 

I hi-pass nearly every sample i use, bounce to disk then back to the sampler.

 

Creating track separation, overall leveling and smooth frequency balance is so much easier to achieve with Hi-passing.

 

Anyone care to build an analog console to my specifications?

 

haha ketone

[Alon]

Originally posted by Anderton:

I'd like to see a manufacturer some up with a really high quality low cut filter plug-in designed solely for dealing with subsonic issues.

 

For Me, the Q10 works great for this.

 

If you put a lowpass filter somewhere below 100 hz, all you're going to hear is the low frequencies on your track and NOTHING else.

It's real easy to hear if you any Mush or Garbage at the bottom.

 

I also think the Q10 works great in Hipass mode also. You can get really precise using this EQ.

 

Even though some people don't like the way Digital EQ sounds, I've no complaints about this one. There's things you could do with it that you could NEVER get close to with an analog EQ.

 

My 2 cents

[Guest]

Thanks for pointing me to that article.

 

Can't get enough reading on that subject.

 

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William F. Turner

Guitarist, Composer, Songwriter

[Anderton]

These artifacts can show up even during the mixing process to two-track. As a result I usually process the final two-track master with a subsonic filter, as well as selected individual tracks. It really does make a difference.