Warm and Fuzzy
Posted on | May 12, 2010 | No Comments
Well, for once I’m not talking about audio coloration. I’m talking about the human connection warm-and-fuzzy. Being a businessman, it’s easy to get caught up in…well…business. And in the electronic world it’s easy to forget that the human connection still means a lot.
I recently heard from a two-time client, who said this: “I’ve liked the work you’ve done for us, but haven’t felt we connected. I’m glad you’re reaching out: [our engineer] likes you tremendously both as a person and an engineer so I suspected you and I just haven’t connected, but would connect well if we ever did. What I would like is a cup of coffee sometime and find out what you think about Kant or kids on swings. I just like to know the people in my close community, and the people I do business with.”
Fair enough. I need to make sure the personal connections are as tight as the sonic ones.
Reclaiming Dynamics
Posted on | April 29, 2010 | No Comments
I received a single to master recently that had two problems: lots of bass and no dynamics. It was already recorded hot and limited, and there was no way to re-mix.
I ran the track through my Neve 5042 Tape Emulator and sort of hit the tape drive lightly to give more LF rolloff. It solved the bass problem and gave me a much more balanced sound, but what happened next was almost better: it restored dynamics to the track.
Below is a before-and-after screen shot of the wave form. After that, I was able to EQ a bit more and master the piece to the client’s (and my) satisfaction.
Sometimes, you gotta love the capabilities of a simple piece of analog hardware.
No Substitute for Listening
Posted on | April 29, 2010 | No Comments
The other day I got the go-ahead from a client to finalize their master disc. I cut the disc and error checked it. Everything seemed good. Then, I put my headphones on to listen through for one final check, with RME’s DigiCheck metering software running to make sure the disc didn’t have any overs, and something interesting happened: the disc just stopped playing sound halfway through the second track. The counter kept moving, as if the disc was still playing. Just no sound.
I ran the error-check on it again and everything came up normal: no C2 or CU errors and all 12 tracks registered. I listened again and — same spot — every went silent. I yanked the disc and cut another one. This time, no problems.
I think that’s the first, possibly second, time in 10 years anything like that’s happened. But it’s proof that anything can happen and you can’t rely on software alone to proof a final product. There’s no substitute for listening.
Technology’s Shortfall
Posted on | April 25, 2010 | No Comments
My wife and I just got a new home theater system: a Sony BDV-E500W. After an initial setup we watched part of a movie. It sounded great.
The next day, to try an fine-tune things, I used the included calibration microphone to run the “auto setup” audio function. Basically, you put the mic where you sit (or, in an average seating area) and test tones generated from each of the 6 speakers feed info to the mic about distance and frequency balance.
That night we watched the rest of the movie and I noticed that the dialog was much less discernable and the low-end was REALLY boomy. The following day I opened the audio controls on the menu and noticed that the auto-calibration had reduced the center channel by 3db and boosted the subwoofer by 2.5db.
The concept of auto-calibration in sound is similar to something like auto balance in Photoshop. For minor adjustments it can work well, but it can also create really bad results as it makes decisions from a limited perspective. All of these algorithms take samplings of information and make decisions, but there’s no substitute for being able to see (or hear) the big picture with knowledge and discrimination on your side.
Never Forget to Listen to Your Clients
Posted on | April 10, 2010 | No Comments
I’m mastering a project for a band…a la Passion Pit and Rogue Wave. I mastered the tracks and used my Neve 5042 to (God I can’t believe I’m saying it) “warm things up a bit”. I received a note from the singer saying everything sounded great, but 3 tracks needed to be brighter. My first reaction was that he was used to original, brighter, completely digital files.
I listened back to the tracks and, indeed, the tape head treatment was a bit much for these three tunes, making them dull instead of warm. Re-processed without the Neve, they matched the punch and clarity of the other (Neve’d) tracks.
The moral is, never forget to listen to your clients. Even though mastering engineers have expertise, tools, and objectivity on their side, the client knows the sound he/she is trying to hit and their feedback is invaluable.
Revealing Video
Posted on | April 8, 2010 | No Comments
If you have (or ever had) any interest in Frank Zappa, this is a must-see video clip that gives some insight into all the work he did.
Happy Clients…
Posted on | March 25, 2010 | No Comments
…are the best reward.
Wavelab 7
Posted on | March 24, 2010 | No Comments
I was very excited to see that Wavelab’s v.7 software is slated for release later in 2010. And, it’s going to be cross-platform to include Mac OS!
Reality vs. Replica
Posted on | March 18, 2010 | No Comments
One way to think of the difference between analog and digital is that analog is reality and digital is a replica of reality.
We’re getting very detailed and clever as to how closely we can mimic reality in the binary world, as you’ll see in this Universal Audio documentary of how the Manley Massive Passive tube equalizer was modeled in the digital domain.
Pretty impressive.
Amicable Parting
Posted on | March 11, 2010 | No Comments
This NPR story about OK Go leaving EMI is interesting, if you have 6:42 to spare.
About This Blog
From Ohm to Om reflects the opinions of mastering engineer Paul Abbott, owner of San Diego's ZenMastering.
We welcome comments from readers...pro or con!
