[LAU] Ascension: Music made in Linux

[Jörn Nettingsmeier]

On 01/30/2010 10:02 AM, Patrick Shirkey wrote:
> BTW, I'm not looking for approval. That will be a nice addition if it
> happens. I'm seeking a purely technical discussion of what can be done
> to clean up the sound for a wider range of audio systems.

that's a pretty hard task... i haven't had a chance to listen to your 
tune yet, but judging from other people's comments, it's probably going 
to be impossible to give any meaningful mixing hints if i haven't the 
faintest idea what the music is about.

as a somewhat related anecdote, i had the pleasure of mixing a dutch 
doom/death metal band called "Izegrim" a few months ago. what i heard 
was this:
* a female band leader who would growl all the time in the c2-c3 range 
and play a constant eighths-note pulse on an electric bass tuned down a 
fourth
* two guitarists doing powercords in the first three frets on guitars 
likewise tuned down a fourth
* a drummer who had switched on his 16th-note double bass during 
soundcheck and only turned it off after the last encore.

in short: i hadn't the faintest idea what these guys were up to, and to 
my ears the entire sound was totally fucked up. you couldn't 
differentiate anything, because everything was kinda below 800hz, with 
the possible exception of the kick drum :)

i half expected to get beat up real bad by the local metal crowd, but 
for some reason, they liked the sound - some even gave me a thumbs-up, 
and they were too boozed-up for sarcasm.

morale: there are genres that i can't possibly comment on.
similar problem with circuit bending...

if you want to make your mix safer, run it through an analyzer, see in 
which bands most of the energy is pumped out, and check if that's what 
you hear / want to hear. if not, roll it off or try some multiband 
compression. also, check for sounds under 40 hz - what will sound great 
on a club p.a. will just generate heat and general muddiness on a less 
than hi-end home stereo...

best


jörn