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