SonicScoop has been covering music mixing, recording and production for more than a decade. Run by Gold-certified mastering engineer Justin Colletti. Subscribe for tips, tutorials, interviews and gear reviews. Website at sonicscoop.com ►🎚Mixing Breakthroughs: mixingbreakthroughs.com
This is one of the better videos on the subject. And it is an extensive subject area. You've hit some of the high points, but it would require more mics and a lot more time rto exhaustively cover this subject, as you did note. Favorite of these: ORTF Black close distance, no reverb. Amethyst picks up the harshness of certain stick-out frequencies (or improperly voiced hammers?) whereas the Black hole blends those in better. Could be the mic or the individual piano. You should, as well, consider A B fairly close, just above plain of the lid, pointing down at from at or just outside the piano frame curve. Puts the mic at about 6-7', This avoids the pick up of the cross projection of sound waves projecting horizontally from the lid reflection, the lid is good for a live audience to hear an unmic'd piano (obviously the designed purpose) but for recording, especially from close, a confusion of sound waves projecting vertically off the soundboard and horizontally from the lid. Some engineers just remove the lid, problem solved. Player position miking is also a good choice, (there are dozens of combinations, you hit on some of the more popular. ) I would have liked to have heard a Blumlein technique, as well.
I’ve been mixing on 5” nearfields for 20 years. My Event PS-5s fit like the Beatles’ proverbial Old Brown Shoe. Still, I appreciate you both clarifying for whom, and why the Core series aren’t for me, lest G.A.S. kick in and drain my bank account!
Thanks. For mastering only Electronic Music, in a small (2.6 mts x 3 mts ) treated room, this or Adam A8H. I am happy with my mixing monitors plus Headphone ). I want 3 way for mastering. thanks
In my head Steve was an amazing recordist with a lot of incredible knowledge but a poor mixer. I was always a fan of his drum recording methods and I definitely learned something watching his videos
That's a value judgement related to an opinion. People make the same complaints about Gustavo Dudamel when it comes to his handling of, say, where woodwinds sit in contrast dynamically against strings in a Tchaikovsky piece. Style is more taste than objective evaluation once proficiency is demonstrated, which the late Albini was known for and Dudamel is celebrated for. Mixing and conducting are very much related btw. The console fader was actually invented to allow a recording to fade much like a conductor can do with a live symphonic performance.
Clicking on a video about something you dislike is like _choosing_ to go to a restaurant that you know has the kind of food you absolutely hate. "I hate bikes, therefore I shall now spend time clicking on videos about bikes and commenting how I am _sooooo_ not a fan of them, because I am eight years old."
Thing I notice most is these older records have a vibe and sound that’s more unique to each artist. Current records may sound technically better but they all sound so much the same. Is that because of the internet? Maybe because they all use the same drum samples and amp sims? Everyone is sharing and consuming the same techniques like “this is how it’s done correctly”. Would be great to hear your thoughts on this?
My sense is all of the above. And part of the consequence of the (continued) loudness wars is that in order to get a song sounding both of a competitive loudness AND have a sound quality that’s acceptable to the mainstream of that genre, there are only so many ways you can skin that cat. Notice how all popular genres have turned to using a high level of saturation for apparent loudness. Makes everything sound more similar and, to your point, have less of their own vibe. It’s definitely a vibe; just not unique, anymore 🤷🏽♂️
What are your favorite Steve Albini productions and why? Here's a link to the Steve Albini comparison playlist: open.spotify.com/playlist/5nC9TqDnTDB7xCkSwcaGld?si=1f5c273b56ba4407 ►🎚Mixing Breakthroughs: mixingbreakthroughs.com ►🎛Compression Breakthroughs: compressionbreakthroughs.com ►🎧 EQ Breakthroughs: EQBreakthroughs.com ►🔊Mastering Demystified: MasteringDemystified.com ►✅Become a channel member here: ru-vid.com/show-UCqEKv3KIZoZrjv2LymD3iMgjoin
Funny how whenever I try to find an AI singer, computer says no. I don't seen want a famous voice. I just wanna specify the key, specify the bpm and specify the relevant chords and notes. Until then, it's still science fiction and YT Content creators clickbaiting. Notice when he says "here is the sax" and nothing comes out.
You could’t hear the sax sample? It’s coming through loud and clear here. You may want a text and midi voice synth btw. Those exist too. This one is a voice replacing AI. Different concept. -Justin
Very helpful. But I'm still getting my volume pushed down when I publish on spotify or youtube. I'm mastering at a reasonable volume, matching with other professional tracks, and even putting my true peak at -1, but I still get my song much quieter than others (when publishing). What am I doing wrong?
I think it's unnecessary to risk at a ridiculously high sample rate but..A lot of nonlinear processing plugins are not well coded and can add up to produce significant aliasing.... It's a very slight big crush effect to my ears when this happens... Maybe it doesn't ruin a mix but.... Even if it's partly psychological... it's a different feel in my opinion. I don't like bit crushing. It's kind of a pet peave of mine.
Thank you sooooo much for making this broadcast. There’s so little info (videos) about the Dynaudio LYDs. So great to hear about the thoughts behind the different models. 👍🏻
Answer in video :-) This is one of the main questions that asked. But you can get great results on the LYD as well, and for a lot of people, that route will make a lot of sense. -Justin
@@SonicScoop I must have missed it, and I watched the whole video. I thought it went off on a tangent and was never answered. Do you mean the part he talks about style of music and use for dialogue ? Assuming the drivers and electronics on the LYD are not far behind the core i can not see how a two way speaker could be better than a three way one.
@@SonicScoop I watched again and sorry but there is no answer to that question. He compared the three way LYD with the two way LYD and that makes sense since the two way is cheaper so that is a factor. Then you talk about the benefits of three way and I completely agree.Then you talked about subs. But what the extra $800 will get you for a two way Core instead of the three way LYD ?
I get the sense that on Save Yourself the individual elements in Jaquire's mix probably sound amazing in solo but don't stack up super well together whereas the CLA mix blends all the elements together at the expense of how they might sound in solo (which of course doesn't matter at all). I would imagine Jaquire must have changed his workflow to remedy this at some point because a lof of his more famous mixes don't suffer from that issue whatsoever.
Have you tried Dynaudio monitors? What do you think? ►Big thanks to Dynaudio for supporting this channel. Support this channel yourself-at no cost-by clicking our affiliate link if you're interested in any new studio monitors: sweetwater.sjv.io/c/3177824/794166/11319?u=www.sweetwater.com/store/search.php?s=Dynaudio%20core%205
I was hoping to watch 3 hours of promo video with scrolling websites and monotonous dialogue but since it’s only a bit over 1h, I will spend the rest of the evening by diving into exciting metaverse of British masterpiece called “Drying paint”.
Hot take: Idk what it is, but I really DO NOT like CLA’s mixing sound. Love CLA as a person and his plug-ins, but his mixes are super sharp/stabby/piercing/thin. They lack the richness I love from Serban, Bruce Swedien, Manny, Clearmountain, Neal Pogue, and Derek Ali. Thank you so much for these Justin!!! Love these videos. So helpful.
I totally agree about that snow patrol song. It’s suffering from the thing that alot of 00’s productions had. That static kindve of loudness. Its like everyone was slamming it into the same limiter in that era 😅
Michael's harmonics from 2k to 20k have a more pronounced high end overall, but yes, the point being that a competitive mix can be achieved using only stock plugins if you train your to know what they want and what techniques to use with any tools to get the material there. Great Video! Two Great Mixes! - IceMike1200
I've come to the conclusion that CLA is the anti-Albini. His records do not sound like a band in a room. They sound like a band passed through a bunch of processors to sound sterile and homogeneous. His mixes are polished and sound good, insofar as they are clean and big, but they dont sound like the band in a room at all.
so like…when the beat was made before it was tracked out to stems…was there no mixing done? because literally every single thing he did on the drums is something i’d do before tracking out stems. are producers out here just tracking out stems of dry midi/samples and sending it to engineers to shape the whole sound? just slapping shit on the playlist and calling it a day? mixing while creating is literally half of the fun of making beats lol. idk. i guess my thinking is…if im tracking out stems from a beat…its ready for mastering. mixing already done. am i trippin?
Thanks for putting these different examples of mixes side by side, quite interesting to compare. That slowly building track by The Kills seems quite interesting to me though, it doesn't need to be more mainstream and doesn't deserve your hate IMO. Tchad's Sheryl Crow record is pretty cool as well. But I wouldn't care for that Britney Spears song you seem to love either, so... "De gustibus..." etc.
This should be a mandatory lesson for anyone trying to understand digital audio. At least now I know I'm not crazy after reading the audiophile garbage everywhere. The marketing has gotten out of control & sadly pushes over taxed hardware basically to scam consumers. 32bit float @ 192Khz even for most science is insane, But if you need Auto Tune on every song "Go For it" Clearly cheaper than actual lessons on how to stay in key. In my experience going from 16bit to 24bit was a great improvement - Beyond that I can't tell the difference - at least not with a decent recording. Yet the Audiophile branding just keeps pushing the envelope "I think They-- They whom ever They are-- Have flown the koo koo's nest. The test of who's audio sweep sounds better than the next -- Great I'm 50 & still stuck hearing an 18 & 19 Khz whistle out of $10K speakers being sold as "THESE are the Golden Turd" VS my old Polk Audio's I've been mixing with for 30+ years. GTFO.... This vid IS true Factual Gold THANK YOU... Also helps be understand why the headphone market is so wacked as well.
It is insane, on the level with marketing TV sets that reproduce ultraviolet wavelengths. But there is no audible difference between 16-bit and 24-bit - the only difference is a small amount of inaudible noise.
@@nicksterj Well the difference between 16bit & 24bit is a huge difference in the quality on guitar ad/da - Going from the 80's 16 digital crap compared to today is night & day. No one I know is jumping to drop their new Samplitube or Helix to grab a late 80's Zoom pedal because they can't tell the difference. There is an Absolute difference, But the jump to 32 bit isn't proving to have the same effect.
@@JosephSouthard The only difference is that 24-bit gives you a lower noise floor, and the noise floor for 16 bits is already effectively silent. Which means any signals softer than that would be inaudible. Other than the level of noise, the output signal of 16-bit (dithered) and 24-bit is exactly the same. The proof is here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Rc_-eavKptY.html
Note: I'm just talking about recording and playback here. If you're doing a lot of DSP, the cumulative error in 16-bit can degrade the sound, so 24 bits is indeed useful in production! Hope that helps. :)
I agree, just started using it in April and find it has utility and versatility in mixing a song in a way you couldn't a few years ago. Using it to enhance your own vocal for background harmonies instead of stacking or trying to teach another singer how you want it. I also write songs that aren't meant for my voice, so I can use this to get it to sound similar to what I want in order to find the ideal singer more effectively. And getting some instruments in the track that you can't play but will now work with a hum or a guitar line is cool, can possibly find some inventive sounds, too. I'm not on board with out and out creating a complete song using AI, just telling it your lyrics or a title only and having it write something, maybe a lyricist that can't play instruments can do that.
This video more showed me that maybe I shouldnt take advice from everybody, ive watched alot of cla mix videos and picked up tips and tricks, but now i realize that this taste of mixing is absolutley not what i like. So mabye i should take advice from mixers i like the taste of instead of all sorts of big mixers that I assume are great cause they have a big name?
That's part of what this series is for! There's so much taste in this. You should figure out what sounds you REALLY like, and what it really takes to achieve them. Not everyone who is "successful" is worth following closely. Some people will be very successful at achieving sounds that aren't to your personal tastes :-) -Justin
Such a great series and big respect to you Justin how articulate you present these great insights. I’m a bit Jacquire King fan and feel that his version was more listening to the song and genre sensibilites which is my preference. CLA’s mix is also great but he was probably brought in to make it sound more ‘pop’. For me Buffalo Tom always belonged together with Dinosaur Jr. and Lemonheads to this Boston, College / Indie Rock Scene that didn’t have the greatest production but cool songs and lots of attitude. Sleepy Eyed is probably their best produced album and ‘Summer’ and ‘Tangerine’ are great songs of that album. Thanks again for your work. Regards from Berlin, Germany
I really like Serban's production, but I'm rather underwhelmed by how predictable and pedestrian most of the songs are, both sonically and from a songwriting point of view.
I’m not going to argue. He’s a master of his craft. But I don’t think I am in the target demographics for the average production that Serban mixes. -Justin
Small note on the Save Yourself mixes, I appreciate Jacquire's mix being more "vibey." Chris's is for sure more pop/contemporary/whatever you might want to call it, but I really like how loud the guitars are in Jacquire's mix. Lately in rock type stuff I've been noticing the drums are super loud, and I'm not a big fan of it. Interestingly, I think in k/j pop stuff lately the drums are more quiet. I don't think it's a pop thing, or even a genre thing really, just an interesting trend. Also, It'd be cool to see more of the hawkeye, or insight or whatever as your're comparing. Seeing the LUFS comparison is interesting, and something I've been meaning to do on spotify, but been too lazy to do.
To me a huge tell in CLA mixes is how he compresses and limits vocals. Also there’s always that snare thing that sounds like it’s whipping when it hits.
