Originally Posted By: floyd jane
Can we get a VOTE here? From anyone reading this thread..

DO YOU HEAR ARTIFACTS?

I hesitate to step into the middle of this... but...

I don't hear it. And I don't think 99% of anyone who listens will either.

You (Rodney) and you (Mac) have spent your life listening "professionally" - on very detailed (very expensive) speakers in very controlled environments. You have "trained ears" - or you hear things differently than the rest of us in the first place (I believe). And even if you listen on lesser speakers now, you know what you are listening for.

I listened to that opening fiddle 50 times (downloaded - listening on headphones). It sounds like a fiddle to me. My guess is - that if you had 100 random people listen to the first 30 seconds of that file - even at 128 - and asked "is there anything wrong with that?" you would get 98 "No's" (figure that in your sample you might run into 2 other professional listeners).

Same with the electric guitar. Sounds like an electric guitar to me. And how many processors would that guitar output be run through? Who's to say that the sound isn't processed to sound the way it does? - every guitar player sounds different.

I'm not saying that you guys don't hear something. I've heard Rodney's work and it is phenomenal in every regard. (I've been the beneficiary of it - and am forever grateful). I'll have to take Mac's word for it since I've never heard anything from him. And I respect your talent and knowledge.

But... does can anyone else hear this? In this day and age, are there any sophisticated listeners anymore. Do people still buy those expensive sounds systems? (I know they do, so don't lecture me on that). The world listens to our music on an iPod or their phone - through earbuds. And most of what they listen to isn't even real instruments! They aren't going to hear ARITFACTS in that fiddle!

I'm sure I've left something out (of this side of "the debate"), but I'm sure you will get what I'm saying here....

Does it matter?


Ha ha. This post made me laugh. I certainly hope it is not a 'debate' Floyd but rather just a dialogue about the OPs original post. "Does it matter"? Only if it matters. Subtleties, details etc. are not for the audience, they are for me. Same as a chef and that tiny pinch of seasoning. Same as an artist, film-maker etc. The details are in the creation. These details, along with so many other things that are important to some of us would bore the average person out of their mind. No body hears when I change out pickups or a bridge on a guitar. Nobody but me.

That said, these 'artifacts' are not subtle. Not to me. I believe I have mentioned them to you Floyd at times when I have heard one of your demo tracks to play on. They just happen to stand out to me. So do they matter? Of course. To me, yes, yes, yes. I won't use them in that form. Does it matter in general? That is up to the person using them. Truth be told I could post these to a few of my peers and they would hear the same thing. I doubt I would even need to mention it. Like I said, stretching or pitch shifting .wav files produces artifacts. This is what happens when BIAB changes tempo and or keys with RTs. There is no getting around it. When it has to do both, it introduces double the amount. Trained ears? Perhaps. But that doesn't change anything. My ears, my needs, my production values etc. are no less valid. It makes no difference if the entire board said they heard nothing. As is I simply find other uses for the RTs.

Its all 100% good here and honestly I don't/wont 'debate' tone or production. Its all valid. Mine, yours, whomever. If this turns into something else, I would just sit it out. Thanks and cheers!