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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Joined: Jan 2006
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Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 604 |
Listen to this, a Harry Nilsson recording having endured the compression of youtube and several other destroying copyings. The amazing thing is that despite of all this it still has a certain kind of dynamic, my Q is how has the dynamic impression survived? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfkDHfnje84
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Joined: Feb 2005
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When a song is mixed and mastered properly it will survive; and should unless an un-natural amount of compression or eq is added, you could destroy even the most perfect sounding symphony with compression. but that would happen with any song no matter how well it were recorded and mastered if you crush it it loses its life. If you notice the professional songs on youtube hold the sound when you listen. Where as a lot of home made mixes do not, because they were not sonic to begin with and when you crush a poor mix it only sounds worse; because it had no sonic space to start with and crushing it only makes it worse; take it from me I have made some stinkers. A good example of this is radio, radio stations compress everything, but it is in a way that acts as an eq as well; so it keeps the sonic value, however if you listen to a mix on the radio that is not done professionally or by a qualified engineer it will sound awful. What makes great sonic recordings great is the fact that they were mixed great and mastered to perfection to begin with.
My TunesPsalm 57:7 My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music.
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Joined: May 2000
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...how has the dynamic impression survived?
I doubt that Youtube Applies any Dynamic Compression (Audio Compression). The type of Compression used there, if any - there are different stream rates available as well as "HD" and the poster can also select whether or not Stereo is invoked - is referring to the digital information being compressed to make for a smaller filesize, as in in mp3, wma, etc. --Mac
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I agree with Mac on this question - Try uploading a file to YouTube, there are all kinds of data compression options - which is the only kind of compression that YouTube invokes. It has nothing to do with level compression of the audio stream. Also, you can absolutely screw up a well mixed/mastered song with too much audio compression. If you critically listen to this song, the various sections, you will see that it was very well composed and mixed to begin with. As just one example, listen for where the hi-hat appears in the mix right near the fade near the end. Or for that matter, the arpeggiated guitar line that runs through the whole thing. They are nearly hard-panned, except for their reverbs. The guitar at the beginning is hard left, the open hat at the end is hard right, etc. There might be 10 total tracks in this song, and at no point is there any fighting between that arpeggiated guitar and some keyboard part, or other another guitar. About the only thing that takes up the same spectral territory are the BGVs, and a little bit of what sounds like a strat panned in the middle. But it's a very 'open' mix. It would be tempting to add a piano or electric piano track, some B3, etc. But those would close up the mix. That's an orchestration and composition decision. Then the mix engineer did his/her job to keep the few instrument parts there very separated from each other in a pan, volume and frequency content standpoint. This is true also for old Van Halen albums, true for Beatles mixes from more ancient mix capability, etc. To be honest, I don't think that this song has very much 'dynamics' as I understand the term. That would be very quiet to quite loud sections and back and forth. This song is actually pretty 'even' from that standpoint - but the mix is wide and open. Another song which you might like with similar minimal instrumentation but mixed absolutely perfectly is Lyle Lovett's "She's Already Made Up Her Mind". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofv9goALt3cThat YouTube example does suffer from some data compression issues, but even with the data compression artifacts, you can hear that it's also a very open mix, with some fairly aggressive hard panning, but a very wide and open mix, with conservative instrumentation. Very similar in mix philosophy to the Harry Nilsson example. I don't really like Lyle Lovett's singing voice necessarily, but this particular song orchestration and mix is one of the best in modern recorded music, in my opinion. George Massenburg was the engineer on this song. This song has more 'dynamics' from quiet to loud, etc. than the Harry Nilsson example. I bought this CD at a thrift shop just for this one recording as what it sounds like to have a 'quiet but fierce' type of mix. If you get the opportunity to hear this song direct into good headphones from CD, it is simply magical.
Last edited by rockstar_not; 03/21/14 03:14 PM.
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Another song which you might like with similar minimal instrumentation but mixed absolutely perfectly is Lyle Lovett's "She's Already Made Up Her Mind". I agree! I bought "Joshua Judges Ruth" and "Lyle Lovett and His Large Band" just to use as reference CDs and ended up putting them both into my playlist!
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A good mix/master translates.
That means it sounds good on just about anything.
--Mac
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A good mix/master translates.
That means it sounds good on just about anything.
--Mac Absolutley
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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