Dark Matter (song)

[Ms Harmless]

Grammy Out of Control

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Jorge]

But do you have the Golden Ear Certificate of Supreme Auditory Excellence

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Jorge]

I'll put you in touch with my friends at the IAVS

[RockPusher]

Trag, thank you for that detailed background. I'm envious of your tech, but I also wonder if there may be an effect like when I'm watching SD on my fancy 4K TV, where music that is not very high fidelity ends up sounding quite a bit worse with a setup that can highlight its "warts and all."

[E.H. Ruddock]

But in all seriousness trag, what is your listening recipe? I explained which version I was listening to on which type of speakers.

Getting all Steve Hoffman Music Forums in here.

Fill in your equipment profile, trag!

I mean, if he's gonna constantly trash how it sounds...

My critical listening skills were honed years ago, growing up with my dad's home recording studio; and then my own career in the recording industry. I've worked with both discrete and IC-based Neve consoles, Neoteks, SSL G, J, and K consoles, API, and Daking; channel strips literally from Abbey Road that were used on albums by The Beatles, Pink Floyd, etc... I've monitored on everything from KRK 5s to massive OceanWays; I got to work or attend sessions at the legendary Sear Sound, SkyLine Studios, Platinum Sound, Converse Rubber Tracks, and lots more. Have used plenty of vintage mics by Neumann, Coles, AKG, etc. I wrote for an internationally distributed recording magazine, and got to interview some notable producers, engineers, and musicians.

That's all in my past, and today I'm a fussy audiophile. I'm slowly building my "forever" setup, and right now the most impressive components are my Klipsch Forte IVs, which are highly sensitive (e.g. they don't take much power to drive, and are extremely revealing); and my Cary Audio VT-500 phono stage. There are some other decent components but nothing to write home about, but I've got a couple big purchases incoming within the next four months or so, including an LTA ZOTL 40+ Reference power amp, and a modified Decware CSP325 pre-amp. When all is said and done -- probably three years from now -- this will be about a $42K system that I've obsessively researched and am slowly saving for.

I'm not sure much of that matters. As I said, my critical listening skills were honed during my studio days, and I'd generally say that:

1. Production should elevate the music, and the musical performances of the musicians who worked the sessions. I'd make different assessments towards something like Peter Gabriel, NIN, or Olivia Rodrigo, where production elements stand to add layers of artistic intention. I tend to take a much more judicial stance on music created by straightforward "bands," where the core identity is in the musicians' personalities and their interplay with one another; I find that rarely does heavy-handed production add much of anything to these sorts of bands, and more often than not detracts from their impact.

2. I DON'T think you need to spend $40K to enjoy music, and I KNOW you can have a decent home system for under $1K. But better gear is better than worse gear.

3. I believe that audio fidelity is hugely important in the enjoyment of music, and that there is a confluence of influences -- streaming algorithms, cheap gear manufacturers that over-emphasize certain frequency ranges (looking at you Apple and Beats by Dre!), audio plug-ins and how-to videos that have created a real monoculture of production styles -- that serve to undermine the most human elements of music creation, and the way we listen to it.

I'm a pest about this stuff because first of all it's kind of fun to log on to RM and be a dick about it; it makes me laugh! But also because when Harmless conflates songwriting styles with production elements, or when stip seems lost about how someone like Serban Ghanea commands some notable awards despite my constant bitching, I really feel like "Oh god, these techno-capitalist pigs are coming to take away my ability to enjoy the finer points of music on a really deep level, and these loving fans are unwitting participants."

tl;dr

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Ms Harmless]

I've never conflated songwriting styles with production elements, Trag, but I am grateful to have got sassed in your autobiography

[Ms Harmless]

and it's Ms.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Strat]

I'm so fucking turned on right now

[Strat]

Luckily all the music production youtube personalities i follow hammer on and on about 1) balance 2) eq 3) compression and thats it! Unless there is a tasty treat plugin that can be used to enhance an effect or something!

[Strat]

also i feel like im *this* close to turning trag on with my mixes

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Ms Harmless]

1. You conflated the two in a recent post talking about the different production styles across S/T. There are no different production styles across that album.

2. Give me a fuckin’ break. I referred to you as “her” and fully honor your life as a woman. I’m not going to type “Ms” for the same reason I won’t type “E.H. Ruddock” or “94758UP,” because it takes too long.

the "it's Ms." comment was a lighthearted joke, relax (although if I'm completely honest, I don't love being called "Harmless", but yeah, it really doesn't matter)

I very clearly remember talking about different production styles across Ed's solo album "Earthling" (and to an extent, Lightning Bolt); my dad had a recording studio too, I definitely didn't mean "writing styles"

[Strat]

also i feel like im *this* close to turning trag on with my mixes

That last one you sent a couple weeks ago was really impressive! Leaps and bounds.

Also, I’m not a great mixer, not even close. I can check all the basic boxes but don’t have the confidence to be creative or take risks. I marvel at some of the stuff I hear.

all starts with getting a decent drum sound, amirite?!?!

Then all faders to zero. Bring the vocals up and build around there. Eq and compress when needed.

NAILED IT

[Ms Harmless]

I need you to honour other people with a right to their perfectly good set of ears