Favourite Adjective?

[supaheef]

Hiya Everybody (and Mr Derr particularly, it is an honour),

What are your favourite adjectives for describing sound, and in what context do you use them? I hear lots of people use "warmth", "smooth", "clean", and "cheesecake", but are there others, the more obscure the better! I believe that this would be extremely useful for designers and manufacturers (like Mr Derr) so they can think names for their next "mystery knob". I think most people love gear with a mystery knob, one that doesn't really say what it does, it just states "more" or "super" or "pulverise". Marketing departments from all companies can come here and finally make gear that speaks the same language as us, shall we call it "slut-ese"? Maybe "slut-esque"? Possibly "gearslutian"? Let's make sure that we use our chosen word(s) in a sentence, for example:

Producer (while smoking cuban cigar) "the bass is missing something, it needs more cheesecake..."
Engineer (after a string of muttered explesives) "...I'll patch it into the (insert esoteric equipment) and turn up the "frosting" knob..."

Producers and Lead singers may not speak the same language as us poor recordists or engineers, but at least our gear may be on the same level!

heef.

[Dave Martin]

I like "It needs to be more sparkly".

[alphajerk]

i like '****'... as in "****! that sounds ****ing great" conversely, if i hear "**** that" or "sounds like ****ing shit" it can be bad.

i wouldnt mind a "****" knob on a piece of gear. kinda like nuke mode... when you really want to **** a signal.

[davemc]

I agree with Alpha. What a cool piece of gear that would be.
The "****" knob, the "thats the shit" knob, and the old faithful "crap or junk" knob.

[paterno]

To go contrary for a second, and with NO slight intended in reference to the set of settings on the FATSO, here's one that I personally hate:

WARM (or it's variations -- warmth, or tube warmth)!!

As far as I'm concerned, tube warmth is what you get when you hold your hands over a tube that has been glowing for a while. It always conjures up the image of sitting in front of a fire in a log cabin for me. I think it is not descriptive enough, and can cause a lot of problems in interpretation.

Just like when people describe the huge low end on Zeppelin records. What low end?...

-John

[NathanEldred]

Originally posted by paterno


Just like when people describe the huge low end on Zeppelin records. What low end?...

good one John...

Hey, look above my avatar, I "live for gear" hooray!!

[Dave Derr]

Favorite Adjectives or Terms

Hooo Boy, we have a good time around here with terms. You should see all the names of switches and Knobs we have come up with. Im not gonna tell you all of them cuz who knows, someday we may use them!

My favorite all time switch or set of terms for a control?? That Im gonna tell ya, cuz I would love to have had somethin in my studio with it.

I want a big Ol Toggle switch labled with "DEMO" in the Down or Off position, and the word "ALBUM" when in the ON or UP position. Of course the studio has the right to charge more for when the switch is in the UP position.

If anyone sees this switch appear shortly after this post, tell em we have it copyrighted and our lawyers are comin <laughing>

Course theres always the GOOD/BAD switch too...

Originally posted by Paterno
WARM (or it's variations -- warmth, or tube warmth)!!
Just like when people describe the huge low end on Zeppelin records. What low end?... -John

<Laughing, again> Maybe its one of those things where its not all the low end they are noticing but, the lack of high end! But in the case of Led Zep, I suspect its the huge drum sounds like "When the Levy Breaks" where the kick has this sustain unlike anything else from those days. I honestly referred to that drum sound many times when demoing the Distressor.
The use of "Warmth" in the Fatso caused us quite of bit of glee, and tongue in cheekness, frankly. First off, I dont think the word "Warmths" exists! (As when you link the channels by pressing both "Warmths"). Originally it was called HF Sat for High Frequency Saturation - but there there was no "ring" to it.

Since Warm has been an overused term since the digital audio age began, I said "Hell, lets give the people what they want." Honestly, it does soften the top end and make things less pointy and provide the ability to listen louder to mixes without your ears clamping down on the transients. I think this is part of the definition of warm audio.

More later!

Dave
PS John Paterno - I been listening to the JackShit Album and enjoying it. Damn those guys can play. The 2nd song has a Hendrixy flavor - and thats not something I have ever said about an album catering to the Country and Western market! And Oh man, the third track is blazing. That has to be 200BPM. Swinging baby! Fun and unusual. Great sounds as always, and I guess its really mostly just 3 pieces playing. Funny too. I was wondering where the song "Hold that Critter Down" was gonna go...

[heinz]

I just want a "better" button. Every time my sound sucks, I just push it a number of times.

Overused industry descriptors that are relatively meaningless to me:

- revolutionary
- neve-like
- tube-like
- tape-like
- perfect emulation
- pro quality
- sweet
- low latency
- seamless
- vintage
- foolproof
- reference
- industry-standard

[paterno]

Originally posted by Dave Derr
Favorite Adjectives or Terms

<Laughing, again> Maybe its one of those things where its not all the low end they are noticing but, the lack of high end! But in the case of Led Zep, I suspect its the huge drum sounds like "When the Levy Breaks" where the kick has this sustain unlike anything else from those days. I honestly referred to that drum sound many times when demoing the Distressor.


PS John Paterno - I been listening to the JackShit Album and enjoying it. Damn those guys can play. The 2nd song has a Hendrixy flavor - and thats not something I have ever said about an album catering to the Country and Western market! And Oh man, the third track is blazing. That has to be 200BPM. Swinging baby! Fun and unusual. Great sounds as always, and I guess its really mostly just 3 pieces playing. Funny too. I was wondering where the song "Hold that Critter Down" was gonna go...

Hey Dave --
I don't think it is a lack of highs, I think that it is a case where you can actually hear the space on the drums, and since most folks equate that with a big room, they are thinking 'big low end' instead of 'mics placed at a distance on a great drummer in a great sounding room' and not boosting the low end to eat up sonic real estate .

As far as the Jack Shit record, it was literally recorded in 5 hours --Three players, no overdubs and no edits between takes. 15 ips 2", and then dumped into ProTools for mixing (due to $$ restraints). The only overdubs are the spoken word parts and the cow herd in 'Bull Rider', and maybe one guitar part in one of the slow songs. Kinda like a country version of Van Halen I. They are fantastic players -- the real deal! 'Hold that Critter' was recorded in my back bedroom at the time. Three mics and a bass DI ( bass through a Distressor, of course...)...

thanks for the kind words about it. It is one of my favorite recording experiences...

Cheers,
John

[covert]

Originally posted by davemc
I agree with Alpha. What a cool piece of gear that would be.
The "****" knob, the "thats the shit" knob, and the old faithful "crap or junk" knob.

All of these as opposed to the "suck" knob?

[Dave Derr]

Im cracking up at some of these. Shouldnt the Crap, Junk and Suck Knobs all be subtractive controls? Or could you possibly use them on clients you dont want back in the studio??

How about a "Boomin" or "Big and Round" control? Would it be too sexist to have a Harder or Limper control?

Actually, in answering Supaheef's original question, I always liked the term "Creamy", but we also used the term "Chunky". Now that I think of it, maybe if I ate too much peanut butter in my "Band days"?

My friend John Pattereson used the term "Woolly" to indicate too much 200 - 500 hz. Sheen or Glisten is almost always that 10K- 16KHz stuff. "Thump" is like 40 - 80 stuff. I used to add "Kank" to a snare which was 2 - 5KHz - frequencies you had to use judiciously. Crunch on guitars was 3K - 8K, while Mud on guitars was most stuff below 150.

I have recorded quite a few "Cheesy" bands. So while punching in I would think to myself, was it Cheddar or Limburger... Cheddar being greatly preferred.

Well, this has degenerated enough, so Ill stop before I get into my own Cheesy zone.