some thoughts on "bigger, brighter, better"

[audiothings]

here in chennai, india, the trend over the last 10 years or so has tended towards severely, unbearably bright and compressed. can you believe that most engineers eq vocal tracks like this (i've seen this happen dozens of times): + 5-8 dB around 6K and + 12dB(!!) at 12K. and the mics are usually some neumann or rode. recently i received a voice over track from another studio and it was full of awful sounding square waves (not digital clipping tho'). so i called the studio where it came from and the engineer tells me "obviously you don't know anything about sound. that is not distortion, that is limiting. you have to limit the sound if you want to make it bigger, brighter and better"

yesterday a regular jingle client of mine passed a strange comment: "the other guys sound like CD while you sound like cassette" and this has apparently become a bit of a problem. so i asked him if theres any lack of clarity or balance, or any missing element. he says "no thats not it, but when your tracks play next to other jingles, they just sound so dull and small."

people! i seem to have reached a situation here. what do i do? (i know that the issue has nothing to do with translation, my stuff sounds fine to me across different playback systems, and they are intentionally less-hyped.) how do i compete in a market where all the stuff that comes before an after my work is much more compressed and enhanced than my own? it would naturally seem that i'm putting out "dull" and "small" mixes...

self.

[Kingtone]

Originally Posted by audiothings

how do i compete in a market where all the stuff that comes before an after my work is much more compressed and enhanced than my own? it would naturally seem that i'm putting out "dull" and "small" mixes...

self.

maybe you should look at making your tracks sound 'bigger, brighter and better'.
Im serious... if that's what the client wants... give it to them.

[thethrillfactor]

Originally Posted by audiothings

people! i seem to have reached a situation here. what do i do? (i know that the issue has nothing to do with translation, my stuff sounds fine to me across different playback systems, and they are intentionally less-hyped.) how do i compete in a market where all the stuff that comes before an after my work is much more compressed and enhanced than my own? it would naturally seem that i'm putting out "dull" and "small" mixes...

self.

I've also mixed tracks that were either produced here or there(India/Sri Lanka/Pakistan) and when the clients bring me tracks of what it should sound like i am also shocked how bright and distorted the mixes are.

Here everything is dry,ballsy and in your face.

Over there its very wet and bright.

I had to learn to compromise and adapt.

Hey a great mix is a great mix no matter what the genre.

Just learn to find the middle ground.

If you have to hype your mixes a little(EQ and Compression on the mixbuss) learn how to.

Fortunately some of the releases are mastered here and the guys here usually can make things work.

I would suggest find an ME over there of quality and build a relationship where you can bring consistent work for hyping your mixes.