Is there such a thing when it comes to mastering audio? An ideal roll-off of higher frequencies?
No, there is no such thing as far as I am concerned.
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Do you consder any specific value of dB's/octaves to be your guiding light?
I think far better considerations are "what does it sound like??" - and "is this sound optimal for this track or section??"
Pretty pictures and flashing lights are nice in art gallery installations, amusement parks and web sites. I think when working on an art form that solely works on the auditory sense that these visualizations are essentially irrelevant.
Naturally, every piece of music is different and can not be treated to fit a certain rolloff.
Now, the reason I posted this is that I was sitting and working with a mix which I really found very sweet sounding after some hour of adjustments and just happened to check how the rolloff "looked like spectrally" (yeah I know, don't look - listen).
The funny thing is that I really just stopped the tweaking operations at some point and told myself not to do anything more. This point, in this very case, seemed to correspond VERY close to a 6 dB/ocatve rolloff.
So I let the mix rest a few days and get back to it (it's ITB) and ofcourse (I'm a foolish human) start to tweak things. And I get more of this and more of that and make those and these things more pronounced and separated. And so on. I feel like superman because I can make so much things come through. And so on. You know the drill...
Then I export the newly tweaked material and compare it with where I just told myself to stop the previous time. Funny thing is - the new mix has a less "steep" rolloff and compared to the 6 dB/octave-thing it is sounding - less "nice", eventhough I imagined a big progress in sound with the revision. The only progress is that there is less air within the mix.
So then I have a few days of listening to every mix done so far and kind of conclude that the ones I REALLY enjoy listening to seem to be in the 6 dB/octave area. I also conclude that these mixes have least compressors involved and are the "liveliest" and most "open".
The ones with other rolloffs are more in my face and kinda cool but they are also less "nice" (in lack of better terms to descibe it).
So...
No heavy or carved-in-rock-conclusions are made, but I kind of must enjoy the 6 dB/octave rolloff (is that about the same thing as 1/f?) while putting mixes together. When I pass the virtual point of this rolloff the music turns into a more "produced" soundscape (congested).
Very strange thing. The "nice" qualities of a mix.
The only thing i can think of to say is that i think of frequencies in terms of energy......sometimes i hear a mix and feel the energy is somehow wrong, that it is disturbing the vibe of what the artist/producer/engineer is trying to communcate to the audience (thru whatever medium).
Other times i hear something and think: "yes, they've got a handle on the energy, they're putting it in the right places" (of course "energy" could be implied to a lot of things other then frequencies).
Sorry if that sounds a bit airy-fairy and un-technical, but that's the way i think about!
Is it possible that your hearing a sweet spot in your monitors at a certain frequency?
BTW, I hear you on the re-tweaking. Why do our own tracks sound so different day to day? I feel like I should clean my ears every time I turn the DAW on. Anyway, I've learned to always re-tweak on copies only
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