It's a minefield out there, I tell you. Let's rewind the tape a bit. First there was this question:
Quote:
Originally Posted by
muziekschuur
That's the sound of a camcorder? Or is that the complete mix?
There are three possible explanations for such a question:
1. Our console mix sucks so badly that it sounds no better than a camcorder.
2. The translation to YouTube sucks so badly that the mix sounds no better than a camcorder on playback.
3. The ears of the respondent suck so badly that they cannot tell the difference between something that was mixed to sound good and what comes out of a camcorder (even after YouTube compression).
I made the polite answer:
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Clueless
It's the sound of the complete mix being destroyed by YouTube compression.
It actually sounds quite good when played back at 96kHz in the control room.
Now comes the stinger:
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Samc
Just curious, but will the general public be listening to this at 96kHz in your control room?
Of course not. There's translation and there's translation. Over 20,000 YouTube hits, lots of positive comments, and a Like vs. Dislike ratio of better than 97% tells me that this video does in fact translate. Even if it does sound pretty good to the general public, it excites a new level of chills when you hear the uncompressed audio on a good system, which is how REM management heard it. And it sounds even better when you listen in a proper room with proper monitoring, which is how I've heard it.
The general public pays their money and they takes their chances. If all they've ever heard is YouTube on a laptop or headphones, then they don't really know what they are missing. That's not a problem I know how to solve, with translation or otherwise. Big monitors in a great control room do make a good mix sound really good.