Quote:
Originally Posted by RKrizman
Actually some of us picked up on phase problems with B that you'd never encounter with digital.
-R
'Ya know, I listened to 'B' in mono & your right...there IS some whackyness there!
I have no idea what could account for that other then
maybe some sort of head mis-alignment thing...we all know they only need to be off by a fraction of an inch in any one direction between the two machines (record @ my shop & the mastering house) to cause that kind of stuff.
Still...
I didn't hear anything in the mono analog that was "deal breaking."
Wonky? Sure.
But
everything was still there, all instruments & vocals were audible & accounted for if not slighty muddier. Hey, maybe that's why Brad liked the digital mixes more!
What some of ya'll are calling "problems" though has me TOTALLY flummoxed...
'Case in point...and I can't name names here...but there was a record released by a well known band in 2005 that happened to be produced & engineered by one of the more established & esteemed members of this 'slutz' cul...errr...community!
A release that as a HUGE fan of the band I was REALLY looking forward to hearing...
especially after all the hype around the project.
The truth is that I can't fukkin' STAND listening to it. In the words of one innocent bystander who heard about 30 seconds of the record while I was listening to it at home, and she’s not an engineer…knows
nothing about this stuff other then it being my occupation of choice;
“It sounds like it was mixed with a snow-cone machine.”
Now THAT release has some REAL problems in mono.
Like the guitars COMPLETELY
disappearing.
There's other stuff too...like the snare dropping it’s volume by about 80% and turning into a small blip that resembles a piece of paper being crumpled, lead & harmony backgrounds that pop outta' nowhere & are tucked WAY back in the stereo mixes & other wonkiness that would make for one helluva light show on a scope!
Now, I dunno what ya'll might think about things like that but to
me, THAT'S a
HUGE problem.
How do you explain that to a band or the A&R mooks when the single shows up on MTV or FM radio which typically fold or collapse the stereo signal to mono???
"Oh, yeah...sorry the guitars on gone on the video. It's OK though, they'll be there when they listen to the CD at home or in the car."
I wouldn't wanna' be on the receiving end of that because I'd lose the NEXT record!!!
Granted, it’s all there in stereo...
But it's
really shocking considering the team that was on it & the MASSIVE wall of gear that they used...they've all got 'real' cred...gold & platinum records on the walls of everyone involved.
I've only assisted on records that huge & even then I can count ‘em on one hand.
And I’m not trying to preach or come off as some ‘golden eared god’ of audio engineering either, there are other cats on out there that FAR more skilled then me. I listen to Mixerman's stuff and I wanna switch careers, maybe be a short-order cook or something!
But you'd think that while they were all sitting around the control room & patting each other on the back & stroking each other over the press releases that
someone would’ve been bright enough to think of checking the mixes on some kinda ghetto blaster or Horrortones...just a little 4" speaker rather then just grooving on the $5K Adam's.
I'd LOVE to ask the producer in question what the hell happened on that record and I
probably would if I didn't think it would cause a HUGE **** storm or get some kind of half-assed answer...
-Moose