by archive » Sun Apr 11, 2004 4:27 am
From: "Jose Ramon San Juan" <sanjuanjr@x????xxx.xxx
Date: Sat Nov 20, 1999 2:51 am
Subject: RE: Room division
> Hmmmmm then why not just mix with headphones?
Because a good pair of monitors give us the global image of the music.
Headphones are good to listen to details, study the stereo image, etc. Don't
despise headphones because many people use them to listen music and at
studio they help to hear things that can be masked by nearfield monitors or
baffles. Y don't trust in engineers that reject the help of headphones.
> Perfectly logical provided everything you mix gets replayed in a dry (but
not
> quite dead yet) environment... on the other hand if there is a reasonable
> chance somebody might someday slap a pair of speakers on top of a pickup
> truck and play your mix at a beach party, or a 10,000 square foot disco
while
> a thousand rubber miniskirted Lolitas fruge and strut with arrogant
gestures,
> you might want to know what the mix sounds like in a more "open" and
> "natural" reverberant field.
It's not a real hypothesis that what is mixed in a dry environment only can
sound well in the same kind of environment. And on the other hand there's no
guarantee that the best recorded song everywhere.
>
> In fact you might want to mix in an environment which is as "open" as
> possible because that is precisely the sort of space the recorded music
gets
> played most often. Wouldn't you be prone to adding to much reverb to the
mix
> if you were to work in an environment that is so small that it must be
> "muffed out" to control room ring. If your mix has a nice reverberant
feel
> in a very "dry" room, won't it sound muddy when it gets out into the "wet"
> real world? By the same token, if you stick your monitors in the corners
of
> the room and flip on the bass boost to enhance bass output, won't your mix
be
> bass-lite when played elsewhere?
I think that if you treat your room with the adequate levels of absorbtion,
diffusion and reflection you can get the real sound. Is it imposible in a
small room?
> The bigger the space, the easier it is to have a diffuse and even
reverberant
> decay without the room "contaminating" the mix with artificial artifacts
of
> the rooms resonances. If you had a chance to do all you mixing from
> near-front row center of a concert hall with your monitors up on stage,
would
> you do it?
Never. Specially if empty.
> FWIW, I would, because to me, the goal is to get the mix position as open
and
> airy as possible... lows that thump without booming.. Mids that cut
without
> buzzing, highs that zing instead of ring, but all of the above still have
> some "airtime" where it hangs and then trails off, just like sounds do in
> real open environments. Obviously early reflections are to be avoided
(which
> is kinda where we started) so absorption and/or alterations of reflection
> paths (like abfusers) are a good thing in the front of most rooms... but
> controlled rear room reflections (with as much diffusion as possible) are
a
> necessary part of any coherent concept of the sound you are making.
Absent
> reflections you are mixing in a muffin, and without them, you might as
well
> just use head cans and mix out of a cockpit.
IMHO you risk to record something very different of what you are hearing.
> Of course all of this is even more true (in some sense) in the tracking
room,
> and you don't want the tracking room so small that you can't have any
natural
> reverb in there while still controlling room modes... thus the cut it in
half
> idea... both rooms are at least workable. Share the pain.
Well, I know I am in trouble. That's why I ask and discuss. This is the only
way to learn something and don't walk in the wrong direction.
> Then make it real small... and have a big tracking room. IMO your
tracking
> room would be quite nice, and your control room would suck hind tit... but
> hey! Maybe you could at least do the final mix down in the tracking
room...
> put all your stuff on casters and roll it in the other room when you've
got
> your tracks and scoring done.... Just a thought.
A humourous thought. :-)))
> One other thing... don't you need space in the control room for the
kibitzers
> to mill around prior to leaning over your shoulder and asking you: "what
does
> this button do?", or telling you: "More Barn!"
Read my message to Dan. The social reunions must take place at the bar. If
you are seriously working the less people in the place the better. When
there is a bando of seven enthousiast guys recording for the first time you
must put it clear that they must elect one or two fellows and wait for the
results. Then all they can listen to a cassette or CD and celebrate or
regret how it sounds.
> And Mama cried: "Nooooooo not my baaaaabbbbbbeeeee!"
It was just a little joke.
Thanks again, Scott.
J. R. San Juan