Well, indeed. The point I am making is that there is some definite difference in sound tastes between US and UK mixing, despite how global everything is now. I’m trying to find out more about that, and what exactly it means. It just seems like mixers don’t talk about it other than a select few who tr ...

I think all comments are welcome, as even a listener must have some perception of this. It’s funny because, yes, gear is more global now – SSL desks, Neve pres and EQ, 1176s everywhere. Amps are too, but for me, I can sum up the difference as Fender vs Marshall: scooped midrange vs present gnarl. St ...

Okay, it’s not weird or a trick. However, they both talk about the difference between mixing for the UK and the US, and always in a matter of fact way. It feels to me as though this has more importance, yet I might be wrong because nobody talks about it. I’m interested in how British music sounds as ...

If you don’t have a subscription, albums are about £10-16 and single tracks are about £2. This dips by about half if you do have a subscription (that you pay up front for). This is my other bugbear: hi-res in this instance – i.e. this particular EP – is only 24/44.1. Anything older is only 16/44.1. S ...

I actually don’t mind subscription models, and understand why DRM exists (although, yeah, I don’t like it either). All Apple needs to do in this situation is say, “Okay for an extra £2-3 per purchase, you can have the lossless download without DRM”. This is what Qobuz does and it would mean parity th ...

Well, you’ll be as disappointed as me to know that Apple have locked up even purchases under thsir DRM. To test this, I bought the Under Exit Lights EP by Sea Girls from the iTunes (not Apple Music) store. This is only available as a bog-standard AAC download from there, but offers Apple Lossless w ...

Hmmm I’m going to have to do some research on this. I’ll be back (or not).

In fact, scratch that. I’ve just looked it up and it seems as though you can only stream lossless formats, not buy them.

Yes I’m sure they do tbh. Is that format suitable for referencing? I’m going to assume so, but bit rates etc can often have an influence.

Oh yeah of course I do know this. However, they’re essentially mp4s rather than WAVs.

I suppose this brings up another point: what’s better? Apple style quality mp4s or (let’s say) CD quality WAVs?

I’m quite happy with CD quality references too tbh! Though, I’m less happy with having to own the CD because space is at more of a premium. Tbh, most of my references span the past 20 years so a lot of them are only at CD quality on Qobuz anyway. I think buying individual tracks when I need from sit ...

So, I use MTM Reference and Sonible’s True:Balance as a referencing tool. I thought that for some tracks where I don’t have a reference (or where I need to compare to something current I don’t have) I’d source from Apple Music. Of course, DRM has put paid to that, which is very unfortunate. I got que ...

This is what I thought I know about that, but the way it was presented was like a Dolby A trick or the DBX/Pultech thing, especially given that the review was about a kind of new dynamics processor.

In Sam Inglis’ review of the Massenburg dyanmics plugin (Jan 2023), he refers to a mid-2000s drum sound: “… you mix the kick and snare far too loud and then use a bus compressor to push them back down again…” I’ve never heard of this technique and I’m interested. Two questions: 1. Are there any examp ...

It’s that anecdotal performance with acoustic instruments that has swung me tbh. Even when I use softsynths it’s mainly drummers, so there’s lots of stringed things going down.

All good points! I think investing in some HD600s is a good idea, especially as I can replace parts as and when. The KRKs will make excellent tracking headphones anyway, especially with corrective EQ.

Thanks!

That’s helpful you say the 600s translate well to the KEFs AND the monster Tannoys. I take that as a recommendation!

Ah, I’ve heard the 600s appear as a subjective ‘better’ than the 650s, and £239 is a bit of a steal I agree.

What monitors do you use?

Happy Christmas and/or Holidays! At least, it would have been for me. However, the shiny new headphones I asked Him for were only two coconut halves and a boomerang. So, I have a question… I currently use a pair of KNS 8400 phones and Sonarworks to flatten them. I have a small box room that means I c ...

I hear about u-He a lot, and I have the CM versions of Bazille and Zebra. Bazille sounds really good. I feel you’re talking about the old Logic Compressor, which aliases a lot. The new Platinum one is fantastic, but only if you use the actual Platinum algo, or the (I think) Studio VCA. No aliasing t ...

I like the pitch bending idea. That makes a lot of sense!

In people’s opinions, and purely from the viewpoint that aliasing is a digital phenomenon that should exist in analog hardware, what softsynths do the best in this regard?

Thanks for the thought out reply, and it’s confirming what I already had figured out: that sounds will vary so much it would be impossible to. Carry out a fair test.

I feel as though playing around with notes and chords across the keys will tell me most of what I need to know anyway.

I know how to test for digital artifacts in plugins (in short, run sine sweeps through the plugin and look at the frequency spectrum). However, this involves setting up a repeatable method to put some gain through the plugin for comparison’s sake. How can I do this for softsynths too? I figure that t ...

Fair enough! This is good practice for me at any rate.