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anonymous 4 April 2013

I had Chris run a 2 mix of an older track I had that I want to include on my solo album. The original sounded, well, for lack of a better term, "empty"... almost as if you could put your hand through "holes" in the sonics, as if there were dead spaces in the sound.

I listened to what Chris did to this track and I'm absolutely amazed at the results. The low end is tight and defined, while still warm. The mids have "air", without harshness. The highs are "silky" and sweet. And, just as importantly, he totally respected the dynamic range. It's not squashed or just loud... It has actual dynamics preservation, which is what I intended it to have all along.

I have no numbers, no specs, no scientific data to back up what I'm saying here... I just have my ears, which in the end, I suppose, is all that really matters.

I'm now trying to figure out a way to come up with enough money for Chris to run every track on this album through his hybrid rig. LOL

I'll try to post a before and after later, as right now I'm on my laptop and the two versions of the song are at home on my PC. Chris, if you read this before I get a chance to post audio, feel free to post a before and after if you'd like. :)

fwiw
-d.

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Comments

audiokid Thu, 04/04/2013 - 09:57

Ya!, you just made my day, thank you!

Sure I'll post it:

Before:
(Expired Link Removed)

After - Hybrid Process:
(Expired Link Removed)

Soundcloud Version:
Before:

[MEDIA=soundcloud]audiokid/and-so-it-goes

After - Hybrid Process:

[MEDIA=soundcloud]audiokid/donny-and-so-it-goes-m1
(y)

PS,

Interesting to hear the difference between DropBox and Soundcloud. DB is much better.

anonymous Thu, 04/04/2013 - 12:04

Davedog, post: 403156 wrote: Viva la difference!

I'm hip! Chris did an awesome job. And while I know that he has some very nice equipment that is necessary for this kind of process, I'm not overlooking his skill, or ears, either. ;)

PS,

Interesting to hear the difference between Dropbox and Soundcloud. DB is much better.

well, for one thing, I uploaded a WAV file to you via DB, as opposed to Soundcloud's S.O.P. Mp3 requirements, so I'm sure that having a high res file to work with didn't hurt. ;)

anonymous Fri, 04/05/2013 - 05:51

Davedog, post: 403156 wrote: Viva la difference!

Dave, it was amazing, wasn't it?

There's now a "glue" that holds it all together, it's cohesive and musical. I love that he also respected the dynamic range. This is sooo important to me. I'm so exhausted of hearing the current trend of balls to the wall limiting - wiping out all sense of instrumental dynamics. It was so refreshing to hear what Chris did.

KurtFoster Fri, 04/05/2013 - 12:33

perhaps rule of thumb should be NEVER mix DAW projects through the DAW 2-bus?

this is only what can be done with a mix after the fact / mixed. just imagine the improvement if the tracks or stems at least were actually mixed in analog through Chris' s system? (and now, all the Angles sing ...... ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!)

i'm convinced there is substantial improvement when tracks or stems are taken directly from the DAW and summed through an ACTIVE mixing system. this can be a Neve / API / (what ever) high end console with attitude and color or a neutral transparent summing system like Chris's. what ever you use it will make a big difference. i even took a mix i had done in cubase and ran it out of the box in stems and mixed it on a cheese smackie sr24 using good comps and reverbs and the improvement was undeniable. keep in mind this was a situation where i could actually level match and do an a/b comparison of the 2 process's.

i guess this is why all the big shots still mix on consoles or systems like Chris has. thumbs up Chris.

audiokid Fri, 04/05/2013 - 18:04

niclaus, post: 403197 wrote: Great job, Chris! Would you let us know what you did to the track?
Nice job too, Donny!!!
That sounds great.

Thanks for all this support!

I did a little of this and a little of that, lol.
Going through the Neos is something special for sure, then some basic EQing, a hint of Bricasti, STC-8 ( has a silky vibe), and a touch of digital limiting on the master bus is all it needed. This chain seems to help open everything up in a none altering way. I actually see the transients increase on the mastering DAW after songs go through the analog chain. Its pretty cool.
And without a doubt, when a song is mixed and performed well like this, its just a matter of minor tweaks.

anonymous Sat, 04/06/2013 - 08:18

Thanks for the clarification, Jack. I'm not up on the latest and coolest gear. Haven't been since I sold the studio in '03. Ten years is a very long time in this business in relation to gear.
So many advancements and new pieces...

The STC-8's compressor is engineered to provide musically transparent gain control, but is also capable of emulating vintage equipment and creating distinctive new sounds.
The STC-8's sophisticated side-chain allows both compression and peak limiting to take place simultaneously, using the same proprietary gain circuit.
High signal quality is maintained by utilizing a discrete class A audio path, and by eliminating any VCA or optical gain control elements...

Gimme gimme gimme. :) Oh, wait. I just saw the price tag. duh

Forget it. I'll just pay Chris. :)

-d.

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