Jump to content

CD recording issues?


Recommended Posts

Now if you're saying that all peaks are -0.25 arbitrarily... well, I'd agree that this wouldn't be the best way to go about it. It's hard to say if it was arbitrary though... I personally believe it's important to go beyond finding that one max sample point, and reach down, say, .005% to get a better "top" level. Clipping one or two snare shots isn't a crime, and almost always yields good results.

That all depends on the gear that was used. If I'm mastering using all analog gear, I'll let a few clips slide through because analog treats these kind of peaks in a more pleasable way. If I'm doing it all in Pro Tools, there's no way I'm letting anything past. Digital clips are quite nasty.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 104
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

That all depends on the gear that was used. If I'm mastering using all analog gear, I'll let a few clips slide through because analog treats these kind of peaks in a more pleasable way. If I'm doing it all in Pro Tools, there's no way I'm letting anything past. Digital clips are quite nasty.

Of course, Tyler. There's a big difference between introducing a clip, and just bumping things up with a hard limit. I certainly wasn't suggesting blasting through and not putting a -0.1 ceiling on. =)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As a Classical Recording Engineer... I have 1 bit of advice..... DON'T DO ANYTHING.... the guys that work on the CD's are very knowledgeable with several Grammy's amongst them.... Mastering is a very painstaking process that even most engineers aren't very good at.... don't go and squash the hell out of the recordings with a cheesy sounding compressor you find for free online... they are suppose to have dynamics... this isn't a pop album. trust me they have optimized these recordings to play as loud as possible without crapping out your system... if you want it louder.... turn it up, but please don't go messing with the original..... pleeeeeeeeeeease.

as a little background... I work with the guys from Soundmirror who have worked on the DCA recordings lately and also assist Larry Rock (they are friends) with the DCI recordings.... they are very knowledgeable and know what they are doing. There normal gig is recording all of the Boston Symphony Concerts in Symphony Hall, Boston.

Edited by SWEuph04
Link to comment
Share on other sites

As a Classical Recording Engineer... I have 1 bit of advice..... DON'T DO ANYTHING.... the guys that work on the CD's are very knowledgeable with several Grammy's amongst them.... Mastering is a very painstaking process that even most engineers aren't very good at.... don't go and squash the hell out of the recordings with a cheesy sounding compressor you find for free online... they are suppose to have dynamics... this isn't a pop album. trust me they have optimized these recordings to play as loud as possible without crapping out your system... if you want it louder.... turn it up, but please don't go messing with the original..... pleeeeeeeeeeease.

Well duh.

75% of the stuff I master is rock, and about half of my mixes are some sort of rock as well. It irritates me to no end when I finish a mix and the only comment I get is "it's not loud enough".

I think some of that is changing though. I've gotten quite a few big name CDs in the past year or so that's backed off on the hard limiting.

Personally I think the DCI CDs are fine. I have no problem turning up my volume when I need to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

as a little background... I work with the guys from Soundmirror who have worked on the DCA recordings lately and also assist Larry Rock (they are friends) with the DCI recordings....

Oh, good. Could you persuade them to jot down the recording level they use, so that they don't ruin the first five recordings of each year's quarterfinals while searching for the proper level?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another couple questions for all of you concerning this - (experts speak up please) :)

If you download the top six corps recordings from Season Pass of Finals 2006, then burn to CD and compare them with the Top 6 on the originally released CD's, there IS a volume difference. The downloads are slightly louder. WHY????

Also, on a side question, I noticed that the CD's that DCI released a few years ago, the ECHOES series, list on the credits that remastering was done. If you listen to some of the 1995 clips from any of those CD's and compare to the original 1995 CD's, the ECHOES recordings sound better (not much, but better) Also, the Season Pass 1995 recordings sound better than the original 95 cds. Were the 95 recordings remastered for ECHOES and Season Pass? Anyone know?

It would be cool if DCI invested some time to REALLY attempt to remaster 1995 thru 1998, place them as downloads on Season Pass, and rake in some extra dough. I know I would download them if they sounded substantially better than the original CD releases from those years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another couple questions for all of you concerning this - (experts speak up please) :)

If you download the top six corps recordings from Season Pass of Finals 2006, then burn to CD and compare them with the Top 6 on the originally released CD's, there IS a volume difference. The downloads are slightly louder. WHY????

That is hard to say. If you are comparing any of the Finals 2006 performances from the DCI audio archives with the CDs, you'll find that those are identical. If they're louder, you may have a process on your CD burning software or something of the like.

If you are comparing the APD's from Quarterfinals 2006, and you'll know because SCV has a really loud pit without the amps shorting on them, those were different recordings. They are processed differently, given that they are up within an hour.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



×
×
  • Create New...