John Curl's Blowtorch preamplifier part II

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#86,787
Bonsai said:
I read somewhere (maybe it was on this site) that one of the issues with mixing nowadays is that the mastering engineers tend to play the music too loud and as a result often dial the bass down.
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Mastering engineers do what the band, producer, and record company want. With vinyl, bass was turned down to to make the grooves closer together to make for more playing time on a side.

With digital, natural or natural sounding music tends to have more volume at low frequencies and that gradually rolls off as frequency increases. However, due to the loudness wars, the only way to get maximum possible loudness is to hit digital zero at every frequency. The result is a recording with more highs than would sound most natural relative to the bass. Also, in an effort to get it even louder, digital clipping is commonly used. Many people get used to it and even learn to like it.
 
#86,791
SY said:
Interestingly, I had the opposite experience when I got my current speakers running- I heard all kinds of mixing and mastering issues that escaped me before. "Wow, you can really hear him run the fader up and down on that passage."
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Yeah, I hear stuff like that all the time...tape splices, level shifts etc.
There is a piano piece I need to get back to on my A system....on a lousy system, one channel sounded slightly low in level and crackly like duff connector or leaky condenser mic or noisy transistor.

Dan.
 
#86,793
morinix said:
This is quite bold. You have to back this up or I will assume you have been smoking herbs from that nursery you frequent. Post your system specifics and schematics.
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No herbals required, and I don't have such a garden, lol.

Ok, FYI, currently I am running Behringer B2031 active speakers, fed from a Sony small shelf system...Tuner/CD/USB/3.5mm inputs.
The loudspeakers have improved internal damping and different wires to the drivers, but no electronics changes, and are powered via 240V screened isolation transformers.

The source currently varies between Netbook/Edirol USB soundcard, and Android phones, either playing back internally stored Wav files, or WiFi streaming Wav files via modem/router.
The Sony is a deliberate choice in this case to be representative of the typical consumer/user.
The Sony has effectively 2k ohms loading....distortion is low but it is slightly noisy, which is good/useful in this round of experimentations.

Yes, I know my statements are seemingly bold....I am stating what I have found and achieved so far.
When it is time I will reveal all, and for the benefit of all.

Dan.
 
#86,794
billshurv said:
And AAA vinyl since the early 80s has gone through a digital conversion at 44.1/16 for the delay line..
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BS. Go here The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls • View topic - 100% analog and start about the 12th post down.

" by TotalSonic » Mon Jul 25, 2011 12:49 pm
100% analog can be done in a couple different ways - either with fixed or manual pitch so that only a single signal path from the analog source is needed - or via a preview tape deck with an initial "preview" playback head going to the pitch/depth computer, followed by extra capstans allowing the tape path to be extended an appropriate amount for a delay, and then a "program" playback head sending the signal to the cutter head. Preview decks were made by Telefunken, Studer, and Sony/MCI (such as my JH110M - photo below), and I've seen some mod Ampex ATR decks as well.

As far as studios equipped with preview decks that can do all analog mastering in the USA there is:
Salt Mastering - Mastering for CD and Vinyl - Brooklyn, NY
Masterdisk - Your music deserves the best.
STERLING SOUND - Audio Mastering Studio - New York City
The Mastering Lab | closing - The Mastering Lab

...and possibly a few more I've forgotten in that list as well. "
 
#86,798
DAT tape recordings and Behringer actives! I'm trying not to spit my tea across the room from chuckles. Nothing really wrong with this level of audio but the unending haranguing of the likes of Curl and Marsh over ABX and all? I've heard a Constellation system. Heard M2 also.

I worked at Alesis all through the 90's so I've had a gut full of DAT and active speakers. SY and MAX sorry guys, it doesn't hold a candle anywhere near the level Marsh and Curl can reach.
 
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#86,799
So I went to Amazon to try to figger out what is this 'redbird' of which you all speak.

About a dozen hits on a music search there. But on one of them, I noticed a review moaning about that CD not having had proper studio mixing/mastering technique applied. Then noticed a comment about that review by one Stuart Yaniger. Guess that's the album!

(ordered a copy, thanks)
 
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