Re: [LAU] Questions from an audiophile to some engineers

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On Wed, Apr 11, 2007 at 11:22:10AM -0600, Bearcat M. Sandor wrote:
> 
> > Iron Maiden's latest album was released without any mastering... the
> > mix that went to press came right form the mix studio.
> >
> > -- Brett
> I have that one and it is excellent.  So why do some of the
> not-so-well-known outfits (Pagan's Mind, Deamons and Wizards) sound so
> bad, while bands like Tool soudn great?  Nine Inch Nails is an example of
> great studio work, but then again i think Trent Reznor does his own work.
> 
> I would say that 85% of my metal and rock sounds aweful.

Aside from mastering, which people have already talked about: I think
metal and loud rock in general is inherently hard to record well. All
the source sounds are very loud and fighting for space in overlapping
frequency ranges.  Distorted guitars have a dense spectrum and almost
no dynamic range aside from "off" and "on".  Somehow you have to
translate the live excitement to a home playback system that will be
30 dB quieter than what you started with.

So I would guess the difference in sound quality is a mixture of A)
the band's arranging and playing skills - if the acoustic sound is a
mess the engineer's fighting a losing battle from the start; and B)
the engineer's skill with the genre.  There can be a huge difference
between a first-rate mix engineer who really knows what the material
calls for, and the local guy just starting out with a protools rig and
charging $20 an hour.  It takes a lot of time and experience to learn
to engineer really well - especially mixing.

Gear matters too, but not nearly as much.  I've heard some amazing
stuff come out of a Mackie and an ADAT, and that was because of the
guy running it. I think if you took Iron Maiden and their engineers
and locked them in my hypothetical $20/hour local project studio, they
might complain about the gear and the space but the result would
probably sound a LOT better than if you took a less-experienced band
and engineer and put them in a $10,000 studio with world-class gear.

-- 

Paul Winkler
http://www.slinkp.com
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