Excerpts from fons's message of 2010-09-26 02:22:21 +0200: > On Sat, Sep 25, 2010 at 03:44:33PM -0700, Patrick Shirkey wrote: > > > Hence jamin is already designed to minimise the negative effects on the > > signal flow that are caused by the toolchain. > > To some extent, yes. But it's a kludge, and a solution to a > problem that shouldn't exist in the first place. > > > > The proper way to implement a filter of this type (with a FR > > > defined at all multiples of Fsamp / 1024) would be by using > > > linear convolution rather than cyclic. But as said, this is > > > not the right kind of filter anyway. > > > > So what you are saying is that the whole design is sub optimal? Can you > > clarify this in terms of every genre of professionally oriented music or > > is it more of an audiophile type of concern? Like preferring Bugatti to > > Toyota? > > As said, there are two issues with the EQ. The first is that the > implementation is subobtimal and introduces artefacts that have > to be (and are to some extent) hidden by changes added after the > initial release. The second is that this type of filtering allows > and invites to do things that do indeed 'destroy' the sound from > a purist POV, while adding nothing useful from any other POV. > > How much this matter depends on what other cruelties the signal > has been subjected to before :-) > > > Jamin was defined from the start as one way of handling the mastering > > process. Not necessarily the best or suited to every type of recording. It > > integrates the tools for that method into a single interface. > > Gold/Platinum radio friendly rock/metal albums have been produced using > > that method by the main "professional" contributors. > > > It's interesting to review the whole issue of mastering. Why does it > exist at all ? There is a mix of reasons for this. > > 1. To take technical limits of the distribution format into account. > 2. To compete in the global 'loudness wars'. > 3. To give the suits the last word. > 4. To assemble a set of recorings into a coherent whole. > > (1) was certainly an issue in the analog days. Today this matters > only for broadcasting, but radio stations are taking care of this > anyway - at least those that are constrained by commercial factors > to be 'louder than the competion'. > > (2) still exists, but it if matters you can have better results > by taking care of this while mixing. Or just turning up the volume > while listening. > > (3) still exists, but given that production and mixing techniques > have become much more sophisticated, the possibilities for changing > things in any major ways afterwards have in practice decreased. > > (4) still valid. > > > Given all this, one can start thinking of what would be required from > a mastering application. > > * Equalisation. Certainly. One advantage of having a separate mastering > step is that it provides a second set of speakers, a second set of ears, > and a second 'informed opinion'. But whatever is done in the way of EQ > will have to be gentle and require rather smooth frequency response curves. > It's a matter of adding a bit of 'clarity' or 'body', or 'punch'. None > of this is done by agressive EQ. It's a few dB on rather broad frequency > ranges. > > * Multi-band compression. Maybe. But if that improves the result, it's > much easier to apply compression while mixing, on selected tracks. The > 'multi-band' thing is there only to try and separate things again, and > usually it fails. IMHO dynamics are part of the mixing step, no excuses. > > * Peak limiting to allow higher average level. No discussion here. Any > signal, even purist classical recordings, can benefit from this without > being degraded in any significant way -- if done correctly. But you can't > do this using a general-purpose compression plugin. This really requires > ad-hoc algorithms to do it well. > > > Ciao, > > -- > FA What's an ad-hoc algorithm? Why are general purpose audio compressors/limiters insufficient? _______________________________________________ Linux-audio-user mailing list Linux-audio-user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://lists.linuxaudio.org/listinfo/linux-audio-user
