Bob Olhsson

Forum Replies Created

  • In reply to: Pro Tools speed with and without Rosetta.

    April 24, 2023 at 8:22 pm #5792
    Bob Olhsson
    Moderator

      I understand you can use wrapped AU plug-ins and then it will not require Rosetta.

      Bob Olhsson
      Moderator

        The “next room” approach works very well! It has led me to many “What WAS I thinking?” moments.

        In reply to: To Upsample or not to Upsample. That is the question.

        April 7, 2023 at 12:56 pm #5715
        Bob Olhsson
        Moderator

          My concern is the buildup of distortion as additional processing occurs.

          In reply to: Wall Material

          April 3, 2023 at 3:07 pm #5691
          Bob Olhsson
          Moderator

            What I always saw in studios was building a sandwich of 5/8-inch sheetrock and 1/2-inch sound board.

            In reply to: Reference mixes and why

            April 3, 2023 at 2:55 pm #5689
            Bob Olhsson
            Moderator

              Yes, from the vinyl.

              In reply to: Studio Calibration

              April 2, 2023 at 2:11 pm #5673
              Bob Olhsson
              Moderator

                “Reference” and near field are not the same thing. A “Reference” is mid-range with minimal low-end. It’s used to perfect the midrange balance.

                In reply to: Studio Calibration

                April 1, 2023 at 9:26 am #5653
                Bob Olhsson
                Moderator

                  I still have my Minimus 7s although I haven’t used them in a decade. They were popular in UK studios and I thought they worked better than my Auratones or NS-10s.

                  The KLH-6s were popular in New York but I never used them in Detroit or the west coast. Old control rooms from the ’50s didn’t have enough room to spread the big monitors out so bookshelf speakers on the  console became the norm to monitor stereo. KLH-6s were the biggest selling bookshelf speakers until the JBL L-100s replaced them in sales figures and on consoles.

                  I’ve only used Sonarworks on headphones. It was better than nothing on my Sennheisers but disappointing with my Audeze.

                  In reply to: Noise Shaped Dither algorithms and DAWs

                  March 31, 2023 at 11:13 am #5645
                  Bob Olhsson
                  Moderator

                    I believe Wavelab 11 comes with MAAT LINpro which offers a variety of noise shaped dithers. https://www.maat.digital/lin/

                    These include:

                    1st Order Noise Shaping
                    2nd Order Noise Shaping
                    3rd Order Noise Shaping
                    5th Order Noise Shaping (improved E-weighting)
                    8th Order Noise Shaping (modified ITU 486)
                    8th Order Noise Shaping (modified UEN)
                    9th Order Noise Shaping (F-weighting)

                    They also quote my old advice about avoiding noise shaping that I’m now rethinking!

                    In reply to: Studio Calibration

                    March 30, 2023 at 8:11 pm #5633
                    Bob Olhsson
                    Moderator

                      I was referring to acoustical isolation. An advantage mastering rooms often have is minimal isolation building up low frequency reflections. The bass just sails out of the room.

                      Bob Olhsson
                      Moderator

                        I like that way of describing dispersion. My Duntechs certainly have a tiny sweet spot with incredible focus. For tracking, I’d want it pretty wide and the same for mixing if I have clients attending my sessions.

                        Bob Olhsson
                        Moderator

                          DAWs have dither options, limiters often offer dithering options, sample rate converters have dither options and there are also dedicated dither plug-ins.

                          Bob Olhsson
                          Moderator

                            I can understand why someone used to NS-10s sitting on a large console would want to add a subwoofer when they no longer have them on the console, but they are no substitute for full range monitors.

                            As for mastering engineers, I’m unaware of anybody using only inexpensive monitors. Some have reference monitors so they can hear what the mixer had in mind.

                            In reply to: Noise Shaped Dither algorithms and DAWs

                            March 29, 2023 at 10:56 pm #5615
                            Bob Olhsson
                            Moderator

                              Pow-R is a noise shaped dither in Samplitude.

                              In reply to: Studio Calibration

                              March 29, 2023 at 9:43 am #5604
                              Bob Olhsson
                              Moderator

                                I don’t understand why mixing and monitoring can’t be done on an identical system although preferably not by the same person.

                                Here are some of my experiences:

                                Isolation creates more low frequency issues. Unless you have performers (or neighbors) in the next room, I’d avoid it!

                                Diffused, flat frequency response reflections off the walls makes a big improvement. We learned this at Motown from RCA in the mid 1960s. I currently have a 4 inch thick foam absorber living behind my head because I need to be close to the wall. My only other room treatment is my collection of about 2000 LPs.

                                Felt diffraction treatment around drivers can make speakers both measure and sound flat without needing magic high frequency correction  curves. I also avoid ported speakers like the plague. They interact with a room at low frequencies far more than speakers in sealed cabinets do. My first experience of this was a pair of BBC LS3/5as in 1976 and my current Duntech Sovereigns work exactly the same way only with LF response down to 27 Hz..

                                This was also something we learned about at Motown in the mid ’60s. We called B&K to ask why eqing our control room speakers didn’t sound right. We found out that nobody they knew of had ever tried this before. The microphone designer didn’t think it would work outside an anechoic chamber because of diffraction in both the microphone and the speaker drivers. I moved to San Francisco in 1972 and watched “name experts” screw up room eq. to the point that people were getting better mixes monitoring with KLH 6s, JBL L-100s and Yamaha NS-10s than their ten thousand dollar mains! That eq insanity ended with Dick Heyser’s Time Delay Spectrometry that solved a lot of the measurement issues but it has reared its head again in recent years.