****th vs Modern Recordings

[brandondrury]

I hate the word "****" when it's used in recording. I'm guessing it means "not too harsh". Other than that, I'm quite clueless as to what it is referring to.

It seams that everyone on the online recording world is going for "****" recordings. Yet, when I listen to just about ANY modern recording, I do not hear anything remotely close to what I consider to be "****".

I hear bright, harsh, and clear as the modern production. In your face, loud as hell, and no dynamic range is how I describe modern music. This IS what the kids want.

So is this "****" word part of the engineering resistance against modern production? Otherwise, it seams like everyone has the wrong idea.

Brandon

[richiebee]

Having never really recorded in analog, I can't appreciate what this means either. But something I've noticed (and I know I'm not saying anything new here), sounds can be too clinical... since most of my stuff is of a classical genre, clean is good (to me), but when we were doing the Funky Dory demo last year, the vocals obviously needed some attitude. Singing is not the band's number one strength anyway, we are aware of that (and most of the new album will be instrumental... it'll be something different for sure!), but by adding a low level of distortion (via SansAmp I think) and a tape saturation plugin, I was able to give the vocals some serious attitude. Since doing this, I've thought this is what is meant by analog ****th. A certain dirt that just gives a recording attitude, and takes the clinical edge off. I sometimes put distortion on the output of my mixes that I do at home to give some dirt to an otherwise very clinical sounding demo.

I'm guessing Dach has a really great answer to this one and the answer we're all seeking - Dach?

Rich

[brandondrury]

I've don't recall ever listening to my tracks and thinking they sounded too "clinical". That could be due to some of the gear I use or just my mixing style in general. In fact, for certain things I'm looking for a little more "clinical" tone.

Brandon

[Superdude]

Clean Sound - where no perceptible overdrive is audible. But even when a tube operates well below its point of audible overdrive, it still exhibits an amount of sound compression, or sustain. Often described as ?****th?.

[brandondrury]

So are you saying that "****th" is a situation where subtle compression is applied by a tube circuit even though there is no audible overdrive / distortion?

I must say that I'm skeptical of this definition. You may be right, but I couldn't imagine that every magazine ad on the planet uses the world "****th" and means "barely compressed" with no audible coloration (other than this slight compression).

Brandon

[Superdude]

I was just trying to be a smart ass.Found it on TLAudio site..... It is what i ment though

[In10city]

The only time I've ever used the term "****" with recording was when I was doing some test recording of my drums onto a cassette tape. The lower toms and kick drum sounded "****er" somehow. I guess **** may not be an accurate description of the actual audio difference but I think my drums sounded MUCH better in the analog format becuase of the whole digital sample rate thing. I've not been able to find a way to record them using our computer based system that I really like.

I have a CD by a prog metal band named Crucible who recorded the whole thing in 2" tape and it sounds much..."****er" than anything else I've heard in this genre. I guess the bass, vocals, and drums sound more real or something. It's hard to explain. I guess the difference can be associated by listening to "The Dark Side Of The Moon" on an LP and then listening to the CD. It's like night and day but for the life of me I can't explain it without wanting to use the word "****".

Clear as mud right?

[brandondrury]

The only time I've ever used the term "****" with recording was when I was doing some test recording of my drums onto a cassette tape. The lower toms and kick drum sounded "****er" somehow.

I'm curious. How were you recording your toms? Were you running all your mics into a mixer and then running the stereo out into cassette tape? Were you just using the mic that came with the cassette recorder?

Brandon

[In10city]

I was "learning" how to mic all my drums for live shows (before I realized I didn't need 12 mics for a live show) and tinkering with all the eq settings. I was using our Mackie VLZ1604 and then running the tape out signal to my cheapie Technics cassette deck. I would just throw in a blank tape and then record myself playing along with a song, then listen back to it and make adjustments on each channel looking for a good balance. I recorded one of our shows with the cassette deck and my drums sounded incredible but I've never been able to capture that sound in our recording platform.

[brandondrury]

So why don't you record with a cassette on your upcoming album and then transfer the cassette into Paris or whatever it is you are using?

Brandon