Great on some hifis, awful on others
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Posted on Jul 21, 2007 04:41 am
alun
Member Since: Jul 21, 2007
Hi
I wonder if anyone has encountered this before.
I have a mix down and it has been mastered onto a CDR. I didn't actually home record it. A local studio did it.
It sounds great and I'm really pleased with it, but only on about 60% of the systems. The others it sounds just embarrassing.
For instance, I play it in the car and it sounds great. Stick it on my mp3 player. Great. Via headphones on my PC with the CD in. Great. Go to my drummer and play it on his hifi. Great.
However, pPlay it on my hifi. Woeful. Play it on my portable radio/cd player thingy. Woeful. Play it on my mates hifi. Woeful.
When I say woeful I mean that it sounds 'mushy' or 'soupy'. Its not particularly clear or distinct, and the bass guitar sounds voommy and pushing all other elements of the 'sound soup' down. Best description this layperson can give.
Has anyone encountered this kind of 'hifi lottery' before? What causes it? And how can it be fixed?
Will it be consistent on pretty much all hifi's once its been glass mastered?
Or is it something else entirely?
Thank you in advance
Al
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Jul 21, 2007 09:20 am I'm not expert...no pro...but it sounds like your music is not harmonically balanced. Different stereo hifi systems put their own unique sounds on your music. Their EQ's are not all optimized the same way. They enhance different frequencies, depending upon how they are made and set up.
A lot of us around here use a program called HarBal, which helps you visually look at your music's equalization, and then adjust it accordingly, making sure it is properly balanced. This helps it sound more consistent not matter where you play it.
www.har-bal.com/
Jul 22, 2007 01:07 am yeah, mix 'translation' is a biatch....gettin' it to sound good on all systems is a whole new process called 'mastering'.
welcome to the deep end!
Jul 22, 2007 01:28 am My BFO (big fat opinion):
If it sounds good on a studio reference system, it sounds good. If it sounds worse on a worse system, then...
Jul 22, 2007 01:40 am not true herb, you can EASILY get things sounding good on your speakers in your room, and have it sound like crap in/on another monitoring system/environment. it's the sound of the room you're working in... trust mix-translation is hand's down the key point.....you're practically sayin' if it sounds good in you're earbuds, then it's gotta be good.
Jul 22, 2007 01:58 am Quote:
not true herb, you can EASILY get things sounding good on your speakers in your room
When I mentioned a studio reference system, I meant a true studio reference system.
Quote:
trust mix-translation is hand's down the key point
Would you translate that, please?
Jul 22, 2007 02:08 am it directly translates to 'go to bed'...if i'm not mistaken!
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Jul 22, 2007 03:30 pm The truth is that even if it sounds good on a reference system it can still sound like crap on certain systems that as was mentioned earlier in the thread have their own certain EQ curve to compensate for inferior speakers or electronics.
That said if it is mixed on a good reference system it should sound pretty decent on most other systems.
Like Jim mentioned you can give HarBal a try as many of us here use it with great success. It will give you a picture of exactly were your mix might be boosted too much or lacking in certain area's.
Jul 22, 2007 05:20 pm At the end of the day, you do what you can, and if it sounds like crap on your buddy's stereo, tell him to get a better one!
