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Post by Bob Olhsson on Sept 5, 2022 14:56:23 GMT -6
I bought mine in 1969 after hearing one at a friend's studio. I got my second in 1972. I was shocked by how bad the ones in studios sounded during the '80s.
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Post by Bob Olhsson on Sept 5, 2022 10:10:37 GMT -6
UA's LA-3a hardware is nothing like the original UREIs.
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Post by Bob Olhsson on Aug 12, 2022 7:24:05 GMT -6
The CD uses the Philips video disk technology married to Sony's digital audio recorded as video a-la PCM-F1!
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Post by Bob Olhsson on Aug 12, 2022 5:52:06 GMT -6
They had little choice. The CD could be pressed in a vinyl plant making it far less of a gamble than anything else.
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Post by Bob Olhsson on Aug 12, 2022 5:24:24 GMT -6
I only got back into vinyl for the experience of looking over the packaging... The biggest mistake ever made by the label "suits" was not doing a 12" digital disk. I rolled my eyes when the CD was first released and, sadly, it turned out as bad as I feared.
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Post by Bob Olhsson on Aug 11, 2022 10:35:22 GMT -6
Ironically, I used to have a tape and an acetate I'd cut from it that started out sounding remarkably identical. After 40 years, the tape sounded quite a bit muddier and worse overall. This was Scotch 201 that has no sticky-shed issue requiring baking and is considered one of the best sounding tapes by many of us. I've long suspected this may be why vinyl has often sounded better than CD reissues made from the same master tape.
One of the most sobering experiences I ever had was hearing an acoustic record player playing acoustic recordings.
As for the green pen, it only works on CDs played on early CD players. According to an engineer at Philips, marking the CD throws it out of balance which makes the servo heat up more causing the crystal to run at a slightly faster speed.
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Post by Bob Olhsson on Aug 11, 2022 8:53:19 GMT -6
What infuriates me is that nobody seems willing to admit that tape deteriorates over time.
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Post by Bob Olhsson on Aug 1, 2022 9:43:54 GMT -6
To me, the key to mastering is monitoring. Everything you do makes some aspects better and others worse. It's always a tradeoff. As mix monitors have improved, I've found myself dealing less with eq. and more with noise and distortion.
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Post by Bob Olhsson on Aug 1, 2022 9:30:11 GMT -6
If you want to get a job, it's very important to know Media Composer and Pro Tools. The next step is to become an assistant to a professional. Both are rental subscriptions.
Gear-wise, Avid's hardware recommendations are a good place to start.
The DIY crowd hates Avid but the established pros aren't remotely interested in learning new software. If you watch the speed they operate at, you'll see why. Avid was first and everything that came after was only cheaper but not better.
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Post by Bob Olhsson on Jun 27, 2022 12:42:26 GMT -6
I believe all Avid hardware still comes with a perpetual license like it always has.
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Post by Bob Olhsson on Jun 20, 2022 11:27:13 GMT -6
I've always thought 48 sounded lots better than 44.1. Above that, it's in the realm of a bit better. One aspect of this has been that all converters sound different at different rates. To me, the only meaningful comparison is how it sounds converted to 44.1 or even an MP3.
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Post by Bob Olhsson on Jun 6, 2022 12:14:54 GMT -6
KM-86 has more low-end. Don't even think about using it without a shock mount. We found the Shure A53M worked as well, if not better than the much more expensive Neumann.
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Post by Bob Olhsson on May 16, 2022 11:55:02 GMT -6
Bleed sounds way better on an 84!
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Post by Bob Olhsson on May 16, 2022 11:50:15 GMT -6
My experience has been that digital is the exact opposite of analog thinking. In analog, we were always trying for as high a level as we could get away with because noise was the enemy. In digital, it's always best to error on the low side and only bring it up at the end.
I bumbled into this when I was helping a friend with his new 001. His stuff recorded peaking to -20 sounded better than the stuff I was getting to master that had been mixed on an SSL. My conclusion was that the analog stages of most converters must be utter crap. You need look no further than at the analog section of pro tape machines to see the difference.
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Post by Bob Olhsson on May 2, 2022 9:09:12 GMT -6
A friend whose ears I trust told me that his 184 always needed to be used with a transformer input preamp or else it could get painfully bright. We both suspect RFI.
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Post by Bob Olhsson on May 2, 2022 9:05:44 GMT -6
I did my first session at 96 followed by another take at 48. After mixing and converting both to 44.1, it was a no-brainer that the 96k had survived the signal processing better. My bias was in the direction of them sounding the same because I needed to buy a new computer if the 96 was better.
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Post by Bob Olhsson on Mar 28, 2022 12:23:37 GMT -6
I've been able to use anything provided I put a windscreen on it!
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Post by Bob Olhsson on Feb 28, 2022 14:46:24 GMT -6
Everybody I knew always removed the dampers first thing! (In the '60s, recording engineers had to tune the drums.)
The best sounding snares I've ever heard were mid '60s Gretsch. The '70s were a step down and the ones I heard at NAMM a few years ago were shockingly disappointing.
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Post by Bob Olhsson on Nov 22, 2021 14:47:27 GMT -6
I've always had drop-out problems with ATR.
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Post by Bob Olhsson on Nov 22, 2021 11:05:25 GMT -6
My main complaint about tape is the poor quality of contemporary tape stock compared to what we all took for granted from 3M.
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Post by Bob Olhsson on Nov 8, 2021 13:18:15 GMT -6
Stock Studers had no headroom and a far less punchy low-end. This could be fixed by beefing up the power supplies on each card.
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Post by Bob Olhsson on Nov 8, 2021 13:02:34 GMT -6
I used one for over a decade. The good news about MCI is that no exotic "unobtanium" parts were used and they sound great, better than a stock Studer when they are working properly.
The bad news is cold solder joints everywhere and the machine won't work without the remote. The later JH-24s with transformers are best. The caps will all need replacement at some point. A great price may mean it needs a lot of work but it is work any solder-jockey can do.
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Post by Bob Olhsson on Sept 27, 2021 13:01:18 GMT -6
Prior to the early 2000s, Apple trounced Intel with its real-time operating system (prior to system X) combined with IBM's Power PC RISC architecture. I'll never forget the look on an Intel VP's face when we demonstrated this fact at a Stanford MUSIG meeting. A few years later, Intel came back and trounced Apple. Apple was literally looking at losing Avid and Adobe, among other developers, along with most of their celebrity users who had played a big role in Apple's image. They had no choice but to cut a deal with Intel. They also acquired what became Final Cut and Logic.
I suspect this move to new CPUs has been in the works for many years. The performance just needed to be capable of motivating developers to stay on board.
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Post by Bob Olhsson on Aug 24, 2021 7:25:37 GMT -6
Mono overhead. Front of kit would be cardioid aimed away from it for adding bleed.
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Post by Bob Olhsson on Aug 23, 2021 22:04:00 GMT -6
I did say a good drummer… 😀
When Mickey Most asked me to duck the cymbals, I switched the main to figure eight and it worked great!
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