Colours

[gavintheaudioengineer]

I told my other half that I was having trouble getting the right 'colour' for vocals in a current project. She listened and suggested that they should be more purple. She may have been taking the p**s given my use of the word colour.

But we did have a long conversation about what that could actually mean (which I'll perhaps chime in with later) but I'd like to know- how would you interpret 'purple' in audio terms?

[dfuruta]

Unfortunately,

[gavintheaudioengineer]

Surely Prince's vocals are more 'blue'?

[vvv]

The color purple, for me, evokes smoke and velvet, dusk and a textured smoothness.

Barry White could sing purple, as could Billy Holiday, as can Mark Lanegan, Hope Sandoval, ...

A Bass VI, a ribbon mic, a big two-sided wood kick drum, a dreadnought with old strings, a baritone or bass sax, and the band Morphine come to mind.

[drumsound]

We really need more information. Does she mean little girl's bedroom purple, ourple like the leaves of certain plants, Royal Purple?

[Snarl 12/8]

We also need to hear the vocal track she was responding to.

[Nick Sevilla]

Check these out, I really like this stuff.

http://www.spiritcanyonaudio.com/spectralrelativity.php

I'm not endorsed by the dude.

[gavintheaudioengineer]

We really need more information. Does she mean little girl's bedroom purple, ourple like the leaves of certain plants, Royal Purple?

Well from the discussion we then went on to have, Royal Purple was the intention- her description was that purple sounds rich and robust, with a velvety smoothness.

I think she's been tainted by Cadbury's Milk Tray marketing.

I'm not really concerned about making the vocals purple, I'll make them whatever they need to be, but the conversation has really intrigued me about colour association in general.

Interesting that velvet has come up twice as an adjective...

[drumsound]

We really need more information. Does she mean little girl's bedroom purple, ourple like the leaves of certain plants, Royal Purple?

Well from the discussion we then went on to have, Royal Purple was the intention- her description was that purple sounds rich and robust, with a velvety smoothness.

I think she's been tainted by Cadbury's Milk Tray marketing.

I'm not really concerned about making the vocals purple, I'll make them whatever they need to be, but the conversation has really intrigued me about colour association in general.

Interesting that velvet has come up twice as an adjective...

I was mostly kidding, but there is a known "condition" where people see colors associated with sound. My good friend Mark Rubel (Marcopogo) says that it is part of his process in the studio, and Bruce Swdien also is afflicted.

[lysander]

That condition is called "synaesthesia."

[vvv]

I don't have that, but I do intentionally equate colors to sound, as a sort of short-hand descriptive.

I mean, I'd rather hear "purple" than "warm", y'know?

[Snarl 12/8]

Maybe one thing to ask is "what color is it now?" If they say it's too red, then that just means add some blue. Y'know?

[gavintheaudioengineer]

Does synaesthesia correspond to wavelength? So low frequencies are red, higher ones are violet?
Or is the experiences of synaesthesia different for each person?

Didn't Geoff Emerick experience it to some degree?

[vvv]

I wrote a song about synasthaesia last year and so did some research, and my recollection is that the colors tend to be unique for each person, but consistent for them.

Note, also, that it can encompass things other than sight, ex., smell, etc.

[jgimbel]

I have synaesthesia, as did a girlfriend I was with for a number of years, we were both part of a classmate's senior thesis on it when I was in school. Everyone's way it works is different, it's the way your brain deals with your senses. It can be a huge help (or hindrance) in creative situations, especially recording. I've obviously never mixed without having it, but I can't even imagine mixing without it, it's definitely a part of the process. It's a lot easier to decide when a guitar should be panned left or right in an otherwise mono mix when it changes more than just what you're hearing.