reference listening

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michaelkerchner
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reference listening

Post by michaelkerchner » Thu Jul 11, 2019 5:05 am

we can all agree that the consumer market of CD is dwindling off. As far as released media i more than welcome a larger majority of projects i work on being released on vinyl. however as the cd market is put to rest so will be CD players. to cut to the chase here, what are you ladies and gentlemen doing as far as bringing reference mixes to studios youre working at? im sure a mix from a streaming service is out of the question as far as acceptable reference audio, should we just carry around a thumb drive of uncompressed audio files?
sounds good, compress it
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losthighway
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Re: reference listening

Post by losthighway » Thu Jul 11, 2019 7:10 am

michaelkerchner wrote:
Thu Jul 11, 2019 5:05 am
should we just carry around a thumb drive of uncompressed audio files?
Yes

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Re: reference listening

Post by Recycled_Brains » Thu Jul 11, 2019 7:39 am

What about adding files to your phone? Actually downloading them to the device, I mean. When I need to reference a mix on different systems, I will usually just add the 24/48 bounces and use an AUX cable. Am I loosing something by doing that? I definitely notice a big difference if I'm streaming from my Google Drive app or the like, regardless of the file type.
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michaelkerchner
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Re: reference listening

Post by michaelkerchner » Thu Jul 11, 2019 7:44 am

Recycled_Brains wrote:
Thu Jul 11, 2019 7:39 am
What about adding files to your phone? Actually downloading them to the device, I mean. When I need to reference a mix on different systems, I will usually just add the 24/48 bounces and use an AUX cable. Am I loosing something by doing that? I definitely notice a big difference if I'm streaming from my Google Drive app or the like, regardless of the file type.
oh shit, thats a good one
sounds good, compress it
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I'm Painting Again
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Re: reference listening

Post by I'm Painting Again » Thu Jul 11, 2019 7:53 am

I don't think it matters as long as it works as a reference for your purposes

even if it's the same music on the same format the particular master might be more significant or at least that will be a bottleneck before the format

so that's another thing to listen out for

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Re: reference listening

Post by digitaldrummer » Thu Jul 11, 2019 8:07 am

I would use my phone like a USB connected thumb drive before I'd play through the Aux connector (then you are adding that D2A converter, and the A2D of whatever you plugged into - into the sound). I'm pretty sure the Aux/headphone jack on my phone probably sucks.
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Re: reference listening

Post by I'm Painting Again » Thu Jul 11, 2019 10:09 am

yea probably good to use the exact same path from mix down "deck" to monitors/room

also maybe a good idea to SPL match your A to B comparison in the room too since that difference will skew the mix significantly ?


I dunno

I just use references for broad things like style mostly

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Re: reference listening

Post by Recycled_Brains » Thu Jul 11, 2019 2:47 pm

digitaldrummer wrote:
Thu Jul 11, 2019 8:07 am
I would use my phone like a USB connected thumb drive before I'd play through the Aux connector (then you are adding that D2A converter, and the A2D of whatever you plugged into - into the sound). I'm pretty sure the Aux/headphone jack on my phone probably sucks.
I hadn't thought of that, but that is a good point. This also likely confirms why there seems to be a discrepancy between how it sounds in my headphones if I'm listening through my Apollo interface vs. the phone, and for that matter, my macbook's HP output. I thought maybe I was making it up. Fucking tech is gaslighting me.
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Re: reference listening

Post by dave watkins » Fri Jul 12, 2019 11:05 am

The upside of CD's going more and more out of fashion is the used market is plentiful and cheap. So scooping up some classic albums and ripping them to uncompressed files to have on hand for reference is a good option. Also purchasing from bandcamp is a good option as well for newer material as you can download uncompressed files there as well (and more $$$ goes to the artist which is nice). Data storage is so cheap these days there's no reason not to have a large capacity drive full of your favorite tracks.
the tape is rolling, the ones and zeros are... um... ones and zeroing.
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losthighway
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Re: reference listening

Post by losthighway » Fri Jul 12, 2019 8:07 pm

dave watkins wrote:
Fri Jul 12, 2019 11:05 am
The upside of CD's going more and more out of fashion is the used market is plentiful and cheap. So scooping up some classic albums and ripping them to uncompressed files to have on hand for reference is a good option. Also purchasing from bandcamp is a good option as well for newer material as you can download uncompressed files there as well (and more $$$ goes to the artist which is nice). Data storage is so cheap these days there's no reason not to have a large capacity drive full of your favorite tracks.
Agreed with all of the above. It's crazy, while I'm no longer trying to expand my CD collection there have been moments where I realize I have a gap in a favorite band's catalog, and that I can either get their CD used online for $1 with $4 shipping at a total of $5, or I can spend $10 to download lossy files off of itunes. So I guess my CD collection is still kind of growing.

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Re: reference listening

Post by Nick Sevilla » Sat Jul 13, 2019 9:39 am

I carry around a USB thumbstick.

That said, when I do have to reference audio, I make SURE the mixes get copied to the studio's drive,
and that they play it back off their good professional converters, and not the computers line out or whatever.

Otherwise, it is a circle jerk of really unpleasant sounding conversion. LOL.
Howling at the neighbors. Hoping they have more mic cables.

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