No ringing or spike on the 96K master as seen in an Amadeus sonogram (basic FFT analysis)
No ringing or spike on the 44.1K SRC I did with 'Audacity' and virtual analog resampling, 'medium' setting.
I don't get it... and about half the time I was considered too bright myself, so I figure it's not from dull murkiness
Since a lot of people asked, yes, I'm on the Lavry Black now
damn, am I enjoying it. I am also on Channel Islands D100 amplifiers driven directly by the Lavry- same speakers as always. I'm quickly getting used to the very new sound, which is a hell of a lot bigger and clearer. Yes, the amplifiers are unusual but they are working well for my speakers, which are big horn designs and need a smaller amp.
As for the RMS level matching stuff- here's the deal. Even if I want to do superhot levels, I'm going to want it level matched, so I can have much-needed help hearing how the tone actually differs. I need to have a reference for how much the snare really sticks out before I smash it, so I'll more clearly understand what's happening to it. It's a LOT easier for me to hear that sort of thing if I'm hearing the sound actually go splat and fail to express itself as loudly as the source.
Put it this way. I'm still running the same code with which I was going SIX db over everybody else at the time. There isn't really much of a theoretical limit as to how hot I can go. I can master hotter than
clipping and do, when the peak algorithms kick in. Under the circumstances, I cannot compare source with master
without level matching because the master is so ridiculously hotter than the source. Literally cannot compare... I'll have the Lavry on '1' and it's still not attenuated enough to handle the master without blowing me against the wall.
If you are doing superhot stuff you need RMS level matching for
reference so you can hear what changed, at all, because your master's gonna be a whole other order of magnitude from the source by definition. It's not even like you're doing little subtle changes. If you have any desire to retain the character of the music while also smashing it to the moon you can only use level matching or just have a really good memory, I guess.
I suck in my own special way and part of that is that I do NOT have that good a memory. I'm not going to be able to reference a mastered track to the original in my head, so I have to do something to assist myself so my work is better. That's what I did this time around- put down the experimentation a bit and just did a normal job- and it worked out okay, and I learned a lot, especially about how loud smashed stuff can be. If I were to do it over, and I've done 'revisions' just to test how much I learned, I'd be going hotter, but it still would not be as hot as some entries because I thought they went too far, even for uberhot stuff.
Eric, I am hoping you weren't especially insulted by my review, since I actively tried to not make it a catalog of complaints. I do have to say, however, that I think I'm learning a lot more, and getting a lot better, through taking my chances, accepting people's sometimes aggressive complaints, believing them, and changing my ways when I find the complaints are valid. It looks like you're getting mad instead. Getting mad is OK, I hate being criticized too, but sometimes it's not subjective. I could pretty easily document that you're coming in a hell of a lot brighter than, say, certain recent Sterling output. There's a reason the real A-list guys don't invariably go uber-bright: it's distracting and hurts the ear and detracts from other things that need to be happening with the music.
It is a way to get really loud, but the A-list guys are more likely to get really loud in such a way that there's an illusion of the original track there, just expanded and clarified until everything's really big. Excessive treble boost comes across like a new, added element, something bolted onto the mix in the same way that Norbert's housey PA-sounding mastering made it sound like totally new bass was there.
I see that as mixing. I'd rather con you into thinking that my mastering is exactly like the original mix only, you know, everything works better
I don't want there to be any elements that sound like I added them, even if I did.
And THAT is why I have taken to comparing RMS level matched, even though I'm not trying to get the levels to be anything like the same
