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Author Topic: the sound of silence.  (Read 3302 times)

j.hall

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the sound of silence.
« on: September 23, 2004, 11:03:13 AM »

i was troubleshooting some issue in my room last night that required me to just CRANK the control room monitors now and again checking for noise and a few other things on certain channels.

got me thinking.  now that we can truly create silence (using DAW's) do you notice noise floors changing from track to track on CD's?

do you like this?

if you have some room tone, should it just continue through the whole disc?

what is the sound of silence these days?
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craig boychuk

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Re: the sound of silence.
« Reply #1 on: September 23, 2004, 12:50:06 PM »

Sure, you can notice changes in the noise floor sometimes...I guess it depends on how the record was mixed...I tend to work on projects that are mostly live recordings, and have pretty much the same set up for each song, so in cases like that the noise floor is pretty consistent. If you're treating each track as a very distinct individual entity, then there's probably more of a chance that things will be different from track to track.


Personally, I like noise. I think it adds character, and can contribute to the overall aesthetic of a record.

I also tend to sequence albums so that everything flows real nicely - lots of cross fades and whatnot to make the whole record  a cohesive unit. In these instances, I find myself leaving room tone or noise floor or whatever running right through the whole thing instead of doing fades at the end of songs.


But, I guess it really depends on the project you're working on.


I vote for noise!




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lord

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Re: the sound of silence.
« Reply #2 on: September 23, 2004, 05:50:54 PM »

Since records have gotten so stupid loud, I haven't really noticed the noise floor so much. But on really dynamic material, I usually find it creepy when it goes to total digital black. Sometimes you can have too much "strip silence" ...

Has anybody heard Silence is Sexy by Einstruzende Neubauten? A large part of the song is the whole band tacit, but completely miced up all mics open. It's strangely fascinating.
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trexrox

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Re: the sound of silence.
« Reply #3 on: September 24, 2004, 07:17:50 AM »

I have known mastering engineers who will take some bit of "noise" from the tracks to insert in-between for "silence".  
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drumsound

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Re: the sound of silence.
« Reply #4 on: September 24, 2004, 03:04:22 PM »

Usually there is ambient noise in the listening environment.  Especially for the end user.  I don't worry much about making things "too silent" though I have used the effect of muting everything really tightly.  I was quite proud of an intern who noticed when I played him a mix that he was not present for.
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j.hall

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Re: the sound of silence.
« Reply #5 on: September 24, 2004, 05:40:19 PM »

mid-fi wrote on Thu, 23 September 2004 11:50


I vote for noise!




me too.

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mogwailoveyou

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Re: the sound of silence.
« Reply #6 on: September 24, 2004, 06:19:24 PM »

gotta remember though that almost all of your listeners are going to have an audio system quite "noisier" than your studio monitors, so the odds of them being able to tell the subtle differences in the noise floor are slight. but in theory i agree that ambiental noise makes a song much richer, especially on a song with a drawn out silence before the music. Every split second just makes the anticipation that much greater.

mogwai also uses ambiental room sounds on the original version of small children in the background, something that sounds like a heater slightly rumbles in the background creating this lulling sense of security between each delicate note, which is all too soon decimated by a sonic frenzy of white noise  Very Happy .
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lord

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Re: the sound of silence.
« Reply #7 on: September 24, 2004, 09:21:22 PM »

Most people don't have systems that reveal tape hiss at -90db. This is true. However, even Joe Sixpack can "sense" something funny when listening loud on headphones. It can be as subliminal as just feeling that one record "flows" better than another.
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craig boychuk

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Re: the sound of silence.
« Reply #8 on: September 25, 2004, 02:26:41 PM »

I've certainly had many a pleasant surprise when I take a favorite record up to the critical listening spot...

I love hearing new things that I've never really noticed before...

Nice little treats for those of us with good speakers.
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bloodstone

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Re: the sound of silence.
« Reply #9 on: September 26, 2004, 08:35:12 PM »

I work in a ridiculously small single room.  My sound of silence is fan noise from the PC and HD recorder, but I don't find it ruins the overall sound of my work.  I like a little noise with my music.  Sometimes it's the self-noise of some low budget tube mic I'm using.  
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j.hall

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Re: the sound of silence.
« Reply #10 on: September 27, 2004, 09:49:23 AM »

things like tape hiss or "white noise" type sounds i find quite pleasant and find myself missing them when gone.

granted you can't hear it when program is going, but in between songs and if you fade a song, i just like fading into silience and not down to silence.

if that makes any sense.
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egg_

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Re: the sound of silence.
« Reply #11 on: September 30, 2004, 11:59:19 AM »

I like digital zero when it's used effectively in the middle of songs - esp if say the vocal keeps going but the accompaniment drops out to zero then kicks back in, it's kinda shocking
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