Global Warming ... Your Thoughts

you got people that like to listen to an entire album, thru a really nice home stereo.

you got people that like to slam mixes together with no forethought at all.

you got people that think mp3's sound good, and pour them into their mp3 players and Ipods at the lowest encoding rates available, play them loud as hell while they work out on their stair stepper, and think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.

WHO is going to be your target market?

mix the songs for them accordingly.
i don't think any single rule of thumb, can work across the board, unfortunately.

there aren't many audiophiles left in the world, and slowly but surely the idea of understanding what sound is REALLY supposed to sound like (recordings)--is being dumbed down by crappy sounding mp3's.
YMMV

Another great topic P-man!

Your painting metaphor really made me stop & think. You're absolutely right; there's something very pleasing about a 'warm' work of art or music (as opposed to something 'cold' or 'sterile').

Me neither, I can't listen to crisp mixes for long stretches of time (especially in my old age ). Maybe it's just a case of ear fatigue with hi frequencies, the same way we get eye fatigue from staring at blue lights (again, hi freq). These harsh frequencies definitely grab your attention, and maybe that's why pop singles flaunt them shamelessly. I admit, a good hyper-hihat techno rhythm wakes me up better than a mellow Floyd solo. But at home listening for long stretches, I always pick the warmer, mellow stuff ('mellow' referring to sonic characteristics, not song composition).

As for 'global warming' (i.e. putting it on the master bus)... I've been thinking about that a lot lately. My conclusion: sure, why not? It's funny how some people (not at this forum) make fun of people who 'overuse' tube/analog gear. Waitaminute--all the great songs we grew up on were done exclusively on tubes & analog. So how is it possible to overuse the stuff? Isn't that like criticizing a photographer for overusing film?

Anyway, as we all seem to be saying, if your music/genre calls for a warm sound, then by all means throw another log on the fire & warm it up any way you can. And yes, I definitely agree that any song over, say, 5 mins should be produced with warmth in mind. Ear fatigue is a clear & present danger. Maybe that's why the 20-minute epic progressive rock movement died out--the analog tape machine was an integral part of the music?

 I heard someone say recently when talking about mixing
and mastering that I haven't heard before. Maybe this
applys to the warming subject. He said if a person isn't
a great mix engineer then don't even consider doing
mastering. I thing a person can warm a mix and have
some sparkle too.

  From my experience it isn't about comping the highs
as much as how one can "spread" them in the mix so
the highs have a more "stereo" sound than the mids
and down. Using a send one can create a "highs"
bus that bypasses verb and such so the highs aren't
verb'd.

  with a warm and smooth "mids and down" sound
and a touch of sweet stereo high end a mix can have
the best of both worlds. To me the problem many
people face in a mix is what I call a "jumpy" sound.
It's like hitting a bump in the road.

  Smoothing these bumps would liken to warming.
And warming being the degree of variance in dynamic
range. This brings me to the thought of referencing
our own music. As I look at my own mixes I find
myself seeking warmness.

  It appears a person can warm up a mix but it has
a limit to the degree in which it can improve. It does
look as though that warming is really quality use
of single and multi band comping. However warmth
is about so many things it may be hard to break it
down to just saturation or comping without regard
to the frequency subject.

  The frequency's are the colors and the brightness,
contrast and depth have an effect as well as the
amount or level with "level" being the volume in these
given frequency's  

 like the dound of a lot of the music out today.

Neyos latest album sounds great to me, and it is loud as hell-

Blaack eyed pease sounds great to me, also loud as hell-

Etc. etc.

If you make the recordings way loud wron, it sucks, but I think a nicely done track to todays standards sounds nice actually....

i guess Im crazy? lol