Master Mi

Today, I had a listen to some older and newer mixes of mine on the rather ordinary consumer hi-fi system at my mom's home when I was setting up a shelf at her place. Of course the newest mixes I'm currently working on sounded way better than the older mixes - but even there I could hear a very small amount of unwanted low-end clutter which I didn't recognize when mixing all the stuff with my Yamaha MSP 3 studio monitors (frequency range from 65 Hz to 22000 Hz) and my Fostex subwoofer (adds lower frequency representation to around 40 Hz) and my Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pro headphones (with its comprehensively represented frequency range from around 5 to 35000 Hz). I could also hear a bit low-end mud at soundtracks from professional bands known all over the world. So I thought, it could rather have to do with the hi-fi system itself and its own (raised but less defined) bass representation. But I'm still not sure since the soundtracks from famous bands - especially those from the 80s - mostly sounded like they were still on a higher level of perfection at music production. And I think it's mostly because of the cleaner low-end. Up until this point, I've always separated the other instruments from the bass and drums in the mix with various individual low-cut filter settings, while often allowing bass and/or drums to pass relatively freely down frequency. But with the time I think more and more about cutting even the deeper low-end frequencies of instruments like bass and drums, which usually unchallenged cover the lowest frequency ranges in the whole mix, with a very steep low-cut filter below the frequency ranges of around 20 Hz to remove such almost inaudible low-end jumble (which one usually still perceives on rather bass-emphasized hi-fi systems or even some kitchen radios) especially for the playback on less good playback devices in maximum way. I'm already thinking about doing this directly with a master EQ plugin, just because it might save a lot of time and you don't have to care about phase issues (in marked contrast to using steep-edged low-cut filters at standard tracks which share a similar frequency range - if my information about phase problems at this point is correct so far). ... In this case, I could leave out the steep-edged EQ low-cut filter for the low-end frequencies at the bass and the drum elements completely (the softer, less aggressive low-cut filters of the other instruments for a better separation of frequencies between different instruments should still do their common job, of course) - and the steep-edged EQ low-cut filter in the master EQ plugin would do the whole job instead, without causing any phase issues. So, in the EQ plugin interface it might look like this: With the option Modus (mode), I could also set the phase line (green) from Normal (normal) to Linearphasig (linear-phase) - so, it would shift the phase of the whole frequency range and not just the phase of cutted lower frequency range. But it should not make a really big difference at the master track at all, except of a few (not even perceptible) milliseconds in the latency of (parts of) the playback maybe. I rather ask myself what the value of 18 Hz in the frequency field is supposed to mean in this case (the drop in the frequency range caused by the steep-edged low-cut filter with 36 dB per octave already seems to begin slightly at around 70 Hz - at 18 Hz the drop is around 10 dB and at 10 Hz the drop is already around 27 dB) - but maybe it's rather useful for EQ peak adjustments than for low-cut filter settings. ... But what do you think... 1) Is it useful to filter out the bottom of the low-end frequency spectrum completely? 2) If yes, at which frequency you would start to radically filter out the bottom end (with at least a drop of 10 dB) - rather at 40 Hz, 30 Hz or 20 Hz? 3) Would you do it directly with a master EQ plugin like in my example? 4) Or would you be afraid of loosing some crucial audio information (maybe some playing noises or reverb/delay effects of a contrabass, an electric bass, a kick drum or a lower key from a concert grand)? 5) What are your favourite methods of cleaning up the bottom end and the lower mids in the frequency spectrum in the mix (or the mix as a whole)? ... PS: Since the topic became more extensive and more useful than expected, I changed the title from "Steep-edged low-cut filter on the master track as a general solution for solving low-end clutter issues in the mix?" to "Cleaning up the low-end und low-mid sections in a mix - with single track EQ, master track EQ, EQed aux effect sends and other methods".

A little question for the guitarists and electric guitar experts here... I would like to buy my first electric guitar in the foreseeable future (around spring 2024) and had already found my real favorite with the Japanese Yamaha Pacifica 212... ... until I stumbled upon the Ibanez electric guitars (also a well known Japanese electric guitar series with a really cool, stylish design), which really appeal to me from the design and have a really heavy sound, rather so fender-typical sound profile for racy leads and loose, funky chords - while the Yamaha-Pacifica models rather have a warmer, full sound suitable for strong, massive leads without large accompanying instruments or for powerful, soulful chords. With the guitar's internal controls as well as the downstream amp settings and EQ settings, you can of course make pretty much anything your heart desires in terms of sound - so for me it's more important that the basic sound, which is generated primarily via the pickups and guitar materials, doesn't sound somehow fuzzy, washed out, dissonant or off, as is often the case with some entry-level electric guitars in the far lower price ranges. That is also one of the many reasons why I absolutely favor a Japanese electric guitar model. There you usually have solid top technology, durability and a decent amount of kaizen-like perfection. And in contrast to many Western models, you get the most for your hard-earned money. ... Here are the two models with the associated data and listening samples at various settings, which could come with me in the shortlist: 1) Ibanez Gio GRG140 with the ultra-stylish design in white -------------------------------------------------------------------------- https://www.thomann.de/gb/ibanez_grg140_wh.htm or 2) Yamaha Pacifica 212 in translucent black (a bit more expensive, but very pleasing sound) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- https://www.thomann.de/gb/yamaha_pacifica_212v_fm_tbl.htm ... I don't want to rule out the possibility of buying the other model at some point in the future in order to use both sound characteristics for specific music projects or combine them with each other. But basically I want to first learn to play on a rock solid, flawless and yet affordable electric guitar. ... My general idea was to feed the electric guitar signal directly into my DAW Samplitude Pro X4 Suite via the audio interface (in my case the Steinberg UR44 from Yamaha) for later recordings and then shape the exact guitar sound individually with the guitar and bass amp plugin Vandal as I need it for the particular recording - just like the person did in this case here: ... But since this will be my first guitar, I will have to learn how to play it properly. And that's guaranteed to take a few years, even though I'm already somewhat familiar with how guitars are played through basic theoretical music and instrument knowledge or using guitar VSTis for composing my soundtracks and remixes. I've also played a bit on an electric guitar and bass in the music store - and that was really fun. I think that the fluent coordination of the fingering techniques will be the biggest sack of work. ... It's possible that the whole thing could drag on for a while, since it could be possible that I'm going to crush a couple of sneaky superiors of my company in some real fights - and that could be accompanied by my own dismissal and smaller financial dry spell maybe. But somehow I don't really feel like tolerating such kind of superiors any longer, who obviously had a big share in the fact that a few of the more sympathetic colleagues were spontaneously dismissed or already left of their own accord, and who, apart from racist statements, Nazi-speak, gossip, insults, humiliation, gloating over dismissal of several colleages, bullying and psychological mobbing of especially friendly, sympathetic employees (they even picked on a really nice apprentice who breaked out in tears after she had been informed of her sudden dismissal - until I stopped their nasty bitch 'n' snitch talk into some very long hours of deadly silence after incidentally bringing up a story from my past, where I threatened a superior with force), shone above all through standing around, gossiping and having their little parties during working time - stuff like that. I would kinda break my heart and irritate my sense of justice seeing these little suckers getting away with all this or even grinning towards me with their smug but still overrated and not-always-so-safe-as-they-think "as-superiors-we-can-do-as-we-please" attitude. According to my very own full contact fighting experiences on the street, smug people like these don't even smile anymore after a hard knee strike hits their face and they literally kiss 'n' bleed the streets. But that's a completely different story and with a little luck it might even be a juicy inspiration for another soundtrack. ... Nevertheless, I still wanted to get some feedback from guitarists and connoisseurs about the electric guitars in advance, so I can make a solid decision about buying my first electric guitar in due time. ))

There are also some really interesting gameplay demos of the upcoming Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, where you can see how some of the new gameplay elements work. And you get a small glimpse of the excellent graphics and visual effects, the convincing sound effects and the phenomenal soundtracks. The video footage contains only a few story spoilers, but they should be somewhere at the beginning of this pretty exciting-looking game: (I really had to laugh when Aerith and Tifa said they saw similarities between Cloud and a Chocobo.) (Controlling Sephiroth on the battlefield or fighting alongside him during Cloud's Nibelheim flashback in Kalm is quite a feature, I'd say.) ... In the meantime, I'm going to play Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion (which is just as well done and, in contrast to the original for the PSP, has a few more small features to offer besides even more groovy gameplay, many revised, well-done soundtracks and graphical excesses) together with a good ol' friend. I'm also working on a major update of my Crisis Core remix "Wings Of Freedom", mainly to show what my (in the last years) newly developed dynamic mixing concept and my Yamaha MSP studio monitors are capable of in terms of sound quality and spatiality of the mix. So, I'm really looking forward to pulling out all the stops and showing off radically as soon as the mix is ready. ))

And secondly, the bigger news with highly anticipated FF7 remake content. Of course, I'm talking about the latest trailer for Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, the second part of Square Enix's huge FF7 remake project. Since this trailer shows quite a lot of familiar stuff from the original game in a pretty impressive next-gen look, I'll just summarize the trailer's content with the following bullet points: - military parade in Junon - the Cosmo Canyon area - a region with shipwrecks and a lighthouse (could be a location from Before Crisis and Crisis Core, where the Turk Cissney tries to stop Zack at a beach area with a lighthouse) - a more tropical region (could be the area around Mideel where Cloud and Tifa fell into the Lifestream) - riding the famous buggy (after the incident in the Corel prison) - riding special Chocobos (climbing mountains with a brown/black one and flying with a blue one) - new means of transportation like a Segway personal transporter - Sephiroth clones - introduction of more characters (besides the already known Yuffie from the FF7 Remake Intergade version, there are also some first impressions of Cait Sith and Vincent Valentine) - the huge (and quite deadly looking) snake Midgar Zolom - Cloud and Sephiroth fight together and start some kind of team special move against a boss-like creature that should probably be the Materia Keeper (must be during the Nibelheim scene from Cloud's Soldier memories when he was sent to his hometown with Zack, Sephiroth and another Soldier infantryman to inspect the Mako reactor in the Mt. Nibel region due to an outbreak of violent creatures) - summons like Alexander and Odin (the bull-like creature could be the summon Kujata/Kjata). - Gold Saucer with some familiar games and challenges to complete there (including the Chocobo race, the virtual fighting game with the rock-paper-scissors system, and the motorcycle mini-game) - first look at the "Weapons", the giant guardian creatures that protect the planet from great dangers and harmful creatures like Jenova, some of which were among the most powerful (optional) bosses in the original game It is said that this second remake installment alone will have an estimated gameplay time of a hundred hours (the first part of the remake was around 40 hours) and that it will go up to a point in the story with a very tragic incident in the Forgotten City. From the very beginning, I had a bit of a feeling that with the FF7 remake project, the game developers intend to set similarly massive new standards and superlatives in video game history, as they did back in the day with the original game for the Playstation. It's really exciting to see what kind of a milestone-like video game grenade will be dropped here. ))

Two more interesting news about the Compilation of Final Fantasy 7 - one smaller and one bigger. First, the smaller one. It's a short in-game scene with an FMV sequence from Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis, where the younger Sephiroth shows up in a fight to help 3 Shinra soldiers (maybe those are the guys he was just worried about in the FF7: Ever Crisis trailer above) and shows his incredible destructive power even at that young age. This could be one of many reasons why he is referred to as the "golden child" in this game.

@crustcate Because the first part of the FF7 remake is already a really deep and interesting gaming experience, I'm sure that the FF7 staff at Square Enix won't screw up the following parts of the remake either. Since this is a really huge and passionate project, I'm sure they'll even try to step things up in a big way. ... Besides, there 's a new trailer for Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis that shows some impressions of the younger Sephiroth and his early ambitions. If you have played "Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 (Reunion)", you might know that he wasn't always the cruel villain and maniacal madman. He rather had more of a caring attitude towards people he liked or even respected for various reasons. I'm not sure who the kind people are that he talks about and seems to worry about - maybe just an inexperienced Shnra unit, maybe some good-natured villagers. But the samurai-like or mentor-like woman he's talking to seems to be another important figure in the Final Fantasy 7 universe. It might even be someone from whom he received his legendary Masamune sword.

I don't have any listening or even mixing experiences with Samson studio monitors - but the other studio monitors (guess you mean some >>> KRK <<< studio monitors) are quite some decent middle class studio monitors (which tend to overemphasize the bass a bit too much in my opinion - so, if these models are 5-inch-woofer models or even larger ones, you might have to care about acoustic treatment in your studio room). For the studio headphones... If you really want to go for some AKG-K-271-MKII studio headphones, they are reduced around 40 % at the Thomann store (just choose your right language/currency and save settings afterwards). https://www.thomann.de/de/akg_k271_mkii.htm For AKG models they are not bad - seem to have some very pronounced mids (which is quite rare at frequency responses of studio equipment - still much better than pronounced bass), but there seem to be some bigger jumps in the frequency response (around 20 dB in the audible frequency range): https://www.headphonecheck.com/test/akg-k271-mkii/ (Check out the frequency response on the right side under "Measurement Results", click on the picture with the graph and choose "Frequency response: Detail" afterwards.) If you want to get some AKG (the company was re-established as Austrian Audio in 2017) studio headphones with a more linear frequency response for more accurate and precise mixing, I would rather go for the AKG K-701 or the AKG K-702: https://www.headphonecheck.com/test/akg-k701/ https://www.headphonecheck.com/test/akg-k702/ ... I still have to check out some AKG models in the future. But from all the studio headphones I've tested until now, my favourites were always the Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pro (if you get the Black Edition, buy some silver ear pads and attach them instead of the black ear pads for an even flatter frequency response). According to my personal listening experiences, no other models of studio headphones could beat their flatness of the frequency response, their relaxed and natural sound, their amazing audio definition or the high precision of the staging/panorama/depth. I also use them for watching movies because it always feels like you are sitting in a big iSense cinema or like your are straight in the middle of the action.

And here, in addition to the FF7: Ever Crisis trailer, finally comes the big one - a new trailer for the highly anticipated second part of the big remake of Final Fantasy 7 (Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth): The open world looks really amazing and makes a more realistic impression with the huge Mako lines around the Midgar region, which gradually drain the life energy for the Shinra cities. The combat system seems to be even more elaborate this time. There are also team special moves like in the enhanced Intergrade version of the first remake part, a new battle display element below the ATB bars, and you can fight in really uneven terrain with hills etc. for the first time - seems to be a really complex and way more interactive thing. Almost had to laugh heartily at the last statement "On 2 discs." So, the 2nd part seems to become at least already violently large in itself. I'm not quite sure where the storyline of the second part of the remake might end, but I already have one or two silent ideas about it. ... I guess I'm really going to have to work some overtime this year away from my auspicious and really compelling 4-day work week to acquire a soon-to-be-released PS5 Pro next year alongside my long-awaited Yamaha Pacifica 212 electric guitar for this year. ))

I just saw a new interesting trailer for the upcoming Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis (EC as probably the last and final part of the FF7 spin-offs after AC, BC, CC, DC - you probably know which titles are meant if you are familiar with the FF7 universe) and want to share it with you: It really seems that Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis will be a game title that retells the entire Final Fantasy 7 universe through all the currently known main parts and spin-off titles of the series, but in a similar (just improved) graphic style to the original game with the big head mode in the overworld or dungeon view and more realistic graphics in the battle mode or in the FMV sequences. There also seems to be a huge (side) mission-based mode like in Crisis Core for the players. And as it seems, you might also get some more information about the Final Fantasy 7 universe and characters like Sephiroth. Does anyone have any idea who the guy with the materia-enhanced axe might be, forcing Sephiroth into battle and claiming to be a hero (maybe Angeal or a genetic copy of him, or an early high-level Avalanche member with a similar leader position like Elfe, who could stand a fight against the legendary Shinra soldier)?

In my DAW, Samplitude Pro X4 Suite, it's possible to show your MIDI stuff as a regular notation (editing notes is not possible in this mode) in the MIDI editor. It looks like this: But it's also possible to show your MIDI stuff as piano-roll-synchronized notation (editings notes right in the notation view is possible there) in addition to the standard piano roll in the MIDI editor). And it looks like this: But yeah, I'm so used to the piano roll (for me, it has a better and clearer logical structure for intuitive understanding of what's going on in the track - and it's much easier to work with it) that I wouldn't even dare to use the note editing features in the notation view.

My edited text from one of my former postings might be interesting for Woody mC who checked my remix on his surround speaker setup, in order to find out more about the compatibility of my mix created with the 2-channel surround feature in connexion with stereo and surround speaker setups: ... "(Edit: Unfortunately, this pretty amazing 2-channel surround feature was only in my DAW Samplitude until version Samplitude Pro X4 (Suite). I, along with another person, asked the developer why they did not keep this feature in later versions of this DAW. They answered that this feature is not supposed to be compatible with newer surround formats. But they have already started working on a new version of this feature, which should also include a modern solution for binaural listening. However, the guy couldn't tell me why the developers just removed this feature in the newer DAW versions, even though the latest development of this 2-channel surround feature hasn't even been developed and implemented yet. Until this problem is solved, I will probably continue to work with Samplitude Pro X4 Suite for the time being, in order to establish my new mixing concept, which also uses this promising 2-channel surround feature as a precise visual audio tool for even more clarity and accuracy in the mix.)" ... But, maybe you (Woody) can respond to the remaining rest of my post from May 1, especially how my former mixes like the Star Tropics remix sound on your speaker system in comparison to my newer mixing concept with the 2-channel surround feature demonstrated in my newest Goldfinger remix,... ...or if at least the WAV file of my Goldfinger remix gave any new results for the compatibility with your surround speaker system.

@Nase Dude, just by the cultural input I got and which I admired, I guess I'm rather a Soviet Japanese sunshine devotee with Muslim drinking habits and some really raw eating habits of an indigenous tribesman. Im really not the typical German dude. I kinda fought for my 4-days working week (30 hours a week) and for my holy, 3 days long weekends - and I'm fuckin' proud of it. I simply love it like a mighty pigeon loves cooing, snacking through the city and radically shittin' your car window + balcony: ... @Woody mC I'm looking forward to. )) But no need to rush. Today, I might be totally fit 'n' sane, even after just around 3 hours of sleeping during the night and a day of mostly physical work. But I can't promise that my body won't retaliate and radically freeze my brain power over the next few days, forcing me to sleep instead of allowing me to follow promising content on OCR.

First of all,... ... a HUGE thank for the amazing, extremely detailed response and the load of commitment you've put into it - this was much more than I expected und contains quite some in-depth knowledge. )) In addition to my request, you also checked the dearVR stuff in my posting before for the surround sound compatibility. With your response, I have some sort of certainty or a at least a good hint, that the obviously lacking surround sound compatibility of the tested sources either has to do with the plugin tools themselves or with the audio/video format and/or the streaming platform. Or, could it be that it only works with a 5-channel surround speaker setup at maximum (instead of a 7-channel surround speaker setup)? ... Sorry for the late reaction on your extremely fast response. But during the week, I'm one of those screwed "wake-up-at-4.15-am-for-his-job" dudes, so there's not too much going on in the evening hours after work anymore. I guess the videogames of my early childhood days are radically trolling me these days: ... Nope, it also happens with a completely dry VSTi signal without any other effects in the 2-channel surround mode. ... Maybe I give you some further screenshots from the English version of the digital manual within my DAW, concerning the 2-channel surround mode: ... ... ... I also tried to load my latest Goldfinger remix DAW project with a true surround setup instead of a stereo setup in the project. But this messes up everything - but true surround doesn't even seem to be compatible with the 2-channel-surround mode panning because the 2-channel surround mode turns into the normal surround mode and this sounds completely off (as if the dry signal suddenly contains lots of reverb and stuff like that - especially towards the center channel - so, you wouldn't even be able to mix a dry bass in the center of the mixing panorama) - whole mix sounds as if it was totally washed out (also when listening to the mix with studio headphones). ... Haha, thanks. Even though the 2-channel surround mode doesn't support a true surround speaker setup, I'm kind of glad it doesn't support a full surround speaker setup rather than doing a totally crappy translation from a stereo mix setup to a true surround speaker setup. But to get some more certainty about this one, I'll also send you a directly exported audio file of my Goldfinger remix within the next days. I might have some MP3 versions (with audio bitrates of 192 and 320 kbit/s) of this track on my PC, but since I always keep my DAW project files, I could easily create a WAV file of this remix. ... Sounds goods. )) The trumpet (panorama at around 9:30 am) and the sax (panorama at around 2:30 pm) are mixed with a normal stereo panorama without using the 2-channel surround mode. I mostly keep it this way with lead instruments and lead signals which shall play directly in the front. So, the better clarity of the mix after using a visual and precise audio tool like the 2-channel surround mode seems to pay off at least. Maybe you can give a small feedback on one of my former remixes which I did not mix with the 2-channel surround mode (just with normal stereo panorama mixing setup) as a comparison (especially in things like clarity and spatial impression of depth)? Since you seem to be an organ fan, let's take this one as an older reference track from my remix list: ... Dang, you must have some kind of attentive rabbit ears or something like that. I guess you're speaking of the Vita Power Guitar kicking in at around 3:05 in my Goldfinger remix and which you can hear even more clearly at around 3:25. It's not a whole chord (just a simple sequence of single notes with some variations) and it's not exactly playing D - A - B - F# - G - D - G - A (it's rather D - A - B - F# - G - D - A -D), but you were really close with your super rabbit organist ears: ... Damn, gotta go to sleep or the working day tomorrow will finish me off. C ya! ))

If I need hall-like but also highly assertive sound sources - like lead guitars - in a track, I rather use echoing delay effects than reverb. It makes the sound source stronger in the mix - but it also contains some kind of room impressions, especially if there's already enough reverb from other sources in your mix. I wouldn't go so far to eliminate reverb effects completely from your tracks like some composers and audio engineers obviously do. But I would be really careful with reverb, because even a little too much of it can ruin the clarity and listening experience of the entire track. I try to use only one or two sound sources in the mix with a bigger reverb like concert hall convolution reverb (if it fits the track and the genre) while the other tracks in the mix get a more subliminal recording studio reverb (like drums or rhythmic guitars) or even no reverb (often bass in my case, or maybe even lead guitars with just some echoing delay effects). ... For separating the tracks and placing them more accurately in the room, I often use a 2-channel surround feature from my DAW Samplitude. It's a pretty cool visual tool that lets you place mono and stereo sound sources in a surround environment, and it encodes surround information into a standard stereo signal. According to the manual, it also retains surround information for real surround speaker setups (just reminded me to ask someone on OCR who uses a surround speaker setup and who might be able to verify if that's true or how the track translates between stereo and surround setups). Just to give you an imagination of the interface of the 2-channel surround feature and how I worked with this tool in my Goldfinger remix... 1) Here you can see how I used it for the kinda jazzy clean electric guitars with a great stereo width, which play just a little bit behind the front, only left and right, leaving out the center and the other channels: ... 2) Here you can see how I used it in connection with the completely dry bass, kinda centered between front and rear surround channels, almost fully mono, but I opened the signal just a little bit towards stereo width to give the already dry bass at least a little space to move, roam and articulate more differently: ... 3) For separating the bass from the drums in the mix, I placed the drums (all 3 drum tracks) a little bit behind the bass, added a little recording studio reverb and opened the stereo width up to around 50 % (if mono would be 0 % and true stereo would be 100 %). So, the drum kit with all frequencies from low to high - together with a well-separated bass - dominates the inner circle around the center, while all the other instruments with their frequencies rather dominate the outer circle of the 2-channel surround field: ... 4) And one last example... Some electric guitar power chords, only enhanced with some stereo delay effects, are placed much more in the rear field on the right side (on the mirrored left side is another powerful guitar playing some more bass-like rhythms) with a very small stereo width only affecting a little bit the right front channel and mostly the right surround channel in the back (also to avoid frequency clashes with other instruments that are playing more in the front and center field). ... I also uploaded a short video on OCR in which you can hear how the sound changes when I move a stereo sound source in the 2-channel surround field (my post from April 17, 2023): https://ocremix.org/community/topic/49135-creating-a-realistic-impression-of-depth-in-stereo-mixes/ Maybe you can give me a little feedback with your impression on this visual 2-channel surround tool. I also used an additional positioner tool as a nice feature included in a convolution reverb plugin in the uploaded demonstration video. ... I also got inspired by your idea to use plugins with different microphone settings to create a greater feeling of distance. But the probably most similar thing I could find in my huge internal plugin collection of my DAW was a plugin called Mic Modeler in my Independence Pro Premium Suite. There you can use different kinds of microphones in connection with settings like omnidirectional/directional, close, far, farer etc. But I can't really hear a real difference between the different distance settings of a specific microphone - might be a plugin for something else. ... On the other hand, I have a really nice microphone control feature within my bass and guitar amp plugin Vandal with which I can really feel an impact on the imagination of distance. ... ... But I'm not so sure if a bass and guitar amp plugin (even with undistorted, clean settings) is the optimal VST plugin for using microphone settings on usually non-amped instruments like trumpets, pianos, flutes and drums. ;D I'm not even sure if the original signal of these instruments remains so clean and untouched in a bass and guitar amp as I would hope. Even if I turn off all the other parts of the amp (except the one with the microphone feature), it still sounds a little bit different. It mainly might have to do with the fact that the microphone feature (right side) is directly connected to the cabinet simulation (left side). If you want to switch it off, then the microphone feature is turned off as well. But even if you turn off both, the audio signal with the amp plugin is still not identical to the original audio signal without the amp plugin. ... The mystical late night hours of the dead dreamer ears. Yeah... after waking up, it sometimes really feels like you were mixing like this the night before:

Visual tools for creating a realistic impression of depth in stereo mixes ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some tme ago, I recorded a little video with some drum VSTi stuff in connection with some visual tools of my DAW Samplitude Pro X4 Suite with which I can create a feeling of depth in stereo mixes - not sure which one is more suitable tool, but maybe you have some ideas about this topic. Make sure to watch the video below in full screen mode: Visual Tools For Creating A Realistic Impression Of Depth In Stereo Mixes.mp4 ... 1) The first one (on the left side) is a 2-channel surround mode which uses the individually placed sound sources (mono or stereo sound sources) in connexion with 5 simulated surround channels - but it writes all the surround information into a standard 2-channel signal. So, you can set up a virtual surround stage with some impression of depth on a normal 2-channel studio setup. And - according to the manual - the surround information encoded in the stereo signal of the exported track should always be fully compatible to pursuant surround speaker setups. I'm not fully sure, what it exactly does to the important parameters for the impression of depth. But I think it does at least a solid gain staging and a pretty nice and visually comprehensible 5-channel separation (left, right, center, left surround, right surround) to create a cleaner and more tiered mix (with a really precise visual presentation of the stereo width in the context of the channels) within a more three-dimensional audio environment. Maybe it is based on some quite realistic microphone algorithms or on EQ adaptation which change with the movement of the sound sources in the simulated surround field. But I'm not sure if this tool makes any changes on reverb and delay - at least I can't hear too much changes on these two parameters there. And what I also don't really understand is the phenomenon of the small left and right volume changes if you go with your sound source parallelly to or vertically on the center channel up (to the front) and down (to the back) - so, even if you go perfectly vertically down with your sound sources from the center more into the lower surround channel field, the volume seems to go more to the left side. I don't know if there are some particularities with the pan law in a 2-channel surround configuration - but maybe somebody of you has an idea on this phenomenon. At the moment, I just use the separate channel settings feature in the top right corner to balance the volume of the left/right channels with a few dB if the sound sources I placed more in the surround background tend to get louder or more silent at one side. I use this 2-channel surround feature since my last Goldfinger remix and I also want to work with it in the future as a major part of my new mixing concept. Although it's a rather dry mix with rather small-sized recording studio reverb settings than with huge, cathedral-like reverbs in direct comparison to my previous remixes, I think that the 2-channel surround mode made some really decent results for my ambition to create an imagination of depth in there - almost as if you are standing right in front of a street band. (Edit: Unfortunately, this pretty amazing 2-channel surround feature was only in my DAW Samplitude until version Samplitude Pro X4 (Suite). I, along with another person, asked the developer why they did not keep this feature in later versions of this DAW. They answered that this feature is not supposed to be compatible with newer surround formats. But they have already started working on a new version of this feature, which should also include a modern solution for binaural listening. However, the guy couldn't tell me why the developers just removed this feature in the newer DAW versions, even though the latest development of this 2-channel surround feature hasn't even been developed and implemented yet. Until this problem is solved, I will probably continue to work with Samplitude Pro X4 Suite for the time being, in order to establish my new mixing concept, which also uses this promising 2-channel surround feature as a precise visual audio tool for even more clarity and accuracy in the mix.) ... 2) The second tool I just found some time ago in the origami convolution reverb section of my Independence Pro Premium Suite as a part of my DAW Samplitude Pro X4 Suite (which can be easily overseen on the complex interface) is a positioner feature on the interface of this reverb plugin (on the right side around the second half of the drum recording video). With this tool you might not be able to create a nice channel separation for the single tracks (sound sources) of your music project. But you can get some pretty realistic impressions of depth for the reverb by placing the sound source (or maybe the listener) at different positions in some sort of a virtual room with individual characteristics like room size. I even think that the impression of depth with this second tool is even bigger or more realistic than with the first tool. But I'm not sure how this one would work out in the whole mix - I'm kinda afraid that it creates too much subtle sound information which might clutter up your mix and kill the definition (like reverb effects in general do pretty fast in a complex mix with a huge number of tracks). And I'm also not really sure if it makes sense to use both tools simultaneously for the same VSTi, synth, instrument etc. - because in this case you would have to work with two different visual tools at the same time, begin to calculate two visual interfaces into one you can't see in order to make the next steps for the next tracks, an annoying, time-comsuming and less accurate procedure I want to avoid if I already have a decent visual tool for creating an imagination of depth in a stereo mix. ... But what's your opinion about these visual tools in the context of creating a realistic feeling of depth in a soundtrack or another kind of an audio program?

There is also a direct upload way for your art at OCR. You can attach several files (like pictures) below the field together with a message you want to submit - by the "Drag files here to attach, or choose files..." option. It might look like this: ...or maybe like that: Just write the complete text, upload the picture files you want to implement, place the cursor at the preferred points and click on the uploaded pictures in the lower corner you want to insert at this point. You can also double-click the inserted picture files in the text field to make some additional settings for the pictures. Hope I could help you with your issue. )) ... PS: Another interesting way of sharing artwork (since you posted this topic on an international composer and remixer platform and lots of people really like the audiovisual way) could be in connection with famous video streaming platforms like YouTube. There, you could use one picture (or maybe a whole slideshow) of your artworks, compose an own soundtrack for the visual content and upload it as a high-quality video file. I myself have done this with some of my remixes when I didn't have video footage for my tracks, or when entire (muted) videos of movie intros somehow seem to violate the terms of the streaming platform - so I just used a slideshow of pictures created from the video material. I recently saw a pretty nice drawing from DeviantArt on YouTube in connection with an atmospheric Terranigma remix, which got quite some very positive feedback:

Really good ambition. I always wanted to bring my whole MP3 collection on a uniform level with an audio bitrate of 192 kbit/s, which might offer the best relation between sound quality and lost disk space. At least I can often hear clear differences between 128 kbit/s and 192kbit/s - but no more clear differences between 192 kbit/s and 320 kbit/s or even lossless audio formats. I wondered that I had quite a lot of remixes from a high-quality platform like OCR with audio bitrates of just 128 kbit/s in my MP3 collections. But I guess these MP3s were direct downloads from OCR from times where they might have had to save some space, bandwidth and costs back then (don't really know how this stuff works when creating such a large platform). But my big question is (since I had also converted some YouTube streams of newer OCR remixes to MP3s with audio bitrates of 192 kbit/s): Do the official OCR remixes uploaded on Youtube have been uploaded with a higher bitrate than 128 kbit/s (just because they mostly sounded better than just the 128 kbit/s direct downloads on OCR)?

If you already own a certain DAW which runs smooth and stable and to which you are used to for several years, I'd stick with it. If you manage to get more into your DAW, figure out all the functions by studying your manual and trying out a lot of things, you might be able to compose, arrange, mix and master great soundtracks with nearly any DAW on the market out there. The last thing I would do is changing your DAW regularly after a few years just because of some brand-new features by other DAW developers. There are some general features you may have in all DAWs, and there are often some unique features in several DAWs. But you can also see that some those unique features tend to become general DAW features over the years. And you don't have to go for every upgrade of your DAW if you don't like or need the new content - I'm sure there will also be coming upgrades and developments of your DAW you will like again. If not - don't hesitate to write your DAW developers about the new things you like, you don't like and things you want to see improved (I also do it sometimes). I wouldn't go for 365 days or monthly offers from DAW companies because you are always kinda forced to get the newest content, the newest operating system and the newest hardware (if necessary). And I don't always want to set up a new PC with a new operating system after just a few years. If you don't mind to live several years in the technological past and rather making huge jumps after 10 to 15 years, you won't miss too much. But you can save lots of time, money and nerves. And in case of being a Windows user, you will have a lot more information of the private customer "Windows test subjects" who have made their early experiences with the latest program versions. ... But back to the DAW topic... So, if you already own Reason and you are used to it, stick with it. If you have questions on this DAW software, you could also ask the composer Thomas Mende. He works with Reason and he also composes some really good electronic video game remixes with this DAW made by the Swedish developers Propellerhead/Reason Studios: If you own Cubase and you are already used to it, stick with it. This famous DAW software was originally developed by Steinberg, a German developer which is in the hands of the well-known Japanese Yamaha corporation since around 2004. And these Japanese companies - especially Yamaha - develop lots of highly sophisticated technological products for musical purposes and they aim to improve their results continuously with their (for the Japanese society pretty famous) Kaizen concept over time. Even if you own FL Studio (Fruity Loops in the past - a DAW I really don't like because of the less intuitive access to the main functions) and you are already used to it, stick with it. When I tried this DAW for the first time without any manual, I really hated this DAW because of the kinda annoying pattern system and because I couldn't even manage to create a single empty MIDI object for hours. But if I remember correctly, even famous video game music composers like Zircon work with FL studio - and they compose outstanding soundtracks with this DAW in combination with some further 3rd-party VSTis, synths and VST plugins. ... But if you are a newcomer and still not bound to any DAW, you might have also a closer look a Samplitude Pro X Suite (definitely the Pro X Suite version because of the hugely enhanced content). For me, it was a really close race between Cubase and Samplitude back then - but in the end, Samplitude won my heart because of the really intuitive access to the main functions, the complexity and really huge content of the DAW (which you can use for quite every common music genre), the clarity and flexibilty of the interface and the really stylish black Carbon design you can choose in the settings: There is still a good video of this DAW which shows some of the content and functions of Samplitude Pro X (the first version of the Samplitude Pro X series) from around 10 years ago. And even back then, it already had an amazing content of high-quality metering devices, VST plugins, VST instruments and synths - even a sophisticated guitar and bass amp was (and still is) part of the enhanced Suite content: With the current Pro X7 Suite version, it got even more content. And I am still fine with Samplitude Pro X4 Suite. Many years ago, Samplitude Pro X Suite was around 1000 bucks for the first buy. But over the years, it went down to around 600 bucks, sometimes it's already around 400 bucks and during several special offers during the year it can be around 200 to 300 bucks, while upgrades are around 200 to 250 bucks. For the case you want to check out the features in detail, have a look at these links: https://www.magix.com/int/music/samplitude/pro-x/functions/ https://www.magix.com/int/music/samplitude/pro-x/version-comparison/#c1574623 ... If want to build up your studio environment, really take your time and inform yourself well about the stuff you want to go for before buying it. Never be in a hurry, because a huge amount of information and experiences can save a lot of money, time and nerves in the long term. Rather buy a drop of a product after bathing in an ocean of information than the other way around. I have built my home studio within a time of around 10 years, and aside from my electric guitar of choice, I'd say it was complete around two years ago, hardware-wise. If you save up some money for 1 or 2 two studio gear elements per year, it might not stress you too much in times of permanent financial crises and geopolitical changes. If you don't have any studio gear yet, I would buy the stuff in the following order: 1 - a good ergonomic office chair with adjustable headrest (a healthy and upright sitting position is a really good start before composing and mixing for several hours at once) 2 - a good DAW of your choice 3 - professional studio headphones like the Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pro (with these you can compose and mix in a really accurate way) 4 - professional audio interface (increases your DAW performance and stability - especially when composing bigger tracks) 5 - a good allrounder MIDI keyboard with at least 49 synth action keys (synth action keys should not make any annoying noises compared to some MIDI keyboards with weighted/hammered keys), 8 drum pads, pitch wheel and mod wheel, a good amount of faders, buttons, knobs and editing/programming functions, together with some fitting pedals for your MIDI keyboard 6 - a professional studio microphone with a low noise floor like the Rode NT1 (if you want to use singing voices or instrumental microphone recordings in your musical projects), together with a good and stable microphone stand 7 - professional studio monitor speakers, which harmonize with your room conditions (speakers should rather be a little bit smaller than too big for your room), together with some fitting isolating studio monitor stands 8 - maybe a good compact studio subwoofer to enhance the frequency range of your speakers into the deeper bass range 9 - professional headphone amp (which will drive even high-impedance studio headphones in the best possible way to unleash their full potential) 10 - additional instruments, VST instruments, synths and VST plugins

I'm not quite sure when the pretty cool trend of remixing video game soundtracks really started. But I remember listening to some video game remixes while I was still in high school about 20 years ago, and I had some music files on my mom's notebook and later on my first MP3 players. Some years later I noticed more and more of these really sophisticated remixes with "OC Remix" in the title. If I remember correctly... After scouring the internet to find out who this amazing "OC" was, I came across a platform where you could download these pretty cool video game remixes - for FREE! I mean, a platform that combined the two great passions of video games and music - how cool was that at the time? And I really loved listening to a lot of those remixes back then, whether I was doing my workout, riding my bike around town, or taking a break from studying away from my hometown by taking a walk in a calm forest nearby, for example. So, OCR was already a small part of my life before I knew what OCR actually was. And I'm really sure that over the years it fed my desire to start remixing and composing soundtracks even before I knew what DAWs, VSTis and VST plugins were. But then, around 2013, I got much more into it, I finally had the chance to buy my first little DAW software, I had no idea about working with DAWs - and I managed to share my first remix on OCR. It was really terrible, uncreative, kind of deafeningly loud, hyper-compressed, the track radically clipped - but I was kind of numb to those "little sound artifacts" and totally loved it. Back then, music was some kind of magic for me. It still is - but with the help of the OCR community and several other platforms, some subject-specific literature, blogs and videos, I've also learned a few lvl.1 and lvl.2 magic spells over the years... ... yeah, after learning the basics like working with a DAW (almost took me over 2 whole years to figure out the main functions of my DAW by trying out a few things and reading through huge parts of the over 1000 pages within the digital manual), creating the first arrangements with VSTis, synths and VST plugins, learning music theory from the very beginning, making my first steps towards own composition ideas later on, improving my listening and mixing skills over the years and finding my own style. That's a really exciting process of self-development which may never fully stop in a healthy lifetime. You might quit weightlifting and full contact martial arts when you're around 90 years old, but you can still compose 'n' cast an atmospheric Star Tropics remix at such a magic wizard age when you are already the second-oldest rock on the southern islands. To cherish that soulful opportunity, you should watch your diet, also take your physical training behind your magical composer desk seriously, never go to any wars (if somebody asks, you might answer that you learned from legendary soldier Solid Snake that there are no real heroes in wars - if even this fails, you have to become something like a Saiyan-like master composer wizard who can touch the hearts and feelings of living beings so deeply with just one charming composition that they will give up any desires of greed, war and destruction within a few seconds)... ... and, of course, you should praise the serene gods who have created and who still maintain OC Remix. ))

I'm not firm with the music of the Golden Sun series, but if that's the OST, you have really made a lot out of this one: You've got quite a hand for epic, dynamic and orchestral compositions. )) Really good composition ideas, clean mixing, really good staging and use of the 3 dimensions. As I remember correctly, you use a VST plugin with digital microphone settings for each instrument track to create a spatial mix with lots of depth? I remember that I posted a thread on how creating a realistic imagination of depth in mixes some time ago and I also mentioned the method of using different microphone positions in order to achieve this, but I never really thought about using VST plugins with different microphone settings at this point - it seems to work fine. Do you have to set the pre-delay in addition to the microphone VST plugin or does the virtual distance setting of the microphone include the pre-delay in the same step with the distance value?

I would defintely go for the really sophisticated ERA VSTi stuff from Eduardo Tarilonte, especially for Celtic ERA 2. And good news for you - there's a also free version with a few VST instruments from different collections like Celtic ERA, Forest Kingdom II, ERA II: Medieval Legends, NADA, Gu Zheng, Titan 2 and other ones (contains a few VSTi presets with full functions, lots of VSTis with limited playing range or other ones with limited articulations, limited features or just a few VSTi presets as demo versions). The collection is created for the (also completely free) Engine 2 sample player, which is one of my favourite external sample players, and it is called "Engine Artists Library". It contains around 2,5 GB of chosen content. It might be just a tiny piece of the full collections, but it should be MUCH better than most VSTi freeware and it might help you a lot with your remix projects for The Legend of Zelda series. ... You can check it out and download it for free at Best Service: https://www.bestservice.com/engine_artists_library.html Good luck with that. ))

If you already bought the NI VSTi years before, I guess you won't make any changes with this ancient stuff in these days. I'll keep and use my Native Instrument VSTis from the time before the strange boycott message and won't buy further NI stuff as long as they keep doing this boycott against the people from the Russian Federation and Belarus (or the people of countries that might be on their sanctions list in the future). I'm still not fully sure what the real motivation of a mere VSTi company can be to get so deeply involved into politics. I wouldn't say that they are part of a dark political agenda just because of that (as long as they don't demand weapon deliveries towards the war countries and be part of the stern beard fraction yearning for the next Generalplan Ost). But if you really want to end war, there are much better and more diplomatic ways - first, not to get involved in the war and not to put extra energy into the war. I'm sure there will be not much more peace in a war if more and more people, organizations and countries from all over the world get involved into the trouble - it will rather end up in a "world war" I guess. But if less people participate in a war-like conflict, there might be peace much faster and the greedy people behind those wars have to put themselves into the line of fire if they still think that all the money, ressources and treasures have a so much bigger value than life itself. They might try to impress people with their nationalist and hyper-patriotic gunshot mentality, try to force people to fight their wars or even torture and kill them if they defy the high rollers. But if the stubborn horse really wants to kick its owner, it really kicks its owner. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Sometime they’ll give a war and nobody will come.“ ----------------------------------------------------------------- And some people did exactly that. They - obviously a smaller and still intact village community of Ukrainians - came together and just burnt their instruction orders in front of the military guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rRjJWx4j1s That's a really effective way to take the energy out of a war or a beginning conflict and end it from the perspective of the common people. Focus on life, the down-home interests of the community and the whole humankind, instead of being mentally dragged into nationalist, over-patriotic bullshit war propaganda lies with lots of capitalistic cockroaches behind the theatrical stage. I know, it might be a little bit more complex than that. But even in modern times within the age of large private companies and private banks, there are much more of the common people (those who would only suffer from wars) than those greedy monsters, who rather invest in wars to make profits from those money-bloated conflicts - just like in some sort of a war as a business model for companies, banks and investors. The common people only need to understand that they would only ever suffer from wars, and so the common people would have a great common interest - a thought that may already be somewhat difficult to think for people who have grown up in capitalist systems, when it is often hammered into their brains that their neighbours and work colleagues are their greatest competitors and rivals in this life destined to boot each other out and to be the same selfish, worthless and destructive assholes like those who claim to own them with their money and "power". Maybe, sometimes you already have to imagine your life after a war, when a war already ruined everyone and everything that was dear to your heart. I guess it should help to appoach those who want to send you to war in a completely different way. And I'm really sure that one of those profit-over-life businessmen wouldn't feel too much like almighty gods after they feel the first hard knee-strike into the face and seeing their own blood in the streets instead of just seeing the blood of others from far away in their daily newspapers. Those kind of businessmen might always have had the deep feeling of owning your life just with their money and that they can just buy the world. But it's not exactly money that rules and shapes the world - it's rather energy. So, if the stubborn horse really wants to kick its owner, it really kicks its owner. ... But getting a little bit back to the VSTi and home studio content.. The fact is that the guys at NI develop really good, high quality VSTis and are therefore in a sort of superior position of power (like many other companies) to spread their political message. But the customer as well has some power with his choices of consumption (there are also other good VSTi developing companies) or with nonconsumption (strategy of self-sufficiency and austerity). I mean, I'm quite happy with spending my money mostly on good organic food from an organic cooperative (gives me vital energy, health and joy by really affordable, raw organic food), my housing organisation (nice and affordable flat with green environment with an old village centre of my hometown, far away from the busy downtown area) or - if neccessary - on clothes, my bike, some stuff for my flat and home technology, my computer and DAW environment and that's probably it. So, from my side there's hardly any bigger cashflow towards harmful profit-over-life companies, private banks, insurance companies or nasty organisations like that. What the government does with the taxes (weapon deliveries towards Ukraine) might be still a different thing - but even there, they can't squeeze too much out of me 'cause I only work 4 days (30 hours) a week for a construction and landscaping company. So, I can enjoy lots of free fresh air, long weekends, more free time in exchange for (just a little bit) less money, much less taxes - and maybe also less weapons of mass destruction. At least for things like these, I kinda love my rather uncomplicated new life. My homestudio (just from the hardware technology) is also pretty complete - besides my desired Yamaha Pacifia 212 electric guitar (I really want to learn to play at least one string instrument - and an electric guitar is a pretty cool and versatile one), I don't need more gear 'n' hardware stuff because I'm fully satisfied with it. And since I've spent over 5000 bucks on my DAW environment in the last 10 years (about the half of the money for DAW-based hardware - about the other half for software), i also have a really decent amount of good quality VSTis and synths for various music genres, VST plugins and sound designing software tools. I'm still looking for VSTis from time to time, but these tend to be unprocessed high quality VST instruments or quite rare and exotic ones that I don't have in my libraries yet, for example some really well sampled Caribbean steel drums like the promising Steel Drum VSTi from 8Dio, a good Handpan VSTi like the one from Wolfgang Ohmer or the excellent stuff from Eduardo Tarilonte like Forest Kingdom 3 and NADA that might be very useful for my own composition "Paradise" in the future. But for now, I'm pretty happy with the VSTi libraries I have so far. For a longer moment, I really thought I might need a better drum library. And now I'm not even sure if the NI VSTi library or other drum libraries are really much better than my Independence VSTi library, which also contains a lot of raw and unprocessed VSTis. And I've never been a big fan of being forced into the Kontakt concept, where you have to pay for Kontakt Instruments (which is perfectly fine, of course), the Kontakt Sampler (for using instruments that don't work with the free Kontakt Player), and the latest upgrades for Kontakt (for using the latest VSTi content that only works with the latest version of Kontakt). I think I really have to work much more with the content I already have (saves a lot of money and gives wings to creativity and compositional skills). ... Finally, perhaps something that might help you with your Scarbee MM Bass, which is obviously a great sounding bass VSTi with lots of useful features and 13 keyswitch articulations. I have a similar set of electric bass VSTis in my Independence Pro Premium Suite (Electric J-Bass, M-Bass, P-Bass, S-Bass and different alternative electric bass combi presets resembling specific music genres - like "American Ballad 3 combi", "Berlin Ghost combi KS A-1", "Reggae 1 combi KS A-1", "German Punk combi KS A-1" or "Rock Aggressive combi KS A-1") with some really good electric bass sounds and electric bass presets, which can have just a few up to 14 keyswitch articulations. The Independence Pro Premium Suite also has a huge set of high-quality VST plugins you can not only use within the Independence sampler but also with other instruments in your DAW. It's twice the price of the Scarbee MM Bass - but it also contains an acoustic bass in addition to the electric bass. Maybe just listen to the two audio demonstrations at "Acoustic & Electric Basses" on the internet page: https://www.magix.com/de/musik-bearbeiten/independence/libraries/ If you're interested I can also show you some pictures of the interface, the presets and stuff like that. If you should insist to buy the whole Independence Pro Premium Suite library for the 300 bucks, I would rather recommend to get the whole DAW Samplitude Pro X7 Suite for the same price (they got a special offer until the January 14): https://www.magix.com/int/music/samplitude/suite/ In the Pro X Suite version, the full version of the whole Independence library is always included. But not only that - in addition to that you get around 47 well-sampled VSTis called "Vita Solo Instruments" with some common and some really exotic instruments and some really nice electronic synths (you can also listen to some audio demos of the specific VSTis and some electronic synths here): https://www.magix.com/int/music/samplitude/pro-x/functions/instruments/#c1588614 Not enough... The Suite version also contains the full version an awesome, realistic and pretty complex electric guitar and bass amp plugin called "Vandal" (with which you can shape the sound of your electric guitars and bass into kinda any direction of your imagination), lots of professional metering functions (like loudness metering, vectorscope, many other sound analyzing devices or even a spectral editing function) and a huge set of additional VST plugins, of course. If you want to look up the whole content, check out this link: https://www.magix.com/int/music/samplitude/pro-x/version-comparison/#c1574623 Samplitude was (and still is) also developed in Germany, a part of the company is also active in Berlin - but they don't seem to care too much about politics (unlike NI). Maybe it also has to do with the roots of the company behind Samplitude, which was created in times of GDR (when East Germany was under the guidance of the Soviet Union) at the SEK'D (Studio für elektronische Klangerzeugung Dresden) in connection with the technical university of my hometown.

The 50 Shades Of The Beyerdynamic DT 880 (Edition/Pro) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yo, guys - after finding a former studio headphones topic which I started some years ago, I wanted to share some of my newest information and experiences I got over the years in my next comments. I also updated the main text for this topic. My favourite studio headphones for mixing are still the Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pro and I guess this won't change in the next years because they gave me the best mixing results as well as the most balanced, the most analytical and most detailed listening experience of music and movies. But I want to try out some more headphones within the next years, for example the closed Japanese studio headphones Audio-Technica ATH-M50X. My first useful studio headphones were the Sony MDR-7506 studio headphones, which are really good (except for the somewhat overemphasized 10000 Hz range, which can make the sound a bit harsh). They have a high resolution sound as well as a more or less acceptable stereo reproduction and they are not too uncomfortable to wear (wouldn't recommend them for those people with bigger ears). The only problem might be that the frequency response drops off dramatically in the range above 15000 Hz - but I don't think that will be critical to the listening experience and accurate mixing. Some time later, I got the semi-open Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pro Black Edition (be sure to use the silver earcups instead of the black ones - it makes a huge difference, for example, in terms of a smoother frequency response) and a high-end headphone amplifier, the Lake People G109-P (to drive the DT-880 Pro much better and get the most out of these high-impedance studio headphones). With my first audio interface, the Steinberg UR22 (just had a USB-2.0 power suply), the DT 880 Pro sounded already really good but it felt that there was something like a little curtain over the bass and mid frequencies where the lower frequencies seemed to be presented a little bit more muddy and with less definition than the DT 880 Pro had to offer. As soon as I got an advanced version of my audio interface with a separate power supply, the Steinberg UR44, the phenomenon with the cloudy bass and mid presentation was finally history. Since the built-in technology of transducers in the UR22 and UR44 is considered to be equivalent, I think it really has to do with the much better power supply of the UR44. So, in connection with the UR44 the bass and mid frequencies of the DT 880 Pro sounded much cleaner, more balanced and they had a higher definition in my opinion. But the best results of the DT 880 Pro I've experienced in connection with an high-end headphone amp (Lake People G109-P in my case). With this combination I got the cleanest sound, best audio definition (audio resolution), the mids and even the trebles seemed to be cleaner and more detailed. The bass also had the best definition and it seemed that it got extended much more into the deeper bass frequency range. So, you really seem to need a good headphone amp or at least an high-end audio interface with some really good headphone outputs to unleash the full potential of the Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pro high-impedance studio headphones. The Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pro is still my absolute favorite when it comes to important points like: - a natural, faithful and very analytical sound - a very even frequency response - a wide frequency range (5-35000 Hz) - really accurate stereo and depth imaging (when I watch movies with these headphones, I feel like I'm in a small modern Dolby Surround cinema and get sucked right into the action) - a really pleasant wearing comfort And - what's really important with these studio headphones - they gave me the best mixing results when listening to my mixes on other monitoring devices like other studio monitors, stereos, car stereos, MP3 players, etc.afterwards. Nabeel Ansari mentioned some "incredibly shrill spikes in the treble range" at the DT 880 - not sure if the normal DT 880 are much more different in the sound and frequency response that the DT 880 Pro. But I have never experienced some harsh trebles at the DT 880 Pro. The trebles of the Sony MDR-7506 are a little bit harsh and the trebles of the DT 990 Pro are really annoyingly harsh - but the DT 880 Pro have a really relaxed sound (can listen to music with these headphones for many hours without getting bothered). Maybe there are really some bigger sound differences between the standard edition and pro version or between the 32-ohms model, the 250-ohms model and the 600-ohms models of the DT 880. ... I've just checked some sources for the frequency responses of the different DT 880 (Edition/Pro) versions. And here's what I got: DT 880 Edition - 32 Ohms --------------------------------- (I guess these are the harsh peaks, Nabeel Ansari experienced - maybe he got the 32-ohms model of the DT 880 Edition.) DT 880 Edition - 250 Ohms ---------------------------------- DT 880 Edition - 600 Ohms ---------------------------------- DT 880 Pro - 250 Ohms ------------------------------ I also got different frequency response measurement for the DT 880 Pro from a another source (not sure which one is the more accurate measurement): DT 880 Pro Black Edition - 250 Ohms ----------------------------------------------- (The DT 880 Pro Black Edition is considered to be technologically identical to the silver DT 880 Pro - just the dark earcups seem to make these huge differences at the frequency responses. I'll get more into detail on this topic in a further comment. But for now, it should be more than enough new information about the different DT 880 (Edition/Pro) models.)

Thanks for the detailed response, dude. )) Besides, I've listened to your composition "Temple of the Dragon" to understand your musical way a bit better - really impressive stuff. But coming back to my remix. 1) What do you mean with "... in my opinion you could give your track more substance by filling in the complete sonic space. At the moment it feels like it's just panning." Do you think it's lacking a greater impression of depth? That could be because I wanted to mix this ska-punk-like track rather dry, except for the little intro, because I flooded most of my previous mixes with reverb (I couldn't hear and adjust the right amount of reverb due to my previous equipment and my lack of understanding how to mix better and more precisely). ... 2) I'm not sure which brass that could be more in the front you mean. There's a trumpet (more on the left side, starting at 0:43 the first time) and a sax (more on the right side, kicking in at around 0:47 the first time) directly at the front. And there are trombones playing a bit behind the front and slightly left from the center (starting at 0:33, for example). ... 3) The dynamics of the brass element were kinda tricky in this track because just 1 dB more could make especially the trumpet too loud and dominant for my taste - especially in the heavier guitar parts (where the brass should not dominate the electric guitars too much). My intention was to let the brass elements (especially the trumpet) shine more in the less rockin' and more relaxed parts - for example at 0:53. But even there - just one single dB more for the trumpet at this part could make the trumpet unpleasantly loud. So, I decided to handle the brass elements just with the MIDI velocity dynamics and different articulations to give 'em a little bit more realism and dynamics without letting them dominate the track too much nor letting them drown in the mix - they shall have their shining parts in the track just like the electric guitars shall have theirs. ... 4) Hm, you think the electric bass deserves more low end in this track? I just had this deeper electric bass setting before - but then I decided to let the kick drum have most of the low end frequency range for a cleaner mix and use a small low-cut filter on the bass instead to turn the electric bass a bit more into one of those funky radio-rock electric bass presets. I really had the intention to cut even more of the low end of the electric bass and rather raise the volume of the bass afterwards - it sounded really nice at some parts but I guess I didn't want to exaggerate the stuff too much and push my luck in the end - because at mixing my ears can tell me different sounds to the same story of composition each day. Some of the bigger questions for me are often "Will I still like it the next day?" and "Does it significantly improves the previous version?". If there's a definitive yes to both questions, I consider to implement the changes. If there's just one single no, I discard the changes in most cases and keep the old setting, which I have liked for a longer time.

Maybe it's a little bit late for a helpful reply... But after searching for a similar topic and reading your comment, I thought of something that would really fit your needs - as I was in a similar situation years ago. Ever heard of the Yamaha MSP studio monitor series? They are the flagship of the Yamaha company as far as studio monitors go, and arguably some of the world's best studio monitors you can get right now. The MSP series is even better (better audio resolution and flatter frequency response) and also a bit more expensive than the Yamaha HS series - here are a few official links from Yamaha to compare the two series: https://de.yamaha.com/de/products/contents/proaudio/musicianspa/products_studio_monitor.html https://europe.yamaha.com/en/products/proaudio/speakers/msp_studio_series/index.html The MSP studio monitors have been hard to get in stores for a few years now (especially the MSP 5 and MSP 7 - more recently the MSP 3) - this may have to do with the MSP series designer retiring (but it appears they are opening a new line of the MSP series, starting with the Yamaha MSP 3A). The MSP 7 and MSP 5 got a younger brother, the MSP 3, a few years ago (followed by a newer model, the MSP 3A) that would be great for your needs (I own the MSP 3): https://europe.yamaha.com/en/products/proaudio/speakers/msp3/index.html https://europe.yamaha.com/en/products/proaudio/speakers/msp3a/index.html I use the MSP 3 (65 - 22000 Hz) in connection with a small Japanese subwoofer, the Fostex PM-SUBmini 2 (enhances the frequency range in the lower bass section down to 40 Hz and is only turned up just a little with the lowest crossover setting - so, it's really just a very subtl deep bass support for the MSP 3 to have a good impression of a kick drum or the bass right between your feet). I've placed them on the desk in my living room, which is about 6 meters (length) * 4 meters (width) * 2,50 meters (height) in size. I don't use any kind of professional acoustic treatment in this room because I really like the cozy, bright and sunlit Mediterranean atmosphere of my living room. There is only more or less unintentional acoustic treatment like wallpaper on the walls and the ceiling, two thick carpets filling almost the whole floor, a bigger couch and a wall unit on the sides, a standing model of a punching bag in the back corner and some smaller wooden furniture - that's all. And because I got problems with bigger (and even slightly bass-boosted) 5-inch studio monitors like the Adam T5V flooding my room with nasty bass reflections and making it impossible for me to mix my tracks accurately or even enjoy listening to music, I decided to look for a smaller version of studio monitors. After this, I got the Presonus Eris E3.5 as kinda useful entry-level reference studio monitor speakers (where I really enjoyed listening to music on a higher quality level without annoying room reflections - though, for accurate mixing they are not optimal because they sound a bit overpolished, so the mixings often sound too good too quickly before they are actually finished). A few years later, after already owning a professional studio headphone solution, I also wanted to get professional studio monitors in a similar size like the Presonus Eris E3.5. And after researching for a long time and getting a nice tip from an employee of a music store, I got more and more into the Yamaha MSP series, especially the smaller MSP 3 model. After ordering a few MSP 3s for a friend, I didn't like them at first because my mixes with them sounded kind of fuzzy and less clean. But the amazing audio resolution of these studio monitors was some of the best (along with the Neumann studio monitors) I've ever experienced with any type of speaker. Right after borrowing those studio monitors from that friend and doing a first mix on them, I was impressed how much better the track sounded later on all the studio monitors in the music store and all the other sound systems - even though the MSP 3 still showed me some weaknesses of that mix, the track sounded really fantastic and clean on the other studio monitors compared to my earlier mixes. And then I kinda fell in love with the MSP 3 and bought them for myself a few years ago. Since then, I've never wanted other studio monitors. ... And the good thing is - the MSP 3 (as well as the newer model MSP 3A) are pretty close to your budget. A pair of them costs around 400 to 500 bucks. And of course, with the MSP 3 or MSP 3A, you don't have to worry too much about the acoustic treatment of your room. The design of these speakers is really nice, and the fairly low wattage of about 20 to 30 W per speaker makes them a really energy-efficient and sustainable professional studio and sound engineering tool these days. If you can't find a dealer near you for the still available Yamaha MSP 3A, maybe try the Thomann online store for professional audio equipment: https://www.thomann.de/gb/yamaha_msp3_a.htm If you want to get an idea of the sound and audio resolution of the Yamaha MSP series, put on some professional studio headphones and check out the links below (there are also some frequency response measurements of the MSP studio monitors in some videos): MSP 3 -------- MSP 3 vs MSP 3A ----------------------- MSP 5 -------- MSP 7 -------- MSP 7 vs Tannoy Reveal Active MK1 vs Presonus Eris E8 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I hope I could help you or someone else with my information and experience about studio monitors. ))