Episode 40 - Mixing Terms Pt. 1
Show Notes
Live with Matt Rad - Episode 40
Feb 16, 2021
w/ Jon Castelli - Week 37
Show notes by: Bradley Will
Music Terminology
For all music creators, a big component of our jobs are to translate the descriptions that we get from our collaborators.
Matt has a theory that music is extra hard to talk about because all of our words to describe it are related to non-hearing senses: bright, heavy, rich, warm, punch, etc.
Jon:
Keep in mind. Everything we say moving forward today is subjective.
With that in mind, the reason Jon has agreed to discuss this topic is in the hope that we can create a consensus on what they may mean.
Warmth
Matt:
Usually. A positive descriptor.
Density and evenness
A lack of things that are harsh or hurt your ear
Harmonic saturation can add density to the sound.
Jon:
Jon likes “not harsh sound” all the time.
Warmth is coziness. You’re wrapped in a blanket. You can relax in the sound.
Jon wants it to be easier to hear.
Have enough density in the low-mids. That cello register.
Jon thinks it’s almost a necessity for most music to be “warm” to stand the test of time.
Warmth is very often the foundation of sounds.
Less transient “pokey” things happening in the sound.
Should be listenable for long periods of time.
Matt:
A way to make cymbals feel warm on a track is to give them a slower attack. Have them fade in. The lack of transient gives a different feel.
Warmth may be inverse to harshness.
Harsh
Jon:
Makes your ear hairs stand up and protect you from damage/threats.
This effect should be used minimally.
NIN records may require harshness in moments, but it’s controlled harshness.
Punchy
Matt:
Thinks of low-end and speed.
The difference between a 20” speaker and an 8” cabinet.
Kick drums.
Something that hits immediately.
Transients in the low-end.
Jon:
Punchiness in performance or word choice.
Is a lyric punchy?
Is a performance part standing out
Michael Jackson’s vocal performances are very punchy. Very rhythmic and percussive.
It’s often used to describe low end.
The only way to get maximum punch is to have everything in that frequency range in phase.
If your monitoring is awful then you may not even be able to hear punch.
Jon claims that Spotify/Apple soften transients and make the record sound cheap, compared to Tidal.
The relationship of the power amp to the drivers is super important.
Jon can still hear punch at super low levels.
Lots of monitors have extended low-end but lack punch.
NS10’s are only punch.
Muddy/Murky
Jon:
Mystery could be a synonym. That’s a Jeff Bhasker term.
The positive side of muddy in the low-mids is the mystery that it brings. It’s intentional muddiness.
That’s low-mid. Gook. Slow, swampy.
Lack of clarity.
Could be too much sub or not enough HPF cleaning up low-end.
It can add a layer of uncertainty and tension. Without the clarity you’re not sure where you’re heading
It’s “mistake frequencies”. Overlap.
Matt:
Conflicting low-mid frequencies.
Tends to be more of a negative connotation, where warm and punchy are generally positive adjectives.
Low-mid and lack of definition.
Presence
Matt:
Forwardness.
Maybe clarity. But clarity encompasses more qualities.
Jon:
Between 2k and 6k. Once you go higher you’re in sibilant area.
Presence may be more of a shelf, lifting everything up.
Brightness
Matt:
Presence is more of the quality that you feel and brightness is more of a measured frequency response.
Jon:
Brightness makes you react. Air doesn’t do that. Air doesn’t make you react.
A snare is bright. Not airy. The snare verb may be airy, though.
He tries to make his records have “competitive brightness” so that they match well against other contemporary releases.
To warm up something that’s harsh you want to control or reduce upper mid-range frequencies or brightness.
Matt:
Matt tried to add air to everything, but you don’t get the airy feeling that way. Air surrounds a sound.
Taking away brightness will quickly make sounds feels warmer.
Harshness is too much brightness. It’s when something is so bright that it is jarring.
———
Jon hates getting mix notes that specify exact frequencies. (Turn up 2k, less 3k, etc)
This is like line reading for mixers.
Jon prefers to get the subjective descriptions from clients.
Bouncy
Matt:
Is a particular term about how a beat feels. It has that bouncy.
It’s just the rhythm being right.
It’s a note you get a lot.
It’s not sonic, it’s rhythmic.
Timbaland has the bounce.
Jon:
It’s less straightforward than the other terms.
It’s about the velocity and the swing.
A bounce is looser. It’s a looseness. It’s not so tight.
A “Musical” EQ
Jon:
Additive EQ’s usually. The shape of the Q changes as the gain is boosted higher (variable Q).
A wider Q is generally considered to be more musical.
The mid-cut on his VT-5 gets narrower as you cut more. Jon has it set to a broad cut at 400Hz.
Proportional EQ.
Matt:
The opposite of a clean EQ.
Musically transparent.
Transparent
Nothing is added.
The minimum amount it is supposed to do without adding things.
No phase shift, no extra distortion. The minimal amount of extra stuff added to the sound.
Jon:
Tubes = Transparent
Crispy
Jon:
Bark on charred steak or vegetable.
It’s got a little bit of bite to it.
A snare drum w/ a distorted front-end on it that tickles your ear drum
Deep-friend
Matt:
More than transient, but less than brightness.
Longer transients
A consistent brightness of transients.
Like Pharrell beats. Saturated top-end.
