Which one of the following is:
1. DAW summing no analog
2. Digital summing, stereo mix reamped to API pair makeup gain
3. Summing mixer, transformer coupled outputs, custom API makeup gain
4. Summing mixer, capacitor coupled outputs, custom API makeup gain.

A


B


C


D

 

Last edited: Jun 25, 2020

A is 1.
B is 3.
C is 4.
D is 2.

 

Do you have any reasons ?

 

nice sound!

 

Well.. some of the recordings was a bit warmer sounding with a bit more depth, and some of them had less pleasant sound, but of course, I could be totally wrong.

 

I will give

Can you ?

Lets see what the others says , (Next Thread) will pay 50% of a Soothe 2 License to the Winner

 

I couldn't begin to guess. All I know is that B and D sound almost identical to me but I might prefer D by a slight margin. A sounds a bit fuller (or louder) and C sounds the best. Or loudest. I can't tell. So, let's say B is 1, and after that, throw a dart.

 

How long have you been mixing and working with music ?

 

A long time but I was listening on $40 ear buds Really, all I'm saying is I know which ones I like but I'm unwilling to commit to which is which.

 

To my ears - or my imagination - when I go through the 4 different examples at the same time frame, mainly the bending
Sonic Youth type stuff around :50 in, and then the soon after that where the toms hit briefly, I feel that A sounds best.
Clearer, more depth, more boom, more definition and just all around more pleasing to the ear. I'm into A. B to my ears - or again, imagination - sounds the worst. More muffled and least amount of life. Sort of indifferent to C and D. That being the case for me, I would say that B is digital summing no analog, and would hesitate to try to guess anything else. Not a clue which the transformer, which the capacitor. What will be the most interesting, heh, and humbling, is if it turns out that B is all analoged up and A is all digital. I do feel like there's got to be some API on A.
At any rate and either way this will be interesting.

 

Last edited: Jun 25, 2020

1.A
2.C
3 D
4.B

 

Why did you choose this source material? I don't "like" any of them.

 

I just noticed someone else guessed the same also so I'll explain why I chose.

1. Sounded all digital the most
2. Sounded like clean API signature sound
3. The transformer added a warmer texture
4. Capacitor coupled stopped lower frequencies more resulting in clearer high frequencies

 

1. Sounded like crap
2. Sounded like crap
3. Sounded like crap
4. Sounded like crap

 

to me, they all sound the same. nothing sticked out as "better" than any of the other ones.

all equally forgetable sorry.

 

1 A
3 C
1 A
2 B

 

This is exactly what I thought. I personally preferred C version. D is similar but less bassy. A sounded digital, but it doesn't sound bad. B sounded better than A.

So in order of preference, for me is simply C,D,B,A since I prefer the sound of older analogue recordings, transformer or solid state, doesn't matter that much to me. They [C and D] sounded more rounded/compact also.

What I always point out is the main difference with true analogue processing is that it makes stereo tracks sound even more stereo due to randomness in the signal phase and frequencies. Additionally it can add or subtract DC offset, depending on if there are transformers, or just solid state/capacitors in the chain. That's why recording stereo stems through a good, but especially high end analogue stereo chain that includes transformers in the path makes everything sound better. It also adds that nice, analogue saturation - especially transformers can take the beating nicely, which adds harmonics and makes everything sound more clear.

That said, your kick and snare sound too smashed. There is no transient on the kick at all, so they sound muffled. Transient on the snare is kinda there when you "look" for it. Interestingly, toms sound pretty good, so are the cymbals and hats. Maybe you overprocessed kick and snare? They could both use some bringing to the front and brightening up, or giving back the transient attack to the kick especially.

Cheers!

disclaimer: I had to listen through my AKGs K240DF instead of my Dynaudios BM12A. They would surely reveal the differences better. I use AKGs very rarely and don't like headphones much, so even though I had them for 20 years, I'm still not so familiar with their sound that much. LOL Closed Sennheisers I have could have been a better choice, maybe...

 

Sorry could not bear more than 15 seconds of it.
What those 15secs revealed to me is that they all sound pretty bad (distorted, no headroom, muffled, louder on right channel).
Impossible to compare.
But thank you anyway.

 

It is old material provided by a friend involve in the processing, I asked him about this stuff and he send it to me.

Maybe I will make another with modern music and give 50% a a shoote 2 license to the winner.

 

I know it sounds a little ... But which one is the digital one and analog one ?
Next time i will make one thread with modern music + Dangerous summing boxes

Give it a try