nothing but you.

 

choco install reaper is much easier to comprehend imho..

 

Possible, but also hypothetical when we consider that the engineer in question is dealing with the medium of music, with an end goal of being musical with this music. So he/she may never have heard the term, but quite rightly attributes the term correctly, as it relates to our medium. Music.

Airy is a specific frequency range. Presence is a specific frequency range. Squashed is over compressed. Cold would probably mean the opposite to warmth. Boomy, when working PA anyway, is always a low end problem. Sloppy is playing loose to the click.
What are u on about?

 

Last edited: Jul 25, 2020

What is "musical" in music and what is not? how do you measure it? Who decides when a song is "squashed" or just well compressed? Where's the boundary? In a song, the more you add warmth, the cooler it is? If an instrument has too much "presence", why hasn't anyone invented an "Absence generator" plugin yet? Saying that a song is too “cold“ mean there is a lack of boobies in the singer?

I'm always so filled with doubts and questions, do you want to generate even more mess in my head with these buzzwords?

 

Wtf?

Not possible.
Over the last 30 years I've worked in many studios. We all use these words.
But we know what they mean.

 

That composition should go to the sink and bring back a towel or something to clean up that input, its only right.

 

Sorry to say but Mozart didn't use plugins and he was musical

 

He wasn't musical, he was the embodiment of music itself. However, historians have lately realized that he did use an early incarnation of FL Studio to mock up his orchestrations using the piano roll and General Midi instruments. Sorry to burst your bubble.
http://www.kunstderfuge.com/-/midi.asp?file=mozart/sinfonia_38_504_1_hisamori.mid

 

Q: "What makes a plugin musical?"
A:

 

I am 'the great compostition'.
My girlfriend, the 'plugin', becomes musical when I ...

 

GIGO, look up the acronym.

Actually just look at this https://techterms.com/definition/gigo

 

in compression musical would describe how the action handles the overall groove - a compressor like 1176 from experience wouldn't be what I can describe as musical, i'd call it jerky. it's fun to experiment on the the bus like this. i think this is why the pros have many compressors cause they all groove differently and all songs groove differently

 

Musical is a musician. Neither a compressor, nor an equalizer, nor any plugin is musical. With that said, the always subjective idea of musical when referring to plugins, as in hardware, would be that it does have "tone", and therefore, it leaves its signature sound on the audio processed.

 

... are absolutely common phrases when especially pure musicians, listeners and customers are talking about sound. I'd never expect one of these to tell me that they're missing a bell EQ at 8,4kHz with narrow Q for +3,6dB.

These.

Rather the opposite. When I've the impression (or someone tells me) a sound is boomy, I know where to look.

 

If it is what's missing why not?
There's nothing technical behind those phrases at all. It is the trying to search for expressionistic terms to clarify technical aspects they can not describe because they do not know how to achieve them (yet).
I also can say it sounds shitty. It's exactly the same result afterwards. Nothing technical or specifically useful.
And somewhere in a post was the statement "it's a specific frequency range". Why not call it by the name immediately? The answer is above.

"Oh this plugin sounds musical." Why doesn't it sound warm? What's better? If it sounds warm or airy or musical? If I collect them all do I have created the perfect plugin?

I know those terms are domesticated but they do not describe the reality.
They rather confuse because I still do not know if I need to cut the lows or raise the highs or add compression.

 

Because they don't need to know the specific parameters or values. As a mixing or mastering engineer you should know.

Never has helped anyone, that's for sure.

And if they just can't, do you refuse to make adjustments? Probably not, right?

If someone says the song/sound sounds dull it's your job as a mixing/mastering engineer to find out why and how to fix it (low shelf, high shelf, tilt EQ, ...).

Honestly, I don't understand why this should be a problem. If your car's motor makes unusual noises do go to a mechanic and tell him 'I think the bearing of the fourth cylinder has a scratch of 0,02x0,6mm close to the front edge in 63°angle, you need to [insert appropriate treatment - which I don't know]', or do you tell him that you're hearing strange noise from the motor?

 

Correct.
But you're talking about an error here.
The other terms are subjective.

And this is the problem of subjectiveness.
Because this only is possible if we are talking about the exact same thing.
Of course it depends if we're talking about an amateur or an competent.
But an amateur can not think of a difference between "Airy" or "bright".
He probably rather asks what airy or warm means.

So what would we do if he just says "It somehow lacks of highs but I can't get it right"?
The output of your tweaking would be basically the same as if he would use some "shiny" words because you're not deaf as well and your handling is very restricted already.

To simplify it. Calling it "it sounds like there are are too many highs" is very clear. But to tell someone "it has to sound warmer" could be basically anything.

 

Last edited: Jul 25, 2020

Whatever the Snake Oil guy says.

 

Last edited: Jul 25, 2020

Yes, he is always right. He is our lord and saviour.