Simply random stuff

[barfle]

Just got done with dealing Mrs. Surround yelling at me from the bottom of the stairs: "Come down here and show me how to play my CD!"

She's got four remotes in her hands. Oh, the imagery!

Our living room system has a TV, cable box, DVD player, and a soundbar. Too complex for bar, so fle got a universal remote to simplify it. Still too complex, so she listens and watches almost everything on her ipad mini, unless I’m running the theater system.

 

[mandrix]

I moved all the audio out of the living room just before my wife retired. Ditched the satellite, bought a bigger tv and plugged in the ethernet cable and firestick, told my wife since she's the big TV watcher, not me, figure it out.
She has.
I can't find a darn thing on it.
lol.

 

[mandrix]

On artbook releases. Does anyone else have problems removing/replacing the discs? Or am I just dumber than a box of rocks?
That darn rubbery stuff that retains the disc in the center. I don't like it.

 

[madscot]

I have 7 remotes in the living room, my better half knows how to use at least 4 of them, she can listen to music from her phone on bluetooth to the avr, she never plays physical music even though she enjoys a lot of my surround discs

 

[madscot]

On artbook releases. Does anyone else have problems removing/replacing the discs? Or am I just dumber than a box of rocks?
That darn rubbery stuff that retains the disc in the center. I don't like it.

Yes, the rubber is a hassle, I have to press really hard on it to get the disc out, much prefer the hard plastic middles

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

While fooling around, I accidently discovered the secret to transparent loudness...in both stereo and 5.1.
I'm now easily hitting -5 LUFS in both, without heavy distortion or pumping...
...that being said, I will NEVER mix anything in 5.1 that loud. But it's nice to know what CAN be done to ruin a song. Stereo is a different story because of streaming service distribution and what a client wants...not that I'm getting any clients anyway!

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

A beautiful waveform view for reference. This was a live with only 8 tracks to work with! Lower-end equipment too, I was challenging myself.

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

And here's the stereo for comparison...

 

[Clement]

My first clean game (strike or spare in every frame) and my new high score!

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

I forgot to gate and phase correct...I now hit a (mostly) transparent 5.1 mix at -3 LUFS! It's as loud as some of the flaming lips mixes, but without most of the distortion...

 

[mandrix]

I forgot to gate and phase correct...I now hit a (mostly) transparent 5.1 mix at -3 LUFS! It's as loud as some of the flaming lips mixes, but without most of the distortion...

I usually shoot for -14 LUFS in my mch AI stem mixes. A little loud maybe. Maybe not.

 

[mandrix]

Yes, the rubber is a hassle, I have to press really hard on it to get the disc out, much prefer the hard plastic middles

After the hassle of getting the discs out, putting them back in and having them retained is a royal pita. For me, at least. I have to sort of pull the rubber up and spread it over the edge of the disc. Don't know if it's the right way, but it's my way for now at least.
Nothing like picking up an artbook and having a disc go sailing to the floor. lol.

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

I usually shoot for -14 LUFS in my mch AI stem mixes. A little loud maybe. Maybe not.

I usually shoot for -18 to -22 on my multichannel mixes! And -18 on stereo...
Although these days I've taken up the philosophy of "mix whatever but normalize" so it ends up being as loud as it can without any mastering compression. Sometimes that will mean -12 or -14 LUFS. sometimes that will mean -24 LUFS like Album #3.

 

[mandrix]

Compression isn't a bad thing if used carefully. I use limiters often. Free ones, of course.
Usually the Sonic Anomaly Unlimited stere/mch limiters.

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

Compression isn't a bad thing if used carefully. I use limiters often. Free ones, of course.

Well, to me, it's either no compression, or artistic compression (which usually means blowing the sound out). I think, with modern DACs and digital headroom, it's bad to compress a dynamic mix to bring up the level slightly when you can leave it uncompressed. I'm actually guilty of this with The Golden Bonana, I meant to normalize to it -18 LUFS but accidently normalized it to -18 RMS, which is -14 LUFS. I'll fix it one day...but I didn't know what I was doing then let's be honest.

 

[mandrix]

Well, to me, it's either no compression, or artistic compression (which usually means blowing the sound out). I think, with modern DACs and digital headroom, it's bad to compress a dynamic mix to bring up the level slightly when you can leave it uncompressed.

Well when I'm working with stereo AI stems, sometimes the original stereo is all over the place, since I often mix songs from different albums. I've sourced some from SACD, and an America album is so soft it's unreal.

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

Well when I'm working with stereo AI stems, sometimes the original stereo is all over the place, since I often mix songs from different albums. I've sourced some from SACD, and an America album is so soft it's unreal.

I have never tried demixing...I've only worked with real multitracks I have the access/rights to. How do AI stems compare to true multis in regards to mixing?

 

[mandrix]

I have never tried demixing...I've only worked with real multitracks I have the access/rights to. How do AI stems compare to true multis in regards to mixing?

I've been "upmixing" since about 2006 with various methods over the years. Since my goal was stereo > surround, I never had much interest in doing what everyone else was doing...although back then I'm guessing few would have access to multitrack unless it was derived from commercial work. Now stems are all over the net. Don't know where the come from and don't care. Just not my bag. Plenty of people doing that.

There are many paid tools now for upmixing. The only one I've ever used is a RipX trial. But the ones I normally use are sourced from GitHub or were made for Plogue by people I know. Not one much for spectral editing, although it can give good results with patience.

I use Plogue and Audition for mixing.

But to answer your question more directly, e.g. working with AI stems requires more work and creativity. I'm sure I'm not the best but I get by. Working with true multitrack just seems a whole 'nother thing as you got what you got, although I can see a lot of overlap, I would think it easier in the sense you have all you need to start mixing with. With upmixing methods, forgetting Penteo and such that basically do it all for you, I stick to the frugal side.

In a nutshell, really. That's my very quick take.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

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[Bill B]

1, 2, 3

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