Disqus - Latest Comments for ianshepherd

Re: BBC Sound Problems Continue - Why?

ianshepherd — Thu, 09 Jun 2016 08:04:58 -0000

I looked into some examples of this a couple of years ago, and I think EQ is also a factor. The dialogue is naturalistic and ambient - and in my experience that means a little dull and boomy. The roomy sound in particular I think doubles up with the crap sound of most TV sets, and when that gets played into a typical square living room with it's own resonances, you have a problem.

I tried some very subtle presence lifts to get a little extra clarity out of the examples I tried, and it really helped.

So in that respect, I do think this problem could be at least reduced at the mix stage.

Re: 5 Production Secrets of The Beatles

ianshepherd — Tue, 09 Sep 2014 09:34:33 -0000

Great post - for anyone who liked these ideas, there's a *great* documentary about the making of Sgt. Pepper, I posted it here:

http://productionadvice.co....

Enjoy !

Re: SoundWorks Collection

ianshepherd — Tue, 01 Jul 2014 06:39:18 -0000

Thanks for reposting my content, I'm flattered you like it.

I don't remember you asking permission, I don't usually allow complete reposts - but you've added a link so I guess that's OK.

Please add a "canonical" tag to your "Source" link as well as the YouTube link, so I have full credit for my content - and for any other of my posts you choose to reblog, please.

For future reference, I think quoting short extracts and adding value with your own comments or experience is better than just copying and pasting the whole thing.

Re: The Loudness Wars Behind Nine Inch Nails' New Album

ianshepherd — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 09:46:49 -0000

An even bigger shame is that the so-called "audiophile" version *isn't* very much more dynamic...

http://productionadvice.co....

Re: Nine Inch Nails: 'Hesitation Marks' – Album Review

ianshepherd — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 09:41:14 -0000

Hm. I wouldn't say the "audiophile" version has *much* wider dynamics...

http://productionadvice.co....

Re: Nine Inch Nails offering "Loud" and "Audiophile" versions of new album

ianshepherd — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 09:39:59 -0000

Unfortunately it's only a *little bit* audiophile...

http://productionadvice.co....

Re: Home Mastering: How to Convert Sample Rate

ianshepherd — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 15:06:12 -0000

Personally I would do the same thing when converting for production too. But Logic's conversion is pretty good, so I wouldn't agonise too much :-)

Re: Home Mastering: How to Convert Sample Rate

ianshepherd — Thu, 15 Aug 2013 20:23:36 -0000

Yup, I agree with Tapio. If this bothers you, I would use a different converter. In practise, you are unlikely to hear major problems - but as a mastering engineer I can't go with that :-)

Re: Op Ed: What Do “Mastered for iTunes” and “Sound Check” Do To Music Listening?

ianshepherd — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:43:19 -0000

In a word - yes !

I posted an article back in 2009 that predicted that volume normalisation (Sound Check, Replaygain, Spotify etc) would eventually meant he end of the loudness war:

http://recordproduction.com...

And today this is even more true. Last year, the ITU agreed international standard methods of measuring loudness, and recommended guidelines for broadcast - these are being adopted and even becoming law already. So soon, you'll see the effects of this everywhere.

I just posted a video demonstrating how it works, and some metering plugins to help you measure the effect on your own music, here:

http://productionadvice.co....

I don't like the effect of this within an album, personally - I think sound check may be updated to solve this issue, and I hope Spotify will follow suit - and, there are questions about whether Simon and Garfunkel should be heard a the same average level as Meshuggah. But in fact, FM compression means this is how we've been hearing things for years, so I doubt there will be too many complaints.

Here's to the end of the loudness war !

Ian

Re: Underworld – Jumbo

ianshepherd — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:02:37 -0000

Yes yes yes ! This is THE Underworld track from Beaucoup Fish. One of my favourite festival moments ever was Glastonbury 2000, where in the break with all the lovely chords at 1'55" everything turned yellow...

Another was at a festival in Brighton, during Rowla (a track I never understood until I heard it in a tent with 3000 other people, all of whom went mental at exactly the same moment, because Rick Smith twisted the knob on a resonant filter *just so*...

Re: Yesterday My Brain Popped

ianshepherd — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 07:35:54 -0000

That's how it reads though...

So are you saying, rather than doing the things on your list, you are now choosing to do what you really want to ? And, if some futile internet dribbling takes place along the way, so be it but let's keep it to a minimum ?

[Edits reply to edited reply :-D]

OK - I agree we're tiny fish. I'm comfortable with that, provided we're happy in what we do. The challenge of course is to make enough money to be able to carry on doing it.

Do you read Seth Godin's blog ?

Re: Yesterday My Brain Popped

ianshepherd — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 07:15:24 -0000

Hm. As a fellow internet addict I applaud your sentiments, but I can't help wondering if you're being a little black and white about things ?

You've made enough money through the items in your list to be able to pursue your musical theatre idea for the next few months - would that have happened without also participating in the "constant draining dribble of futile hope" ? Was/is it ALL that pointless ?

As someone who has a great deal of interest invested in the odd website, and in all the supposed benefits of the futile hope-draining possibilities, I'm curious !

Re: Top of this City

ianshepherd — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 06:30:16 -0000

That's what I love about what @skinnermike, @imogenheap and others are doing - showing us how their music happens, *as* it happens.

Great post Dean, and a top tune !

Re: Twitterrific+Comes+Roaring+Back+Into+The+iPhone+Twitter+App%26nbsp%3BWars

ianshepherd — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:27:37 -0000

Twitterrific was my first iPhone Twitter client - I switched to Tweetie for the extra features and thought I preferred Twitterrific's interface. Now, T2 doesn't have any features to tempt me away and feels unnecessarily flashy compared to Tweetie...

Re: Angel

ianshepherd — Tue, 05 May 2009 08:36:21 -0000

Gotcha ! Took a couple of hours for my subconscious to process, trawling through all those Golden Years before the right tune popped into my head. Nicely done, sir !

Re: In general relativity, bodies always follow... - Waiting for the Moon

ianshepherd — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:44:48 -0000

It's confusing stuff :-)

Re: Good Advice from a Professional Copywriter - Waiting for the Moon

ianshepherd — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 18:27:43 -0000

Do you read CopyBlogger ?

Re: In general relativity, bodies always follow... - Waiting for the Moon

ianshepherd — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 18:26:24 -0000

But the 4th dimension is only time, not somewhere you can live. There are no higher beings in spacetime, just us. This almost certainly won't help.

Re: In general relativity, bodies always follow... - Waiting for the Moon

ianshepherd — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 08:24:16 -0000

Why ? Do you want a bendy 4th dimension path ?

Re: Rise and Shine Album Release

ianshepherd — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 08:23:19 -0000

Remixes, great idea - how about making a song or two available for anyone who fancies a go, maybe even a competition where the best one is a bonus track a la Imogen Heap ? http://twurl.nl/2788vc

Re: Retweets Welcome

ianshepherd — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 09:30:54 -0000

I think he also misses some other points:

- Tweets get indexed by Google, so they *are* permanent, arguably in perhaps the most important way.

- Many people follow only a small (<100) number of accounts, and read ALL the tweets in their stream. So they will read a tweet even if they're offline most of the day.

- If someone who follows a large number of people retweets, it means they've selected your content from a very large pool. Given the volume of links per day, someone taking the time to select your material IS a complement.

So I disagree with him too :-)

Re: Introducing Faryl and ‘The Fearless Blogger’

ianshepherd — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 06:38:19 -0000

Great stuff, Faryl is one of my favourite twitter friends - highly recommended !

Ian

Re: 2009 Grammy Award Production Winners

ianshepherd — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 04:38:45 -0000

Does Rick Rubin Deserve the "Producer Of The Year" Grammy Award ?

(Blog post, interested to hear people's comments)

Re: Someone said that tweets "fade away" eventually - is this true ? #lazytweet

ianshepherd — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 06:25:40 -0000

Thanks, I'll give it a shot

Re: Someone said that tweets "fade away" eventually - is this true ? #lazytweet

ianshepherd — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:00:04 -0000

Thanks for that - any guides to using tumblr or soup.io in the way you describe ? Mainly I'd like to just archive the links