Topic: Personal opinions on sound descriptions

[achalsey]

While I can make out most of them, I'm curious to know what people actually think when they use them (both emotionally and statistically, i.e. in terms of frequency responses and whatnot).

What, say, would be the difference between a "brighter" mic and a "warmer" mic.  Presence, transparency, up-front sound, airy ect...   

As I'm not familiar with most of these, feel free to post on any of the relatively subjective terms that come to mind.

[twatts (pants are so over-rated...)]

I tend to think of "bright" as "great highs, I wish it had more bass."  I tend to think of "warm" as "great bass, I wish it had more treble".

I also think "bright" is more "precise" in its presentation of the music, while "warm" is a little "fatter". 

These are extreme generalities, though...  I think others can give you a better definition...

Terry

[achalsey]

I also think "bright" is more "precise" in its presentation of the music, while "warm" is a little "fatter". 

These are extreme generalities, though...  I think others can give you a better definition...

Terry

This is half why I asked, more of a character study/psych evaluation.   

Obviously these terms (such as "fatter") mean different things to different people, but most make sense when you think about it.  That being said though, I assumed "bright" and "warm" were describing generally the same quality.  Thanks for input.

[eric.B]

a ts.com favourite which should be analyzed..      spitty!

[Brian Skalinder]

From the link above, an audio glossary posted in Stereophile which I've found useful in the past.

[achalsey]

Wow, thats a serious list, but exactly what I was looking for, thanks.

I can't wait to actually say "damn, I just got a really polite, chocolaty recording, sweet!"   

[page]

I tend to think of "bright" as "great highs, I wish it had more bass."  I tend to think of "warm" as "great bass, I wish it had more treble".

I also think "bright" is more "precise" in its presentation of the music, while "warm" is a little "fatter". 

These are extreme generalities, though...

I'll agree with that. Brighter can be attributed to both transient snap and HF content, where as warm can be looser/slower transient response and more <500hz (especially sub 150hz in my experience). In that aspect it's unfortunate that people seem to use them interchangeably even though there are many examples where both meanings are applicable (correctly).

[jlykos]

"Warm" is the most overused word on this forum, bar none.  It is used to describe anything with transformers, any type of microphone in existence, or any type of gear that somebody may like.  Basically, the only things that are not "warm" are Graham-Patten preamplifiers and A/D converters (the DMIC-20 and the ADC-20).  Grace Design stuff is warm, but only in isolation.  If you compare any Grace Design preamplifiers to another piece of equipment that is not made by Graham-Patten, the Grace stuff is "detailed" while the other equipment is "warm."  If you are describing a Grace preamp, you could say, "man, Trey was really on last night; good thing my V3 has that nice warm sound to bring it out.  That guy over there was running a 722; I prefer a more detailed sound.  That 722 is just too warm for me!"

If you say something is "bright," fine, it has an accentuated high end.  If you say something is "dark," it has an accentuated low end.  If you say something is "warm," then it does not have a piece of equipment made by Graham-Patten in the signal chain.

[page]

If you say something is "bright," fine, it has an accentuated high end.  If you say something is "dark," it has an accentuated low end.  If you say something is "warm," then it does not have a piece of equipment made by Graham-Patten in the signal chain.

  (true)

a ts.com favourite which should be analyzed..      spitty!

  That's going back a ways!

Linky no workie

[run_run_run]

Bright = bad
Warm = Warm

Warm is kind of fuzzy and Bright is painful

[stevetoney]

Well when I use the term 'warm' the only thing to me that it means is when a sound sample tends towards a bassy sound.  To me, warm bass can be dirty or it can be clean...although in a sorta holistic sense, they might both sound similar to each other if...say...you aren't listening through headphones or good speakers.  The cleaner the sound of the bass, in general I find the more detail I hear in a recording and that generally holds true for the mids and highs as well, although of course not always.  Personally, detail is the most important thing to me when I listen to recordings.  Because of all these factors (and just that I like bass), I tend to place my listening and evaluation focus on bass notes as a leading indicator of how well I'm gonna like the overall sound of a sample.   

[stevetoney]

Bright = bad
Warm = Warm

Warm is kind of fuzzy and Bright is painful

 ...to you...and I generally agree, but my wife is just the opposite, she'll take a bright icky sounding recording over a bassy one 100% of the time.

[page]

Bright = bad
Warm = Warm

Warm is kind of fuzzy and Bright is painful

 ...to you...and I generally agree, but my wife is just the opposite, she'll take a bright icky sounding recording over a bassy one 100% of the time.

So your saying that you don't tape for your wife anymore (well, this month at any rate). 

[stevetoney]

Bright = bad
Warm = Warm

Warm is kind of fuzzy and Bright is painful

 ...to you...and I generally agree, but my wife is just the opposite, she'll take a bright icky sounding recording over a bassy one 100% of the time.

So your saying that you don't tape for your wife anymore (well, this month at any rate). 

OMG.  My wife stopped pretending to like the music that I like shortly after we got married (18 years ago) and she stopped coming with out with me to clubs maybe a year after that.  I think the only thing I've taped at her request was our church talent show last year, and unfortunately, our church doesn't have much talent, but the people are very nice anyway.

PS:  She basically stopped coming at my request, because she doesn't 'fake' not having a good time very well...in fact if she's not have a good time she lets me know about it within 5 minutes.  So I basically asked her to stop coming (politely) because she was a freakin' drag to go out and listen to music with.  Since then we've come to terms with the fact that music just isn't one of the things that we do together.

[page]

Bright = bad
Warm = Warm

Warm is kind of fuzzy and Bright is painful

 ...to you...and I generally agree, but my wife is just the opposite, she'll take a bright icky sounding recording over a bassy one 100% of the time.

So your saying that you don't tape for your wife anymore (well, this month at any rate). 

OMG.  My wife stopped pretending to like the music that I like shortly after we got married (18 years ago) and she stopped coming with out with me to clubs maybe a year after that.  I think the only thing I've taped at her request was our church talent show last year, and unfortunately, our church doesn't have much talent, but the people are very nice anyway.

PS:  She basically stopped coming at my request, because she doesn't 'fake' not having a good time very well...in fact if she's not have a good time she lets me know about it within 5 minutes.  So I basically asked her to stop coming (politely) because she was a freakin' drag to go out and listen to music with.  Since then we've come to terms with the fact that music just isn't one of the things that we do together.

Ditto. Mine doesn't fake it well either, so she only shows up to stuff she's interested in. (last night's Grace Potter being one rare appearance --> archive.org).