Topic: AUD vs. SBD vs. Matrix

[brad.bartels]

If anyone has the time / inclination to give a listen to and comparison / critique of an audience, soundboard and matrix of a song from a show I recently recorded, I would welcome any feedback. First matrix I've done (thanks to Morst for the step by step instructions he posted some time ago for doing this in Audacity). This is from a recording of a local Kansas City band in a small club / bar in KC. Audience source was CMR/MK4 -> Tinybox -> M-10 right behind the SBD, probably ~10' up (any higher would have gotten me too close to an AC duct that was overhead). Soundboard source, just SBD -> Olympus LS-10. Both sources recorded @ 24-bit / 48 kHz. Editing for matrix done the same, but all three sources output @ 16-bit / 44.1 kHz. The sample songs are the flacs @ 16-bit / 44 kHz.

Promised a copy of the show to the band, curious what folks think of the three sources and which (or all?) you would send to the band. Also curious to see if anyone hears anything odd in the matrix that would indicate any issues (like the 2 sources not completely aligned, etc. - that seems like the toughest part of doing the matrix). Anyway, I would welcome any feedback / comparisons / critiques, especially on the matrix vs. stand-alone sources. No eq on any of them, they're just all normalized.

Aud:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/67774604/ke120831_audmk4_t-06.flac

SBD:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/67774604/ke120831_sbd_t-06.flac

Matrix:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/67774604/ke120831_matrix_t-06.flac

[page]

I didn't spent much time on the phase alignment of the mix, so your mix did better there. When checking, look between 3khz and 11khz. If it sounds sort of crunchy, then compare the sources individually. A misalignment may make it worse, or you may just be hearing something wrong in one of the sources.

What I did differently was:

- Shelve about 3db out of the sub 400hz region on the aud (cause the sbd has bass and it's cleaner).
- Boost 2db in the sbd between 600hz and 1500hz (to try and bring out the pop of the drum).
- Drop 2db off of the aud in general. (I like a slightly drier mix is all).

I debated doing a LPF above 4khz and then boosting the same region in the aud to resolve any phase alignment issues there but didn't bother.

A lot of this is nitpicking while I was waiting for laundry to finish. I could take yours and shelve some of the bass out of it and be happy.

[brad.bartels]

I didn't spent much time on the phase alignment of the mix, so your mix did better there. When checking, look between 3khz and 11khz. If it sounds sort of crunchy, then compare the sources individually. A misalignment may make it worse, or you may just be hearing something wrong in one of the sources.

What I did differently was:

- Shelve about 3db out of the sub 400hz region on the aud (cause the sbd has bass and it's cleaner).
- Boost 2db in the sbd between 600hz and 1500hz (to try and bring out the pop of the drum).
- Drop 2db off of the aud in general. (I like a slightly drier mix is all).

I debated doing a LPF above 4khz and then boosting the same region in the aud to resolve any phase alignment issues there but didn't bother.

A lot of this is nitpicking while I was waiting for laundry to finish. I could take yours and shelve some of the bass out of it and be happy.

Thanks page - good suggestions. I didn't try eq'ing either source before mixing them down. Definitely, if I just had the aud, I would take some bass out of it. And probably try to boost the mids for the vocals and guitars. But the SBD brings out the vocals pretty good I thought. I'll try your suggestions and see what I get. Some of the other songs in the set have even more bass in the aud mix, so I might get even a little bit more agressive on the bass in the aud source. Appreciate the feedback.

[page]

play with the bass crossover point to start the reduction, I didn't spent much time on it so it could be adjusted higher or lower. The schoeps bass has a wonderful texture on that track, but the bass on the sbd is tighter and likely will lend to a better artist perception.