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Post Processing

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boojum

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Hi - A board I sometimes post torrents to of legally recorded local bands has a "no tampering" policy. What this means is that you cannot in any way change the sound of what you have recorded. Now reading the DPA company's manuals and papers reveals that DPA considers it neccessary to adjust cardioid mic sounds to account for a bass deficiency. And sometimes I record in a room where the sound is way too bright and could use some attenuation.

So, I was wondering what you folks think about this. Please let me know. I sure do not see anything wrong in post-processing adjustment. I would not use compression.

Thanks.

L8R B)

Edited by boojum
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It depends on what happens to the recordings you have altered.

If it's just for your own amusement, they have no right, legal or otherwise, to impede your pursuit of happiness.Suppose you have a quirky stereo or weird room acoustics--you don't have the right to EQ? Phooey on that.

If you were to be sharing the recordings, perhaps the musicians are worried about being misrepresented by a highly tweaked version. But if post-processing improves the sound--and with some of the live recordings I've heard, there's no way to go but up--then as far as I'm concerned, they've got no beef. You could always say--re-EQ'ed by Boojum to improve weak bass, or whatever.

I can understand filmmakers not wanting their movies to be edited without their consent. Films work as a whole. But musicians ought to understand that we're living in the era of the remix, the sample and the tweak, when no version is final--not even a Beatles studio album. Artists can be control freaks, but that doesn't mean they should always have control. They might learn a little something from what other people do with their work.

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I Absolutely agree with 440 , I almost always have to tweak something to get it to sound the way I want it to , (thereby bypassing the EQ settings on my MD and saving battery life) I just dont like having to adjust EQ for every different thing I play , stick it in and hit play ....period.

If it is for sale , then that is the Bands business, their sound( whether it sux or not )

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It sounds like the board you're posting to is in CYA mode to the max. Maybe they have reason to worry. Maybe they've had problems before. I believe I would post my stuff somewhere else and post links to it on the board. They might be ok with that since they wouldn't be hosting it. I keep my own web page which I basically just use to post junk so others can have access to it. It doesn't cost that much to do and eventually you might decide to use the board for something more constructive. I actually plan on setting up my board to promote my business eventually but it's really not important to me at this point to do that. So I just pay a few bucks a month essentially so I can put up what I want without having to answer to anyone. I don't post copyrighted stuff of course. People who do that get caught anyway but I have no desire to do it. I'm basically posting my own recordings.

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It is difficult to draw the line between compensating for the shortcomings of the recording equipment / room acoustics and optimizing for your own playback equipment and listening tastes. What may sound good to you may not sound good to others and vice versa.

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It is difficult to draw the line between compensating for the shortcomings of the recording equipment / room acoustics and optimizing for your own playback equipment and listening tastes. What may sound good to you may not sound good to others and vice versa.

GM - Yes, I am aware of this as part of the ethical dilemma. That is why I propose to do as little as possible. I do not want to wind up with something that sounds so much like what is being released today as "remastered" primo albums. Usually pumped up and compressed and maxed out in sound. I believe in the "straight wire with gain" school of amplifiers and hew to the old Mercury "Living Presence" method of recording: two mics strategically placed above the orchestra. And very little post-processing. The old Mercury albums (LP's) were fabulous for their time.

I am pretty much finding that the "modify it" group says they are my recordings and I can do what I want. I am not going to lay a Sonic Maximizer on them to hot them up. But boosting bass in a weak bass situation or dropping it in a boomy situation is not a bad idea. I would append in the recording chain just what the settings are that I used in Audacity. If I use Audacity everyoone will have equal (free) access to returning the recording to its original state, should they desire to do that.

Does this make sense to you MD gurus and others???? B)

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