Bitter--the twisted mix

[Monk]

Gut reaction. This mix does nothing for me.

If I was using earbuds, nothing would excite me. You are lucky that you can get any sense of excitement from them.

I must admit, I think the earbud statement is a decoy. It helps make excuses for one thing, and people are more likely to have compassion.

Personally I avoid earbuds due to the colossal sound pressure they create in the ear canal which leads to irreparable hearing damage – NIHL. Headphones aren’t much better. They also make it impossible to judge loudness and hence make compression parameter selection a crapshoot, resulting in over compression, as well as presenting issues with equalisation.

Your mix 03b, which I took at random, has excessive spectral content in the sub 125Hz region which spills into the lower-mid range. Not only does it contribute to a muddy and somewhat fatiguing delivery, but it’s fooling you into thinking the trebles are warmer than they really are. It also makes speakers clip a lot sooner for a given loudness due to excessive energy. But I can make out the acoustic guitar popping out momentarily right up at 16kHz, which is pretty ugly, why not you too?

I think you are fooling yourself; louder appears better, even if it isn’t [better]. It’s a psychoacoustic trap someone with experience would be aware of.

It is certainly much louder than mine (by 4LU’s PL), as well as containing significant non-linear artifacts which adds to the impression of loudness. Mine is more dynamic, and by definition, dynamic is more exciting, having a wider loudness range than yours as well as a higher momentary loudness value. Now that’s not me expressing subjective opinion, but an emotionally detached, unbiased, objective one.

If we factor in your own personal biases, such as taste and partiality which you were clearly expressing, we can understand the reasons behind the haughty demur. The bottom line is that I am hugely impartial, and you are hugely not

I can’t help wondering though, reading between the lines, if there’s some mix envy creeping in as well as some pent up frustrations

See you on the circuit.