Korg Forums

[mickey nightrain]

Okay, I've done many tracks on Electribes (both) and I have noticed that when I have my tracks properly mastered they sound a bit heavy. Is this because in essence, I have double comressed sounds?
I have been told that the tubes are bullshit and that I should just yank them out.

[ultra]

sounds are often compressed multiple times before it even gets to the mastering phase (say, in a typical band recording environment). if your sound is heavy, it's probably what the mastering engineer thought it should sound like.

not sure about the tubes, but i do know that they distort like hell if you turn it up too much. tubes are kind of expensive to be a marketing gimmick, but who knows. perhaps use them sparingly.

you might find better answers to your questions over at the electro-music forum (http://www.electro-music.com). i'm only speaking from the relatively small amount of experience that i have.

[The Puppeteer]

I've done mastering and am a fairly new owner of an EMX1. I've noticed that the tubes on the EMX1 have a tendency to be pretty bottom heavy in some cases. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it ain't.

My suggestion is to go light on the tubes. You don't really need that much to get the tube effect, and as mentioned above, they can seriously distort with too much gain.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "heavy". Is there too much bass? Too much distortion or no dynamic range?

The first can be fixed by EQing, the second will almost certainly need to be fixed by reducing the tube gain or during recording. The last one can happen due to overcompression at any stage of the recording process, but is normally due to people getting a little bit over zealous with the compressor after recording but before it gets sent to mastering.

From the point of view of mastering it is much better to have a quieter track with lots of dynamic range than something loud with no dynamic range.

Also, it depends on who's doing the mastering to some extent. If it's done by the same person and you're not 100% happy with the sound, have a chat to them.

Hope this helps.
_________________
The Puppeteer
http://godlike.com.au

[reddone]

To my ear the emx already has a slight compression . The es-1 does from what i read , so i'd presume that the mx does too .

I'd like to know if anyone has used a good compressor on the mx ( my old dbx ruins it n makes it go all hard n clackety ) .

I can get a decent mix fine , but i'd like a real compressor to work in my setup . Would a good tube comp' be best ??

in regards to the tubes , the amount of gain u can have in relation to recording is kinda determined by how good ur recording device is .

I can boost my tubes right up n record into my EMU-0404 no bother , but on a soundblaster it is awful even when i compensate with the master volume .

I think that a good mix should sound good without the compression , the comp just brings the mix together a bit more . EQ-ing isnt that much bother i think it pretty easy .

[mickey nightrain]

Thanks for the replies. I'm going to do some experiements...one with the tubes set to "0" and then add compression in Wav Lab and then I'm going to try what I've been doing (tubes set to about 3 or 4) and use no compression from Wav Lab.
I just can help but think there's too much compression the way I've been doing it.
So many people tell me compress, compress, compress and I'm like "woa, too much compression makes my stuff so bottom heavy and very little dynamics."

[reddone]

One more thing mickey ... Whoever told u the tubes r bull is talking nonsense !!!
U cannot use the mx without tubes as the sound goes thru them ALWAYS .
Ive used my mx excessivly and i hear the tubes react differently to different sounds , and that the amount of gain over those sounds will determine their tonal qaulity ( good tubes offer better harmonics at higher gains ) . Our tubes are good , but not the best in the Ax7 range .

Still , i tried my friends new mx and can tell u that the tone in my 4 year old mx and the tone in his are very different . Mine sounds nice n kinda natural , while his sounds kinda fresh n pronounced . Both have thier pros n cons . Good tubes and not so good ones both make the mx sound good , simple as that .

[anselmi]

[reddone]

yeah shouldve mentioned the bypass , it seems more useful for seperating drums from synth a bit in the mix , although it can be useful4 synth, i dont really like the sound without the tubes as much .

Its personal preference i suppose .