TSJMajesty
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What is good? Is “ the best” better or just different?
- Thread starter Eagle
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TSJMajesty
Rock Star
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Good thing I didn't take a sip of my coffee just then!
JiveTurkey
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metropolis_4
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What makes one of them “best”? Is it the one that’s a little brighter than the rest, or the one that’s a little darker? The one that is a bit warmer, or the one that has more definition? The one that has a little slower rate, or a little faster? At least one of us would pick one because it was broken and had something weird in its sound and others would think that was the worst one for the same reasons.
Not only that, I would bet money that if we all came back the next day and did another blind test most of us would pick a different one than what we picked the first time.
Eagle
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Because one sounds fuller, wider, bigger. Literally no one ab teasing mxr phase 90s that I have ever heard of has not picked it. It’s like the sound of cheap earbuds compared with reference headphones. It’s also the sound on the recordings with a phase 90 that made people buy them in the first place. I agree that blind testing can sometimes be very subjective and subtle but sometimes one just jumps out as objectively better.
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"If it sounds good, it is good." - Duke Ellington
Eagle
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Agreed.
texhex
Roadie
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On those 421 mics, it would have been interesting to have the sound engineer have both Tim and Rick guess which one was which before he told them. I get the whole “best” argument but there can be so much bias when you are listening along with your eyes, to something that you are old beforehand is supposed to be the “best”.
Who is to say that the old Marshall, cabinet, speakers and mic in the video sound better than the hundreds of old Marshalls, cabinets, speakers and mics that were produced in the late 60s and 70s. Wouldn’t you need to compare several of the amps, cabs, speakers and mics from those years to find the “best”?
Somebody call Yngwie.
Who is to say that the old Marshall, cabinet, speakers and mic in the video sound better than the hundreds of old Marshalls, cabinets, speakers and mics that were produced in the late 60s and 70s. Wouldn’t you need to compare several of the amps, cabs, speakers and mics from those years to find the “best”?
Somebody call Yngwie.
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Eagle
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You’re missing the point. They are saying what they like and listening to options. It’s not listening with eyes .
Tim especially buys things to do a job , be different and inspire. Sometimes cheap stuff works but the internet has put a premium on items that outperform their price.
There a lots of examples of a reissue being better than the original . Ibanez Genesis, most Murphy Lab Gibson. Most custom shop Fender. These benefit from modern manufacturing techniques better wood selection and higher expectations of quality by the customers.
metropolis_4
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And yet the internet is full of plenty of people who say they prefer the phase 45 because it’s more subtle and less full/wide/big than the phase 90. Which tells me “fuller, wider, bigger” is not what everyone is looking for; some will prefer the one that is the opposite of that.
dcburn
Roadie
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Eagle
Rock Star
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Sonic wide not more effect . More 3D and just more resolution not a different setting in the phase.
I will just have to agree to disagree because you clearly think it’s more subjective than I do.
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The combination of one of these must sound better than the others. I’m just messing dude. I get the point.
Pro Tip: If you ever go see YJM, make damn sure you bring earplugs. I didn't, and the entire evening was literally painful in my ears - holding my hands over my ears only helped somewhat.
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After watching the entire video my first thought was, "The thumbnail has nothing to do
with anything they said in the actual video."
Must have drawn it out of an hat. Or misleading and potentially inflammatory thumbnails
get more bumps/coverage on YT. Algorithms can maybe make us seem worse than we
are being.
laxu
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Totally. I guess "what amateurs don't know about guitar tone" is that you need to start with a professional grade studio, filled with vintage amps, mics, preamps, a room where you can run those amps cranked to record them, and your personal mixing engineer to A/B all that. Then get Tim Pierce to play the guitar for you.After watching the entire video my first thought was, "The thumbnail has nothing to do
with anything they said in the actual video."
Must have drawn it out of an hat. Or misleading and potentially inflammatory thumbnails
get more bumps/coverage on YT. Algorithms can maybe make us seem worse than we
are being.
That said, they are getting some absolutely lovely tones on that video.
I actually preferred the compact MD421 because it had less of the nasty kind of midrange to my ears than the "standard" MD421 had. With some low cut to avoid it becoming too tubby, that would be my pick. While the vintage MD421 was too bright to me when paired with the SM57, on its own it would have been my choice.
But that doesn't make any of those the wrong choice. Maybe if they had played the vintage MD421 first, I would have found the Compact to sound too dull, and the standard just right. Our brains are easy to fool like that. Maybe you could make the Compact brighter by putting it in a different position.
The actually interesting bit was Tim explaining how he would try to take the artist & co he was playing for into account by not being in his own world, but standing on the side of the room while playing to kinda gauge their reaction to find which direction the artist and their friends want him to go. That's a good pro tip about how the music business can also be about managing people and their expectations.
maddnotez
Groupie
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Not sure if this is in the same topic but for me the splitting hairs BS comes down to feel, response and inspiration.
Sure you could play out of any old can and make it sound good but if you play out of something a little better that you love you may play better and have more inspiration and fun with it = better end result
Sure you could play out of any old can and make it sound good but if you play out of something a little better that you love you may play better and have more inspiration and fun with it = better end result
