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What Are Your Favorite Stoopid Audio Myths?


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I'll start: the $500 high-mass knobs that add weight to your power amplifier, this keeping it from moving around, which (of course!) focuses the sound more. I'm sure all those electrons running around inside really care about the weight of the knobs.

 

And another one: The output of digital audio is stair-stepped. Hello? It's filtered. Look at it on on oscilloscope, and a sine wave at the input looks like a sine wave at the output.

 

What about cables don't make a difference? You find out real fast they do if you feed a tube amp with a guitar using a cable with lots of capacitance per foot.

 

Got any faves?

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"the $0.26 mic pre i paid $600 for sounds better than the same $0.26 mic pre built into this quality mixer"

 

or another:

 

"a mic pre is something other than a gain section to match mic level signal to line level"

 

and finally:

 

"this mic pre sounds different than another mic pre" where both are identical in their voltage gain characteristics.

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1. "Zero latency"

 

2. Digital recording is forever and never degrades.

 

3. When recording digitally, keep the record level as high as possible.

 

 

4. Always use a compressor on vocals (or bass, or kick drum, or acoustic guitar, or drum overheads) to prevent overloads. (see #3)

 

5(a). Never connect a ribbon mic to a phantom powered input.

5(b). "Phantom power" = "48V"

 

6(a). "If I never have to align an analog tape deck again it'll be too soon." (Analog recorders require constant maintenance)

6(b). "If I never have to update a driver or a program again it'll be too soon." (Computer recording never needs maintenance)

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Green Sharpie on CD edge! You see, it tightens the bottom end and allows the imaging to fulfill the spacial perspective in a more emotional yet articulate way. This combines to reveal something closer to the composers intentions. Without the green Sharpie, it's just 0's and 1's. And a laser beam, or something. But with the Sharpie? That makes it soar.

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A high-end condenser mic will sound great and be the right choice no matter who is singing through it.
:facepalm:

 

:D Ha, yeah, that's a good one!

 

I've known a LOT of singers who actually sound better through a cheap mic. As in, I actually do a direct comparison and we end up using a $300 mic over a $10,000 one.

 

Of course, it does suck when you have a singer that clearly sounds better through the expensive mic and you don't have one. :lol: I've been known to rent one for sessions like that.

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"Analog is better than digital" - That's a classic.

 

Certainly, that's not always true. Only an analog diehard would claim that a cheap cassette sounds better than the best digital converters, for example.

 

However, manufacturers from around the globe still extend their best efforts to make digital emulations of analog gear sound as close to the originals as possible. That speaks volumes about how great analog gear sounds.

 

Best,

 

Geoff

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