cordura21
New member
hey guys. I was reading the interview of Roy Thomas Baker at artistpro, and he talks about apparent volume vs. actual volume. I couldn't understand what he meant. Can you help me?
Here are the 2 paragraphs that mention it:
MIX: Your records have always sounded like they were practically exploding out of the radio. What things did you do to create that effect?
BAKER: As long as you know up front that a certain song is destined for radio and MTV, you should come at it straight out of the gate from the beginning in pre-production. We make sure that the sound is together from day one. The whole idea is to make you sound louder, so that it jumps out in your face. The trick to this has to do with creating apparent volume, as opposed to actual volume. See, the radio station’s compressors will react to actual volume and turn the music down. That’s why some people’s mixes will actually sound quieter than the song previous and the song being played after.
MIX: From what I understand, you’ve startled more than a few “proper” engineers with your methodology.
BAKER: Oh yeah! I just whack those faders up. Especially when I’m mixing the drum rides; I would whack them up so loud that they would saturate the mixing board and then they would saturate the tape machine. Obviously, after a certain level, they don’t get any louder on tape. It gets louder when you’re watching it, but it doesn’t get any louder on tape, because it has reached its peak. What happens is the bottom end fills out. It is technically distortion, but it is also bringing out those nice third and fifth harmonics that you want to hear. Doing it this way adds a tremendous value to the bass end. It makes it grind and pump out on the radio more. It’s apparent volume, as opposed to actual volume.
Here are the 2 paragraphs that mention it:
MIX: Your records have always sounded like they were practically exploding out of the radio. What things did you do to create that effect?
BAKER: As long as you know up front that a certain song is destined for radio and MTV, you should come at it straight out of the gate from the beginning in pre-production. We make sure that the sound is together from day one. The whole idea is to make you sound louder, so that it jumps out in your face. The trick to this has to do with creating apparent volume, as opposed to actual volume. See, the radio station’s compressors will react to actual volume and turn the music down. That’s why some people’s mixes will actually sound quieter than the song previous and the song being played after.
MIX: From what I understand, you’ve startled more than a few “proper” engineers with your methodology.
BAKER: Oh yeah! I just whack those faders up. Especially when I’m mixing the drum rides; I would whack them up so loud that they would saturate the mixing board and then they would saturate the tape machine. Obviously, after a certain level, they don’t get any louder on tape. It gets louder when you’re watching it, but it doesn’t get any louder on tape, because it has reached its peak. What happens is the bottom end fills out. It is technically distortion, but it is also bringing out those nice third and fifth harmonics that you want to hear. Doing it this way adds a tremendous value to the bass end. It makes it grind and pump out on the radio more. It’s apparent volume, as opposed to actual volume.