What is warm?

[mtown408]

What does it mean when people say it has a "WARM" sound? Is it thickness

[warble2]

It means different things depending on who you talk to here. It's an overused term IMO.

[zed32]

well warm is an interesting term. you would think that when something is too warm, it would be considered HOT, but actually in certain cicumstances, when something is too hot, it can become WARM. but the warmer you make something, it doesn't necessarily mean it gets any hotter.

warm is what you take something bright and make it more mellow without making it dark. but if you add warmth to mud, then you just end up with shit. and if you end up with your shit too HOT, then it's almost impossible to polish it, and it just becomes a mess.

[XLR]

A realistic description is perhaps: Balanced in frequency spectrum but the 2 kHz - 6 kHz (approx) doesn't have the edginess that home recordings easily get by using reflective rooms and mikes/pre's/converters that tend to make transients sound spitty.

It's also used as a meaninless marketing term because the word has a good feel to it. Often cheap gear that claims to be "warm" is simply fuzzy.

[LeeRosario]

Originally Posted by mtown408

What does it mean when people say it has a "WARM" sound? Is it thickness

you're usually talking about a certain thickness that can be contributed with emphasis on even ordered harmonics. Saturation can be a big part of that as well. The warmth of tape for example. Even in that case, the even order harmonics are present.

Put simply, even order harmonics translates into a sound thats mathematically and pyschoacoustically plesant to the human ear, that's why it's such a big deal.

It's for that reason you see it come up often with tube and/or vintage gear of all types. Example, like a vintage Neve preamp or channel strip.

The converse would be something sterile, otherwise something extremely transparent or clean. Example, like the super analogue SSL pre's.

It's really a pyschoacoustic thing, you can't really measure "warmth" conventionally. It's not that you absolutely have to know this.

However, where it is useful is in defining and identifing types of sounds to recreate later on.

[Nick98338]

Warm.. pleasing. We often can't describe what it is, but we sure know when it ain't.

[Dani Pace]

Warm is that middle area where everything just kind of flows together. It's like the comfort zone. Like Nick said, you definately know when you aint got it. If it sounds pleasing, it's probably warm.

[daav]

Great post, because it quickly turns into "it depnds on what the definition of "is" is" and then is follwed up by "it doesn't really mean anything".

I tend to think of a recording as "warm" as having pleasant prominence in the lower part of the mids. "dark" to me is heavier in the bass area, "bright" is stronger in the highs. it might mean that a mic or EQ or equipment boosts those areas, or has a tendancy to cut the others, or that the source is just exhibiting the characteristics above.

Daav

[Chris Shaeffer]

From the RNLA manual:

Talking about sound is like dancing about architecture.

Very true.

Its funny that tubes and tape sims are used to "warm up" that "sterile" digital sound... when tape distortions and "warmth" were often the enemy back when they were the only option. Why spend all that time setting up that killer mic in that killer spot only to have the tape "warm" it up?!



Its an odd world full of strange marketing techniques.

Aloha,
Chris