Reference CD's

[foo]

These are mentioned in another thread re: Mastering.

Does this mean listen to commercially available CDs in the style you are trying to emulate. E.g. you are putting out cocktail jazz so listen to Sade's latest, you are putting out Pop/Dance so listen to Britney and Christina etc

Or are these some arcane Free Mason type of thing that one gets to 'clean and refresh the ear's palette' with standard sonic reference points? E.g. this is what a real string section sounds like, this is Will Lee playing funk etc.

foo

[Slackmaster2K]

It doesn't mean you're necessarily trying to "copy" a sound, but yes, it means to listen to a recording that compliments what you are working on.

Reasons?

- You can see how well what your working on will sit in the ol' CD player alongside similar material.

- When working on anything it's sometimes easy to get on the wrong track. Sometimes listening to a reference CD can remind you of what you intended things to sound like...or can easily demonstrate things like "yeah, I guess I don't need that much low end, what was I thinking?"

That's my experience anyhow.

Now I have read that some mastering engineers like to have reference tones written to the tape, which is different.

Slackmaster 2000

[Cyrokk]

I wanted the last rhythm tracks I recorded to sound like Maiden's "Number of the Beast", but I wanted a chunkier, heavier sound like anything off Soundgarden's "Badmotorfinger". I also wanted a looser hi hat feel than normal so I compared my drum tracks to Black Sabbath's "Turn up the Night".. I played these cd's and made adjustments at each step in the recording process to ensure I was somewhere in the ballpark of where I wanted to be. Granted, it didn't sound exactly the same as them, but I got close and the overall effect came out how I wanted it. It's amazing too, how much mids there are in guitars that most people don't realize. Had I not referenced those cd's my guitar sound would be seriously off the mark.

Cy

[foo]

Cool - I've been listening to a lot of different producers to get ideas and sounds that I like.

Reproducing them - now that's a little different!



foo