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David Katauskas
New member
Once in a while I'll see a post mentioning "coloring" in the context of mics and their pre-amps. What's does that mean?
DefenderOfRock
New member
I tend to think that apogees turn everything purple...
regebro
Insane Genious!
"Coloring" are subtle changes in sound that are hard to say exactly what is going on. You can listen to two mic preamps, and find one "harsh" the other "soft" another "bright" some "warm" and others "cold".
The main sources of color comes from distortions and frequency response.
You typically want "warm" colouring for vocals and distorted guitars (easily fixed by using an SM57, that created that warmness by having a distinct high frequency roloff) while you want "bright" or "transparent" stuff for drum overheads and 12-string acoustics.
YMMV.
The main sources of color comes from distortions and frequency response.
You typically want "warm" colouring for vocals and distorted guitars (easily fixed by using an SM57, that created that warmness by having a distinct high frequency roloff) while you want "bright" or "transparent" stuff for drum overheads and 12-string acoustics.
YMMV.
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santarsieri
New member
Colouring is most common on home consumer products, like your hifi. They have "presets" which will in the simplest form alter the bass mids and treble response. If you listen to a CD on different presets, different hifis or even just different speakers (or headphones) each will "colour" the sound differently giving it a different texture. Each piece of equipment will reproduce different frequencies at different amplitudes, some purposefully (like the presets) in order to attempt to make the sound more attractive to human ears and the human hearing range.
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wishtheend
New member
santarsieri said:
I thought Color was much different than frequency response. Isn't coloring pretty much the warmth, or the effects mentioned above from processing it through tube/analog? And is it possible for digital products to color audio?
regebro
Insane Genious!
Frequency response is one source of "color".wishtheend said:
dinorocker
New member
Terms like "colouring", "warmth", "brightness" etc. are all related to frequency response. A device that modifies the frequencies it received before passing them on is said to be "colouring the sound". Classic example - a speaker that boosts bass or treble, or a mic that selectively registers some frequencies more clearly than others.
Some devices also "colour" sound by adding to it - for example a valve pre-amp could add some noise to the sound to give it a special flavour.
A true flat-response device is one that doesnt modify *any* frequencies along the path, nor add or subtract anything from the sound.
Some devices also "colour" sound by adding to it - for example a valve pre-amp could add some noise to the sound to give it a special flavour.
A true flat-response device is one that doesnt modify *any* frequencies along the path, nor add or subtract anything from the sound.
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santarsieri
New member
i think when listening to sound, isnt everything to do with frequencies? How they are produced and how we hear them defines sound itself. colouring is basically anything which isnt flat response. As in the sound is reproduced differently to how it is recorded. Certain aspects are emphasised.
Flat response monitors are used because of the fletcher munson curves (how we hear different frequencies). Basically human ears are tuned to frequencies around 2khz-4khz because thats generally the frequencies used in speech. We actually hear those frequencies better than any others because of this, and so can hear them more clearly even at low amplitudes.
Speaker systems are coloured to boost the other frequencies up so that we can hear all the frequencies at around the same level (although some will be boosted and be at a higher amplitude than others because we dont percieve them as sensitively).
Flat response monitors dont colour the sound, so that when recording using these mic preamps and EQs etc - the sound can be optimised so that all the boosting etc is done during the recording / mixing process. That way there is consistency in recordings and CDs will play similarly on the same settings.
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the conclusion:
When it comes down to recording with equipment which colours the sound - it is very common and not bad at all. Microphones are very accurate and are un biased, unlike our ears and so do not record what we hear. All the equipment is used to put the colour back into the sound so that it is recorded as accurately as possible to human ears.
So, as long as the equipment doesnt exaggerate frequencies to be inaccurate to the original source - the recording will be ok.
Each mic pre amp (back to the question) will add certain characteristics to the sound, whether purposefully or not.
As for colouring being related to tube / analogue: you can colour sound with any equipment. The terms such as "warmth" are used to explain the colouring given to recordings through analogue devices. This is because they capture more harmonics because they work in a continuous manner. The term "cold" is generally used with digital devices because the sampling rate limits the amount of frequencies (or harmonics) captured and recorded (thats just one reason).
... hope I didnt write too much there. Its a lot to go into, such a simple aspect of sound which can get very technical
Flat response monitors are used because of the fletcher munson curves (how we hear different frequencies). Basically human ears are tuned to frequencies around 2khz-4khz because thats generally the frequencies used in speech. We actually hear those frequencies better than any others because of this, and so can hear them more clearly even at low amplitudes.
Speaker systems are coloured to boost the other frequencies up so that we can hear all the frequencies at around the same level (although some will be boosted and be at a higher amplitude than others because we dont percieve them as sensitively).
Flat response monitors dont colour the sound, so that when recording using these mic preamps and EQs etc - the sound can be optimised so that all the boosting etc is done during the recording / mixing process. That way there is consistency in recordings and CDs will play similarly on the same settings.
-----------------------------------
the conclusion:
When it comes down to recording with equipment which colours the sound - it is very common and not bad at all. Microphones are very accurate and are un biased, unlike our ears and so do not record what we hear. All the equipment is used to put the colour back into the sound so that it is recorded as accurately as possible to human ears.
So, as long as the equipment doesnt exaggerate frequencies to be inaccurate to the original source - the recording will be ok.
Each mic pre amp (back to the question) will add certain characteristics to the sound, whether purposefully or not.
As for colouring being related to tube / analogue: you can colour sound with any equipment. The terms such as "warmth" are used to explain the colouring given to recordings through analogue devices. This is because they capture more harmonics because they work in a continuous manner. The term "cold" is generally used with digital devices because the sampling rate limits the amount of frequencies (or harmonics) captured and recorded (thats just one reason).
... hope I didnt write too much there. Its a lot to go into, such a simple aspect of sound which can get very technical