How good are your ears ?

[grimtraveller]

Can you tell the difference between an electric guitar that has been recorded with a microphone at the amp and one that has been recorded DI or even re-amped ? Or between acoustic guitars that have been recorded using dynamic mics and condensers ?

Can you hear bass in a song and tell whether it was recorded DI or with mikes ? Can you tell if it's both when the signals are combined ?
Or whether a real piano or VSTi piano has been used ? Or indeed, VSTis in general ?
Are sampled or electric drums always easy to spot ?

If yes to any of these, what do you find to be the tell tale signs ? And have there been times when you were sure of whatever it was but it turned out to be the other ?

 

[Steenamaroo]

I'll be the first to hold my hands up and say probably not.
I consider my ears to be very good, but at certain things.
I can pick out tiny mistakes very well, pitch errors, timing things, stuff like that.

Sometime's you can spot fake instruments a mile away, but if something's done well and mixed well (like vst guitars instead of amps), then no,
I probably couldn't tell.

I've recorded acoustic with dynamics a bunch of times and really liked the results. A few people gave me attitude, like, "Why would you use dynamics?" but I doubt they could spot the difference either.

Virtual instruments are so good now-a-days. The challenge used to be making a synthesiser sound like the real instrument.
Now the challenge is making real samples sound like someone really played them.

If the arranger has a real good ear for how an instrument would be played, and good editing skills, I don't think I could tell a VST piano from a real one either.

I often spot vst drums a mile away but tbh, it's usually cos I recognise the samples.

Obviously if the programming isn't realistic (piano/drums) then it's waving a flag at you.


Interesting thought.

 

[Greg_L]

I've intentionally used quality amp sims and quality real amps in my recordings just to see if anyone can spot the difference. No one can. I sometimes forget myself which is a real amp and which isn't when listening back to older recordings. Of course a bad amp sim, or a poorly used good one will sound bad. But so will a bad amp or a bad tone through a real amp. The only "cheat" I won't use are drum samples. I just like real drums too much. I'd rather have and hear less-than-perfect real drums than perfect fake ones. The big giveaway for me with fake drums or samples is that people don't program them realistically or or know how to mix them. And fake cymbals NEVER sound right.

 

[miroslav]

I just like real drums too much.

That's the way some of us feel about real amps.

I now have a fairly good assortment of software sims and I have yet to feel any desire in actually use them. I just like playing through an amp and miking it. It just makes the whole recording process more interesting for me. It's the same thing with the whole ramping craze...I have a reamp rig, but prefer to just find my tone and let it lay.

But yeah...in a mix, it's not going to be easy to pick out how things were recorded, though I think in some instances we can perceive some differences, though maybe not necessarily what is causing them.
On the other hand, if you sometimes just compare the raw individual tracks, and you have a fairly well trained ear for certain sounds, you may be able to tell a bit more about what you are hearing.

Raw guitar distortion sims have a rather obvious "homogenized fizz" in the upper-mids/lower-highs...in many cases.
Sampled drums often also sound "homogenized" unless people really take the time to randomly adjust them beat for beat.
Condenser mics will pick up a lot more transients, sometimes being almost too crisp compared to dynamics.
DI bass has a more defined/rounder tone than miked bass.
Piano samples usually fall apart in the tails of notes compared to a real piano or there are weird harmonics if they used a few samples to create the whole keyboard.

 

[Greg_L]

Raw guitar distortion sims have a rather obvious "homogenized fizz" in the upper-mids/lower-highs....

This is true. It seems that each sim software I've played with needs a notch taken out on all of it's settings. For example, to my ears, Guitar Rig gets fizzy around 3500hz no matter what amp model or cab you're using. Amplitube seems to need notching around 2500 and 5300. Revalver needs it around 5000. Sweeping and notching these areas really makes the guitar track warm up and sound real - provided you dialed in a decent tone to begin with.

 

[Lt. Bob]

I have excellent ears and in a properly done mix there's no way I can tell.
As far as I'm concerned the difference in modeled vs real only comes into play while you're actually playing the amp.

 

[Armistice]

The big giveaway for me with fake drums or samples is that people don't program them realistically or or know how to mix them. And fake cymbals NEVER sound right.

Cymbals are the killer to me with the fake drums.... damn, damn hard to make them sound even close to realistic...

You can tell the fake drums immediately in most of the toons in the clinic that use them because people don't put any time into them - too much cut and paste, not enough lurve....

I'm working on a song right now and when I do fake drums, I literally place every hit manually in its place, and I do take a lot of care with varying sounds, velocities etc. and it takes ages and ages and fucking ages.... especially if you're not a drummer and you need to check and recheck and adjust and walk away and come back and finesse over and over to get it "right"

At the end of that process that it usually just sounds like what it is... painstakingly programmed fake drums. Can't get away from the "fake" aspect, but the average person I play it to doesn't pick it up, just us musos with real ears.

I'm thinking of just posting up this current drum track when I finish it without any of the other music and seeing if the real drummers around here will give me some tips on increasing the "realness" factor... apart from general advice to vary velocities and not program with 8 arms, I don't think I've seen anyone do that yet...

 

[Track Rat]

I have excellent ears and in a properly done mix there's no way I can tell.
As far as I'm concerned the difference in modeled vs real only comes into play while you're actually playing the amp.

Exactly. I can feel the difference when I'm playing an amp or a sym. Playback is another matter. Depending on context I think I can spot real or canned drums for the most part.

 

[Guitargodgt]

Depends heavily on what is being discussed. I can usually tell without knowing if a 5150 got used, or the mark series or a recto since they sound so distinct to me at this point. But other amps? Nope, and if say you recorded a recto through something other than vintage 30s I would be clueless as well.

I only think I could tell the difference between LDC as overheads compared to SDC on overheads... but I'm most likely full of shit.

Getting down to specifics though, if you gave me 2 snare samples and said one was recorded with an audix i5 and one was a 57 I couldn't tell you which... and I'm 100% nobody else could either.

I was able to pick out an INB 1176 vs a hardware 1176, and this was in a full mix (it was waves vs the real deal) on the vocals, but I knew what to listen for because it was stated what we were listening for... cold turkey I would have just said "yep both clips sound good."

Recordings at 44.1k vs 192k? HA nope. 16bit vs 24? That's a little easier but still, not that noticeable.

I can hear a cheap electric guitar a mile away at this point, it's very simple the low mids turn to mush on cheap instruments with horrible pickups.

 

[Hakea]

Pardon? What did you say GT .... How good are my beers?...

Oh, ears, ears.... ah... not as good as they used to be...

The MC told this at the local Folk and Blues club last month and half the audience nodded in recognition..


STORY:

George is is the kitchen. His wife is in the lounge-room.


GEORGE: I think the old girl's going deaf.... Martha! Can you hear me?....

......

(He moves to the kitchen doorway)

GEORGE: OY Martha! Can you hear me?....

......

(He moves to the lounge-room doorway)

GEORGE: HEY MARTHA! Can you hear me?...

.....

(He goes into the lounge and stands right in front of her chair)

GEORGE: HEY MARTHA, CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?


MARTHA: For the FOURTH TIME - YES!!

 

[Bristol Posse]

For me with amp sims/DI I can hear the difference based on how I record amps.
I tend to mic amps from further out so there is some "Space" in the sound, amp sims and especially DI don't give you that, at least none of the amp sims I have tried have an option for a M/S mic set up from 6 feet away from the amp, or a condenser mic 3 feet out blended with an SM57 on the grill for example
I find then with amp sims or DI tracks IN MY OWN SONGS sound really flat (as in two dimensional), forward and close to the front as compared to amps recorded in a room. If I turn them down and add reverb they sound quiet and verby and really flat (as in two dimensional), forward and close to the front compared to the real amps recorded in a room.
If I record a track DI and then Reamp it, then I'll record the amp in my own way and so it wouldn't sound like a DI obviously

Having said that I do find times when an amp sim is just what I need

In someone else's material I doubt I could tell the difference if they have done a good job on notching out the fizzyness in distortion that amp sims tend to have

 

[Bristol Posse]

oops, double post