ostaz wrote:
I am a bit dissatisfied with the way my mixes are coming out in the highs
range (5K and up). I'm noticing that everything sounds really nice while
I'm mixing (using Tannoy passive Reveals + sub) but when I listen through my
home system (Harmon Kardon system with Klipsch KG-1's + sub) the highs seem
cold and a bit harsh and don't sound sweet at all. This is almost
exclusively noticable on the VSTi's and Gigastudio sounds....which make up
the majority of the arrangement, especially the cymbals and hh. Anything
recorded from outboard synths
sounds great. I'm not boosting any highs and in some cases, I've been
trying to roll them off a bit in the extreme range. Does anyone else
experience this.. I'm not sure what I'm hearing exactly...but there's a
certain quality there that I don't like...and I don't think that it is
Cubase's fault. Is there something about VSTi's that make them inherently
harsh and cold sounding? Is there any way to bump up the quality of the
highs without dulling the sound? When I do a side by side comparison
between my mix and a good reference...I notice that the difference is not in
the "level" of the highs....more in the quality of them. It's almost like
the VST highs are not sparkly clean perhaps...dare I say "distorted" in some
weird digital way.
In the following example, the intro guitar is an outboard synth...which
sounds fine...however, most everything else is virtual and it all sounds
great through the Tannoys...but the highs sound funny through the home
system.
www.synthesimusic.com/Dancing.mp3
Pete
Seems like the cymbals could come down in the mix a bit, also the bass
guitar synth seemed a little too hot. Maybe you are mixing high
frequency instruments louder to overcome the loud bass? The tone of the
cymbals and HH sounded OK from here, I think it's a balance issue.