Are crap stereos changing the sound of dubstep? Discuss

[dermat]

As claimed in this documentary are producers adding less sub and more high frequency sounds so the music can be appreciated on eg mobile phones, laptops etc

Annoying thing is in the UK you can get a cheap & decent amp/speaker combo from eg Richer Sounds or reconditioned from http://www.greenhomeshop.co.uk/shop/

Or will this just influence the more commercial side of the music?


http://www.dbstep.be/

[drokkr]

[primusluta]

Yes and no. For music in general I'd say yeah there's a shift happening to accoodate the most common listening environment - little white earbuds. But I think that in genre's like dubstep and others you're getting more than a handful of artists that are pushing things in another direction. In 2010 bass is being pushed in ways it never has before, and the realm of distortion has opened up stunning possibilities. So depending on who/what you're listening to and really how you feel in general about sound the answer to the question varies.

[ashley]

ITT: Half the people who listen to Dubstep now or who are just getting into it never experienced decent sub in their life anyway.

Listen to half of the tunes from the 'noisy' side of the scene and by 'up and coming/no name producers/bedroom artists' (especially those promoted on that awful Facebook fanpage) and you'll see there is a total lack of sub.

Amazing, the scene was built on sub and all the uneducated new faces totally forget to include it in their productions.

[matt green]

While working at Scream Studio in Croydon I have had kids ask me if their tune will sound good on their phone, meaning phone is priority number 1, happened a good few times too.

[wilson]

I believe so, yes. It doesn't make much sense for a producer making tunes aimed towards the commercial market to put loads of effort into a rich, textured sub if it's hardly ever gonna be heard on any system that can reproduce it well. It goes against the very founding ethos of 'Dubstep' but it's an inevitable consequence of the scene breaking through into the conscience of joe-public.

[Caski]

its up to the producer really, unless the label doesnt quite give them the freedom with their music that all producers should have...

i make my stuff for raves, if radio1 doesnt play them because theres not enough mid/high (just as an example that is) then its not that much of a bother, but obviously if you're making tunes for radio purposes and music videos and putting them through a commercial outlet then of horses your gona want to make them sound as "acceptable beyong rave systems" as possible.

i like making music without rules tho, if the snare isnt scientificaly hitting the frequencies that the top dnb dj's say it should it has no affect on my production/life what so ever.

[brokedjs]

If your really can be bothered to make a tune for consumption on a shit output why not produce two versions, one for clubs and one for pricks who sit on the back of busses with their phones chirping out.

[AntlionUK]

gotta remember alot of people listening to tunes off youtube through their laptop speakers

[illandnatti]

If your really can be bothered to make a tune for consumption on a shit output why not produce two versions, one for clubs and one for pricks who sit on the back of busses with their phones chirping out.

This is what a lot of mastering artists will do in the house music scene. A friend of mine does quite a bit of house mastering, and he says that radio stations compress before they transmit, so radio edits of tracks are generally louder and uncompressed.

However, there is a slight degradation in the sound when they do that. It isn't that noticeable in a car or on iPod earbuds, but when you're listening on a proper system you can tell the difference. That's why in house music you will find the "club mix" that has full compression and sounds best.

Dubstep is different though, because of the massive subsonic frequency range that is constantly pumping. Most radio stations won't be able to reproduce that sound properly, and so it is necessary with popular tracks to have more going on in the mid tones, otherwise it'll just sound like crap. This is one of the reasons why I love dubstep, because it is [until the last few years] uncompromising in it's quality. If you don't have a proper sub, you will not be able to hear the music as the artist intended you to.

Now that dubstep is breaching the pop scene, it is an inevitability that there will me more going on in the mid tones, so that it sounds good on the fm radio. With our current technology, I don't see this changing. Maybe future advancements will hold something different and change this process. At least that's my hope.

[null]

Artists should never be making a tune for one specific method of playback, it should be about being certain that everything fits for the mood they're trying to convey. And, really, it's not that tough to add higher-frequency accents to the sub-bass, so that it is somewhat "there."

Think of the frequency range as a blank canvas do with what you please; these artists are leaving the whole bottom empty and their songs sound that way, too.

I notice a lot of artists are making tunes for something--the radio, a party, fame, etc.--but, do these songs really sound genuine? Do they carry weight or are they just the typified bro-step that is more commonplace these days?

[Pistonsbeneath]

While working at Scream Studio in Croydon I have had kids ask me if their tune will sound good on their phone, meaning phone is priority number 1, happened a good few times too.

what kind of tunes?

[matt green]

Ahhhhh just little young uns spitting over bars.
My face when they ask that question tho, proper sign of the times.

[clifford_-]

These kids dont have the money to buy subs, let alone a flat to put one in! Yout dem on the street ave only got theyre phones to share their music. shame really.

[LA_Boxers]

We should start a 'Get The Youts A Sub' appeal.

[rob sparx]

Too much sub in a loud tune can sound shit on the radio however although radios do compress their sound loads I imagine if the radio dj actually turned the gain down on what they were playing and tweaked the eq it might sound a lot better, not sure if the guys on radio 1 can actually monitor their signal after compression or not but when some of my unmastered stuffs been played its sounded like its got +9db limiting meaning the sub sounds muffled and overprocessed. A well stress tested mix thats been mastered for use in clubs will sound better but still may sound a bit overcompressed, can get around this to a certain extent by reducing the volume of the sub a bit more but sometimes this is a bit like castrating the tune and turning up the bass on a dj mixer to compensate doesn't always give the tune its balls back.

Doing 2 masters of the same file is an idea but theres only so much difference you can get from tweaking the same file, doing 2 different premasters would be a better option which I think is worthwhile for tunes that might be big on radio but a bit of a waste of time for anything too underground. Not sure about this but I think sending out a quieter mix of the tune to radio might help as then at least there is more headroom to work with so less chance of overcompression?

I've been told that ipods fart when tunes with too much bass played thru them however I've got one and this doesn't happen when I used a decent pair of headphones thru it so must just be dodgy ipods and their cheap headphones that are the problem. Obviously someone who is skillfull at mixing can make their tunes sound more acceptable to the radio - 300hz boost for subs so they are easier to hear on smaller stereos, fizzy high frequencies - not screaching mids but super high fuzz so there is more rythmn to the sub) and subtle sounds at higher frequencies can be sneaked it sometimes as well to fill that range.

Some of Doctor P's multi layered non screeching basses actually sound ok on the ears - bass "harmonies" which complement the sub and work in a club or on radio though obviously that technique is only going to work with those sort of tunes but the principle can be applied to deeper tunes as well but with different sounds: im working on a tune at the moment with layered sub (60hz), double bass (100-300hz) and rhodes (300-1500hz). Filling that 100-300hz range is important if you want a tune to sound good out of a club whatever the style is and this goes for drums as well as basses, filling that range in the drums gets a fuller more organic sound but again whether that freq gets pushed more depends on the tune - some of the minimal deep stuff avoids that range and sounds great in a club for that reason but not worth playing on radio or a crap stereo.

I did noticed recently as well that it seems to be getting harder to find decent non seperate stereos with bass since all these wank ipod docking bay no sub whatsover stereos have become popular so mabeye thats not helping things either

[district]

this whole reproduction for phones, radio etc has been happening for years, its not gonna change the sound of dubstep i dont think.
if you wanna listen to dubstep on your phone its not a bad thing, you're just missing out on the experience, same as if you watch a movie on your phone instead of going to the cinema,


it cuts both ways too, ive slated a lot of 'chainsaw' mid range tunes then heard them in a club and gone, 'actually they sound alright in here' i just wouldn't listen to it at home, the producer probably only intended the track to be played in a club anyway so its all good. just a shame that people might not 'get' certain tunes/producers because they heard the shitty youtube rip and could only hear the beats. but if thats the case, they probably missed the vibe and feeling that goes into that music too so i dont think it's necessarily a bad thing.

[pdomino]

Not changing but makes peoples opinions change.
Agree its kids/younguns with phones and laptops !
"Tune sounds shit !" ...yeah thats cause your laptop + bass = fail

[kpnutnut]

Not changing but makes peoples opinions change.
Agree its kids/younguns with phones and laptops !
"Tune sounds shit !" ...yeah thats cause your laptop + bass = fail

Dubstep listened to through shit headphones, speakers, car speakers = FAIL.

[capo ultra]

When Claude Von Stroke makes a track he plays it back on laptop speakers to make sure you can still here the bass before he's finished with the track