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My evolving position on the Paris sound vs. PT. [message #66582] Tue, 11 April 2006 21:42 Go to previous message
gene lennon is currently offline  gene lennon
Messages: 565
Registered: July 2006
Senior Member
I sold my PT rig when I switched to Paris. I did it at the time primarily
for the sound of the Paris mix bus. This was before HD.

When HD was released, the distinction was far less obvious. HD still sounds
different from Paris but not awful anymore, just different. Paris still has
more of an analog/tape sound plus the added benefit of sounding more aggressive
when you push the gain stages.

So now the big question! Do I prefer the sound of Paris over other DAWS because
its actually makes better sounding recordings, or is it because it is closer
to the sound I associate with my favorite albums from the last 30 years?


I think the truth is closer to the second, and I think this is largely a
learned behavior, empirical rather than based on any truth.

In a recent session at another producer's studio (who will remain unnamed),
I listened to some pop-rock mixes done on a Paris rig. The sound was big
and clear and sounded very tape-like. Overall it sounded quite good and not
at all wimpy. The artist however hated the sound. He played us a number of
recent albums known to have been recorded in PT or similar sounding DAWS
as examples of what he wanted. This is the sound he knows and more important
it is the sound he likes! Yikes!! Compressed to a dynamic range of about
10db and very little sense of depth, space or stereo width.

Music may be universal but we all know it comes with cultural bias. How many
American teens would choose to listen to a steady diet of microtonal music?
Might as well serve up a big plate of Haggis... And it not just teens. Labels
work the exact same way. If someone has a hit record that sounds crappy,
all the labels want the same crappy sound.

Suddenly I am feeling very old. Fashions change taste changes but I thought
good sound was forever. Perhaps not so. As a producer who still has at least
one toe in the current market, I need to have some awareness of the realities
of the market and the "new sound" is the new sound.

My personal taste has not changed. For most projects that I foresee myself
working on, I will continue to use Paris, but just as I have made decisions
in the past to use SSL consoles rather than Neves to achieve a more trendy
"Pop" mix, I am now experimenting with ways to capture the "elusive PT sound".
(Insert appropriate emoticon).

Luckily it was reasonably easy to achieve. I recently purchased the Waves
SSL bundle and running that in Logic can get me very close to the sound of
better sounding PT mixes. So I can still use Paris whenever I like and I
can experiment with a mix of the two styles.

What does all this mean? Nothing other then I understand why some people
may prefer the way other systems sound and I think that my own preferences
are biased by many years of listening to records made the old way. I don't
see giving up Paris any time soon but I also don't think it's worth fighting
over if someone else has different opinions on what sounds good.

And don’t forget…the cyclical nature of fashion almost guarantees that one
day we will once again be "in".

Gene
 
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