KVR Audio

shamann · Post by **shamann** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 10:37 pm

bengeorge wrote:this brings up the question of which types of noise/degradation are pleasing and which aren't.

I think they all are, depending on the context.

If you are trying to hear Renata Tebaldi's voice, noise/distortion/processing artifacts are probably undesirable, but any and all of those elements can be effective when used as an end unto themselves.

TotcProductions · Post by **TotcProductions** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 10:51 pm

This is easy, just play your music through any myspace player, instant shitty sound quality.

VariKusBrainZ · Post by **VariKusBrainZ** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 11:02 pm

or maybe use a short clip of a crap mp3 and load it as an impulse into a convolution plug

sweet_trip · Post by **sweet_trip** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 11:15 pm

i was hoping someone would come up with an effect that could turn my electronic music into chamber music, or to make it sound like it was being conducted by a conductor

bmanic · Post by **bmanic** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 11:22 pm

Not a single serious post in this thread it seems, so I'll make one.

I occasionally use mp3 encoding as an effect. It works particularly well on drums and percussive sounds that are too "edgy" and need to get a kind of sloppy transient with a slight "wobble". MP3 at 160kbit or similar works wonders.

Also, very low quality mp3 encoding can give nice artefacts on pad sounds.

I would definitely find a mp3 in/out plugin very useful.

- bManic

ps. no, I am not kidding

Lagrange · Post by **Lagrange** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 11:35 pm

Hey you could try a spectral noise reducer with learn and a graphic EQ curve so you can cut out the hi ends..

L

Mookus · Post by **Mookus** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 11:39 pm

It would be handy to have an mp3 plugin running live while mixing/mastering to at least try and get the best (as you can) sound, rather than going back and forth encoding and reviewing

jackson · Post by **jackson** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 11:58 pm

I used to use the Spectral plugin Logic all the time for this effect. It works wonders on hihats.

Where "wonders"="sounds crap", but exactly what I wanted.

aetmos · Post by **aetmos** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 6:10 am

I did this once a few years ago. I actually had a hard time finding an MP3 encoder that did a shoddy enough job to be really noticeable. I eventually settled on using Macromedia Flash. It goes down to 8kps, and it sounds like utter crap...perfect, if that's what you're going for.

As for making an "MP3 effect" VST, that might actually be difficult to do because Fraunhofer charges a ridiculously expensive license fee for MP3 decoders, even if your decoder is free (not that an MP3 effect plugin would necessarily have to be free, but it's questionable whether a for-profit one would be popular enough to make up the several thousand dollar license fee). And, since an MP3 effect would have to have an encoder and a decoder, you'd have to pay the license fee in order to distribute the plugin. That said, making an Ogg encoder/decoder would probably be easy enough, and would probably get a similar sound at low bitrate settings...

deastman · Post by **deastman** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 6:45 am

bengeorge wrote: i know, of course, that there is the element of taste involved here, but is there an objective reason why we hardly ever hear spectral type plugins as a featured element of a recording?

Its called a vocoder.

Back on topic, I wonder if static or dynamic convolution could be used to approximate the MP3 effect...

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 7:02 am

Convultion can't introduce MP3 compression artefacts (tones that weren't there) so that's a no-no I think

The Chase · Post by **The Chase** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 7:05 am

I've been looking for this effect since I got into production. Automating different parameters on pads and stuff could sound very cool.

There is a sound cancellation plug called knockout that can kind of sound like mp3 degredation when tuned right. It uses subtraction of the 2 stereo channels though so it's mono, but it's still a very cool effect.

Mr. Tunes · Post by **Mr. Tunes** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 7:24 am

this would be very useful for people who do a lot of internet delivery of media. it's great to know how your work will sound at various settings with a realtime switch just like some of us test for mono. if you mix in 5.1 you'd want to hear you music folded down to stereo or mono, so with mp3 it's a similar desire to simulate what your work will sound like.

leahzero · Post by **leahzero** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 7:48 am

Lowpass + bitcrush?

bmanic · Post by **bmanic** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 10:54 am

Lagrange wrote:Hey you could try a spectral noise reducer with learn and a graphic EQ curve so you can cut out the hi ends..

L

Good idea. This can actually give some nice artifacts for pads and such but it doesn't seem to treat transients in a way that mp3 encoding does. Btw. coding to the free .ogg format works fine as well. One just has to use a bit lower bitrates to get the same "sloppy" transients as in mp3 encoding. So, an .ogg encode->decode plugin could work as well.

Cheers!
bManic

Mp3 emulator?