How to find that last 10-15% 'commercial' sound fully ITB?

[seafire]

Waterman would prob make you buff the brass on his loco between studio takes

[vurt]

he was from just up the road, in newton le willows.

[BertKoor]

What I learned from this thread is that my assertion that one cannot produce pro, commercial sounding recordings (that can compete with the majors) entirely ITB is garbage because:

1. I lack the skills
And
2. Ricky Martin did it.

It wasn't Ricky (or anyone else) on his own.

Your reference material is the product of multiple professional people, each contributing what they do best: composing, arranging, playing, recording, mixing, mastering, making coffee & tea, etc etc.

You can do all that by yourself as an amateur, but in comparison I can predict the winner.

Advice: listen critically to what you have made. Identify one flaw and fix that. Rinse and repeat.

And perhaps seek collaborations

[legendCNCD]

Cool this thing is still going on :popcorns:

[EfreetiSultan]

But for the top 100 billboard? Im just very unsure about that.. Usually theres LOTS of money involved, and quite honestly, if I could afford it, there are certain pieces of gear I would definitely love to have to improve my sound to push it just over that edge.

indeed, and nothing they like more than saving money!
there are plenty of pro tools studios out there, full digital desk set up (ive worked at one many years ago) with mixing and mastering being done in house.
maybe not billboard top 100 (i believe thats the usa?) but i was involved at the bottom end (i was an assistant engineer, which really meant rolling spliffs and making coffee mostly), of two tracks that entered the top 40 in the uk.

well its not about digital vs analog, and it never was. "billboard top 100" was just an example. Since its pop hits from around the world there. UK top 40 or whatever it may be, same thing. Potato, potato.
Yes theres lots of money so its almost expected the top tier uses at least Some outboard stuff. At least run it out of the computer to a decent dac (say lyra or something) and some sort of mixer/summing board for whatever else you may have, an EQ or maybe a compressor. Staying COMpletely inside the box is probably not very common at that level. If it even exists at all.

[EfreetiSultan]

if I could afford it, there are certain pieces of gear I would definitely love to have to improve my sound to push it just over that edge.

Which ones?

id love to have a really good DAC/ADC and a summing mixer; and probably some old analog stuff from the 50s thru 70s that uses lots of tubes, perhaps a 670 And id probably also want an EQP1A. But honestly Id just want to be able to run some channels outside the box and back in again. And if it runs thru some iron and glass on that roundtrip, ill be happy. Oh and Id love a TC electronic Finalizer and a H3000 unit.

[seafire]

I wonder if kids listening to the top 100 anywhere, on their phones, or thru a bluetooth speaker via Spotify, are listening out for that crucial sound of the audio leaving the computer, going into a 1970s Neve desk, some rack fx and then back into the computer....sounds like a chore

[EfreetiSultan]

I wonder if kids listening to the top 100 anywhere, on their phones, or thru a bluetooth speaker via Spotify, are listening out for that crucial sound of the audio leaving the computer, going into a 1970s Neve desk, some rack fx and then back into the computer....sounds like a chore

Now you're being silly.. The listener has no idea what was done to the audio signal. It's up to the engineer. And what he / she feels the audio needs. The end user just wants it to sound good

[seafire]

I wonder if kids listening to the top 100 anywhere, on their phones, or thru a bluetooth speaker via Spotify, are listening out for that crucial sound of the audio leaving the computer, going into a 1970s Neve desk, some rack fx and then back into the computer....sounds like a chore

Now you're being silly.. The listener has no idea what was done to the audio signal.

That's a shame, especially if you have gone to all that trouble...

[VOODOO U]

I wonder if kids listening to the top 100 anywhere, on their phones, or thru a bluetooth speaker via Spotify, are listening out for that crucial sound of the audio leaving the computer, going into a 1970s Neve desk, some rack fx and then back into the computer....sounds like a chore

Now you're being silly.. The listener has no idea what was done to the audio signal.

That's a shame, especially if you have gone to all that trouble...

Do you want credit for a good finalised song or do you want your nipples rubbed because you used a Joe Meek compressor?
You really are silly.

[EfreetiSultan]

I wonder if kids listening to the top 100 anywhere, on their phones, or thru a bluetooth speaker via Spotify, are listening out for that crucial sound of the audio leaving the computer, going into a 1970s Neve desk, some rack fx and then back into the computer....sounds like a chore

Now you're being silly.. The listener has no idea what was done to the audio signal.

That's a shame, especially if you have gone to all that trouble...

Do you want credit for a good finalised song or do you want your nipples rubbed because you used a Joe Meek compressor?
You really are silly.

I only care if the end product sounds good. So does the listener. If I think I can get there using X, Y and Z that's really up to me, I don't care if the end user knows that or not.

I don't think a painter cares if the person buying his art knows what type of paint and paintbrush he used.

I don't think a chef cares if his patron knows if he used store bought fond or if he made it himself.

[Uncle E]

id love to have a really good DAC/ADC and a summing mixer

Try the summing in Luna.

perhaps a 670

I only had the Stam and Tube-Tech but these were some of the cases where the plugin (UA Fairchild) was as good or better.

And id probably also want an EQP1A.

Yes, stereo pair, please.

Id love a TC electronic Finalizer

Try the MD3 and MD4 plugins. I compared the MD3 (running on Powercore) to my old Finalizer and it was a big improvement.

[VOODOO U]

I only care if the end product sounds good. So does the listener. If I think I can get there using X, Y and Z that's really up to me, I don't care if the end user knows that or not.

I don't think a painter cares if the person buying his art knows what type of paint and paintbrush he used.

I don't think a chef cares if his patron knows if he used store bought fond or if he made it himself.

That pretty much sums it up

[Ah_Dziz]

if I could afford it, there are certain pieces of gear I would definitely love to have to improve my sound to push it just over that edge.

Which ones?

id love to have a really good DAC/ADC and a summing mixer; and probably some old analog stuff from the 50s thru 70s that uses lots of tubes, perhaps a 670 And id probably also want an EQP1A. But honestly Id just want to be able to run some channels outside the box and back in again. And if it runs thru some iron and glass on that roundtrip, ill be happy. Oh and Id love a TC electronic Finalizer and a H3000 unit.

You should look into building some stuff. Making a little tube channel that goes from quiet and noisy to crazy distorted is a pretty straight forward project. Making an analog clipper with adjustable input gain is also pretty easy and fun.

[Uncle E]

I wonder if kids listening to the top 100 anywhere, on their phones, or thru a bluetooth speaker via Spotify, are listening out for that crucial sound of the audio leaving the computer, going into a 1970s Neve desk, some rack fx and then back into the computer....sounds like a chore

Summing is a chore, true. I personally wouldn't do it at this point but a good console does make an appreciable difference in sound.