A podcast clip in which mix engineer and producer Bob Horn claims that Pro Tools meters affect the sound of your mix has left music makers divided.
The clip, taken from the My StudioNerds Podcast (hosted by Devvon Terrell, L. Jean, and Courtney Taylor), shows Horn – who has worked with the likes of BTS, Michael Jackson, and Timbaland – suggesting that the meters in Pro Tools each have “a sound”, and that Pro Tools Classic meter is “the worst” metering type to use.
In the video, Horn says, “Some people think I’m crazy but the ones that have heard it just freak out – the Pro Tools meters have a sound, and depending on which ones you choose, sound different. So what meters do you use? Is it Pro Tools Classic? That’s the worst one.
“The code written for the meters must be in like a series to where they affect the audio, and if you’re summing it gets recorded. So if you’re in the box, it’s just how you’re monitoring, but I always say your best monitoring will help you make the best decisions. If you’re summing it matters, and Pro Tools Classic sounds horrible. So the masters have a setting and then tracks and auxes have a setting, two different settings, so my ultimate combo… It’s linear (extended) on the masters and K-14 on the tracks. The look of it takes a minute to get used to, but when you AB that sound, it’s different.”
Horn’s opinion has got people talking with some people agreeing, and others believing Horn’s conclusion isn’t accurate. One person writes, “I knew I wasn’t tripping”, while another states, “Tried it! There’s definitely a difference in sound! A noticeable one at that. Unbelievable.”
On the other hand, another user says, “Just null-tested this in-the-box with offline rendering: perfect null. Meters make no difference, sorry guys and gals.” Another also states, “The meters don’t have a sound, but the way you mix with different meters results in a different sound. K14 meters zero out at -6db.”
Meanwhile, YouTuber and producer Dan Worrall has refuted these claims in his own video. “It’s interesting to note that the claim was specifically only for real-time playback, and that the differences don’t manifest in an offline bounce. To put that another way, he can’t hear those differences when he isn’t watching the meters. Anyone else think that might be significant?”
“The best practitioner of a discipline isn’t necessarily the best teacher of that discipline — after all, if you have an amazing natural talent and an instinct for what needs to be done, how do you teach that?”
Listen to his take below.
Elsewhere this week in the audio processing world, SoundCloud has responded to criticisms of its audio quality, which producers such as Nasko have alleged is “destroying” transients in a song.
“SoundCloud audio is cooked, ESPECIALLY for EDM”, continues Nasko. “Transients are integral to this genre and the regular SoundCloud audio has some really bad issues with messing them up.”
SoundCloud said that it’s “always working on it, testing out new encoders and settings based on your feedback. Right now, we don’t support lossless-to-lossless, so yeah, some info gets lost along the way. But we hear you, and I swear we’re working on it. Stay tuned—more updates are coming.”
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