Octave Records Tour Part Three

[@hippydippy]

I went to Octive Records last night & was surprised that you kind of have a radio program with a female DJ that played tracks & would pop in now & again & say who she played. I bluetoothed it for quite a while as I was trying an experimental art painting. Even for BT, the sound was incredible & I heard a lot of new good music as well. Very nice.

[@davidrippy1605]

Paul, well done Sir...❤️🎶

[@chrisjones1075]

Paul is living the dream. All of us have dreamed of building a dream room like this. Kudos!

[@ctbcubed]

For a couple of years in the early 70s I worked at a Top 40 AM radio station at the transmitter site. Back at the studio, the engineer would transfer vinyl recordings to cartridge tapes. In the process, they would employ equalization and heavy amounts of compression/ expansion to make the biggest punch without over modulating the transmitter. I'll bet there was only about 15 db dynamic range when they were done. I remember one song in particular that this process absolutely destroyed. Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" had the soft parts expanded to where background surface noise was almost as loud as her voice and then during the crescendo, the compressor kicked in and killed the dynamic range. When I listened to the direct audio feed, the effects of the pumping of the compression/ expansion sounded terrible. But on a cheap transistor radio or even car radio, it was tolerable. Of course AM radio wasn't exactly a HiFi medium. I've bought recordings that obviously were equalized for cheap record players or boomboxes and they sound terrible on a good system. Very thin with limited dynamic range.

[@scottbennett3119]

Wonderful journey through Octave Records! Paul, what you have achieved in all stages of audio is amazing! And you have made it available to everyone! Wow!

[@Theupgradeguy]

This is why I became a Multi-track Engineer: I knew very early on that my stereo would only sound as good as the recordings I played through it. The recording process has many variables that will affect the final sound from the instruments used to the MIC's, the room, the amps or interface, to the musicians and the choices made by the engineers & producers.

[@AlexandrePassos-s5f]

Hello! Thank you for sharing all this wonderful place! I was thinking only about those LCD displays, may all that flat, big surface interfere or in any way interact with sound, and promoting some kind of distortion?... There are LCD displays at Control Room, too, but at mixing it might be a more serious problem source... Keep the good... no, excellent work!! Thanks!

[@DGHdeeo]

Thanks so much Paul for doing this three part series. Fascinating!

[@ricardopineda8224]

Thank you for loving the good music.

[@johnmarchington3146]

Thanks, Paul, for three great videos. I loved 5he tour.

[@phenomtyree]

You have a perfect Tri-Fecta in your studio presentation. Super times 3.

[@jmfloyd23]

I have that analog tape machine he showed in the mixing room. It’s an Otari MTR-10 I wonder if Paul would make a 2 track 15 or 30ips tape copy of DSD files?

[@PSA78]

It looks great Paul, and it's very interesting to see how you create the magic we love. 🎶

[@marcbegine]

Hy Paul amazing video, this the rewarding result of your 50 “hard work” PS Audio years. Bravo again!

[@silvershield2342]

Definitely, setting an industry standard. Thanks for the tour!

[@Fastvoice]

That's exactly what they *don't* do and not intend to do. They have a niche market way off the mainstream or "standard". Do you even know what the "industry standard" is nowadays in audio productions? With hard limiting, high LUFS, post production pitch and timing correction etc.?

[@tomhellstentststudio919]

This is exactly what I doing when I mixing, I do not use studio monitors, I use a good Audiophil sound system and even headphones, and it is a winner everytime :)

[@josefbuckland]

What about the break room must be lush to cater to the comforts of the crew and the musicians. ?

[@ford1546]

I think what someone meant when they said that the studio looks thrown together is the following. Ideally, the mixer should be in the middle of the room and speakers on both sides and equally far away from the wall on both sides. Not in a corner like ps audio has placed it with one speaker hidden behind the mixer in a corner. You are also sitting too close to the speakers. There's a reason studios have speakers above the mixer. Doesn't look like ps audio has put that much effort into fitting this into the room or to get it optimal.

[@stpd1957]

I enjoyed that immensely Paul, thank you.

[@costelloandsilke7321]

Hello Paul. Looks like LEDE approach to the room. But still, for a mix room, I'm surprised that there is no treatment on the wall behind the desk. But from the video, it's hard to see, so perhaps there is?

[@Cienfuegos911]

❤🧡💛💚💙💜 ❤🧡💛💚💙💜 ❤🧡💛💚💙💜 Outstanding.

[@MillSounds]

Nice Otari! I just got an MTR-12 and really love it for some vibe (I'm surprised you've got that in there, knowing how you feel about tape 🤣)

[@babubabu12345]

PS AUDIO is all in one platform for every music lovers... Big Thanks to Respected Paul Sir...

[@GameTL]

I would love for octave record to show how Dolby Atmos on Apple Music will be done. I have a quadrafonic setup and an MacBook that will simulate a 5.1.4 and it's already an amazing audio experience, one that not 2 channel can compare.

[@Seedlinux]

I wish some of the albums I love were recorded/mixed with such a system ❤

[@tedjensen8841]

Yep, that would be my dream room as well. Enjoy.

[@billfife6569]

Your having fun Paul. Nice place.

[@ForTN0X]

This was awesome! I would love to experice this

[@dilshodtojiddinzoda]

Thanks, Paul!

[@KC2QMA]

As a former recording engineer, I would say since you don't use any EQ or much compression or processing during recording and mixdown I would typically call that a "Balancing Room". as you are just balancing the level of the instruments but not altering the purity of the recorded tracks:) O/R's production philosophy will be best suited for live acoustic music such as jazz and classical, but POP/Rock music can also benefit from the fidelity of DSD recording with its extreme dynamics and frequency response. Imagine if Alan Parsons recorded Dark Side of The Moon in DSD :) Great Vids!

[@ctbcubed]

Oh I would love to hear Dark Side of the Moon recorded that way!

[@ThinkingBetter]

@@ctbcubed Yes indeed, and there is a ton of music I would love seeing mastered with a philosophy of getting the best possible audio experience out of a very high-end system. But perhaps Octave Records could offer a service of taking the original studio tracks e.g. from Pink Floyd and re-master them against their audiophile system. But I also think they could build some reputation if they had at least some famous musician recording in the studio.

[@carlstineman274]

Beautiful room. Lots of enthusiasm but little content. This is a work room. I would like to know how it works - technical details. So the console provides the instructions for taking the original DSD tracks and processing them to create the finished audio recording. The lovely audio system allows the engineer to monitor the results of that process. Some questions: What is the signal path? Aren't the mixing console and the audio system preamp redundant? Why does the audio system include a CD transport - seems superfluous? Does the console send a digital signal to the DAC or does it do its own D to A conversion internally? How are the console settings recorded and synchronized with the original DSD tracks? How is the final "rendering" accomplished, recorded and turned into CDs, SACDs, and/or files for distribution? More meat please, thanks.

[@Jorge-Fernandez-Lopez]

It's very nice and it sounds great. DSD→DXD(PCM) → A, B or C all sound great if the recording is that good. I have never heard anything close to a Hi-Fi system in cars or headphones. Good Hi-Fi recordings sound good enough in a vehicle, as good as any other car mixed track. Thank you.

[@InsideOfMyOwnMind]

Imagine having The room The speakers The gear That your music was mixed and mastered with. Drool, drool. The best thing about this series is that it shows it's possible for those of the means to have it. No shade intended to those who are. I'm happy for them. I do have to wonder though, is that R2R a studio queen used as an art piece or is it an active participant when needed?

[@Ilove1073s]

I wish some amazing artists would come there and make a good album, but I feel like most music from octave records is so basic and uninteresting (and I'm not talking about soundquality), just the productions aren't creative and groundbreaking at all

[@InsideOfMyOwnMind]

@@Ilove1073s One of the minor programs we had in early grade school was something called "Music Appreciation." I didn't understand what they were on about at the time. Then later, thinking back on it as a teen I came to believe it was to get us to like crappy genres but I didn't know why. Then later I realized it was to broaden our appeal for things in life in general so we wouldn't be stuck in a rut or even judgemental of others with different tastes in say, food, art, dress, cars, the things we have choices in instead of being limited to the top 40 of all these things. Now my taste in music is a lot more eclectic than it might otherwise be. I can enjoy foods that some would not even think of, etc. Now I wouldn't say I'm particularly great at this general discipline but I know that early experience helped. Octave's stuff is not my goto but it is a place I can go to for a nice diversion from time to time.

[@RichTeer]

Great series of videos, Paul! But a couple of things: 1. Why not use BHK-600s and TWO PowerPlant 20s? 2. (Pedant alert!) It's "couldn't care less", not "could care less"! But more seriously, if only more record labels had the same dedication to sound quality as Octave Records!

[@Projacked1]

Yup , I'm jealous......daaamn Paul, that is sweeeeet.

[@Elkemper]

Are those black BIG-ASS subwoofers at the sides of the room? how large are they? 22? 26?

[@gilesdavis6345]

Very very interesting. Looks absolutely amazing. Quick thought, if you put the microphones above the cymbals and drums and the sticks hit them from above will that mean the first movement of the drive units will be back ???

[@marcwiesen]

No, the microphone picks up the sound waves and the diaphragm moves in the same direction wherever you place the microphone. However, you have to be careful when using multiple microphones that they are in phase. For example, if you use two microphones on a snare drum, one above and one below the snare drum, then one microphone is out of phase and that needs to be corrected. I hope my answer is of some use to you.

[@boblehman1726]

​@marcwiesen Not necessarily. It also depends on the mics' distances from the instruments (drums in this case). For a sound wavelength of, let's say, 1 inch, and the 2 mics are identical (same polarity), but one is 1/2 inch farther away or closer, the signals captured will be 180 degrees out of phase for that signal. For different complex frequencies in real music, the phase differences will be all over the map. For multi-mike multi-track recording of any ensemble/band/orchestra, the same will be true for all of the signals/instruments/parts of the instruments/voices. Only with a single mic for a mono recording, or a stereo mic (with or without a dummy head for binaural or standard stereo, respectively) or pair of mics, can a phase-coherent sound image be captured, and it will only pertain to that location of the mics. Hence, for MOST TYPICAL recordings, mic polarity is a relatively non-issue. But since mix panning of individual mics is how the stereo image is usually created, the relative polarity of the the playback speakers/headphones MUST be the same.

[@marcwiesen]

@@boblehman1726 That is true and correct. I just wanted to give a short and easy to understand answer to his question. I just measure everything quickly with Smaart, REW etc.

[@Michelenla]

How big is the room

[@gilbertopisani4388]

Dear Paul, Unfortunately I have a very serious complaint to make. Because of you and Octave Records, I lost dozens of DSD and SACD recordings. In fact, I didn't lose the recordings, but the pleasure in listening to them after I started buying Octave Records productions. Octave's recordings sound so natural that, at the end, I have the impulse to greet the musicians, who seem to be in my living room. This doesn't happen remotely with other recordings, however good they may be. Sorry for the joke because, in fact, I'm thanking you for the love with which you and the entire team at Octave Records produce the recordings. It's great to know that there are people who respect musicians and their clients above commercial interests. Thank you very much and a big hug from a friend in Brazil.

[@pebbleschan6085]

It’s Paul’s utopia! 🎉

[@Milo_Molnar]

The place of all audio dreams.

[@davidfromamerica1871]

Why don’t more people have a 8 or 16 band Equalizer hooked to their system⁉️

[@larsjazzmusic]

Paul, you are a hero! ❤ But how do you handle low frequency management in this what seems like a small room? Are you sitting that close to the wall, or is it a wall made off bass traps? You are sitting behind two computer screens kind of high up, no disturbing interference? Are you just doing level and panning? No eq/compressor etc? Are your mix also the master? Some questions I really hope you would like to answer! I guess many of your watchers are audio and studio nerds, just like me, with the same goal in mind as you, amazing sound on an amazing system. Cheers from Sweden! 🙂

[@sebastiantomita5956]

They're hacks, man.

[@al5152001]

👍👍👍👍👍😊

[@Rowuk2024]

Those monitors bother me. I do not want a diffractor like that between me and the speakers. Video hologram is what you need to match the audio hologram.

[@twitchbook-1]

cheers

[@Kiwi_Col]

Please can you do that at my place? I live in N.Z. I'll even let you set it up for free.

[@NoEgg4u]

@3:02 "What I care about is that it sounds amazing on your hifi system. That's it." A better sounding recording will sound better no matter where you play it. I have a few gems in my digital collection. They sound amazing on my living-room's stereo, on my PC's AR, Powered Partners speakers, in my car, with my Etymotic Research earphones, and I even tried it via my laptop's crummy speakers, and you could hear how good they are. Of course, the better the stereo, the better it will sound. So when those other studios mix for the masses, and think that they are doing the world a favor, they are really screwing it up. It is absurd for them to think that they are making it better for the masses, by doing lord knows what to the songs. It is like saying that a film that has poor focus will look better on a 1972 TV. It is ridiculous. The better the focus of the film, the better it will look no matter where you watch it. The same goes for audio. How can the personnel at those other studios think that by damaging the sound quality it will somehow sound better on mass produced stereo gear? It would be like saying that McDonalds would be a better meal on a smelly bus than a top chef meal on a smelly bus. The better the meal, the better it will be (compared to a junk meal) no matter where you consume it. The personnel at many studios are incompetent. They are buffoons. The evidence is in the countless lousy mixed and mastered hit songs. The evidence is in the remasters (meaning that they are admitting that they got the original one wrong, and the remaster is the fix). And the irony is that the remasters almost always sound worse than the original release. And then yet another remaster. The personnel at other studios have no business getting near the music. There are a few exceptions. They do sometimes get it right. But it is a mystery to identify who is screwing up our music, and who are the rare exceptions that give us great ear candy. Paul, do the world a favor, and somehow get your hands on the initial capture tapes from hit songs of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, and create new master files for all of us to finally hear our favorite artists do their thing with killer great sound quality. (and put a turntable in your mixing room -- why not have the ultimate vinyl experience, too?)

[@PetraKann]

I don’t see how the quality and cost of a HiFi system is related to the music and the creative process.

[@spentron1]

Came back to answer this. It doesn't. It's just about actually being able to sound as good on a good system as it can. At the same time, the difficulty increases when trying to hear realism in sounds such as acoustic instruments or anything that projects sounds into a room. Fans are more obsessive about equipment and rooms. Pop music is more concerned with sounding good through anything -- and IMO failing miserably, as soon as the bass drops out it sounds backwards to me, and not in a good way, and shrill.

[@PetraKann]

@@spentron1 "....It's just about actually being able to sound as good on a good system as it can. " Why?

[@spentron1]

@@PetraKann Why would you want it to sound good? Why not? The beauty of the sounds is part of the appeal of music, not just what someone has to say, although the balance does vary, and what someone is willing to spend money and effort on that pursuit varies even more. Now, why would you want it to sound _real_, that depends more specifically on what kind of sounds you listen to, although you might be surprised how good it can be. On less well recorded, or more random, material an accurate playback system will still tend to be the best way to listen to it, but will not be the weakest link. There are those that would argue that only "real instruments" are expressive and creative, while others believe it must sound new to be creative. Sometimes creativity is purely sonic, sometimes not at all but it still needs to make it through to the listener.

[@SuperMcgenius]

👍

[@ReverendDr.Thomas]

The fact that you COULD care less, suggests you do care.

[@pimianimavdo1523]

Kudos for DIR (Doing It Right). 😉

[@lammasklaabu5278]

I hate myself being poor

[@sudd3660]

making music for headphones or car is illegal in my opinion. always make the best recording must be the baseline.

[@stevenholquin2127]

Looks like a Non/Smoking Environment 😮

[@ThinkingBetter]

I just wish those artists making amazing music for the masses earning a ton of money also would spend some of their time and money making best of audiophile versions optimized for the greatest audio systems. I want my favorite music optimized against such a room's more audiophile experience rather than tiny Bluetooth speakers and cheap earbuds. How do we get the top popular music producers to desire making audiophile versions? Can't Octave Records make a business out of audiophile mastering services of tracks recoded in other studios?

[@cengeb]

only 2 amps? I run 4 mono amps around 1400W EACH RMS into my Legacy Whispers....you need to update your dinky setup

[@craigaust3306]

Do you think that wattage gives you better sound?

[@cengeb]

@@craigaust3306 Lots of reserve capability at live realistic listening levels, yes. It controls the 8 15" Woofers in my Legacy Whispers, and 8 7.25" mids, no stress, CONTROL, dynamics...watts matter. Good low distortion watts, CONTROL..I've driven the same speakers with a mere 250W each side then 2 running in mono one each side, then 2 mono on each side, totalof 4 mono amps from DSP controller. it got progressively better, cleaner, more in control. Yes, watts is control, not always louder

[@cengeb]

and teh Whispers are very efficient, and more watts still made them better. Newest version active 2000w amp for low end, even better, add amp for upper end...DSP, why PS audio doesn't have DSP on such pricey speakers is bizarre, and no active models

[@cengeb]

So you never listen to a final product, makes no sense!

[@cengeb]

Yeah, a regular Abbey Road!! NOT.

[@cengeb]

those speakers look horrible, white plastic? Like ready to tip over

[@sebastiantomita5956]

I don't believe that room sounds amazing. Why don't you post measurements taken from the listening position? Let's see how it really sounds when you're sitting that close to the back wall and when you have close to none low-end absorbtion. A bunch of bass traps stacked in the front corners are enough? Let's see some waterfall graphs.

[@TheDanEdwards]

"Why don't you post measurements taken from the listening position."

[@sebastiantomita5956]

@@TheDanEdwards, why’s that? He claims the room sound amazing. Yeah, well I don’t think so. Not with that positioning, not with that room treatment.

[@ctbcubed]

None of those graphs or measurements mean squat. What do the artists who performed the music think when they listen to the final mix on their preferred system? You can bet that they won't be shy if it doesn't sound right to them.

[@sebastiantomita5956]

@@ctbcubed The artist have their role - to make music. The mixing engineers have theirs - to make that music sound good. Don't confuse their roles. And you're missing the point: it doesn't matter what the artists think nor what the engineers think as long as what they're hearing is not what's on the recording and there's no way they can asses that correctly if the room adds to the sound. It's clear to me that you are clueless in this regard, no offence.