[Abyss Headphones]

We talk about the sound of an artist and track each week.
First track by Billie Eilish...

 

[White Noise]

Interesting song, I haven't heard Eilish before. I'm a hobbyist house producer that does some mastering on the side, so I can say what some of that "weirdness" in terms of the volume is doing from the engineering perspective.

It's called ducking or sidechain (ducking being the more correct term, but sidechain being more common). It seems around 20 years ago, producers realized that their kick could sound more powerful if they had everything else around it fall away when it was playing. To do this, you use the sidechain input of a compressor (the Alesis 3630 being a favorite for this) and run the kick into it to turn the main input sound of the compressor (everything that isn't the kick) down only while the kick plays. For a clear example of what this sounds like in house music, see "I Remember" by Deadmau5. In house, we realized that this added the the feel of rhythm in our music - not only is the main driving beat of the song strong as ever, but everything else is reacting to it in the same rhythm.

Modern production has taken this a step further and now uses "ghost kicks" or just straight volume automation to achieve the same effect (the ghost kick just being a kick that you send into the compressor to trigger it, but you don't actually hear the kick). Either could be used to get the effect in this track. If you think about it, there's no drums at all for the first 30 seconds, yet you have this volume automation giving you a rhythm to latch onto. Sidechain these days can also be used selectively, so as you noted it brings the vocal even more forward because everything else is being ducked in volume to the rhythm of the song.

It sounds to me like the effect is even more apparent because, most likely, there's some saturation or distortion on the sounds being sidechained after their volume is being automated, which would mean that the distortion is also pumping in rhythm with the song.

 

[Sp12er3]

There’s already a month old worth of video playlist with this theme, how will this thread go in accordance to that?

 

[Abyss Headphones]

@White Noise thanks for that!

 

[Abyss Headphones]

We’ll catch up to YouTube sooner or later...

 

[Abyss Headphones]

Next Track of the Week, Tech Noir by GUNSHIP....

 

[Abyss Headphones]

Next track by Tame Impala, 'The Less I Know the Better'

 

[RONJA MESCO]

We talk about the sound of an artist and track each week.
First track by Billie Eilish...

Have you heard the song "Gimme Some of Dem Sweet Headphones 4 Free (Abyss x Headfi Club Mix)" by Ronja Mesco? Its a simple song with a simple message...feel free to donate to the cause. Proceeds goto the Ronja Mesco Headphone Wall Building Fund (RMHWBF).

 

[adeadcrab]

I had a weird dream last night, Abyss' new product was an on-ear headphone in the style of Koss PortaPro, but as a next-gen planar. It was like Joe's dream headphone but nobody else was into it - it was marketed towards people 'not desiring an isolating headphone, who work mainly in a lab clean room and drive to work'

Anyway love the videos

 

[Abyss Headphones]

Goliath by Woodkid...

 

[Abyss Headphones]

Blood Bath by Bon Iver...

 

[Abyss Headphones]

Mac Miller track 'Good News'

 

[Abyss Headphones]

The Gates by Cunnin Lynguists

 

[Abyss Headphones]

'Gooey' by The Glass Animals

 

[Abyss Headphones]

We talk about the original and remastered versions of Fleetwood Mac 'Dreams'