Ever notice this about a lot of pro recordings?

[lolzgreg]

You know guys, I've been critically listening to a lot of pro work lately, and I've noticed some things that are very strange going on with some tracks.

Taking Back Sunday's- Tell All Your Friends:

On ALL of the lead singer's vocal tracks, there is a super high pitched squeal that feels like a syringe being shoved into my eardrum. I've showed it to a lot of people and only one of my friends has been able to hear it aside from me. Unfortunately for him, it ruined the album for him because every time he listens it makes him nutty.

I also noticed this squealing in the guitars in the intro to Breaking Benjamin's- "Dear Agony" of the title track.

What gives here? Can anyone hear this? Is it microphonic squealing from a tube? Could it be the effects of dither? Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Josh M.]

I can't hear it in either one of the songs so I can't help you there. It's either because I am listening on rather bass-ish/mid-ish headphones or I just have crap ears.
Have noticed something similar in another song but only for like a second then it goes away - sounds like my phone ringing.

EDIT (because I don't want to erect and old thread): I can hear the noise in that "cute.wav". At first I only noticed the higher frequencies of the phaser effect. But now I hear it!!!! That's disgusting.

 

[lolzgreg]

I doubt you have crap ears. It may be your system, or it could be out of your hearing range (which I doubt). On the Taking Back Sunday record, I pinpointed it to be at around 13khz (I'm sure you can hear that).

 

[Morgan C]

Only thing I can think of is a vocal exciter, but 13khz seems way too high for that, it'd be focused around 5-7khz.

 

[lolzgreg]

191 views and 4 posts? C'mon. Someone has to be hearing something strange goin' on!

 

[::XeS::]

Probably only few people have these tracks. I'll try to listen when I'll find them

 

[lolzgreg]

Yeah, that is true. I just want to hear if anyone has had similar experiences. I've noticed it in other songs, but both of those bands are kind of house-hold names in America at least.

 

[::XeS::]

Ok I listened on youtube (HQ) and I found a very sibilant vocals in the TBS song. This problem is also affected (in my opinion) by the very hissing cymbals.
Speaking about Breaking Benjamin, do you mean the clean guitars in the intro? Or all the guitars? And do you mean the same hi-freq problem?

 

[lolzgreg]

On the TBS song, go to 2:07 and listen for the squeal of death. It may not be as audible on youtube.

Clean guitars on the BB, and similar hi-freq problems.

 

[::XeS::]

Yeah the voice is extremely sibilant in bad way but considering the hissing cymbals I suppose it should be done as general eq (master?), for example with a multiband dynamic exciter.
I found the same thing on the Breaking's song....the vocals have a big sibilance and it's very fatiguing.
Big hi-boosts on the songs

 

[ahjteam]

we talked about it with greg on AIM, here is a clip, it sounds more like tinnitus: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1338211/cute.wav

 

[lolzgreg]

Yeah the voice is extremely sibilant in bad way but considering the hissing cymbals I suppose it should be done as general eq (master?), for example with a multiband dynamic exciter.
I found the same thing on the Breaking's song....the vocals have a big sibilance and it's very fatiguing.
Big hi-boosts on the songs

I believe I read somewhere a big thing the "Big Boy" producers are doing these days is recording everything dark and doing a straight up high shelf on the master bus... interesting concept.

 

[Dalinkwent48@aim.com]

i just listened to what ahj posted....are you guys talking about the rediculously annoying ringing going on right when the vox come in? best way to explain the sound is it sounds like an old tv is on

 

[arv_foh]

I hear it on TBS. I do not hear it on BB. I'm guessing it was a problem that was there pre-mastering, and mastering only enhanced those annoying frequencies.

 

[Morgan C]

we talked about it with greg on AIM, here is a clip, it sounds more like tinnitus: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1338211/cute.wav

That sounds like an effect to me.. its panning all over the place too (listen with headphones), so I seriously doubt its part of an instrument.

 

[lolzgreg]

It's only around when the vocals are on or right before they come in.

 

[Josh M.]

Well I only listened to these on youtube, which would explain my problem. Shit audio quality. Didn't think of that.

 

[Ermz]

I don't think YouTube has ever heard any 13kHz in its life.

 

[lolzgreg]

That's what I was jabbing at before. You could probably shove a 14khz sine wave slamming the masterbus and you wouldn't even be able to hear it on youtube

 

[Mesa4x12er]

Yeah I hear that, wtf? I definitely don't hear that on a lot of pro recordings but whatever the hell that is is pretty unmistakable.